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Please help support the Golden Days of Burlesque Historical Society. If you are interested in owning the print "Gilda" shown below you are invited to contact the artist at dacardiff@sympatico.ca. Half of the proceeds of each sale will go the the Sponsor a Dancer program administered by the Golden Days of Burlesque Historical Society.
Shirley Jean Rickert won a baby contest in Seattle at age one and a half years. Her mother re-located the family to Hollywood as she was sure she had a child star. Shirley Jean's first movie was at age three when she appeared in How's My Baby in 1930. She appeared with Our Gang in such memorable roles as the "poor little rich girl" in Bargain Day (1931) who politely and graciously listens to door-to-door peddlars Stymie and Wheezer. Or as the "vamp" in Helping Grandma (1931) who charms Wheezer out of candy meant for Dorothy.
After leaving the Gang she appeared in over one hundred movies, mostly musicals, as a dancer and an actress including 'Neath Arizona Skies (1934) with John Wayne. Shirley recalls that "John Wayne was one of the nicest people who ever lived". He made sure she "got her share of close-ups". She was a dancer in Singing in the Rain with Gene Kelly (1952). "After Singing in the Rain there just weren't any more musicals being made, not even by MGM or Universal and I had a baby and Mother to support. I went down to the burlesque theatre, the Follies, to work in the chorus between gigs in pictures and TV. I saw all these not very graceful females making good money. I was a dancer and said to my self, 'Self', I said, 'I can do that and do it a whole lot better.' The choreographer at the theatre was Lillian Hunt, who had trained several strippers, including Venus and Tempest Storm. She took me under her capacious wing and I became Gilda and Her Crowning Glory. Not one of her better 'naming' jobs. From there I spent quite a few years traveling the burlesque theatre and night club circuit all over the states and Canada."
In later years Shirley Jean Measures had many diverse careers including "Salesgirl, Truck Driver (a ton-and-a-half for the Air Force during the war, in El Reno, Oklahoma), Secretary, Office Manager, Dressmaker, Bartender, miniature Shop owner, Regional Theatre (Director of Group Sales and in charge of student matinees, a real challenge), Motion picture booker for Paramount, Fairfield Processing's contact with the National Grange, Nut and bolt salesman (not a saleslady - salesladies sell girdles and I earned the title of SALESMAN)." Shirley Jean now runs her own desktop publishing business Measures Up and lives happily in Malta, New York. She has one daughter and two grandsons.
Read more about Shirley Jean at her webpage: http://www.measuresup.com
More "Painted Portraits of Burlesque Dancers" pages will be added in the coming months. For a sneak preview of some of the celebrities whose portraits will be painted click on the following links:
"Candy Caramelo"
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