Annette

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.

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.

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

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

I grew up watching Mickey Mouse Club and loved the series. I would absolutely love to find it on DVD or VHS tape so that I could show my kids. It reminds me of the wonderfully simple life we had back then. It was my favorite of the series that they had on Mickey Mouse Club. I have told my friends about it but they don't remember seeing it and would love to share it with them. The song from the series was also one of my favorites and if they had that on a cd or lp I would definitely buy it. I have spent the last week searching the internet trying to get information on this and at last I found it. Annette was my favorite Mouseketeer because we share the name.To be able to see this again would just make me the happiest person on earth. It's the old moral of good winning over evil. It shows the good morals we grew up with and the manners and kindness we should not loose.