The play is a spoof of Depression-era Shirley Temple movies and was presented in a black and white design.
Curley McDimple opened at the off Broadway Bert Wheeler Theatre, New York City on November 22, 1967, and ran for 931 performances, closing on January 25, 1970.
Robert Dahdah directed, musical numbers were staged by Lonnie Evans, and Bernadette Peters was featured as "Alice", a performer.
[3] In the 1930s, Curley (the Shirley Temple-like character) arrives at Sarah's Theatrical Boarding House, a shabby but homey theatrical boarding house in Manhattan, New York City, run by a nice Irish lady, Sarah.
The boarders aid Sarah, who is threatened with losing her house through foreclosure by the banker, Mr. Gillingwater, by putting on a benefit vaudeville show.