Buena Vista Home Video Mickey Mouse Club, The-Annette (57-58 SE

Not only is Annette Funicello unforgettable, but she is ably supported by a cast of unusual young actors with at least two titanic performances worthy of Emmy awards (did they have the Emmy in 1958?) Annette McCloud is an orphan from Beaver Junction who comes to the Los Angeles suburb of Ashford to a middle-class world of hayrides and malt shops, and a crowd of wealthy high schoolers who view her as a freak. When she gets off the train in her straw suitcase, her own home-made dress, and long unruly hair a la Jennifer Jones in DUEL IN THE SUN, she looks like an anomaly from some other century. She introduces herself to an aunt and uncle who don't even know she's alive. I wondered about this part--why couldn't Archie and Lila at least have known of her existence? The fact that they never bothered finding out what had become of their black sheep brother Bryce showed, to me, a certain heartlessness never really addressed by the film. And also, why did they have Archie and Lila as brother and sister? Wouldn't it have made more sense for them to be a married couple? The way it is now, I'm sorry, it's just plain kinky.What is strange is that all, I mean ALL, the adults eeem like grandparents and not parents. How old are they supposed to be? The mother of Tim Considine (Steven Abernathy) looks like Helen Hayes playing the Snoop Sisters--and yet figuring by the calendar, she's probably not yet 40.Annette is charming, if only occasionally lifelike. Her character is constantly being told she's not confrontational enough, and so two more volcanic personalities find it easy to steal the show--Roberta Shore as Laura Rogan, a visiting debutante who rules the entire teen social world of Ashford, and rules it with an iron fist. Beautiful, seductive, charming, blessed with a lovely voice and a great way of selling a song, Laura is also a deadly snob and soon finds a way to accuse poor Annette of stealing a valuable necklace. Oh, that necklace! I just finished watching Max Ophuls' French melodrama THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE and in all honestly, if you're interested in losing precious jewelry, hat happens to Laura's necklace in the story of Annette is a much more cinematic and fulfilling story. Roberta Shore is what Susan Sontag used to call Fascinating Fascism--when she's on the screen, even in a crowd scene, one hunts her out just to see how much attitude she's striking. I make her seem totally mannered, the miracle is she's not, she's natural as rain, and gorgeous to boot.In the opposite corner we have Jett Maypen, the farmer tomboy girl who delivers eggs and chickens to Mary Wickes (Katy, the maid to Uncle Archie and Aunt Lila). Jett becomes Annette's best friend somewhat against Lila's wishes, for Lila wants Annette ot have more sophisticated friends. As played by Judy Nugent, Jett is one hot potato just simmering with class rage and what looks like good old fashioned twilight passion--the love for Annette that dare not speak its name. Laura scorns Jett as beyond the social pale, but she sure cleans up nice, and before long, she is surprising the audience with her frank appreciation for Tim Considine's dreamy features. "He shore knows how to make a fellow feel good!" Daytime TV in the fifties offered no more exciting confrontation than the final poolside smackdown between Laura and Jett, and now the entire serial is available in one of those Disney Treasures tin boxes.It's a musical too, sort of, with great numbers for Annette ("How Do I Know My Love"?), Roberta Shore ("The Three Rs of Today" and her masterpiece "Don't Jump to Conclusions"), Annette and David Stollery (from SPIN and MARTY, here playing a hardworking soda-jerk ("Meeting at the Malt Shop") among others. There's a subplot of two subteens, Olmstead Steady Ware and a girl called Kit who looks like one of the little people but I don't think is. The two of them are energetic and bizarre, like twin Urkels. This is worth 200 dollars or even 3. God bless Annette, we never let a day go by without saying a prayer for her continued success battling MS.

Another Collector's Tin release by Disney; this time a limited series of 39,500 were issued. Each contains an individually numbered certificate of authenticity, a 7" x 4.5" black and white publicity still of the title character, a booklet about the serial, and two disks.The disks contain all 20 episodes and two entire episodes of the Mickey Mouse Club. These are from early 1958 so they are only 30 minutes long as the show's running time had been cut in half for its 3rd and final season.There are also some bonus items on the disks: introductions by Leonard Maltin and some interviews with and tributes to "Annette".Baby boomers don't need any introduction to the title character but others may be puzzled by the popularity of this actress who was not much of an actress and this singer who was not much of a singer. I was never particularly dazzled by Annette but I always liked her; she had an effortless charm that just won you over. Even if you crushed on Cheryl (guilty) and Doreen you still liked Annette. And very few girls ever felt any jealousy toward her. Much the same could be said in reverse about Tim Considine so featuring them together (here and in "Spin and Marty") pretty much guaranteed you would appeal to the widest teen and pre-teen demographic.The series was a somewhat toned down adaptation of Janette (The Pokey Little Puppy) Lowrey's 1950 book "Margaret" and was originally to be titled "Annette and Darlene". But poor Darlene Gillespie fell into disfavor and was replaced as the Jet Maypen character by Judy Nugent. Nugent was not a Disney property so there was no need for the studio to promote her career, otherwise it would have been called "Annette and Judy".The plot features the traditional conflict between city and country. Annette and Jet are up against rich girl queen bee Laura Rogan (Roberta Shore successfully playing against type and obviously having a lot of fun with the role). You've seen this same dynamic recently in "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen". Disney's move from Annette to Lindsey Lohen might signal the decline of Western Civilization.David Stollery and Tim Considine team up again as the main male characters. Stollery sings a duet with Annette and one featurette explains how they doubled her voice (probably his as well) by having her sing the song twice.There are sizeable parts for Doreen Tracey, Shelley Fabares, Sharon Baird, and Rudy Lee. And a bit part for Cheryl Holdridge; even third season newcomer Bonnie Fields (the prettiest Mouseketeer who was sadly underutilized by the show itself) gets some screen time. Richard Deacon and Mary Wickes play off each other for comedy relief; basically reprising their trademark character roles.The song that launched Annette's recording career, "How Will I Know My Love?" is featured twice and Shore sings a couple much better numbers, "Readin', Writin' and Rhythm" and "Don't Jump to Conclusions". Shore's stuff has an early Judy Garland quality.The teen dancing sequences were painfully corny even to a small town 1950's 2nd grader. On the other hand Bonnie does dance a little and this prompted me to seek out a video of her original 1957 MMC guest appearance (as a tap dancing act) which someone has uploaded to U-Tube (check it out).I still have the Dell comic book so I had not forgotten the general story, but I found series itself better than I remembered it. They do a nice job of laying some romantic misdirection so that the resolution offers a mild surprise. Then you can look back and see that clues were provided all along but most viewers missed them.Despite having some awful dialogue to deal with; Stollery, Nugent, and Shore are talented enough to sell their characters. Annette and Tim just play their likable selves and as always that works just fine.Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Growing up in the late 60's early 70's I watched the reruns on the Mickey Mouse Club almost every day but I was never able to see all the episodes in this series. It was nice to able to see it all.Today's generation will probably hate this I know my teenage daughter was lauging at me when I watched it but I tought it was great. The Walt Disney Treasure Collection is just incredible. If you can aford these DVD's go for it. I have not been disappointed with any of them up to now.

This DVD is great for children aged 3 to 10. The original Mickey Mouse kids were so talented. It takes us back to a simpler time when children's programing was wholesome.