Although made in 1918, this film apparently was not released until 1920, when it was retitled from The Star Prince to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
       Principal photography likely took place in Chicago, IL, between May 1918 and September 1918, as indicated by contemporary news items. On 11 May 1918, Motion Picture News announced that writer-director Madeline Brandeis and producer Courtland J. Van Deusen had teamed with Leo W. Hoffman to form Little Players Film Company in Chicago, with a mandate “to produce, exhibit and release motion pictures”; their capital was listed as $5,000. Months later, the 28 September 1918 Exhibitors Herald and Motography noted that production of The Star Prince was completed.
       An advertisement for Wholesome Films Corp. in the 6 December 1919 Exhibitors Herald claimed that the picture, now titled Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, had been produced by Wholesome as part of a series that also included Little Red Riding Hood (1918, see entry) and Humpty Dumpty (1920, see entry); however, Wholesome likely acquired the film after it was made. Additional conflicting information appeared in a 2 October 1920 Motion Picture News brief, which stated that Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star was “one of the first productions of the Cortland Moving Picture Corporation of Indianapolis”—this was likely a misspelling of Courtland Moving Picture Corporation, as Courtland J. Van Deusen ran an advertisement for another company, Apex Pictures Corporation, in the 1920 Motion Picture Studios Directory and Trade Annual, which listed The Star Prince as one of his credits and stated that the producer was based in Indianapolis, IN.
       Theatrical release via the states’ rights market occurred on or before April 1920. An advertisement in the 21 April 1920 Greenville News listed a 24 April 1920 opening in Greenville, SC.
       This film is extant, and a digitized version has been made available by the Harvard Film Archive.