Welcome to the History Tricks, where any resemblance to a boring old history lesson is purely coincidental.

And here's your 30-second summary.

Once upon a time, there was a little Moppet, whose grit and optimism on screen gave the world courage to make it through the Great Depression.

But time is a fickle mistress, and fashion is too, and Shirley Temple reinvented herself.

This time, to star on the political stage.

The End.

Let's talk about Shirley Temple Black.

But first, let's drop her into history.

In 1931, Thomas Edison submitted his last of over 1000 patents.

This one was for an electroplating component.

Jane Adams was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The 98-foot tall Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro was completed.

Alka Seltzer and electric shavers were first sold.

Alvin Ailey, James Earl Jones, James Dean, Tony Morrison, Rita Moreno, William Shattner, Leonard Nimoy, Desmond Tutu, and Dan Rather were all born.

Anna Pavlova, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and Thomas Edison all died.

And in 1931, little Shirley Temple stood in front of a film camera for her very first movie.

Shirley Jane Temple was born April 23, 1928, the third and last child of George Temple, and Gertrude Krieger Temple.

Papa George was originally from Pennsylvania. He was a California transplant, but his family had been in the United States since before the Revolutionary War.

His father had been a very eccentric doctor.

However, he died when George was just eight, leaving the widow temple with four children living in Erie, Pennsylvania.

When George's older sister contracted tuberculosis, the family needed to look for someplace warmer that was better for her health, so they moved to California.

And it was there that George went to school for only about a year, because he had to drop out of school at 14 to get a job to help support this family.

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