Dissed by a Little Rascal

In the early 70’s my father’s job took him overseas again. My mother and my three youngest siblings went with him. This left me living alone in Rhode Island. A fourth brother was living in Oklahoma. My cousin’s husband had recently graduated college with an art degree. He found work in a regional theatre company in Springfield, MA. Being Okies (less in my case, more in her case) and relatives living in the East we would visited occasionally.

Her husband Steve worked as a set designer for the theatre. Also at the theatre was a former member of the comedic series Our Gang (also known as The Little Rascals), Shirley Jean Rickert. She worked as the theatre’s secretary, and she would occasionally act.

One of my visits was just after successfully opening of a new play. Someone was putting on a party for the production crew. My cousins dragged me along to this party. I say drag as I am still not much on parties, and at that point in my life I was painfully shy. Ms. Rickert was there.

Not knowing anyone and being uncomfortable I had found a seat on a couch in the back corner of the living room. No one else was on the couch as most folks were standing and mingling. What happened next could have been the beginning of a wonderful new adventure, but it turned out differently. This amazingly hot young woman was standing in front of me asking to sit down. Being the 70’s she was dressed in a mini skirt and as I remember it a low cut top. She was blonde and very beautiful. Her legs went from the ground all the way up to her derriere. She was probably 19 or so, very close to my age. They could not have achieved more feminine perfection in Weird Science.

I was absolutely in awe and in my shyness actually struck dumb. I nodded, she sat down. She made several conversational gambits, none of which I could respond to. After a few minutes of this she got up and went to find someone whose mouth worked. I remember feeling like an utter fool due to my inability to speak.

As turned out this dream was the daughter of Shirley Jean Rickert. As we were leaving the party, Ms. Rickert said to me, “Come back again sometime when you learn how to talk.”

Of such moments memories are made.

Shirley Jean Rickert links: