Annette

Walt Disney was always big on stories about orphaned kids and their predicaments; here, it's Annette Funicello's turn, playing Nebraskan farm girl Annette McCleod, who must go to live with her aunt and uncle in Small Town, U.S.A. after a family tragedy, immediately pitted against the wealthy teenage clique who look down on her rural past. Appealing TV serial (adapted from Janette Sebring Lowrey's 1950 book "Margaret") from the third and final year of "The Mickey Mouse Club", running 19 installments total and utilizing break-out star Funicello to good advantage (she's sweet and simple, sympathetic and not sappy). After making her first dress-up appearance at a teen party, Annette's understated elegance brings out the green-eyed demon in Laura Rogan, the town's slickest chick and ringleader. Rogan, played by Roberta "Jymme" Shore, is downright evil, dumping food on Annette and making fun of her singing. At one point, Annette decides to leave the shindig alone (with the viewer completely on her side), but she sticks it out and tries having fun--only to have Shore's Laura accuse her of stealing her necklace! Why the other girls don't stand up to Laura is left a little vague, but she's quite the temptress while ordering the duck-tailed boys around at whim. Not exactly high drama--teenage or otherwise--but convincingly played by a talented group of kids, which includes "Spin and Marty" themselves, Tim Considine and David Stollery, as well as Shelley Fabares pre-"The Donna Reed Show". Fun stuff from the Disney vaults!

I love the serial. It reflects a time in the '50s when many families moved from the country to the city. Country kids versus City Kids. A reverse of "Footloose". The challenges of teens in their social scene at school. Annette plays a country girl adapting to the City High School Crowd, relevent to the times. It takes us to a time past of Spin the Bottle, Poodle skirts (worn by Roberta Shaw), can can slips, boy's hyped up Model T's, the high school malt shop, Smallville USA, affordable maids, and streets named after trees like Elm Street. My daughter of 19 enjoyed the reflection of a different time and different society. Fun to see Annette, Tim Considine, Roberta Shaw, Shelley Fabre, and many more. I wish it were available for purchase. On the Mickey Mouse Club show at night, they leave out the main scenes in the country where Jet confronts Laura.. It was the best scene. The serial is excellent

The big serial for the Mickey Mouse Club in its final year was Annette, starring of course Annette Funicello. The young men of America watched Annette have a rather public puberty so Walt Disney no doubt figured in the last season of the club it was altogether fitting and proper to recognize this.

Funicello plays a role somewhat akin to something Janet Gaynor might have done back in her day. Gaynor was always a girl fresh off the farm who comes to the big city and wins the heart of whomever the leading man was. She was always down to earth and full of common sense.

And that's exactly what Funicello plays in Annette. She's lived in a rural background until her teens when she's orphaned. Her rich uncle Richard Deacon and aunt Sylvia Field take her in.

These people are pretty rich, but Annette doesn't gravitate at first to the kids in her aunt and uncle's economic class. She likes young Judy Nugent who delivers milk and eggs from her farm and young David Stollery who has to work after school. Gradually though she not only becomes accepted with the cool kids, but they actually start developing some nice values of their own.

Except for one that is, Roberta Shore who played a lot of teen queen roles that Annette didn't get is the villain of the piece. She gets insanely jealous of this country bumpkin's new found popularity and schemes for her downfall.

This series ran 19 episodes and granted they're only 15 minutes in length each chapter, still it's one of the longest if not the longest serial Disney had on the Mickey Mouse Club. It was a picture of the Fifties and the values we had at the time. Note the lack of any minority faces in Annette.

Still it wasn't a bad show. Annette Funicello was launched on her way to teen and adult stardom. She established her image that carries on right up to today in Annette. And it's not a bad image for a very brave lady to have.

I think it should be distributed on DVD there too many people that remember this feature and would like to share it with there families. Does anyone know how to get them to produce it into the market of today??? I am the directors ( Charles Lamont) daughter and I know how great all the kids were on the set . I have been asked lots of times why some of his movies haven't been released and I can't answer that question. Before he died all he wanted to see was Curtain Call at Cactus Creek but Universal never released it I even contacted the studio but they did nothing about it. Pretty sad huh! Well blessings to all. Tina

This was a lovely series which I loved even if it was completely uninteresting for my brothers. It had a couple of lovely, simple songs-- "Lonely Guitar," "How Will I Know My Love?" and "Meetin' at the Malt Shop after School." And it's probably the best single program to show why girls loved Annette just as much as or even more than their brothers. Her character's simple sweetness and honesty was what we aspired to.

I never saw this since it was on the original Mickey Mouse Club in the 50s. But some scenes are still vivid in my memory--Annette walking into town with a pretty but old-fashioned be-ribboned hat and a pretty but too-fancy dress and carrying a suitcase and her guitar; Annette singing with Tim Considine (who I had a SERIOUS crush on!); the missing necklace turning up inside the piano. It was a simple, sweet soap opera-ish story in a world that never really existed, but it worked and I'd love to see the whole thing again.

Disney really should put this whole series out on DVD, in the same kind of set that they released the Hardy Boys and Spin and Marty series. The perfect release for Annette would happen just in time for Mother's Day.