The Original Mickey Mouse Club Show

This short dramatic serial was salvaged from the wreckage of the What I Want To Be project. It featured a mix of Southern California and Midwest actors, including the studio's rising star, Annette Funicello, a popular second lead, Sammy Ogg, and a new discovery, Kevin Corcoran. As far as can be determined, this serial hasn't been seen since the 1964-65 syndication run, so photos and information on it are rare.

Synopsis

Walt Disney interrupts a class at the Disney Studio schoolroom, where Mouseketeers and serial actors are being taught by Miss Ross. He talks about the importance of dairy farming to the country, and asks who would be interested in learning more? Annette and Sammy volunteer, so they are sent off to Wisconsin as guests at a working farm.

Jim McCandless and his wife have two teenagers, Jimmy and Linda, and little Moochie. The five of them run their Wisconsin dairy farm with the help of handyman Paulie, who's a bit of a character (Hmm, sound familiar?). They're excited to meet their television star guests. In honor of the occasion, Moochie goes out to collect frogs, but nearly gets collared by an angry bull. Big brother Jimmy rescues him, setting the stage for the first of many Moochie moments to come.

Sammy and Annette take to their hosts right away, and soon settle into the routine of farm life. They meet Moochie's pet chicken, admire Mrs McCandless' flower garden, and are amazed to see how Paulie yodels to call the cows into the barn for the night. They also learn that pitching hay is a lot of work. Jimmy shows Sammy the machinery used for automatic cow milking, and they watch the local veterinarian cure a calf made sick by eating paint from Moochie's forgotten brush.

The days pass quickly as Annette and Sammy learn how to do new chores around the farm. At a 4-H dance held in their honor, they admire the polka dances and European folk singing of the local farm folk. They also entertain them with their own dancing, and make the neighbor kids honorary Mouseketeers. When the parents go into town to buy supplies, the kids take care of the farm, milking the cows by hand when a storm knocks out the electricity, and helping a newborn calf.

After Annette and Sammy return to California, the McCandless family watches the Mouseketeers on television perform Edelweiss Polka, and are delighted to see Sammy show off the yodeling he learned from Paulie.

Episode Guide

Episode		Orig Air Date
Off to Wisconsin		Nov 05, 1956
Moochie's Escape		Nov 06, 1956
The Trouble with Pigs		Nov 07, 1956
The Runaway Tractor		Nov 08, 1956
The Case of the Deadly Paint Brush		Nov 09, 1956
The Turning Point		Nov 12, 1956
The Kids Take Over		Nov 13, 1956
The Storm		Nov 14, 1956

Notes

In September 1955, one month before the Mickey Mouse Club debuted on television, the Disney Studio sent a magazine-like supplement to school districts around the country, touting the educational programming to be featured on the new show. One of these features was to be an on-going set of serials examining future careers for kids, called What I Want To Be. The first series was to be about airline careers, the second series would be about modern dairy farming. The idea for this project was the brainchild of Stirling Silliphant, who came up with it before being hired by the studio.

Silliphant's idea envisioned a sole major sponsor for each career in the series, who would not only underwrite the costs, but who would also provide logistical support and personnel (including cast members) for what would presumably be its area of expertise. Thus TWA was signed up to sponsor Airplane Pilot, Airplane Hostess, while the American Dairy Association agreed to handle The Dairy Farmer. The first serial was well-received in October 1955, and the ADA looked forward to its turn in the spotlight. But Walt Disney and Stirling Silliphant had a major falling out, which ended with the latter leaving the studio.

After Walt Disney fired Silliphant, the project was cancelled, possibly to avoid legal problems over ownership of the original concept. However, since the ADA was an important sponsor, both for the show and Disneyland, Walt didn't want to offend them by completely backing out of the arrangements they had made. There was also a matter of studio pride; schools and teachers had already been informed they would be seeing a series on dairy farming. So writer Lillie Hayward and director William Beaudine Sr put this serial together in a hurry, working in the short time frame before they were to start on The Further Adventures of Spin and Marty.

The serial was filmed during June and early July 1956, at the Burbank studio, and on location at the Sugar River Farm near Madison, and the Dr. Sisk Farm near Verona, Wisconsin. While in Wisconsin, the cast and crew stayed at the Lorraine Hotel in Madison. How much was used, if any, of Silliphant's original ten-episode storyline for the second What I Want To Be series, is unknown. Shown twice in the second and fourth seasons, it wasn't released for syndication until 1964-65. The syndicated shows from that year, which incorporated new live material from Disneyland, were never again broadcast or shown on the Disney Channel.

This was Annette's first real experience of acting. She had hosted and narrated the Italian Correspondent serial, but otherwise was only lightly used in the first season skits. Kevin Corcoran was said to have been discovered by Walt Disney while doing this serial, but Disney must have already decided on his star potential beforehand, since the studio took the trouble to bring him out from California for the filming. Sammy Ogg had enjoyed a small burst of popularity from his portrayal of Joe Simpson in The Adventures of Spin and Marty, and so won the co-star role for this serial.

Fern Persons (born 1910), who played Mrs. McCandless, was until recently an active member (and officer) of the Chicago branch of the Screen Actors Guild. Originally a stage actress, she had done one film and one television series before being hired for this serial. She later had an extensive career as a character actress, appearing in films like Risky Business (1983), Hoosiers (1986), and Field of Dreams (1989), and on television in ER (1999).

Glen Graber, who played Jimmy McCandless, was a part-time Chicago-area stage actor who began at age seven in the national touring company of High Button Shoes. He later had a full-time career in business, but was still doing occasional roles in regional theater through the late eighties. Mary Lu Delmonte, who played Linda McCandless, was a Catholic school girl from Woodstock, Illinois. Primarily a singer, this appears to have been her one and only stint as an actress.

Ernst Zentner (Paulie) and Clayton Streiff (Nels) were the most prominent cast members actually from Wisconsin. Folk singers and musicians of Swiss heritage, they sang, yodeled, and performed on Alpine instruments for live audiences and recordings. One song heard in this series, Teach Me How to Yodel, was written by another well-known Wisconsin folk musician, Rudy Burkhalter.

Lois Murray, who played the Disney Studio school teacher, Miss Ross, was a hairstylist in the studio's makeup department. She was given this small role since state regulations prohibited the real studio teachers from doing anything but teaching. The "classroom" where she taught was a set, and bore little relation to the studio-built schoolhouse trailer the kids attended, nor was it usual for the serial actors and Mouseketeers to have classes together.

Credits

Cast

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Annette Funicello		Herself
Sammy Ogg		Himself
Wisconsin scenes
Herb Newcomb		Jim McCandless
Fern Persons		Mrs. McCandless
Glen Graber		Jimmy McCandless
Mary Lu Delmonte		Linda McCandless
Kevin Corcoran		"Moochie" McCandless
Ernst Zentner		Paulie
Clayton E. Streiff		Nels
John Craig		Veterinarian
Paul Grossenbacher		Leader of Singing Group
William McKee		Square Dance Caller
Eric Borg		Bit part
Lois Framberger		4-H Performer
William Kahl		4-H Performer
Jerry Richardson		4-H Performer
Rita Richardson		4-H Performer
Jennifer Jordan		4-H Performer
William Reuf		4-H Performer
Carl Luescher		4-H Performer
Tom Mackesey		4-H Performer
Burbank scenes
Walt Disney		Himself (uncredited)
Lois Murray		Miss Ross
Sid Miller		Himself (uncredited)
Tim Considine		Himself (uncredited)
David Stollery		Himself (uncredited)
Karen Pendleton		Herself (uncredited)
Doreen Tracey		Herself (uncredited)
Darlene Gillespie		Herself (uncredited)
Sharon Baird		Herself (uncredited)
Lonnie Burr		Himself (uncredited)
Bobby Burgess		Himself (uncredited)
B. G. Norman		Himself (uncredited)
Brand Stirling		Himself (uncredited)
Cheryl Holdridge		Herself (uncredited)
Margene Storey		Herself (uncredited)
Tommy Cole		Himself (uncredited)
Jay-Jay Solari		Himself (uncredited)

Crew

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Bill Walsh		Producer
Stirling Silliphant		Original Concept (uncredited)
Lillie Hayward		Writer
William Beaudine Sr		Director
William Lava		Theme Song
Rudy Burkhalter		Song
Tom Adair		Song (uncredited)
Marvin Aubrey Davis		Art Director
Walter H. Castle, A.S.C.		Director of Photography
Stanley Johnson		Film Editor
Robert O. Cook		Sound
Fred MacLean		Set Decoration
Pat McNally		Makeup
Chuck Keehne		Costumes
Russ Haverick		Unit Manager
William Beaudine Jr		Assistant Director