Fox Restores Blush to Temple’s Face

What’s been keeping Shirley Temple, the curly-haired child star of the 1930s, from being a heroine to a whole new generation of kiddies?

FoxVideo, which already has 20 of Temple’s movies on video, thinks it has come up with an answer: color and marketing.

If a movie is not in color, many of today’s tots lose interest in it after a few minutes. And the movie has to be marketed to them--and their parents--in such a way as to make it a must-see.

So far, the wholesome but black-and-white Temple movies such as “Heidi,” “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” and “Wee Willie Winkie” have been largely geared to the classic-film market, not to children. But starting Tuesday, that’s changing.

The first of Fox’s colorized and repackaged Temple movies hits the market--”Heidi” (1937), “Bright Eyes” (1934) and “Dimples” (1936). A new one will come out on the first Wednesday of every month until all 20 are released.

The list price will be $15 (though the black-and-white versions are still $20). But many stores undoubtedly will offer discounts in hopes of stimulating impulse buying.

The shrewdest marketing ploy, though, is hitching Temple’s star to “Mrs. Doubtfire,” which FoxVideo is also releasing on video Tuesday. There’s not only a rebate program linking the Temple movies to “Mrs. Doubtfire,” but the Robin Williams comedy also includes a trailer for the colorized series.

Behind all this Temple sunniness lurk some storm clouds.

In today’s kiddie-oriented videos, painstaking care is taken to make sure that children see only images of racial equality. In the Temple movies, though, that’s not the case. Black actors such as Stepin Fetchit, Willie Best and Bill Robinson are routinely presented in roles that, by today’s standards, are demeaning stereotypes.

Bruce Pfander, senior vice president for marketing at FoxVideo, says the company has received no complaints about racism in the Temple movies, which have been very profitable on video in the black-and-white versions.

“After all these years, no one has complained to us that the movies are offensive,” he said. “If there had been complaints, we would never repackage and re-promote these movies. The last thing we want to do is offend anybody.”

Anticipating a problem, though, FoxVideo had the movies rated. So if you buy the Temple movies, check the ratings. “Heidi,” for instance, is a G, which means there’s nothing deemed potentially offensive in it. But “Dimples,” which features Stepin Fetchit, gets a PG--for historical racial stereotyping. “Bright Eyes” also has a PG rating.

Special Interest Videos

If Madonna’s infamous appearance on a recent “Late Show With David Letterman” didn’t totally turn you off, you might check out her new video, due Tuesday, “The Girlie Show-Live Down Under.” It’s her two-hour HBO special, on Warner, priced at $30. . . . Despite a long-winded title, “1071 Fifth Avenue, Frank Lloyd Wright and the Story of the Guggenheim Museum” is an intriguing documentary about the architect’s remarkable creation (Home Vision, $30).

Tech News

If you’re tired of grainy, fuzzy pictures in the EP mode on your VCR, you might try Toshiba’s new M-760. This is a six-headed VCR, with two extra heads for recording and playing in the EP mode--an industry first. You get an EP picture that’s very close to the one in the standard play, or SP, mode. The retail price is $550, which means that many stores will discount it in the $450-$475 range.

What’s New on Video:

“Mr. Jones” (Columbia TriStar). A charming manic-depressive (Richard Gere) is treated by a repressed psychiatrist (Lena Olin) and a love affair blooms, “Prince of Tides”-style. The stars are miscast and the script is bad.

“Flesh and Bone” (Paramount). When this came out, industry insiders dubbed it “Flesh and Bore.” It’s about an uptight Texan (Dennis Quaid) whose father (James Caan) murdered a farm family. The Texan gets involved with a woman (Meg Ryan) who is strangely linked to his past.

“The Saint of Fort Washington” (Warner). Realistic, informative look at the homeless scene set in a buddy-movie format. A wily Vietnam vet (Danny Glover) takes a gentle schizophrenic (Matt Dillon) under his wing and teaches him how to live on the New York streets. This fairly simple tale of their relationship is somewhat Hollywoodized but is still a decent drama--though a real downer.

“Another Stakeout” (Touchstone). Nowhere near as entertaining as the 1987 original. Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez again play buddy cops, this time trying to find a fugitive federal witness (Cathy Moriarty). A novice assistant district attorney (Rosie O’Donnell) is added to the undercover operation. Only mildly funny.

“It Happens Every Spring” (FoxVideo). A chemistry professor (Ray Milland) develops a substance that repels wood. Because it makes a baseball unhittable, he uses it to become a star pitcher.