Lynn Ready (1944-2018)
|
The Jazz Dancer
A third season replacement, Lynn had already appeared on television before joining the Mickey Mouse Club. Lynn got to perform on both the Mouseketeer segments and in a serial. After leaving the show, he continued in show business for a number of years as an actor, singer and musician.
|
Background
Born Lowrey Lynn Ready on December 3, 1944 to Robert and Myrtle Ready, in Dallas, Texas, he began dancing and singing lessons at an early age, and soon was winning amateur contests in the Dallas and Ft. Worth areas. Lynn, who was always billed by his middle name, sang on local radio and television shows from age three on, and later learned to play piano and the steel guitar. Lynn's first professional engagement was in February 1957, on a local Dallas television program, The Curt Massey Show. Shortly afterwards, Lynn took part in a regional audition for replacement Mouseketeers, and became the only Mouseketeer ever hired whose family wasn't already living in California.
Lynn's family, including his older brother Jack, moved to Canoga Park, California, after Lynn won a spot on the show. Though offered a one-year contract with four options, Lynn, like all the other replacement Mouseketeers, found his Mousekareer lasting only six months. For a family that had uprooted itself and moved halfway across the country, this was a major disappointment.
Performance
Lynn wound up on the Blue Team like the other third season replacement Mouseketeers. The Roll Call and Alma Mater segments had been filmed before they were hired, so they lacked even the hope of getting into those. With the show reduced to a half-hour format, the Mouseketeers no longer had a daily presence; two days a week were devoted to cartoons, serials, and a newsreel or encyclopedia special. Lynn's opportunities for performing were thus very limited.
Nevertheless he did appear in several production numbers, and even got a feature spot doing his signature jazz dance for 'Mousekaturntoentertain'. The choreography and music for this bit were very different from the show's usual style, and may reflect Lynn's pre-MMC performances. Lynn sang the Doddism ditty Everything is Fun. For couples dancing, Lynn was paired with Cheryl Holdridge, whom he, unlike Dennis Day, seemed to enjoy very much.
Lynn also got to do a serial,
The New Adventures of Spin and Marty. With fellow Mouseketeer
Don Agrati and another actor, Lynn performed a song for the Triple R 'show within a show', but mostly his role in this story was to sit in the background and look interested. Lynn had a similar passive experience with an episode of
Disneyland called the
Fourth Anniversary Show. But they also serve who only sit and watch Darlene sing...
Aftermath
After leaving the show in September 1957, Lynn went to Canoga Park High School, where he played football, eventually graduating in 1962. He had also added drums, ukulele, xylophone, and harmonica to his list of instrumental skills, and taken up hunting. Lynn had a bit part in Bye, Bye, Birdie (1962), while attending Valley Junior College, and later had a recurring role as one of Rickey Nelson's frat brothers on Ozzie and Harriet. Small uncredited parts in My Fair Lady (1964) and The Collector (1965) followed, but Lynn was beginning to concentrate on music and songwriting.
Lynn had already appeared as a backup musician and singer for an album released around 1960. He apparently signed a contract with Motown Records, and is credited as a sideman on several records, though he doesn't appear to have released any singles or albums under his own name. He was credited as a rhythm guitarist on some LP's. In 1975 Lynn provided a photo and updates to Keith Keller's book, and in 1980 he took part with thirty other Mouseketeers in the televised 25th Anniversary of Mickey Mouse Club. According to Lynn's family, he passed away from cancer on February 26, 2018.
