The first film adaptation of the Eleanor Gates novel, The Poor Little Rich Girl, was released in 1917 and starred Mary Pickford. Her performance would be completely overshadowed, however, when Shirley Temple took ownership of the role of Barbara Barry 19 years later and injected her own inimitable charm, creating a timeless classic for the ages.

Barbara is young daughter of Richard Barry, a recently widowed soap tycoon. He intends to send his daughter to a boarding school, but on the way to the train station, the girl’s guardian, a nursemaid named Collins is injured and Barbara soon finds herself alone and far from the comforts of home. While most little girls might be terrified by these circumstances, Barbara sees opportunity and decides to live out a fantasy by pretending to be an orphan so she can meet all kinds of new and interesting folks around town.

First, she befriends Tony, a local organ grinder, who brings the tyke home to his boarding house. While there, she becomes acquainted with married vaudeville duo, Jimmy and Jerry Dolan. Noticing that the little girl is a song and dance dynamo, they invite her to join their act and, as a result, they manage to win a spot on a radio show – one that just happens to be a rival of her father’s company.

You can’t make a Shirley Temple film and not fill it chock-full of song-and-dance numbers – and The Poor Little Rich Girl certainly didn’t disappoint in that regard. Songs like “You’ve Got to Eat Your Spinach, Baby, ”Oh My Goodness” and “When I’m With You” served to showcase the formidable talents of the cherubic celebrity and further secure her reputation as one of the biggest film superstars of the era. This endearing film remains a classic to this day and serves to remind just how much talent Shirley Temple actually possessed.