This obituary first caught my attention because I grew up watching
old, old reruns of the "Our Gang" movies and shorts (both because our
local station alternate them with the Three Stooges and because my
father pressed me to watch them, in his never-ending quest for his
children to understand his own Depression-era childhood). Unlike
Spanky, Alfalfa and Buckwheat,
or even the pre-murderous Robert Blake, little Shirley Jean never made
a huge impact on me. I wouldn't have remembered her face (that's her on
the far right), much less her name.
But reading her obit provides a fresh glimpse into how little the lives of Hollywood's child stars have really changed.
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