Cindy Brady's Surprise
Ten-year-old Cindy Brady was a fan of old Shirley Temple movies. She didn't have a favorite one, she just loved watching them. They usually ran on Saturday afternoons. Cindy would usually watch them and laugh or cry at the situations of little Shirley. Carol and Mike would hear her singing the songs the movie featured, in a perfect tune also. One afternoon, Mike was in his den doing some work and heard tapping upstairs. As he walked inside the girls bedroom, he looked into the bathroom and saw Cindy tap dancing on the linoleum bathroom floor.
"Hey Cindy! That's pretty good."
He complemented his daughter. Cindy smiled, her blue eyes shining happily. Meanwhile Carol was downstairs in the family room reading the newspaper. She turned the pages and glanced at an article on page 1 E, It was the entertainment section that usually featured the television schedule for the day, the comics and the movies for the town. The headlines were in bold black and it read
EXTRA! Hollywood studio Twentieth Century Fox looking for child stars
AP: Twentieth Century Fox announced today that they are looking for blond, blue, or brown eyed girls between the ages of four and twelve to star in a new movie about Hollywood's nineteen-thirties depression time favorite child star, Shirley Temple.
Mrs. Shirley Temple Black has given her permission to the movie studio that made her famous at the age of five to make a film of the life of Shirley, from the ages of her start there until her last film Young People. Parents are asked to bring their daughters next Saturday between eight in the morning until three in the afternoon.
The girls must be able to sing, and dance, preferably with dimples and in dresses and pinafores and black patent leather Mary Jane's. They will be given a script and given a screen test. Bring them to 123 South main street Hollywood California. Just think, your daughter may be the newest screen child star!
Carol showed Mike the article and then later on, showed it to Cindy. She smiled and became excited, she wanted to do this very badly. The next Saturday, Carol had curled Cindy's hair into 52 springy curls and put a red dress and a white pinafore on Cindy, along with white frilly socks and black patent leather Mary Jane shoes. As they were leaving for the studio at seven in the morning, the other children wished her luck.
Later on, as they pulled up to the gate of Twentieth Century Fox, Cindy was becoming a bit nervous. Carol reassured her as they got out of the car.
"You'll be just fine dear, I know that you must feel like there are butterflies in your stomach, I feel the same way."
Cindy felt a little better as Carol told her this. They went to South Gate 2 and stood in a line that was already beginning to form. By sheer luck, they were the third in line. A woman with blond hair was standing ahead of them along with her small daughter, who was standing beside her mother
"Hello! I'm Harriet Thomas and this is my daughter Rachel. She just turned five-years-old yesterday."
"Hi Harriet, I'm Carol Brady and this is my daughter Cindy, she turned ten about three months ago."
The four of them shook hands, then a man let them in three mothers and daughters in at a time. The woman behind them was dark haired and her daughter had blond hair too. Carol heard her tell the man the girls name was Barbara Reid. The girl looked like she was Cindy's age, but also looked very unhappy.
The girls were given a script to read, little Rachel was given a different script than Cindy or Barbara. AS Cindy started to study her script, she overheard Barbara's mom tell her child to stop squirming, stop sniffling, stop scratching her face.
"Mommy! I need to go to the bathroom."
Rachel told her mother. A woman told them where to go. Later on, Rachel was told to go into a room, along with her mother so she could help her. Fifteen-minutes later, the two of them left the room, Harriet was smiling broadly, as was little Rachel.
"Rachel is going to do a screen test after lunch!" And they're giving us access to the Twentieth Century Fox commissary!"
Harriet told Carol and Cindy. Then Cindy was called to the room. Carol was not allowed to go inside since Cindy could read well. She entered the room and three men and a woman shook her hand and introduced themselves to Cindy. They were Daniel Upton, Harold Thurman,, James Rhodes and Kelly Porter. They asked her age, and how long she had been dancing and how long she had been singing.
"All right Cindy, I want you to read me the Rebecca role and I'll be the handyman George, I want you to sing the song for a minute okay?"
Cindy pretended to pick up a bucket and did her lines. Then Daniel turned on the record.
"If I had one wish to make, this is the wish I would make, I'd get an old straw hat, a pair of overalls and a worn out pair of shoes" Howdy Mister crow, Oh Oh"
Cindy sang pitch perfectly, and danced wonderfully also, they all smiled and then told her to call in her mother. As Carol came into the room, the three adults introduced themselves and told her the good news.
"Mrs. Brady, I want Cindy to stay for a bit and go to lunch in the commissary, then I want her to study the script some more, especially the part where Shirley stars in The Little Princess, then come to the Temple studio and have a screen test."
They were so excited and they went to the commissary to eat lunch. As Cindy ordered a hamburger and fries and Carol ordered Cobb salad and a plate of spaghetti with meat sauce. Suddenly, Carol's eyes got wider as a man sat near them.
"Oh Cindy! I just saw Bill Holden!"
"Who's Bill Holden?"
"Oh I know you don't know him, but he's an actor that starred in an old movie I love called Sabrina, it also starred Audrey Hepburn."
Cindy knew who Audrey Hepburn was, she watched My Fair Lady on television a few times and also saw a scary movie about Audrey as a blind woman that was being terrorized by a man that planted a doll with drugs. She was also familiar with a movie that she watched one time called The Nuns Story, except she fell asleep halfway through the movie.
As Cindy ate her lunch and sipped her soda, she studied the part where Shirley played The Little Princess role, as Sara Crewe.
"Mom, it says I have to start to cry and throw myself on the bed. How can I start to cry when I'm not sad?"
Carol thought a minute, then told her
"Well Cindy, think about the time you and Bobby were lost in the Grand Canyon, or when Tiger died. Those are reasons to cry aren't they?"
"Yes those are sad things to think about Mom. That's what I'll do."
Later on, after little Rachel left the studio, assured that they would call her back to play Shirley from ages four through seven. Cindy walked into the studio. To her complete surprise, her favorite actress of all time was one of the people seated and waiting for her after they put a costume on her, as Sara Crewe. The woman was Shirley Temple Black. She was in her forties and looked like an older version of the little girl that Cindy loved to watch on television. She had brown hair that was in the latest style and warm brown eyes and two deep dimples near her chin. She smiled and shook Cindy's and Carol's hands.
"Good afternoon Mrs. Brady and Cindy, You can call me Shirley."
After talking with Shirley for a minute, Cindy walked to the set and the man there gave her a doll to hold. Cindy held the doll and then felt very sad as she thought about the day she saw Tiger not wake up as she and Bobby tried to wake him from his dog house one morning. She was told to act her heart out. She spoke the lines.
"I'm hungry! And I'm cold too, do you hear me? No! you can't hear me! You're a doll! You don't have a heart or a brain! You're just a doll!"
Tears were streaming down her cheeks and she fell to the bed and sobbed brokenhearted. The man said
"Cut and print!"
Then everyone applauded, including Shirley, who was also crying. Cindy calmed down enough to dry her face and stop snuffling.
"Young lady. I loved your performance. I'll make sure to let the director see your rushes, I want you to play me as a young pre teenager."
Shirley herself told her. They left after getting an autographed picture of Shirley as The Little Princess. They also heard Barbara's mother scolding the child because she really didn't want to act. It was her mother that wanted to live her fantasy through Barbara. As they drove home, Cindy was so excited, that night at dinner, Alice had fixed meatloaf, mashed potatoes, lima beans and a vanilla cake with vanilla frosting. The children got milk and Mike and Carol drank coffee. The other children were excited for Cindy too.
Three days later a man that was the executive producer for Twentieth Century Fox called the house and told Cindy that she got the role of Shirley Temple from the ages of ten through twelve. Cindy put her picture of Shirley Temple in a frame and as she went to the studio to make the movie, she met Shirley's younger daughter Lori. She also met her older daughter Susan and Susan's new baby.
For the rest of her life, Cindy Brady would remember this movie and her friends watched the movie and Cindy Brady was still the sweet and pretty girl they all loved. She didn't turn into a snob. It was her only movie and she was glad, because she just wanted to be the youngest daughter and the youngest sister.