We All Loved Annette

The girls all liked her because she had "a lot above her ears".  The guys?  Well,  having nothing above our ears and no clue as to what was going on with our pre-pubescent bodies, all concurred that the pretty little Italian mouseketeer made us feel kind of  tingly in our nether regions.  She was the whole package.    Not only could Annette Funicello sing and dance, she was beautiful!  It was 1955 and we were smitten.

She had a lot above her ears.

Our family didn't have TV when the Mouse Club premiered.  Dad thought it was a fad. The Chamberlains next door had a BIG one and every afternoon I joined at least five of their six kids in front of the 24 inch RCA as the test pattern gave way to a new hour of fun called The Mickey Mouse Club.  Admittedly, we boys were a little disappointed that there weren't more cartoons on the show  and only the girls were fans of the Mouseketeer dance numbers and talent routines.  Certainly we all liked the serials "Spin & Marty", "Zorro","The Hardy Boys", and "Corky & White Shadow" which usually ran as 15 minute installments throughout the season.  All that was enough to keep us from changing the channel.  Heck, there were only three channels anyway!  Walt Disney, as usual, knew what he was doing. 

Annette was easily the most popular of the 24 Mouseketeers.  She received between six and eight-thousand fan letters a month during the run of the show, about ten times more than any of the other young performers.  To Boomers she became, like Cher, Madonna and a couple of others, a member of the "one name" celebrity club.  Annette was America's girl next door.

"Big" Mouseketeer Jimmy needed to be doused with cold water when working with Annette.

Walt Disney, being no fool, made certain that Annette was under contract for movies after the Mouse Club ended its run in 1959.  Her first role was in "The Shaggy Dog", followed by the television series "Zorro" which was spun off from the Mouse Club.  She also became a recording artist debuting with the top ten hit, "Tall Paul" in 1959.  "First Name Initial", "O Dio Mio", and her final hit single, "Pineapple Princess" also charted in the top twenty in sales and radio airplay.

Romantically Annette was linked to fellow teen idols like Fabian and Frankie Avalon but fell hard for Paul Anka who wrote the song "Puppy Love" just for her.  

Frankie and Annette starred in a series of beach movies starting with "Beach Party" in 1963.  She always played the good girl and, if memory serves, put the boys in their place with lines like, "not without a ring you don't!"  Once when someone referred to her and Mr. Avalon as the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers of their generation she suggested they were more like "the Ma and Pa Kettle of the surf set."  Annette was no phony.

"Not without a ring buddy!"

In January of 1965 Ms. Funicello married her agent, Jack Gilardi.  They had three children: Gina Jack Jr., and Jason.  She became a devoted mom and appeared only occasionally on TV principally in commercials for Skippy Peanut Butter.  In 1981 she had the good sense to divorce Mr. Gilardi--never trust an agent--and in 1986 married horse breeder, Glen Holt.

In 1987 Annette was diagnosed with MS.  She kept this news secret for five years until deciding to become a national spokeswoman and fundraiser for the disease.  Eventually the condition incapacitated her and took her life this past Monday April 8.  She was 70 years-old.  Glen Holt, 3 children, 4 stepchildren, 12 grandchildren, 4 great-grandchildren and millions of now gone to gray mouseketeers survive her.

Looking back through the screen of your old black & white, you may recall this:

Ask the birds and ask the bees
And ask the stars above
Who's their favorite sweet brunette;
You know, each one confesses:

Annette! Annette! Annette!