Baby Burlesks was a series of short films produced by Educational Pictures in the early 1930s. Educational Pictures (or Educational Film Exchanges, Inc. ...

Shirley Temple in a secene from Glad Rags to Riches, 1932.

The Burlesks were satires of major motion pictures and current events. All of the performers were preschool-aged children. They were costumed as adults--excepting their giant diapers with pins--and given mature dialogue. Filmed in 1931-32, before the Hayes Code was actively enforced, many viewers and film critics consider the series dated and exploitative because of its depictions of young children in adult roles and situations. Image File history File links Shirley temple from the Public Domain movie Glad rags to ritches File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Shirley temple from the Public Domain movie Glad rags to ritches File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Satire is a literary technique of writing or art which principally ridicules its subject (individuals, organizations, states) often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change. ... The Production Code (also known as the Hays Code) was a set of guidelines governing the production of motion pictures. ...

Many of the children used in the series were recruited from Meglin's Dance School in Hollywood. One of them was Shirley Temple, who made her film debut in the Baby Burlesks at the age of three. Her first studio stand-in, Marilyn Granas, also appeared in a few of the pictures. Neither of the two leading actors of the series, Eugene Butler and Georgie Smith, went on to notable success. Shirley Temple in Glad Rags to Riches Shirley Jane Temple (born April 23, 1928), later known as Shirley Temple Black, is an American diplomat and former film child actress. ...

The films are still extant today, and are widely available in the public domain.

Cast and crew

• Producer: Jack Hays
• Director: Charles Lamont
• Princpal cast: Shirley Temple, Georgie Smith, Eugene Butler, Gloria Ann Mack, Marilyn Granas, Phillip Hurlic

Shirley Temple in Glad Rags to Riches Shirley Jane Temple (born April 23, 1928), later known as Shirley Temple Black, is an American diplomat and former film child actress. ...

Filmography

• The Runt Page (1931): The pilot film, which satirized the movie The Front Page, about reporters in a newsroom.
• War Babies/What Price Gloria? (1932): The first Baby Burlesk publicly exhibited, a takeoff of What Price Glory?, about WWI doughboys in a tavern.
• Glad Rags to Riches (1932): A Gay Nineties comedy about a showgirl captured by an evil impresario.
• Polly Tix in Washington (1932): A call girl attempts to corrupt an honest politician.
• Kid's Last Stand (1932): A satire of Jack Dempsey and the boxing world.
• Kid 'in' Africa (1932): A missionary attempts to convert cannibals in the jungle.
• Kid in Hollywood (1932): A satire of Hollywood divas, including Greta Garbo.
• The Pie-Covered Wagon (1932): A takeoff of The Covered Wagon.

The Front Page was originally a play written by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. ... What Price Glory is a film that has been made twice. ... William Harrison Jack Dempsey (June 24, 1895 - May 31, 1983), was an Irish-American boxer who won the world heavyweight title. ... Greta Garbo in 1926 Greta Garbo (September 18, 1905 – April 15, 1990) was a Swedish actress. ...

External links and resources

• War Babies at the Internet Archive
• Partial script from Polly-Tix in Washington at the IMDB
• Black, Shirley Temple (1988). Child Star: An Autobiography, McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0070055327