The Mickey Mouse Club is a long-running American variety television
show that began in 1955, produced by Walt Disney Productions and
televised by the American Broadcasting Company, featuring a regular but
ever-changing cast of teenage performers. The Mickey Mouse Club was
created by Walt Disney. The series has been revived, reformatted and
reimagined several times since its initial 1955-1959 run on ABC.
The Mickey Mouse Club was Walt Disney's second venture into producing a
television series, the first being the Walt Disney anthology television
series, initially titled Disneyland. Disney used both shows to help
finance and promote the building of the Disneyland theme park. Being
busy with these projects and others, Disney turned The Mickey Mouse Club
over to Bill Walsh to create and develop the format, initially aided by
Hal Adelquist.
The result was essentially a variety show for children, with such
regular features as a newsreel, a cartoon, and a serial, as well as
music, talent and comedy segments. One unique feature of the show was
the Mouseketeer Roll Call, in which many (but not all) of that day's
line-up of regular performers would introduce themselves by name to the
television audience. In the serials, teens faced challenges in everyday
situations, often overcome by their common sense or through recourse to
the advice of respected elders.
Good TV
Mickey Mouse Club was hosted by Jimmie Dodd, a songwriter and the
"Head Mouseketeer", who provided leadership both on and off screen. In
addition to his other contributions, he often provided short segments
encouraging young viewers to make the right moral choices. These little
homilies became known as "Doddisms". Roy Williams, a staff artist at
Disney, also appeared in the show as the "Big Mooseketeer". Roy
suggested the Mickey Mouse ears ("Mouseke-ears") worn by the cast
members, which he helped create, along with Chuck Keehne, Hal Adelquist,
and Bill Walsh.
The main cast members were called "Mouseketeers," and they performed in
a variety of musical and dance numbers, as well as some informational
segments. The most popular of the Mouseketeers constituted the so-called
"Red Team," which consisted of:
* Annette Funicello
* Tommy Cole
* Darlene Gillespie
* Cheryl Holdridge (joined in second year)
* Bobby Burgess
* Doreen Tracey
* Cubby O'Brien
* Karen Pendleton
* Lonnie Burr
* Sharon Baird