Best remembered for her acting as a child star
in the 'Our Gang' comedies as a child star. Shirley's mother entered
her in a baby beauty contest when she was just 1 1/2 years of
age (which she won) and re-located her family to Hollywood, California
to become what she knew would be a future movie star.
Upon arriving
in California an heading for the studios, Shirley would definitely
get into pictures with her first role being in "How's my
Baby" in 1930. Shortly after this, she had interviewed with
Hal Roach and secured a spot in the "Our Gang Comedies"
untill 1931. The Our Gang Comedies had its first show in 1922
and featured 176 kids throughout its run in 1938 which later became
known as "the Little Rascals" on TV. Later Shirley would
be in the Mickey Maguire Comedies. When her contract was up she
moved to Damoor Studios in Hollywood and started doing musicals
as a teenager, mainly as a dancer.
Shirley wrote; "When they stopped making
major musicals in Hollywood, I became a Striptease in Burlesque
and traveled all over the US and Canada playing in Burlesque Theatres
and nightclubs." She would be known as "Gilda, The Golden
Girl," and was trained by the Burlesque Choreographer Lillian
Hunt. As Gilda she would be labeled as burlesque's sexiest blonde,
she would make more films of the Burlesque type such as the ABC's
of Love.
