Marianna Michalska
Mary Gray
The Shimmy Queen
Gilda Gray, Acting
Rydlewo, Znin County, Kingdom of Prussia [now Rydlewo, Kujawsko-Pomorskie, Poland] | 1895-10-25 | 1959-12-22
Gilda Gray (born Marianna Michalska; October 25, 1895 – December 22, 1959) was a Polish-American dancer and actress who popularized a dance called the "shimmy" which became fashionable in 1920s films and theater productions. Between 1919 and 1936, Gray made several movies, in all of which she performed her famous shimmy. [biography (excerpted) from Wikipedia]