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Shirley Jean Rickert-Measures
by Fred T. Beeman
AMC regrets to note the passing of former “Our Gang” moppet, Shirley Jean Rickert-Measures, the tiny spit-curled blond of the early 1930s, who also played Tomboy Taylor in five of the competing “Mickey McGuire” comedies in 1933-34. She was 82 when she left us on February 6, 2009 in a Saratoga Springs, New York, elderly care facility, according to Melody Kennedy, her daughter. Although she certainly had a full and productive life, she never quite achieved the stardom that her stage mother felt she should have achieved, when she took her to a Hal Roach interview at the age of four. As she later told an interviewer, “Stage mothers are just vile women, including my own.”
 She was born on March 25, 1926 in Seattle, Washington, and her road to the entertainment arena began with the winning of a baby beauty contest at 18 months, which prompted her mother to move the family to Hollywood.
After her stint as a child performer and as an uncredited extra, dancing in some musicals of the 1940s and 50s, she pursued a career as a burlesque dancer, using the name “Gilda and Her Crowning Glory,” which had been bestowed upon her by her stage manager.
We offer our most heartfelt condolences to Shirley Jean’s daughter, her two grandsons, her two great-grandchildren, her many fans and loyal friends.
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