These two were the biggest child stars of all time & were contemporaries. But their lives were quite different.To take Shirley (1928-2014) first, her precocious talent was discovered while still an infant & exploited to the full. Her cheerful persona dispelled the blues of the Great depression & was rumoured to pull a famous studio out of impending bankruptcy. John Ford, no lover of child stars, was compelled to use her in one of his films but in spite of being ignored by him at first, she quickly won his heart to the extent of being named by him as "Single Take Shirley" in recognition of her perfection. Her IQ being checked was found to be 155! She used it to educate herself between shots, so that when she quit films in her early twenties, she became a business woman & then a diplomat representing USA at many countries. She was married twice. Her auto-biography shows her level headedness in handling her unprecedented fame.
Sadly this last quality was lacking in Judy (1922-1969). Whisking the coveted role of Dorothy (in "The Wizard of Oz") right from under the nose of her younger rival Shirley, she catapulted to dizzy heights of stardom under the inspired direction of Victor Fleming & her own magnificent singing voice. Even though she made other popular films, buckling under the stress of stardom, she sought refuge in barbiturates, an overdose of which was the cause of her early death at 47, compared to the ripe old age of 86 reached by Shirley. Judy was married 5 times in the "glorious" tradition of Hollywood. Probably only her early death prevented her from reaching the record 8 marriages of Elizabeth Taylor!
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