The Mickey Mouse Club - 70th Anniversary

The Mickey Mouse Club debuted on October 3, 1955....seventy years ago, today!

The Mouseketeers had actually made their television debut a few months earlier, on July 17, 1955.  They appeared on the "Dateline Disneyland" special, which featured live coverage of Disneyland's grand opening.  Here's a shot from that day, showing Karen Pendleton (left) and Nancy Abbate (right), with Mickey and Minnie Mouse.  Notice the camera cable lying on the ground.  Or maybe it was for lighting or sound?

The only Mickey Mouse Club items I have from the show's original run, are some 78 rpm records.  I've previously mentioned that my grandmother worked in her church's thrift shop, "The Galore Shop," and would buy my brother and me some of the coolest vintage items that came into to the shop.  These records were among some of those items.

The back of the record sleeve listed other Mickey Mouse Club records that were available, encouraging kids to "Collect a Complete Set"!

This one still has an original "Music City Record Racks" price tag affixed to the front.  Wow, sales tax was only .02 cents back then!

For some reason, I was never a fan of the whole "dressing up as a hobo" shtick.  But it seemed to be a thing for a while, considering all of the celebrities who did it; Judy Garland, Lucille Ball, Red Skelton, "Hobo Kelly," Florence Henderson and Maureen McCormick, and Karen and Cubby!

This one has a "slash" through it's .80 cent price, and was repriced at .75 cents.  Gee, a whole nickle off!  But I guess back then, you could get a lot more for just a nickle.....like a candy bar, a pack of gum, an ice cream cone, a bottle of Coke, and a postage stamp!

 

This next record, and the one above, are the only ones with a copyright date (1955) printed on their front covers.

This one featured songs from the 1957 film, "Perri," sung by Mouseketeers, Jimmie Dodd and Darlene Gillespie.

My mom bought this "newer" 45 rpm record for my brother and me.  It has the Club's anthem, "Mickey Mouse Club March," on one side, and the show's "Closing Theme" on the other.  Both songs were written by "adult Mouseketeer" Jimmie Dodd.

I mentioned in my recent "Vintage Easter Stuff" post, that I took piano lessons as a child.  My mom gave me this "Walt Disney Song Book" in July of 1974.  It wasn't for my birthday, so it must have been "just because."  My piano teacher had me learn quite a few of the songs in the book, and one of them was the "Mickey Mouse Club March."

Around this same time, I bought this pinback button at a local Sav-On drugstore.

On January 20, 1975, Disney started televising reruns of the original show on weekday afternoons.  There were ads promoting the show, in that week's TV guide.

In the Los Angeles area, the show was airing on KTTV, a local television station.

And in the San Francisco Bay Area, it was airing on the local television station, KTVU.

Later that year, the Fall 1975 issue of Disney News Magazine featured an article about some of the original Mouseketeers.

The article was very short, but included a "Where are they now?" type of update on some of the Mouseketeers. 

At this time, Jimmie Dodd was the only Mouseketeer that had passed away.  Roy Williams passed away the following year, in 1976.

According to the statement below, the shows that were airing on TV in 1975 were "revised and shortened versions" of the original show.  I didn't realize that at the time.

The same month that Disney began airing reruns of the original show (January of 1975), the Mickey Mouse Club Scrapbook was published.  I didn't buy it at that time, but two years later, an updated version was released in paperback.  This updated version not only included pictures and bios on the members of the original Mickey Mouse Club, but also members of The New Mickey Mouse Club, which debuted in January of 1977.  The new "Club" was apparently inspired by the success of the original show's reruns.  I bought this version of the book through the "Scholastic Book Club" ordering program at my school.

Shortly after the reruns of the show began, there was a contest announced on TV.  Viewers could enter a drawing, for a chance to win one of several prizes.  I remember one of the prizes was a pair of Mouseketeer dolls.  I'm not completely sure, but I think another prize might have been Disneyland tickets.  I don't remember what any of the other "bigger" prizes were, but everyone was guaranteed to win something.  I "won" this sticker, which must have been the consolation prize they sent out to everyone else.  I never "stuck" it on anything!

The sticker arrived inside this envelope.  I've mentioned before, that I would often write to the park or the studios, usually asking questions about "future" projects.  The envelopes containing the replies would almost always have an ink stamp next to the postmark, promoting the latest park attraction, or the latest studio release.  This envelope's "Treasure Island" stamp was for the film's 1975 re-release in theaters.

This was the pair of dolls that were being awarded in the contest.  (These images are from ebay.)

In 1980, Disneyland held "Mousekedays" on weekends throughout the month of October.  The special event included six of the original Mouseketeers, appearing in the "Mickey Mouse Club 25th Anniversary Revue," on Tomorrowland's Space Stage.  The Mouseketeers pictured below are (from left to right), Bonnie Lynn Fields, Sherri Alberoni, Tommy Cole, and Sharon Baird.  Also performing, but not pictured, were Cubby O'Brien, and Lonnie Burr.

The photo above was printed on oversized "postcard" stock, with the park's entertainment schedule printed on the reverse side.

This advertisement appeared in  The Los Angeles Times, and was specifically for the last weekend in October.

The following month, thirty of the original Mouseketeers were appearing in "The Mouseketeer Reunion" on "Disney's Wonderful World."  That week's TV Guide featured a half-page advertisement for the show.

The show was hosted by Annette Funicello and Tim Considine.  Paul Williams co-hosted, and also performed a musical number.  He had auditioned for the Mickey Mouse Club when he was a kid, but was not chosen to be a Mouseketeer.

The listing for the show mentions that Paul Williams would be singing the song "Disney Girls."  That song was written by Bruce Johnston, and performed by the Beach Boys on their 1971 album, "Surf's Up."

I watched this special when it originally aired, so I guess I missed "Dance Fever" that night!

Five days after the "reunion" show aired on TV, six of the Mouseketeers were back at Disneyland, just for the Thanksgiving Weekend.  Since I had missed seeing them at the park in October, my friend and I went to see them this time.  Incidentally, this was my very first time driving to the park, after recently receiving my driver's license.

Frankie Avalon, Harry James, and Teddy Buckner were appearing at the park, too!

Once again, the Mouseketeers were performing on Tomorrowland's Space Stage.

Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy, came out on stage first.

 

At this point in the show, the Mouseketeers were singing, "I Wish I Was A Kid Again," which was a song that they sang on their reunion TV special. 

The Mouseketeers returned to the park four years later.  This time, Bobby Burgess, Don Grady, and Darlene Gillespie were joining the six cast members who had previously appeared at the park, back in 1980.  This advertisement was from the November 11, 1984 edition of The Los Angeles Times.

I think this next Los Angeles Times article is from around 1990.  It's about some of the Mouseketeers seeking residual payment from the Disney Company, for reuse of their images in print and filmed footage.  I've done some research to see whatever came of this complaint.  It appears that only Darlene received anything from an out-of-court settlement, but only after the case was dragged out for years.

I wasn't originally planning to do a post on the Mouseketeers....not for a while, anyway.  But Sue B. (of "Lou & Sue" fame) sent me a few scans from a childhood book she received when she was 3 or 4 years old, and asked if I would be interested in sharing the book on my blog.  That inspired me to pull out all of the Mouseketeer-related items from my own collection.  As for the perfect timing of their 70th anniversary occurring this year, that was just pure coincidence!  So, courtesy of Sue B., here is The Mouseketeers Tryout Time, from the Whitman Publishing Company.   Thanks, Sue!  (By the way, Sue told me that she really LOVED this book!)

The book has a copyright date of 1956.

 

I love these graphics of the various Disneyland attractions!  Ooops, did I give away the answer to Test Number 3?

Sue said if you try Test Number 4, It DOES work!

Sue has told me that all of the marks in the book were made by her, so that would include this "driving test" that she took, using a purple crayon.

These two pages make me think of the "Buddy Hinton" episode of The Brady Bunch!  (Seven silver swans swam silently seaward!)

Cloony Clown?  Sue's drawing doesn't resemble George OR his aunt Rosemary!  ;-)

Sue explained that the reason she wrote her name the way it's seen below, was because she thought "you were supposed to put the similar-looking letters together."

The back cover lists other "Tell-a-Tales" books from the Whitman Publishing Company.  I have a Bugs Bunny book from my childhood, which I believe is also from Whitman.

Happy 70th anniversary, to the original Mouseketeers!