Beyond the South End

A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes

  

When Annette Funicello died on Monday, April 8 in California, Facebook immediately lit up with her picture and tributes and remembrances of that special light called Annette that had gone out in our lives. The tributes soon followed:

From Frankie Avalon via the TMZ announcement online: “She was a very courageous gal that fought and fought and fought…I’m devastated. I loved this gal.”

From Variety: Disney Chariman-CEO Robert Iger: “Annette was and always will be a cherished member of the Disney family, synonymous with the word Mousketeer, and a true Disney Legend.” He went on to say, “She will forever hold a place in our hearts as one of Walt Disney’s brightest stars, delighting an entire generation of baby boomers with her jubilant personality and endless talent. Annette was well known for being as beautiful inside as she was on the outside, and she faced her physical challenges with dignity, bravery and grace.”

Diane Disney Miller, daughter of Walt praised Annette as a “consummate professional who demonstrated great loyalty to Disney.”

A new Facebook friend of mine, Susan Groder, said she remembers going to the Mickey Mouse show in LA several times while visiting her grandparents. “Oh what wonderful memories I have of Annette. She was quite a performer even as a youngster. I was so envious of her long curly hair.”

My family didn’t have a TV till the late 50s and I remember watching the “Mickey Mouse” show over at the farm with my twin cousin, Diane Hilton. It was one of the first shows I ever watched on TV. We would sit in front of that old black and white TV and wish we were there to have fun with all those kids on the show. Now Diane is gone and so is Annette.

We all knew that Annette was very ill and had been for a long time, but we still liked to remember her as the star of the Mickey Mouse show where she was full of life and energy. Jimmy Dodd, host of the Mickey Mouse Club, composer of the show’s theme, wrote a special song for Annette: “Who’s the little lady who’s as dainty as a dream? Who’s the one you can’t forget? I’ll give you just three guesses. Annette, Annette, Annette!” Those of you familiar with the Mickey Mouse Club song, can hear the music to this song. Here’s the video of her dancing to the song:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annette took dancing and music lessons as a child to overcome her shyness. In 1955, at age 12, Walt Disney discovered her as she was performing as the Swan Queen in Swan Lake at a dance recital at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank. He cast her as a “Mouseketeer” in the new Mickey Mouse Club. She was the last to be chosen and one of the few cast by Walter himself. She became very popular after the first season, receiving 6,000 letters a month.

Annette was not only a star on the Disney show. She went on to record 19 albums including the first Annette, 1959; Annette at Bikini Beach, 1964; and A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes, 1995.

She also recorded singles including: Tall Paul, First Name Initial, O Dio Mio, Train of Love, Pineapple Princess, and My Little Grass Shack. I can remember singing along to these songs on the radio.

She was in 19 films, 6 of which were the “Beach” Movies with Frankie Avalon. They were Beach Party, 1963; Music Beach Party, 1964; Bikini Beach, 1964; Pajama Party, 1964; Beach Blanket Bingo, 1965; and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, 1965.

Walt always wanted to dress her in modest swim suits in these movies, not showing her belly button. It worked for the most part except that her belly button did show most of the time.

As teenagers we flocked to these movies. Mostly we wanted to see our singing idol, the hunk, Frankie Avalon; but he and Annette were the perfect onscreen couple. Here’s a video of one of the films:

 

 

Besides the Mickey Mouse Club, Annette had many TV credits. Including: Zorro, 1959, 1961; The Danny Thomas Show, cast member in 1959; a Love American Style segment along with Frankie Avalon, 1973; and many more television appearances.

In her personal life, Annette was best friends with Shelley Fabares, singer/actress, and niece to Nanette Fabray. Annette and Shelley met as teenagers in catechism class. Shelley was a bridesmaid at Annette’s first marriage. Annette was also close to her fellow Mousketeers Lonnie Burr, who she claimed was her first boyfriend during the first season; Sharon Baird, Doreen Tracey, Cheryl Holdridge, and Tommk Kirk, as well as her many time co-star Frankie Avalon.

Shelley, ironically, suffered her own illness and received a life-saving liver transplant in 2000 because of hepatitis.

Annette was married twice. First to Jack Gilardi, from 1965-1981. They had three children, Gina, Jack, Jr., and Jason. In 1986, she married horse breeder, Glen Holt.

In 1987, Annette and Frankie reunited to promote their film, Back to the Beach. She began to have dizzy spells and failing health problems. She kept her diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis a secret until 1992. She dispelled rumors that she had become an alcoholic by revealing her illness. Hoping to help others with the disease she founded the Annette Funicello Fund for Neurological Disorders at the California Community Foundation.

Throughout her long battle with MS she never complained and always gave others with the disease hope for their future. She was a shining light until the very end when she lost the ability to walk or even to speak.

Annette wrote a series of books called The Annette Mysteries. However, the story of her life was finally told in an autobiography which was dictated to Patricia Romanowski and published in 1994, called A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes: My Story. It was made into a TV movie in 1995. If you want to view a video of that movie as well as other stories under that name about Annette go to You Tube. The one which tells about her illness and features Shelley Fabares is: "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes--the Annette Funicello Story 6/7. I cannot download it here due to copyright issues.

The title of the book and TV movie came from the Cinderella song in the Disney animated feature which is probably my all time favorite Disney movie.  You can view a video of Cinderalla singing that song on You Tube also. You could probably say that the words of that song were the philosophy of Annette’s life:

“A dream is a wish your heart makes

When you’re fast asleep

In dreams you lose your heartaches

Whatever you wish for, you keep

Have faith in your dreams and someday

Your rainbow will come smiling thru

No matter how your heart is grieving

If you keep on believing

The dream that you wish will come true”

If you were trying to explain why Annette is no longer with us to a child I would highly recommend telling them about that song and that she is no doubt in a special magical kingdom up in heaven, probably living in Cinderella’s castle, and that her Uncle Walter is taking good care of her.

As I try to deal with the pollen here in Georgia and limp around my apartment waiting for my knee operation in May, I count my blessings when I remember our dear Annette Funicello and the special light she emitted till the very end even as she had to deal with her illness. My problems don’t seem so bad after all.

Rest in Peace at last our dear Cinderella, our Annette. “Now we have to say goodbye.

M-I-C-K-E-Y  M-O-U-S-E.”