Mrs. Black for Congress

In suburban San Mateo, Calif., Mrs. Charles Black is known as a busy housewife, civic worker and Republican fund raiser. To the rest of the world, of course, she will always be Shirley Temple, and when she cast her bonnet into the political ring last week there were the inevitable cracks about the curly-haired moppet boop-a-dooping into the U.S. Congress to the tune of On the Good Ship Lollipop. In fact, as the candidate said in no uncertain terms, "Little Shirley Temple is not running. Make it, Shirley Temple Black, Republican independent."

Now a plumpishly attractive, brown-haired woman of 39, Shirley is 18 years retired from the extraordinary film career that began at age three and made her a millionaire at ten. Occasionally, she will catch The Littlest Rebel, Little Miss Marker or Bright Eyes on television, but, says she, "I always think of her as 'the little girl.' She's not me."

Even as a fledgling politician, Shirley doesn't much identify with the goldilocks who hoofed with George Murphy in 1938's Little Miss Broadway and played opposite Ronald Reagan in 1947's That Hagen Girl.

Flop Society. Announcing her candidacy for the congressional seat vacated last June by the death of Representative J. Arthur Younger, Shirley --whose second husband owns an experimental and commercial oyster farm--told a news conference: "Our country is in deep trouble. The Great Society has become a Great Flop." Although she dodged specific questions with her famous dimpled smile, she did offer some strong general opinions on two inescapable issues. "It is not progress for the largest, strongest military power in the world to be mired down in an apparently endless war with one of the smallest and weakest countries in the world," she said. Though she wants the U.S. to "honor our commitment" in Viet Nam, she argued that it should be done quickly.

"It is not progress," she went on, "when some of our citizens participate in bloody riots and burn down whole sections of cities; when pornography becomes big business and when our children are exposed to it." A mother of three--two girls, 13 and 19, and a boy, 15--she resigned last year as program chairman of the San Francisco Film Festival because the selection committee decided to show a raw Swedish movie called Night Games, portraying, among other things, sodomy and incest.

Even though she comes late to the special election campaign to be decided Nov. 14--with a Dec. 12 runoff scheduled if no candidate receives a majority--Mrs. Black will have the advantage of her name and possibly even some campaign help from her old screen pals, Senator George Murphy and Governor Ronald Reagan. Against six other Republicans and three Democrats, she is given a fair chance of becoming a political star.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.