THE RISE to fame of Mickey Mouse is a case of rags-to-riches, rodent-style. "Walt Disney had been working to exhaustion on my first film, 'Plane Crazy,' " reminisces Mickey. "In those days I was poor as a church mouse. Didn't even own a pair of shoes. When the picture was finally previewed, I looked for the nearest hole." The pint-sized performer figured it would be a flop – but the public thought otherwise. There followed the celebrated "Steamboat Willie," and, later, "The Lonesome Ghost," in which Mickey first teamed with Donald Duck and Goofy. A high point came when Mickey joined Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra to do "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" in "Fantasia." By October, 1955, Mickey had been a star for twenty-seven years, had appeared in no less than 125 films, and had covered with glory his creator, Walt Disney, who publicly saluted him as "the little fellow who made everything else possible." With a background like this, his entry into TV was a natural. And the staggering success of Mickey Mouse Cluh is now a video legend. . . . On-camera, Mickey gets plenty of help from such animated friends as Donald Duck, Goofy, Pluto, Jiminy Cricket and Mickey's longtime girl friend, Minnie Mouse (they've been going steady now for twenty-nine years!). But most prominent are the Mouseketeers – a group of seventeen youngsters, plus young-in-heart Jimmie Dodd and Roy Williams, who inspire mountains of fan mail each week. Says "Uncle Walt": "They are regular American kids. There isn't a show-off among them." . . . The show's format calls for four segments per day, with a lively musical introduction of the club's theme song, various production numbers, brief pep talks by Jimmie Dodd plus other specialties as connecting links. As for the segments, they have included popular serial stories like "The Hardy Boys" and "The Further Adventures of Spin and Marty"; glimpses of youthful activity all around the world on "Newsreel"; personalities like Donna Atwood and Leo Carrillo on "Guest Star Day"; weekly visits with popular English puppet, "Sooty"; highly entertaining literary explorations with Jiminy Cricket; fun at the circus; lots of happy musical numbers, and all of the beloved Disney menagerie in animated cartoons. . . . The genius of Walt Disney has been honored by twenty-six Oscars and a roomful of other awards, trophies and citations – to which is now added your TVRM medal. Praise from every nation was perhaps best expressed in a letter which is among Walt's most cherished possessions. "Dear Walt Disney," it read, "I love you very much."
Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Club is seen on ABC-TV, M-F, from 5 to 6 P.M. EST, under multiple sponsorship.
[Image]FAVORITE TV CHILDREN'S PROGRAM
"Come join in the fun," urges Mickey, an invitation seconded by pals Walt Disney and Donald Duck.[/Image]
[Image]Merry Mouseketeers – "regular American kids." From left to right, front: Annette Funicello, Karen Pendleton, Cubby O'Brien, Sherry Allen and Dennis Day. Second row: Charley Laney, Sharon Baird, Darlene Gillespie and Jay Jay Solari. Third row: Tommy Cole, Cheryl Holdridge, Larry Larsen, Doreen Tracey and Eileen Diamond. Top row: Lonnie Burr, Margene Storey, Jimmie Dodd, Bobby Burgess.[/Image]
