This practice was common in the 1930s.
Can be seen as similar to modern-day child beauty pageants,
or teen/tween rock stars such as
Justin Bieber [2010]. Miley Cyrus [2010],
Selena Gomez [2011] et al.)
It is worth noting that many "squeaky" child stars, especially
musical "artists", become magically sexy (sometimes wildly or
freakishly so, some would say) once they turn 18.
In America, at least, this is particularly problematic for some parents,
as their young teen children who once admired slightly older teen
actors and musicians as role models now see those same individuals
suddenly in, shall we say, a different light.
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Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour (CBS, 1957-1960)
"Lucy Goes to Mexico", 6 October 1958
The great Maurice Chevalier is the guest in this episode, which includes a visit
to Tijuana and a concert aboard a Navy ship anchored at San Diego. In a dress
rehearsal, we see Ricky Ricardo (Desi Arnaz) and Chevalier singing "Valentine"
(a song from 1925 with music by Henri Christiné [1867-1941] and words by Albert
Willemetz [1887-1964]) in the company of several beautiful, provocatively-dressed
dancing women. Ricky Ricardo Jr (Richard Keith) is playing the drums. Eventually,
"Little Ricky" leaves the drum set, dons a straw hat, and begins dancing and
singing the song himself, accompanied by four very young girls (they look to be about
six or seven years old; Richard Keith is eight, having been born in 1950). The girls,
like the women seen earlier with Arnaz and Chevalier, are provocatively dressed.
It's all quite innocent, of course, but young Ricardo is clearly portrayed as a
ladykiller, and the girls as objects of his faux-mature sexual interest.
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Our Gang Series (shorts, Hal Roach, 1922-1938; MGM, 1938-1944)
"Mike Fright", 25 August 1934
several 5 or 6 year old girls in hula skirts and tiny bras,
one sings "Little Grass Shack" -- they're played by real-life
dance group The Meglin Kiddies, aka The Five Meglin Kiddies
"Beginner's Luck", 23 February 1935
The Floradora Dollies (The Meglin Kiddies) appear in this short, girls about
5 or 6, wiggle-dancing with backless costumes, singing "Honolulu Baby".
NOTE: for information on The [Five] Meglin Kiddies, see: Leonard Maltin &
Richard W. Bann. The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang.
New York: Crown Trade Paperbacks, 1977/1992
"The Pinch Singer", 4 January 1936
Darla (Darla Hood, born 1931, 5 years old here) auditions for The Gang
to represent The Eagles Club on a radio contest. She sings "I'm in
the Mood for Love" like a torch singer in a nightclub dive. There
is no question that she -- probably unknowingly, by imitating adults she's
heard and seen -- is selling the "real" message of the song:
"I'm in the mood for sex, simply because you're near me."
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The Simpsons (Fox, 1989-present)
"Lisa the Beauty Queen", 15 October 1992
Homer enters Lisa in the Little Miss Springfield pageant.
Contestants (like in any beauty pageant with participants
of any age) strut, wear adult-type makeup, and act
super-feminine in an effort to win the judges' attention.
Contestants in this pageant "must be ages 7 to 9". Lisa is 8.
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War Babies (short, 1932)
Charmaine (Shirley Temple, b.1928) dances provocatively (shakin' booty!)
in an all-kid bar; kids are pseudo-adults, a la Bugsy Malone (film, 1976).
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Young People (film, 1940)
Wendy Ballantine (Shirley Temple, b.1928) first appears in
a Vaudeville show with her adoptive parents. She is topless,
wearing only a lei and grass skirt, doing the hula. The audience
(in the Vaudeville theatre) eats it up. (These scenes were
archive clips from earlier films, made when Temple looked about 7.)