Movie Musings: Disney and More

Annette Funicello: The Favorite Mouseketeer

With elegant beauty, dark hair, a kind-hearted smile, and a beautiful singing voice, Annette Funicello gained fame starring in Disney movies and television, as well as beach-themed movies. As her career skyrocketed in the 1950s, the whole world knew her primarily by her first name. If someone said “Annette” no one ever needed to say Funicello because they knew of whom you were speaking. Despite physical challenges in adulthood, she was an exceptional talent and had a special career that lasted for over 30 years. And she has the distinction of being considered one of the very first “celebrity crushes”—at least for the males of her “baby boomer” generation!

Annette Joanne Funicello was born in Utica, New York on October 22nd, 1942. Her parents were Italian Americans Joseph Edward and Virginia Jeanne Funicello. Together they relocated to southern California when Annette was four. There, she took up dancing and music lessons. She performed the lead role of the “Swan Lake” ballet in her school’s end-of-the-year recital, and the performance caught the attention of Walt Disney. He cast her in his upcoming project The Mickey Mouse Club (1955-1959), one of the last of 24 cast members selected, and one of the few to be picked by Disney himself. While on “Mickey Mouse Club,” she appeared in several serials that aired within the show, including Adventure in Dairyland, Walt Disney Presents: Annette, and the second and third Spin and Marty serials, which would be her first pairing with Tommy Kirk, Tim Considine, and Kevin Corcoran. In the “Annette,” serial she performed the song “How Will I Know My Love,” which launched her career as a singer. All of this led to her becoming the most popular cast member of “Mickey Mouse Club,” receiving a total of 6,000 letters a month by the end of the first season.

When “Mickey Mouse Club” ended Annette remained under contract to Walt Disney and appeared in other television shows produced by the studio: Zorro (1957-1959), The Horsemasters (1961), and Elfego Baca (1962). She made her Disney film debut in 1959 with The Shaggy Dog, which reunited her with Considine and Kirk. In 1961, she played the role of Mary Quite Contrary in Babes in Toyland, and it was around this time that The Wizard of Oz (1939) had gained popularity on television, making Walt Disney consider doing an “Oz,” film of his own. “Rainbow Road to Oz,” would have starred Annette along with some of the other Mouseketeers, but script developing for this film fell apart, and it was replaced with “Toyland.” (Tommy Kirk and Kevin Corcoran both appeared in “Toyland,” as well.) The same year she made this movie, she sang “The Parent Trap,” title song and an arrangement of “Let’s Get Together,” for The Parent Trap (1961).

Three years after “Toyland,” Annette made The Misadventures of Merlin Jones (1964) which again reunited her with Tommy Kirk, and was followed by a sequel, The Monkey’s Uncle (1965) the following year. The year prior to making “Misadventures,” she received an offer from American International Pictures to star in a fun-on-the-beach movie entitled Beach Party (1963)). She wanted to accept and Disney agreed to loan her for the film, on the condition that she would wear a one-piece bathing suit that completely covered her navel. Walt was overprotective of her, and he didn’t want the image she had created at his studio to be altered in another movie since she was still under contact at the time. “Beach Party,” was a hit, and it led to Avalon and Funicello making the films: Muscle Beach Party (1964), Bikini Beach (1964), Beach Blanket Bingo (1965), Doctor Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine (1965), and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965). Around the time that she made each of these movies, she continued her singing career with the songs written by Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman who were employed by Disney in the ‘60s: “Tall Paul,”   “First Name Initial,” “O Dio Mio,” “Train of Love,” (which was actually written by Paul Anka) and “Pineapple Princess.” Anka had a crush on her, though she married his agent, Jack Gilardi, on January 9th, 1965.

Annette and Jack had three children together, Jason, Jack Jr., and Gina. She continued to act in movies with Fireball 500 (1966), Thunder Alley (1967), and Head (1968), the first two of which reunited with Frankie Avalon and she also became the spokesperson for Skippy Peanut Butter. Though she always valued her family first, her marriage unfortunately ended after 18 years on March 21st, 1983. She remarried, three years later to harness racing horse breeder/trainer Glen Holt on May 3rd 1986. The following year, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Embarrassed by the condition, she never formally acknowledged it until 1992, but became the most famous spokesperson for the disease, opening the Annette Funicello Fund for Neurological Disorders at the California Community Foundation in 1993. Prior to that, she reunited with Frankie Avalon for a tenth and 11th time in Back to the Beach (1987) and Troop Beverly Hills (1989). She and Avalon also made guest appearances together in an episode of the sit-com Full House in 1991. She wrote an autobiography entitled A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes in 1994, and it was made into a television movie in 1995.

Annette died on April 8th, 2013 due to complications from multiple sclerosis at the age of 70. It is extraordinary that she did not let her multiple sclerosis keep her from performing, and she will always be remembered as the Mouseketeer who grew into the Beach Party film star. When the Disney Channel Network produced the film Teen Party Beach Movie (2013), they dedicated the film to her when the film aired not long after her death on July 19th, 2013. There is also restaurant called Annette’s diner (named after her) located in the dining area of Disneyland Paris.