The top movie box-office attraction in the U.S. between 1935 - 1938 was not your normal actor or actress. Who or what was it?

In the midst of the Great (Review) Depression, American audiences craved optimism and a reason to smile. They found it not in a dashing leading man or a glamorous actress, but in a pint-sized performer with bouncing curls and infectious dimples. From 1935 through 1938, child actress Shirley Temple was the undisputed queen of Hollywood, out-earning and out-drawing all of her adult contemporaries at the box office.

Temple's films, like "Bright Eyes" and "The Little Colonel," offered a comforting formula of song, dance, and plucky optimism. Her characters often melted the hearts of grumpy adults and solved complex problems with simple, childlike honesty. Her appeal was so potent that President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously credited her with lifting the nation's morale, stating, "As long as our country has Shirley Temple, we will be all right."

While stars like Clark Gable and Fred Astaire dominated headlines, it was this young girl who consistently sold the most tickets. Her four-year reign as the top box-office draw remains a unique phenomenon in cinema history, proving that she was more than just an entertainer; she was a symbol of hope during one of the nation's darkest economic periods.