When I happened across the gorgeous Ariane Beigneux bluebirdy image above (very similar to the little boy and his bluebird who sit above Finleys bed) it immediately got me thinking about my favorite childhood film, The BlueBird with Shirley Temple, who plays Mytyl, a little girl who sets off with her brother in search of the bluebird of happiness.
While other children adored The Wizard of Oz I was never that enamored with the Munchkins, and instead my imagination was captured by the gorgeous scene in which Mytyl and Tytyl find themselves in the place were children live before they are born…

With scrumptious sets and heavenly, other worldly color reminiscent of the Edwardian tinted postcard, the film explores a similair theme to Oz in that it ultimately sets out to prove that home is where the heart is and that though you may travel near and far, the bluebird of happiness will always settle on the bough of the tree closest to home.
While The BlueBird wasn’t a huge commercial success and I know many find Shirley Temple sickly sweet, for me being the star of the two films I loved most as a child, The Bluebird and the heart wrenching joy that is The Little Princess ( My Daddy has to go away but he will return most any day. Any moment I may see my daddy coming back to me. Sob!), she was the epitome of the Hollywood my Nana taught me to love, and even now I’m all growed up, I still don’t want to slap her when she bursts into song- though experiencing a kid like Shirley on the playground might just be a different matter!
More than that I love the idea of the bluebird as an emblem of happiness and can’t think of anything lovelier to have on my bedside than a little reminder that we don’t have to wander too far to find happiness if we only we are grateful enough to enjoy all that is already ours, and so I am scouring Ebay for small bluebirdy tokens to stuff in my loved ones stockings and truly hoping that they are reading this and will take the hint that I would be a very happy little bluebird indeed, were I to find this boxset stuffed in my own…
We have to remember to be little girls sometime don’t we?
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