Annette

This is now available (in the "Walt Disney Treasures" DVD series), which should be good news to many. "Annette" is one of those series from earlier days that remains fascinating even if one can't quite say why. I guess a big part of it is the energy and dedication that the talented (and mostly young) cast puts into this slightly odd show. This is a world where people send orphaned minors off to live with relatives who have no prior warning of the orphan's existence, let alone that she's coming to stay. A manipulative snob can apologize for just one example of her general bad attitude, and suddenly all is forgiven. Olmstead's "favorite record" is the blandest generic jitterbug tune I've ever heard. In any case, all this weirdness somehow seems to fit in a 50's serial for kids, and it adds to the charm of "Annette".

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.

Another Collector's Tin release by Disney; this time a limited series of 39,500 were issued. Each contains an individually numbered certificate of authenticity, a 7" x 4.5" black and white publicity still of the title character, a booklet about the serial, and two disks.

The disks contain all 20 episodes of the serial and two entire episodes of the Mickey Mouse Club. These are from early 1958 so they are only 30 minutes long as the show's running time had been cut in half for its 3rd and final season.

There are also some bonus items on the disks: introductions by Leonard Maltin and some interviews with and tributes to "Annette".

Baby boomers don't need any introduction to the title character but others may be puzzled by the popularity of this actress who was not much of an actress and this singer who was not much of a singer. I was never particularly dazzled by Annette but I always liked her; she had an effortless charm that just won you over. Even if you crushed on Cheryl (guilty) and Doreen you still liked Annette. And very few girls ever felt any jealousy toward her. Much the same could be said in reverse about Tim Considine so featuring them together (here and in "Spin and Marty") pretty much guaranteed you would appeal to the widest teen and pre-teen demographic.

The series was a somewhat toned down adaptation of Janette (The Pokey Little Puppy) Lowrey's 1950 book "Margaret" and was originally to be titled "Annette and Darlene". But poor Darlene Gillespie fell into disfavor and was replaced as the Jet Maypen character by Judy Nugent. Nugent was not a Disney property so there was no need for the studio to promote her career, otherwise it would have been called "Annette and Judy".

The plot features the traditional conflict between city and country. Annette and Jet are up against rich girl queen bee Laura Rogan (Roberta Shore successfully playing against type and obviously having a lot of fun with the role). You've seen this same dynamic recently in "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen". Disney's move from Annette to Lindsey Lohen might signal the decline of Western Civilization.

David Stollery and Tim Considine team up again as the main male characters. Stollery sings a duet with Annette and one featurette explains how they doubled her voice (probably his as well) by having her sing the song twice.

There are sizeable parts for Doreen Tracey, Shelley Fabares, Sharon Baird, and Rudy Lee. And a bit part for Cheryl Holdridge; even third season newcomer Bonnie Fields (the prettiest Mouseketeer who was sadly underutilized by the show itself) gets some screen time. Richard Deacon and Mary Wickes play off each other for comedy relief; basically reprising their trademark character roles.

The song that launched Annette's recording career, "How Will I Know My Love?" is featured twice and Shore sings a couple much better numbers, "Readin', Writin' and Rhythm" and "Don't Jump to Conclusions". Shore's stuff has an early Judy Garland quality.

The teen dancing sequences were painfully corny even to a small town 1950's 2nd grader. On the other hand Bonnie does dance a little and this prompted me to seek out a video of her original 1957 MMC guest appearance (as a tap dancing act) which someone has uploaded to U-Tube (check it out).

I still have the Dell comic book so I had not forgotten the general story, but I found series itself better than I remembered it. They do a nice job of laying some romantic misdirection so that the resolution offers a mild surprise. Then you can look back and see that clues were provided all along but most viewers missed them.

Despite having some awful dialogue to deal with; Stollery, Nugent, and Shore are talented enough to sell their characters. Annette and Tim just play their likable selves and as always that works just fine.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

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!

Absolutely love this serial. My mother introduced it to me when I was a child. I am in my early thirties. I was able to find a few episodes online at youtube. I use to have them all on tape, but lost the tape. I love the simple way of things. Not everything needs to be sexed up or violence. I like those shows, but sometimes you like a nice story. Love the fashion. And it is interesting to see how kids hung out back then. I remember seeing pictures of my mother back then and everyone was so manicured. Today we are not so in the mannerisms and fashion. Definitely suggest to people who liked Pleasantville, Dick van Dyke, My Three Sons, etc. Nice family programming. With some nice laughs.