Arthur Freed Allegedly Exposed Himself to 12‑Year‑Old Shirley Temple — A Dark Example of Studio Power Abuse

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Arthur Freed Allegedly Exposed Himself to 12‑Year‑Old Shirley Temple — A Dark Example of Studio Power Abuse

Arthur Freed / Golden Age

Arthur Freed—by the 1940s the immensely powerful MGM musical unit chief who would later produce An American in Paris (1951) and Gigi (1958) and shepherd Singin' in the Rain (1952)—has, in decades since his death, been accused of using that backstage authority to sexually exploit young performers. In her 1988 autobiography and a 1988 Larry King Live interview, Shirley Temple recounted that when she was 12 years old, in 1940, a then‑46‑year‑old Freed interviewed her about a possible move to MGM and, she wrote, unzipped his trousers and exposed himself to her. Temple said she giggled out of ignorance and that Freed promptly threw her out of his office; she also alleged that studio boss Louis B. Mayer sexually propositioned her mother in an adjacent room during the same episode. Temple maintained these events were key reasons she declined to pursue a career at MGM beyond her single film there and returned to 20th Century Fox.