The highlight of the evening was a panel discussion with four of the Mouseketeers who shared the stage with Annette on the original Mickey Mouse Club television show: Sherry Alberoni, Tommy Cole, Doreen Tracey and Johnny Crawford. Don Grady was scheduled to be part of the event but passed away earlier this year.
I wanted to know whatever happened to the book she was writing about her career, Confessions of a Mouseketeer, that was announced in the late Nineties. Apparently, the manuscript is complete but she wants to add two more chapters, covering things since her retirement from Warner Brothers a few years ago. She did have a deal with St. Martin's Press but gave back all the advance money because she said that the copyeditor assigned to her was making severe changes so that the manuscript was no longer in her "voice".
I also got to clear up a few of the "urban legends" surrounding her. She did indeed get married a few months after turning eighteen, not fifteen as Paul Petersen wrote in his book about the Mouseketeers (Walt, Mickey and Me, DELL 1977). When I asked her about it she laughed and jokingly replied, "You know he was high when he wrote that thing."
They all got a good laugh from the audience when they introduced themselves as "Once a Mouseketeer, always a Mouseketeer. We are not old. We are ORIGINAL."
Here are some highlights of things they shared on and off stage:
Sherry Alberoni was brought on during the second season of the original Mickey Mouse Club. She was only nine years old, making her one of the youngest cast members. She used the last name "Allen" because her agent thought her original last name was too ethnic. She had a little "puppy love" flirtation with Cubby. Later, when they were nineteen, they dated seriously and even put together an act. "We thought we were Louis Prima and Keely Smith," laughed Sherry.
Sherry: The first time I met Mr. Disney was at the opening of Disneyland on July 17, 1955. I wasn't a Mouseketeer. I was a Bluebird and for my charity work I was a 'Red Feather' girl for the Community Chest. As part of my prize, I was to help make an ice cream sundae for Walt on opening day as part of a photo opportunity to publicize the park. We worked so hard to put it together and as we stood there while photos were being taken it was so hot that it started to melt all down his blue suit. He never complained. He kept smiling. He was so gracious.
Sherry: When I did become a Mouseketeer, it was the first day or so and I was walking down the street at the Disney Studio and Walt saw me and smiled and waved, "Hey, Mouseketeer Sherry!" I was so touched. "Mr. Disney knows me!" I gushed to my mom. She told me, "Look down at your sweater". And, of course, there was my name printed on my sweater. Tommy told me he had a similar experience.
Sherry: I would say that the way Jimmie Dodd and Bobby Burgess were on TV was exactly the same as they were in real life. I don't think I can always say that of the others.
Sherry: I have a swimming pool in the shape of Mickey's head. Speaking of swimming, I remember that Roy Williams had this beautiful backyard pool that was done up in luau décor like tiki torches. He would have swim parties there and have us all over like it was a family birthday party. Roy was incredible. In the studio cafeteria there would be these paper placemats with scalloped edges and while we were eating, Roy would walk by and draw cartoons on them. I think I may have saved some they were so good.
Tommy Cole was a Mouseketeer for all three seasons. He auditioned playing an accordion and once he got the job, he never picked up an accordion again. He was the primary male singer but he was not a dancer so he had to take lessons and "even the girls helped teach me steps".
Tommy: Walt was gentle with us and always so gracious. That is the memory of him that sticks out so vividly for me. One time on the set, he was standing where I could see him and I was trying to read some narration off of a teleprompter. I had little if any experience with the teleprompter and they were moving it too fast so I was having difficulty and I could see him out of the corner of my eye. So I whispered to an assistant if it would be possible to ask him to move out of my eye line. He did whisper to Walt and Walt smiled and gave me a thumbs up and left. The next day, some public relations guy at the studio sent out a press release "Mouseketeer throws Walt off the set". I didn't think that was funny.
Tommy: Jimmie (Dodd) was sincere and real. Those Doddisms you hear on the show. That was him. Not fake at all. He had thick read hair and he was in his forties when he did the show but he looked younger than he was. I remember when we celebrated his birthday on the set there was no mention of the year, of how old he was.
Tommy: Roy Williams was a little risqué but nothing really bad. He would tell jokes that were a little off color. He was the fastest artist I ever saw. You could draw a little squiggle and in seconds he had turned it into a cartoon. Sometimes I thought he had pool parties at his house just to see the girls in bathing suits.
*Ed. Note: Tommy is correct; only Lonnie Burr has made a point of mentioning Bob Amsberry in interviews.
Tommy: When we were at Disneyland performing in the Mickey Mouse Club Circus, we would warm up the Autopia cars in the morning and they didn't have governors so we would rev them up to like thirty miles per hour. We crashed a couple and they finally stopped us from doing it. For the circus, I was in tights just like Peter Pan, with the hat and everything. I would spin Sharon on a rope high in the air. Bobby would spin Bonni Kern. One time Bonni accidentally kicked Bobby in the mouth during the spin and he bit her toe.
Tommy: Fess Parker who played Davy Crockett was very gracious. I visited him at his winery but obviously, he had a better financial deal than us mice. He tried to get me to invest in a winery. He thought we were all rich and that we had some percentage of the sales from the ears and such. That definitely was not the case. We got a straight salary and that wasn't much. To invest in the winery, I would have had to mortgage everything I owned plus all my savings and I still would have only met the down payment.
Tommy: I got thrown off the Disney Studio lot after the show was over. I still had friends there so I would go to visit and the Security guards would let me in and I would visit but they warned me that the sound stages were now off limits and closed sets and not to go in there. One time I saw Annette and she was filming something and she waved at me and pulled me into a soundstage to see her perform. I was only in there minutes and they pulled me back out and threw me off the lot.
Doreen Tracey was also a Mouseketeer for all three seasons and was always one of my favorite since she was the "naughty" Mouseketeer. She was answering phones at her dad's dance studio when the call came in asking if they had any children who might be suitable to audition for the Mickey Mouse Club. "I know the perfect little girl," replied Doreen but her dad later insisted that all the kids at the studio should have the opportunity to audition. She became very good friends with Annette and Cheryl.
Doreen: I remember when I was hired I was so excited because I loved Donald Duck and one of the first things we got to do was to do that weekly Disneyland television episode with Donald Duck. ("A Day in the Life of Donald Duck" February 1956) The first time I was ever in Walt's office, he told me 'We have you here because you like Donald Duck but always remember you work for Mickey Mouse'. I remember that Bobby and I went to Western Costume to try on all sorts of costumes to try and figure out what the Mouseketeers might wear. I remember clearly that when Lonnie and Sharon first walked on to the set, they had so much previous professional experience, they came off like superstars.
Doreen: While Tommy said we were like brothers and sisters and helped each other, we all still had a competitive spirit and I think that helped the show.
Doreen: I still have some items left from that time, mostly personal pictures of Annette and Cheryl.
Johnny Crawford was only a Mouseketeer during the first season and then went on to bigger recognition as the son of Chuck Connors' character for five seasons on the television show The Rifleman. He auditioned for the Mickey Mouse Club with a fencing act he did with his older brother Bobby. Johnny could sing a little so he was cast. He clearly remembers seeing Doreen Tracey audition singing the Patti Page hit Cross Over the Bridge.
Johnny: The first time I met Walt Disney in person we were in the restroom. He was very gracious. The first time my grandmother and I drove on the Disney lot, I was very excited because I loved Davy Crockett so much. I was always interested in Westerns. I was so impressed and intimidated by the talent of the other Mouseketeers.
Johnny: I loved working there at the studio. We would stand in line at the cafeteria. My Grandma would always get in line early and save me a spot so when I came running in, she would usher me in to a spot in front of her, right in the front of the line. One time, she did that and the person standing in front of me was Walt Disney. He waited in line just like everyone else.
Johnny: I loved Roy Williams. One day he brought his new car to the studio and it had push button windows and we all thought that was cool.
