I was shocked to read that Annette Funicello died. Like most prepubescent boys back in the 1950s who watched the Mickey Mouse Club, I was madly in love with Annette. There were other girl Mouseketeers but Annette somehow stood out. She had a sort of magical personality that just melted my little adolescent heart.
Annette was born Oct. 22, 1942, (just a few months after me) in Utica, N.Y. Her family moved to Los Angeles when she was 4 years old. At the age of 13 she was spotted by Walt Disney while she was dancing the lead in "Swan Lake" at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank. He asked her to audition for his new children's TV series called "The Mickey Mouse Club."
The show debuted Oct. 3, 1955, and she quickly became the most popular member of the group. Of course I liked other things about the Mickey Mouse Club including "The Adventures of Spin and Marty" which centered around two boys about my age and their adventures at a western summer camp. Another favorite of mine on the Mickey Mouse Club was "The Hardy Boys." Neither one of those shows featured Annette, as I recall, but they had other redeeming qualities such as horses in one and a mystery in the other. I didn't spend all my time thinking about girls, well, most but not all the time.
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I can remember rushing home from school every day so I could get there in time to watch the show. One part of the show's intro would have each Mouseketeer step up to the camera and say their name. I waited breathlessly for my dream girl. Then there she was practically filling the screen on our brand new 19-inch black-and-white Philco TV. I'd sigh and look dreamily at her beautiful face. I wondered what it would be like to talk to her then I realized I could barely talk to the girls in my class at school. How could I possibly talk to the TV goddess with the mouse ears?
So for the next couple of years I lived in a fantasy world where Annette and I were the best of friends. Then as sometimes happens we drifted apart. The series ended and I moved on to "real" girls.
Annette moved on, too. After the Mickey Mouse Club ended she was the only Mouseketeer to stay under contract with Disney. She went on to appear in such 1950s classic TV shows as "Zorro" and starred in the Disney feature films "The Shaggy Dog," "Babes in Toyland," "The Misadventures of Merlin Jones" and "The Monkey's Uncle."
In the 1960s she starred with teen idol Frankie Avalon in a series of beach movies including "Beach Party," "Muscle Beach Party," "Bikini Beach," "Beach Blanket Bingo" and "How to Stuff a Wild Bikini." It was also during this time she recorded several top 40 hit singles like "Tall Paul," "First Name Initial," "How Will I know My Love" and "Pineapple Princess." Successful record albums included "Hawaiiannette," "Italiannette" and "Dance Annette."
She and Frankie Avalon teamed up again in 1987 to co-produce and star in "Back to the Beach" as parents of a pair of troublesome teenagers. It was at this time Annette was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). She went public with her illness in 1992.
Later that year, she established The Annette Funicello Research Fund for Neurological Diseases. It is dedicated to funding research into the cause, treatment and cure of multiple sclerosis and other neurological diseases and continues to be an active charity.
Despite battling MS, in the 1990s, Annette launched The Annette Funicello Teddy Bear Company, marketing a line of collectible bears on QVC, and developed her own perfume line, Cello, by Annette. In 1992, on her 50th birthday, she was named a Disney Legend.
But as the disease progressed Annette stayed out of the public eye and since that time was cared for by her second husband Glen Holt.
I'll never forget those great days of the 1950s when I watched the Mickey Mouse Club and I know my first love Annette now has a special place in heaven.
Terry Turner is a Prime writer and can be reached at tturner174@longlines.com
