The Mickey Mouse Club Information

The Mickey Mouse Club is an American variety television show that aired intermittently from 1955 to 1996. Created by Walt Disney and produced by Walt Disney Productions, the program was first televised from 1955 to 1960 by ABC, featuring a regular but ever-changing cast of child performers. The series was revived, reformatted and reimagined after its initial 1955"1960 run on ABC, first in 1977 to 1979 for CBS, and again, from 1989 to 1996 on The Disney Channel.

Before the TV series

Previous to the TV series, there was a theater based Mickey Mouse Club. The first one started on January 4, 1930 at 12 noon at the Fox Dome Theater in Ocean Park, California with 60 Theaters hosting clubs by March 31. The Club released its first issue of the Official Bulletin of the Mickey Mouse Club on April 15, 1930. By 1932, the Club had 1 million members, and in 1933 its first British club opened at Darlington's Arcade Cinema. In 1935, with so many clubs around the world, Disney begins to phase out the club.

The 1950s-1960 series

The Mickey Mouse Club was Walt Disney's second venture into producing a television series, the first being the Walt Disney anthology television series, initially titled Disneyland. Disney used both shows to help finance and promote the building of the Disneyland theme park. Being busy with these projects and others, Disney turned The Mickey Mouse Club over to Bill Walsh to create and develop the format, initially aided by Hal Adelquist.

The result was a variety show for children, with such regular features as a newsreel, a cartoon, and a serial, as well as music, talent and comedy segments. One unique feature of the show was the Mouseketeer Roll Call, in which many (but not all) of that day's line-up of regular performers would introduce themselves by name to the television audience. In the serials, teens faced challenges in everyday situations, often overcome by their common sense or through recourse to the advice of respected elders. Mickey Mouse himself appeared in every show not only in vintage cartoons originally made for theatrical release, but in opening, interstitial and closing segments made especially for the show. In both the vintage cartoons and in the new animated segments, Mickey was voiced by his creator Walt Disney. (Disney had previously voiced the character theatrically from 1928 to 1947, and then was replaced by sound effects artist Jimmy MacDonald.)

Cast

Mickey Mouse Club was hosted by Jimmie Dodd, a songwriter and the Head Mouseketeer, who provided leadership both on and off screen. In addition to his other contributions, he often provided short segments encouraging young viewers to make the right moral choices. These little homilies became known as "Doddisms". Roy Williams, a staff artist at Disney, also appeared in the show as the Big Mooseketeer. Roy suggested the Mickey Mouse ears worn by the cast members, which he helped create, along with Chuck Keehne, Hal Adelquist, and Bill Walsh.

The main cast members were called Mouseketeers, and they performed in a variety of musical and dance numbers, as well as some informational segments. The most popular of the Mouseketeers comprised the so-called Red Team, which consisted of the following:

• Nancy Abbate (first year only)
• Sharon Baird
• Bobby Burgess
• Lonnie Burr
• Tommy Cole
• Dennis Day (first and second year)
• Annette Funicello
• Darlene Gillespie
• Cheryl Holdridge (joined in second year)
• Cubby O'Brien "?
• Karen Pendleton "?
• Jay-Jay Solari (second year only)
• Doreen Tracey

The remaining Mouseketeers, consisting of the White or Blue Teams, were Don Agrati (later known as Don Grady when starring as "Robbie" on the long running sitcom My Three Sons), Sherry Alberoni, Billie Jean Beanblossom, Johnny Crawford, Jonathan A. Kahn (a.k.a. Tio Juan), Eileen Diamond, Dickie Dodd (not related to Jimmie Dodd), Mary Espinosa, Bonnie Lynn Fields, Judy Harriet, Linda Hughes, Dallas Johann, John Lee Johann, Bonni Lou Kern, Charlie Laney, Larry Larsen, Paul Petersen, Lynn Ready, Mickey Rooney Jr., Tim Rooney, Mary Lynn Sartori, Bronson Scott, Michael Smith, Margene Storey, Ronnie Steiner, Mark Sutherland and Don Underhill. Dennis Day was a Mouseketeer for two seasons; the others served for shorter periods. Larry Larsen, on only for the 1956"57 season, was the oldest Mouseketeer, being born in 1939. Among the thousands who auditioned but didn't make the cut were future vocalist/songwriter Paul Williams and future actress Candice Bergen.

Other notable non-Mouseketeer performers appeared in various dramatic segments:

• Tim Considine
• Tommy Kirk
• Roberta Shore a.k.a. Jymme Shore
• Steve Stevens (not to be confused with musician of same name)
• David Stollery
• Judy Nugent
• Kevin Corcoran, a.k.a. Moochie
• J. Pat O'Malley
• Sammy Ogg
• Alvy Moore
• Julius Sumner Miller as "Professor Wonderful"

These non-Mouseketeers primarily appeared in numerous original serials filmed for the series, only some of which have appeared in reruns. Certain Mouseketeers were also featured in some of the serials, particularly Annette Funicello and Darlene Gillespie. The cast was on "The All-New Mickey Mouse Club - Season 3" episode, The Reunion Show in 1990.

Major serials

Major serials included the following:

• Spin and Marty (three serials, starring Tim Considine and David Stollery in the title roles)
• The Hardy Boys (two serials, starring Tim Considine and Tommy Kirk)
• Corky and White Shadow, starring Darlene Gillespie
• Walt Disney Presents: Annette, starring Annette Funicello
• Adventure in Dairyland, featuring Funicello and Sammy Ogg, and introducing Kevin Corcoran as Moochie
• Jiminy Cricket educational serials (four Animated serials educating kids on various topics).
• The Adventures of Clint and Mac (starring Neil Wolfe as Clint Rogers and Jonathan Bailey as Alastair "Mac" MacIntosh.)
• Boys of the Western Sea

Music

The opening theme, "The Mickey Mouse March," was written by the show's primary adult host, Jimmie Dodd. It was also reprised at the end of each episode, with the slower it's-time-to-say-goodbye verse. A shorter version of the opening title was used later in the series, in syndication, and on Disney Channel reruns. Dodd also wrote many other songs used in individual segments over the course of the series.

Show themes

Each day of the week had a special show theme, which was reflected in the various segments. The themes were:

• Monday " Fun with Music
• Tuesday " Guest Star
• Wednesday " Anything Can Happen
• Thursday " Circus
• Friday " Talent Round-up

Scheduling and air times

The series ran on ABC Television for an hour each weekday in the 1955"1956 and 1956"1957 seasons (from 5:00 to 6:00 pm ET), and only a half-hour weekdays (5:30 to 6:00 pm ET) in 1957"1958, the final season to feature new programming. Although the show returned for the 1958"1959 season (5:30 to 6:00 pm ET), these programs were repeats from the first two seasons, re-cut into a half-hour format. The Mickey Mouse Club was featured on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and Walt Disney's Adventure Time, featuring re-runs of The Mickey Mouse Club serials and several re-edited segments from Disneyland and Walt Disney Presents, appeared on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Cancellation

Although the show remained popular, ABC decided to cancel the show after its fourth season, as Disney and the ABC network could not come to terms for renewal. The cancellation in September 1959 was attributable to several factors: the Disney studios did not realize high-profit margins from merchandise sales, the sponsors were uninterested in educational programming for children, and many commercials were needed in order to pay for the show. After canceling The Mickey Mouse Club, ABC also refused to let Disney air the show on another network. Walt Disney filed a lawsuit against ABC, and won the damages in a settlement; however, he had to agree that both the Mickey Mouse Club and Zorro could not be aired on any major network. This left Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color (later retitled the Wonderful World of Disney) as the only Disney series left on prime time until 1972, when The Mouse Factory went on the air. The prohibition against major U.S. broadcast network play of the original Mickey Mouse Club (or any later version) became moot when Disney acquired ABC in 1996, but no plans have been announced for an ABC airing of any version of The Mickey Mouse Club produced between 1955 and 1996 or for a new network series.

Australian tour

Although the series had been discontinued in the United States, many members of the cast assembled for highly successful tours of Australia in 1959 and 1960. The television series was very successful in Australia and was still running on Australian television. The cast surprised Australian audiences, as by then they had physically developed and in some cases, bore little resemblance to the young cast with whom Australians were so familiar. Mainstream television did not reach Australia until 1956 so the series screened well into the 1960s when the back catalogue expired.

CBS

In response to continuing audience demand, the original Mickey Mouse Club went into edited syndicated half-hour reruns that enjoyed wide distribution starting in the fall of 1962, achieving strong ratings especially during its first three seasons in syndicated release. (because of its popularity in some markets, a few stations continued to carry it into 1968 before the series was finally withdrawn from syndication). Some new features were added such as Fun with Science, aka "Professor Wonderful" (with scientist Julius Sumner Miller) and Marvelous Marvin in the 1964"1965 season; Jimmie Dodd appeared in several of these new segments before his death in November 1964. Many markets stretched the program back to an hour's daily run time during the 1960s rerun cycle by adding locally produced and hosted portions involving educational subjects and live audience participation of local children, in a manner not unlike Romper Room.

In response to an upsurge in demand from baby boomers entering adulthood, the show again went into syndicated reruns from January 20, 1975, until January 14, 1977. It has since been rerun on cable specialty channels Disney in the U.S. and Family in Canada. The original Mickey Mouse Club films aired five days a week on the Disney Channel from its launch in 1983 until the third version of the series began in 1989. The last airing of the edited 1950s material was on the Disney Channel's "Vault Disney" from 1997 to September 2002.

Reunions

Almost all of the original Mouseketeers were reunited for a TV special, which aired on Disney's Wonderful World in November 1980.

Several original Mouseketeers performed together at Disneyland in the fall of 2005, in observance of Disneyland's 50th birthday, and the 50th anniversary of the TV premiere of The Mickey Mouse Club.

1970s revival, The New Mickey Mouse Club

In the 1970s, Walt Disney Productions revived the concept but modernized the show cosmetically, with a disco re-recording of the theme song and a more ethnically diverse group of young cast members. The sets were brightly colored and more simplistic than the detailed black and white artwork of the original. Like the original, nearly each day's episode included a vintage cartoon, though usually color ones from the late 1930s and onward.

Serials

Serials were usually old Disney movies, cut into segments for twice-weekly inclusion. Movies included Third Man on the Mountain, The Misadventures of Merlin Jones and its sequel The Monkey's Uncle (both starring Tommy Kirk), Emil and the Detectives (retitled The Three Skrinks), Tonka (retitled A Horse Called Comanche), The Horse Without a Head (about a toy horse), and Toby Tyler (starring Kevin Corcoran). In addition, one original serial was produced, The Mystery of Rustler's Cave, starring Kim Richards and Robbie Rist.

Theme days

Theme days were:

• Monday: Who, What, Why, Where, When and How
• Tuesday: Let's Go
• Wednesday: Surprise
• Thursday: Discovery
• Friday: Showtime (at Disneyland, with performers usually at Plaza Gardens)

CBS

The series debuted on January 17, 1977, on 38 local television stations in the United States, and by June of that same year, when the series was discontinued, about 70 stations in total had picked up the series. Additional stations picked up the canceled program, which continued to run until January 12, 1979; 130 new episodes, with much of the original material repackaged and a bit of new footage added, and a shortened version of the theme song, were produced to start airing September 5, 1977. Since the 1970s, the series has aired only briefly in reruns, unlike its 1950s predecessor, and while both the 1950s and 1990s series had DVD releases of select episodes in July 2005, the 1970s series has been largely forgotten with the exception of the generation of youthful viewers for whom it defined the Club.

Cast

The cast had a more diverse ethnic background than the 1950s version. Several 1970s cast members went on to become TV stars and other notable icons.

The show's most notable alumnus was Lisa Whelchel, who later starred in the NBC television sitcom The Facts of Life before becoming a well-known Christian author and, most recently, overall runner-up, and winner of the $100,000 viewers' choice award, on the fall 2012 season of the CBS television reality series Survivor. Mouseketeer Julie Piekarski (born St. Louis, 1963) also appeared with Lisa Whelchel on the first season of The Facts of Life. Kelly Parsons (born Coral Gables, Fla., 1964) went on to become a beauty queen and runner-up to Miss USA. Shawnte Northcutte (born Los Angeles, 1965) appeared then too. Billy 'Pop' Attmore (born at US military base in Landstuhl, West Germany, 1965) appeared in a few movies before and after the series, a fifth-season episode of The Brady Bunch ("Kelly's Kids"), and as a streetwise hood in the short-lived Eischied crime drama. Nita Dee appeared at the tail end of an episode of Fantasy Island.

Other Mouseketeers from the 1970s show:

• Scott Craig: born in Van Nuys, California, in 1964; lived in Las Vegas, died December 30, 2003.
• Nita Dee (Benita DiGiampaolo): born in Long Beach, California, 1966
• Mindy Feldman: born in Burbank, California, 1968, and sister of Corey Feldman.
• Angel Florez: born in Stockton, California, 1963; died April 25, 1995.
• Allison Fonte: born in Anaheim, California, 1964
• Todd Turquand: born in Hollywood, California, 1964
• Curtis Wong: born in Vancouver, British Columbia, 1962

Disney voice actor and sound effects editor Wayne Allwine voiced Mickey Mouse in the animated lead-ins for the show, replacing both Jimmy MacDonald, who in 1947 had replaced Walt Disney as the voice of Mickey for theatrical cartoons, and Walt Disney himself, who had been the original voice of Mickey and once again provided the voice for animated introductions to the original TV show but had passed away in 1966. Allwine would keep providing the voice for the character up to his death in 2009.

Future rock musician Courtney Love claims to have auditioned for a part on the show, reading a poem by Sylvia Plath; she was not selected.

Theme song and soundtrack

The lyrics of the "Mickey Mouse Club March" theme song were slightly different from the original, with two additional lines: "He's our favorite Mouseketeer; we know you will agree" and "Take some fun and mix in love, our happy recipe."

A soundtrack album was released with the show.

Distribution

This incarnation was not distributed by Disney alone; while Disney did produce the series, it was co-produced and distributed by SFM Entertainment, which also handled 1970s-era syndication of the original 1950s series (Disney since regained sole distribution rights).

1989-1996 revival (MMC)

Reruns of the original Mickey Mouse Club had aired on the Disney Channel since its 1983 launch. While the show was popular with younger audiences, Disney Channel executives felt that it had become dated over the years, particularly as it was in black-and-white. Their answer was to create a brand-new version of the Club, one geared toward contemporary audiences. Another notable thing that happened was the producers decided that the all-new "club-members" would wear high-school like mouseketeer jackets without the infamous mickey mouse ears. This show is called "The-All New Mickey Mouse Club".

Scheduling and air times

From the first through fifth seasons, the series aired Monday through Friday, at 5:30pm. Through Season 6, the show aired Monday to Thursday . In its final season, Season 7, it aired Thursdays only at 7:00 pm (later moved a half hour later, to 7:30). The series premiered Monday, April 24, 1989, ended production in March 7, 1996, and ran reruns until September 2002. Seasons 3, 5, and 7 had the most episodes (55, each season). Seasons 4 and 6 were shorter, having about 35 episodes each. The remaining seasons were a standard 45 episodes, each.

Format

The format was somewhat similar to the 1950s-1960 and 1970s versions with its "theme" days, but the show had more of a Saturday Night Live feel:

Skits

The show was known for its sketch comedy. Some of the sketches played off well-known movies, musicals and even cartoons, as well as holiday-related skits. During the final season, some of the skits showed everyday occurrences experienced by teens, often teaching viewers a lesson on how to handle real-life situations.

Music Videos

The series featured music videos of the Mouseketeers singing their versions of popular songs, always in front of a live studio audience or in the Walt Disney World Resort. This became one of the most popular segments, and for better or worse, the kids who performed in it earned a special lifelong cachet among viewers.

Live Concerts & Performances

A unique feature to the show was the Mouseketeers performing concerts on certain days (which were usually taped the day before or in the summer, when the kids had more time). During the final season, the concerts were replaced primarily by live performances featuring singing and dancing in front of the audience.

Theme days

This version maintained the "theme day" format from the previous two versions. When Disney decided to revamp the show for its final season, the show was reduced to a single weekly airing, shown only on Thursdays (although still produced as a daily series during the final season taping in 1996 , The Disney Channel, after cancelling the series after Season 7 production had concluded, decided to air the final season in a weekly format).

Theme days were as follows:

• Music Day " Mondays (Seasons 1"5), Tuesdays (Season 6)
• Guest Day " Tuesdays (Seasons 1"5), Mondays (Season 6)
• Anything Can Happen Day " Wednesdays (seasons 1"5)
• Party Day " Thursdays (Seasons 1"4, 6), Fridays (season 5)
• Hall of Fame Day " Fridays (Seasons 1"4), Thursdays (Season 5), Wednesdays (Season 6)

Mouseketeer roster

Listed alphabetically are all 37 Mouseketeers:

Seasons 1-7 (1989-1996)

• Joshua "Josh" Ackerman
• Jennifer McGill
• Lindsey Alley
• Tiffini Hale (left after season 5 and came back in season 7)
• Chasen "Chase" Hampton (left after season 5 and came back in season 7)
• Ilana Miller
• Jose "Ricky" Luna
• Marcus "Marc" Worden

Seasons 1-5 (1989-1992)

• Diane "Deedee/Dee Dee" Magno Hall (credited as Deedee Magno)
• Albert Fields
• Damon Pampolina
• Kevin Osgood
• Brandy Brown

Seasons 1-2 (1989)

• Courtney Treppish
• Raquel "Roque" Herring
• Braden Danner
• David Kater

Seasons 3-5 (1990-1992)

• Jason Blain Carson
• Mylin Brooks
• Terra McNair Deva (credited as Terra McNair)
• Jason Minor
• Tasha Danner

Seasons 4-7 (1991-1996)

• Dale Godboldo
• Anthony "Tony" Lucca
• Joshua Scott "J.C./JC" Chasez
• Thomanita "Nita" Booth
• Rhona Bennett
• Matthew "Matt" Morris
• Keri Russell

Seasons 6-7 (1993-1996)

• Britney Spears
• Justin Timberlake
• Christina Aguilera
• Ryan Gosling
• Ashlee Nicole "Nikki" DeLoach (Deloach)
• Thomas John "T.J." Fantini
• Marque "Tate" Lynche

The Party Band (Seasons 3-5 (1990-1992))

• Tiffini Hale
• Chasen "Chase" Hampton
• Diane "Deedee/Dee Dee" Magno Hall (credited as Deedee Magno)
• Damon Pamolina
• Albert Fields

Adult Co-Hosts

• Mowava Pryor (Seasons 1-3 (1989-1990))
• Fred Newman (Seasons 1-6 (1989-1994))
• Terri Misner Eeof (credited as Terri Misner) (Seasons 4-6 (1991-1994))
• Tiffini Hale (Season 7 (1994-1996))
• Chasen "Chase" Hampton (Season 7 (1994-1996))

Future pop-turned-country singer and actress Jessica Simpson auditioned for season 6, but her tryout was scheduled immediately after that of fellow performer Christina Aguilera (who was eventually selected for the series), whom Simpson described as having "sung like Mariah Carey," and caused her to freeze up during the audition as a result.

See also

• Mickey Mouse Clubhouse