The Original Mickey Mouse Club Show

Forever Hold Your Banner High! The Story of the Mickey Mouse Club and What Happened to the Mouseketeers by Jerry Bowles Doubleday & Company, Garden City, New York 1976 151 Pages, B/W Photos, Appendix (Portions of this book appeared in Esquire in 1975-76) Jerry Bowles is a New York based journalist and editor, who was twelve when the Mickey Mouse Club debuted on television in his native West Virginia. In two sentences he conveys the common experience of a hundred thousand American boys of

The book is built around face-to-face interviews the author had with the core group of ten Red Team Mouseketeers, with Roy Williams, and with Jimmie Dodd's widow, Ruth Carrell. These interviews were reported in the style made fashionable in the sixties, where the interviewer's thoughts are related but his words are seldom quoted, and where the ambience of the interview setting and the chance events and marginal people present on that occasion get as much play as the person interviewed. I've always distrusted this style of reporting; it's too easy for the writer to manipulate non-pertinent elements to color the reader's impressions of the subject.

In spite of my prejudice, though, the interviews in this book strike me as thoughtful and sympathetic, though not always fair. Jerry Bowles caught these folks at just the right time, about twenty years after the show started, when they had had time to reflect on the experience, and just before Disney woke up to the fact that its former Mouseketeers could be profitable again and should be reined in through financial inducements. Never again would they be this candid.

The author had to do his research from scratch. There was no internet to consult, no previous books to use as a guide, no videos or DVDs to review performances. He did make use of Amie Hill's interview of Dennis Day in the Rolling Stone (1971), and it's obvious he was getting a lot of coaching from Lonnie Burr, but Keith Keller's book only came out after Jerry Bowles had done most of his research and writing. The author casts each chapter into a standalone story-form; this reflects the original appearance of the interviews as separate articles in Esquire magazine. The only common theme is an air of melancholy, of unrealized hopes and unfulfilled potential.

Besides those interviewed in the book, he also spoke with many more people, members of the cast and crew, and Disney studio old-timers. Some are mentioned by name, like first-season Mouseketeer Lee Johann and director Dik Darley. Others remain anonymous, though some quotes of the latter type are plainly comments by Lonnie. From these talks he crafts a view of the show's inception that has Hal Adelquist, Bill Walsh, and Jimmie Dodd at its center, rather than Walt Disney. He also gives proper credit to the first season director Dik Darley and choreographer Burch Mann, and to later director Sidney Miller. This was the most important contribution to come out of the book: the proper identification of the creative minds that gave the show its unique appeal. The author demystifies Walt Disney's role in the Mickey Mouse Club, showing how slender his involvement was, and how shallow his commitment to a project he hadn't really wanted to do in the first place.

Because this book is the most important source for insights into the core group of ten Mousketeers, I wanted to add my own highly subjective opinions on a few of the author's reported interviews. Don't be fooled by my know-it-all tone. Jerry Bowles met and talked extensively with these folks; I've never met any of them.

Annette - The Mouse Princess and The Everyday Housewife (11 pages)
Jerry incorrectly states that Annette was moved to the Red Team at the end of the show's first week on the air (she was on the Red Team from the first day hired). He mentions his distaste for her appearance in the AIP Beach films, which were shot in color. I found this interesting; in my own opinion Annette first caught viewer's eyes due to the high contrast between her skin and hair color on the small black & white television screens of the time. This explains why the studio crew wasn't aware of her potential at first, since they were seeing performances live on the set.

Darlene - The Unlikely Star (7 pages)
Throughout the book Jerry stresses the very real talents of Darlene, but gives an odd description of her as "tall, awkward, and not pretty". Darlene at sixteen stood 4'11", was a graceful dancer, and as for her looks, well go to the cast section and decide for yourself. Jerry places Annette as the spoiler whose career was pushed to the detriment of Darlene. (An understandable conclusion, since so many Mouseketeers were telling him this). Disney was a big studio, and could afford to promote several actresses at the same time, and frequently did. It was not an "either/or" situation, except, perhaps, in the minds of Darlene and other Mouseketeers.

Bobby Burgess (9 pages)
Jerry must have fumbled his notes on this interview. It's hard to credit that fourteen year-old Bobby dated eight year-old Bronson Scott, nor did she have blonde hair. The girl referred to was most likely Billie Jean Beanblossom. He also didn't dance with Sharon in Cooking with Minnie Mouse; she wasn't in it. The picture referred to was probably a very common publicity shot from that number of Doreen and Bobby. Bobby also didn't dance with Sharon as much as Jerry suggests; in the first season he was usually paired with Bonni Kern, and in the later seasons with Annette, Doreen, or Cheryl.

Mickey (5 pages)
This is really a way for Jerry to get in a little more Walt bashing; it isn't necessary. A full interview with a real person would have been better.

Doreen - A Hollywood Child (7 pages)
This is the most disturbing interview in the book. I can't decide if it was done straight, toned down, or juiced up. Doreen is very perceptive; she challenged Jerry by saying he was closer to Lonnie than he was letting people know. She also threw out tidbits about her ex-husband (Bob Washburn) being a reformed drug addict, and that he used to hang around with Lonnie. Jerry in turn must have known that Doreen dated Lonnie for a while after the show ended before picking up with Bob. I can't help feeling suspicious of Jerry's impressionistic daub of Doreen as a Krypto-Druggie, while at the same time I've got to acknowledge she has admitted having her share of personal problems.