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MY own daughters, aged 12 and six, have pictures of Annette pasted inside the doors of their built-in cupboards.

So when, on a brief visit to Los Angeles, I was able to arrange a date for lunch with Annette, my excitement was considerable.

The prospect of meeting her was pleasant in itself. But apart from that, I knew it would do a great deal for me, prestige-wise, in the home circle.

Annette Funicello first became known when she had just turned 13, as the dark-eyed singing and dancing star of Walt Disney's TV Mickey Mouse Club. The Mouseketeers were all bright children, but Annette was the special darling of the viewers.

The Mickey Mouse Club, which has been disbanded, although its filmed programmes are still popular in Australia, did not ensure permanent fame for its talented young members. Some of them are already headed for obscurity.

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But Annette has gone on to become a big personality in the hectic, booming world of U.S. teenage entertainment.

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