How Shirley Temple Really Felt About Her Signature Drink
Shirley Temple was a true triple threat, a performer who was singing, dancing, and acting in movies by age 3. In her lifetime, Temple was no stranger to having products licensed in her name, and made millions from her sales of dolls, clothes, cutout books, and sheet music, just to name a few (via New World Encyclopedia). But there was one product she had mixed feelings about: the Shirley Temple drink.
During the 1930s, Temple's hit films included "Curly Top," "Heidi," and "Bright Eyes" (via New World Encyclopedia). Throughout her childhood and teen years, Temple would film between three to eight films per year. At one point, a team of 19 writers called the Shirley Temple Story Development team created movies specifically designed for her.
The inventor of the Shirley Temple drink is still contested today. It's a non-alcoholic concoction, usually made with a lemon-lime soda like Sprite or 7UP, red grenadine syrup, and a maraschino cherry on top. But according to PopSugar, there are at least three restaurants that claim to have invented the Shirley Temple beverage first. Brown Derby Restaurant in Hollywood, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki, and Chasen's in West Hollywood each claim to be the original inventors.
How she really felt about the soda beverage
In 1988, Shirley T. Sparkling Soda appeared on the market. The brand behind Shirley T. Sparkling soda argued in court that because of the actress's ubiquitous success as a movie star, the name was generic enough to name the drink. As Mental Floss reported, Temple responded to the lawsuit, saying, "I will fight it like a tigress. All a celebrity has is their name."
According to Closer Weekly, Temple, who by age 68 had the married name of Shirley Temple Black, once told a friend she wouldn't choose to drink her namesake beverage. She reportedly said, "No! I'm having a Black Russian with vodka. I'll call it a Shirley Temple Black!"
And then in 1985, Temple talked to NPR about how she was frequently served her namesake drink. But again repeated that she wasn't a fan of them, calling it a "saccharine, icky drink." She elaborated, saying, "Well, those were created in the probably middle 1930s in Hollywood and I had nothing to do with it."