Throwback Thursday: Remembering Shirley Temple, America's Sweetheart

As part of National Library Week, we're kicking off Throwback Thursday—our celebration of films, TV shows, music and stars we love from yesteryear.

And who else can we feature for our inaugural edition but America's Sweetheart?

Shirley Temple Black requires no introduction so we'll keep this short. She is on the short list for the most famous child star of all time. (The entire list: Shirley Temple and Michael Jackson.)

Her acting career was a comet. She was the most famous actress in the world before she hit puberty and functionally retired by the age of 22.

To her credit, she avoided many of the pitfalls that snare the obscenely famous once they become slightly less famous. She served as the U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia, as well as the first female U.S. Chief of Protocol.

She survived breast cancer and was one of the first prominent women to speak about the disease publicly. She died this year at 85 and was survived by her three children, one granddaughter and two great-grandchildren.

Whether you're already a huge Shirley fan or don't know where to begin with her classic filmography, the Mentor Library can help you find what we're looking for.

We have most of her films on DVD from her classics like Curly Top, Heidi and Bright Eyes to her less known films like Young People.

If you'd rather stream a movie onto your computer, phone or tablet than watch a DVD, you can use your library card to stream Shirley's The Little Princess, The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer and The Story of Seabiscuit via Hoopla. (You remember how to use Hoopla, right?)

Maybe you just want to listen to Shirley's music. Who doesn't want to hear "Animal Crackers in my Soup" or "On the Good Ship Lollipop" sometimes?

Well, you can use your library card to download mp3s of those and more of her greatest hits for free from Freegal. You never have to return them either. Those songs are yours to keep and use however you want for the rest of your life. (In case you don't know how to use Freegal...)

And we have all sorts of books about Shirley too. This is, after all, a library. We have biographies, pictorial histories, children's books about her and more.

So if you want to revisit the codfish ball or the good ship Lollipop, stop by the Mentor Public Library; because a classic like Shirely Temple never goes out of style.

Come back each week for a new Throwback Thursday profile.