“Ambassador Black”

I was told to send her a letter…that all requests must be faxed. I had done it every few years…but this time I fumbled her name in the salutation. “Dear Ms. Temple-Black” I wrote, asking for the third or fourth time in my career for a big sit-down television interview. It would be her very first. The response was not a letter or a fax – but a phone call!   In a gentle but slightly stern voice “This is Ambassador Black” calling responding to your letter.” Stunned but fully reminded of my poor correspondence etiquette…I thought Letitia Baldridge would not be happy. I listened to her explain why she wouldn’t do an interview. “Im not pretty anymore..age hasn’t been good to me.” Promising her the best camera and lighting didn’t mean a thing. Neither did an anchor coming all the way to her San Francisco bay area home. She wouldn’t budge. She said she was impressed at my repeated attempts, but that like all the other times, she wasn’t feeling up to it. Evidently me and someone at CNN had kept her on speed dial for many years. I encouraged her to think about it and we went through the polite motions we always did with eachother and I politely hung up.

Her 80^th birthday was fast approaching. I brainstormed …I dreamed…how could I convince her?

After all, our nation was hitting rock bottom in the depths of the recession. Shirley Temple helped save America once before it had been said by a President back in The Great Depression. Her happy movies lifted the spirit of a nation. (She giggled but sounded proud when we spoke about that).   What could she say about THIS  Depression, I thought, rather desperately.

She made no secret of her pride in her work in diplomacy and international service, with her ambassadorship to the Czech Republic, appointed by President George H.W. Bush being her longest appointment. She was also Ambassador to Ghana and, of course, U.S. Chief of Protocol…(”Ambassador Black”!)

On to Plan B and so I began to execute my booking and wooing plan. I went to the Victor Benes bakery in Hollywood (which had become the premium bakery vendor at Gelsons Grocery stores. Benes was a Czech baker who came to America in the early 1900’s.  Benes’ bakery sold a Princess Cake. The story was that the Princess cake was made for Shirley Temple, Americas little Princess of the Great Depression (and US Ambassador).

Next stop: Burbank airport. I even upgraded to First so that I and the cake would be comfy and not stuffed in Economy. TSA waved me through no problem. “It’s a cake for Shirley Temple’s 80^th birthday”, I announced.  A gaggle of flight attendants were extra excited about our creamy green icing vanilla base precious cargo. After landing, I obsessed all morning with my friend and colleague Lynn Redmond about what time I should have my booking sneak attack with cake. This was a ballsy booking strategy and I was acting like I was invited and expected at her Woodside, California home….for her 80^th birthday! After all, legendary powerhouse Executive Producer Shelley Ross once boomed on a conference call, “Brian O’Keefe…if you book Shirley Temple, I will buy you a car!!. A Mercedes I was thinking…convertible….

I guess I am courageous because it was rather nerve wracking to show up unannounced…surely violating protocol, etcetere. I even knocked softly, almost intentionally so she wouldn’t hear it so I could just leave and get the hell out of there.

No answer. I hear a scuffle behind the door, murmuring voices, and a delay. Finally, the door opens. Its her housekeeper. I ask to see “Ambassador Black”. She closes the door, “Wait a minute”. More delay. My heart racing. More whispering, pitter patter of maid slippers. The door opens. The housekeeper again. “Im so sorry she is not at home Just ten minutes ago her son took her to the hospital, we have had an emergency.” Shirley Temple Black  had fallen and broken her arm and wrist. The whispering drama was simply her getting permission from the son to accept the cake.

Deflated, I headed home to LA. But I wasn’t finished trying. I didn’t bother her in the hospital, like everyone else. I decided to record and produce a video birthday card with “little girls” of all ages singing “On the good ship Lollipop” and “Happy Birthday” on her actual birthday. It aired on Good Morning America as the last gasp of booking woo with the best of the best Diane Sawyer introducing the sing a long message. I called her son and told him to tell her to watch. Hospitalized, on her birthday, she did.

A few days later, my office phone rang (Shirley never called my cell). “This is Ambassador Black. I wanted to thank you for that beautiful cake you brought all the way to my home. You know I would go to the Victor Benes bakery often as a child”. (“Bingo..i thought briefly but I could tell by her voice that the call…and our brief booking dance was about to end….again.) Breathlessly I asked if she had seen the video. “It was lovely..Thank you very much.”   “I gather an interview honoring your 80^th birthday isn’t in the cards,” I whimpered.   For the very last time (she started to sound like she felt guilty for saying no…truly apologetic)…”I just don’t want to be on TV..I’m sorry and thank you for doing all of this.”

The interview never happened. Fifteen years at ABC, I rarely am in my office but somehow took two calls from Shirley Temple at my desk. The very woman, who as a child bigger than life, and happy as all can be, mesmerized generations with her giddy cheerfulness, strength and imaginary world where bon bons play.