The child star is an iconic figure in Western society representing a growing cultural trend which idolises, castigates and fetishises the image of the perfect, innocent and beautiful child. In this book, Jane O’Connor explores the paradoxical status of the child star who is both adored and reviled in contemporary society. Drawing on current debates about the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood and fears about children ‘growing up too soon’, she identifies hostile media attention around child stars as indicative of broader social concerns about the ‘correct’ role and place of children in relation to normative ideals of childhood. Through reference to extensive empirical examples of the way child stars such as Shirley Temple, Macaulay Culkin, Charlotte Church and Jackie Coogan have been constructed in the media, this book illustrates both the powerlessness and the power held by this tiny band of children, and demonstrates their significance as representatives of the public face of childhood throughout the twentieth century and beyond.

(Applause Books). Shirley Temple was a phenomenon, a child star whose talent and personality earned her a permanent place in Hollywood history. The extraordinary six-year-old entertainer struck a chord with audiences all over the globe. Her career sparked a marketing sensation, spurring the production of anything and everything bearing her image-from dolls to tin whistles-in all corners of the globe, both authorized and unauthorized. Despite the decades-long interest in everything Temple, never before has there been a lavishly illustrated art book examining the phenomenon that was Shirley Temple as a child star in the 1930s. Many of the rare and unusual Shirley Temple collectibles have never been featured in print. Along with an informal, concise history of the childhood career of Ms. Temple (featuring film stills, many never-before-seen photographs, and personal snapshots of Shirley as well as several taken by her), this book is a visual treat befitting the magic of the most famous child star of all time, as well as the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Diana Serra Cary's well-wrought, empathetic narrative presents the underside of the glittering stage and screen world: frightened children, merchants who buy and sell childhood as a commodity, rapacious stage mothers and fathers whose ambition and avarice make them willing to sacrifice their children to fulfill their own dreams. The first part of the book mines a lode of new information, recounting stories of the precursors to Hollywood's child stars (and their ambitious parents) - the spectacular 1853 stage debut of four-year-old Cordelia Howard, the rise of red-haired Lotta Crabtree in California's Gold Rush camps, and the travails and triumphs of the hoydenish Elsie Janis as she ad-libbed her way to stardom. Cary - as "Baby Peggy", Hollywood's pioneer child star, the youngest in theatrical history - has lived her subject, surviving a childhood filled with an enormous workload, some real physical danger, and emotional trauma. She weaves her own story of being her family's chief breadwinner with similar tales involving famous movie children she knew and worked with - Jackie Coogan, Shirley Temple, Mickey Rooney, and Judy Garland, among many others.

The twenty-first century has seen an explosion in the ways and means in which children can become part of celebrity culture. With the rise in popularity of reality TV, child beauty pageants, talent shows, and social media platforms, as well as more established routes to fame through TV, cinema, theatre and music, the number of children establishing a presence in public life continues to proliferate. Childhood and Celebrity brings together international scholarly writing and research about famous children, and representations of childhood, from a range of disciplines including Childhood Studies, Celebrity Studies, Cultural Studies and Film Studies in order to open up a theoretical space in which to explore and understand the complex relationship between contemporary childhood and celebrity culture. This unique collection includes detailed case studies of specific child performers such as McCaulay Culkin and Miley Cyrus, histories of child stars in the ‘Golden Age’ of Hollywood, analyses of representations of children in film and discussions of children as media creators and producers. Key themes of transgression, gender, ‘coming of age’, childhood innocence and children’s rights recur in the chapters and present a compelling argument for the emergence of the field of Childhood and Celebrity as an area of study in its own right.

This enlightening book is the go-to guide for fans for biographical information, rare photos, and interesting trivia about their favorite child stars, shows, series, networks, and the times that defined the shows. Spanning forty years of television history, this book details both the success stories and misfortunes of many child stars. Included in this book are the stories of Anissa Jones, Buffy on Family Affair, who tragically died from a drug overdose at the age of eighteen, as well as Ron Howard, who starred in both The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days, and who later became an Academy Award–winning director. A child star herself, Kathy Garver profiles these and other legends of classic television in a book that will answer the question: Where are they now?

This in-depth look at the psychological effects of being a former child star includes an examination of the life of Dana Plato, and includes interviews with former child actors who appeared on various television shows. Color and bandw photos.