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Feature of the Month

Walt Disney and the 'Mickey Mouse Club' Mickey Mouse Club

"Every one of us has some talent, and talent is developed by doing. This is the theme of our television show." - Walt Disney

Walt Disney captured the imagination of children, from the Alice Comedies in the 1920s to the birth of Mickey Mouse and beyond. He once said, "My business is making people, especially children, happy. Too many people grow up. That's the real trouble with the world, too many people grow up. They forget. They don't remember what it's like to be twelve years old."

Walt Disney did remember. "I have never personally quite gotten over being a child myself," he said. "The way I look at it, if I ever really grow up and become an adult, I may become stuffy and forget to have fun, and that would be a sad day." With this philosophy, he injected a youthful enthusiasm into all of his motion picture projects. By the time television emerged on the entertainment scene in the late 1940s and early '50s, Walt was closely following its development. And while most Hollywood producers at the time were unimpressed by the new medium, Disney revealed his visionary thinking when he stated, "I'm looking to the future, and that includes television."

On Christmas Day, 1950, the first Disney television show, "One Hour in Wonderland," aired on the NBC Television Network, to excellent viewership. A second television special, "The Walt Disney Christmas Show," was produced the following year to equal success. Based on the popularity of the two shows, Walt received many proposals to produce a regular series of television programs both for families and for children.

In 1953 he turned to his in-house creative team to develop several ideas, one of which was a one-hour family series called "Disneyland." As he described on the show's premiere on October 27, 1954 on the ABC Television Network, "Mostly we're going to tell you stories...tales of adventure and fable drawn from the imagination. And then we will tell stories of an even more fantastic world...of people and places, the facts of the world we live in today. We hope you like them." "Disneyland" instantly became a ratings success. The next challenge was to create a TV series for kids. It was to be called "The Mickey Mouse Club."

Early ideas for the show were outlined by the Disney creative team in 1953 with specific notes from Walt. Explaining his foray into children's television, he said, "We feel that a child's world is a happy world, free from so many bothersome problems. We would like to make that world a happier one still, and this we will attempt to do with "The Mickey Mouse Club." Nearly two years in development, the show debuted on October 3, 1955, and instantly won the undivided attention of America's children from coast to coast.

From the initial phases of the project it had always been Disney's intent to create a different kind of TV show for children, one that not only entertained, but educated as well. The only programs on the air at that time geared to the young set were mostly locally produced on slim budgets and with little imagination. "The Mickey Mouse Club" would be different. "I won't play down to children, and I won't patronize them," he said.

The growth and development of the child was the focus of nearly every aspect of "The Mickey Mouse Club," even though the "education" was disguised within the format of the show. Jiminy Cricket taught millions of kids to spell "encyclopedia," and to seek out the wonders within its pages. "The Mickey Mouse Club" Newsreels showcased youngsters from around the world involved in a variety of activities from sports to adventure hunting to volunteerism. There were features on safety and health as well as visits to faraway places with young foreign correspondents. The adult leader of the Club, Jimmie Dodd, gave us "Words to Live By" while Big Mooseketeer Roy Williams taught us to draw. And, of course, there were the serialized stories such as "Spin and Marty" and "The Hardy Boys," the daily cartoons, and the Mouseketeers to entertain.

"I know, of course, that "The Mickey Mouse Club" is described as a children's show," Walt once said. "Yet there is something about the expression 'children's show' that I always find disturbing. At our studio, we regard the child as a highly intelligent human being. He is characteristically sensitive, humorous, open-minded, eager to learn, and has a strong sense of excitement, energy and healthy curiosity about the world in which he lives."

He further explained, "It is our intention to make these shows instructive and educational as well as entertaining. They are planned to stimulate the minds of children -- certain phases of the program will arouse their interest in books, while others will direct their thought toward the planning of future experiences and careers. A Newsreel will be one segment of this show and we have cameramen in various parts of the world photographing children in foreign lands, showing their hobbies, talents, etc. Another series will deal with science and the wonders of nature."

Walt's keen insight into the world of the child was also apparent in the selection of the kids who would don mouse ears and star on "The Mickey Mouse Club" as the Mouseketeers. "I don't want to go to any of those professional schools to find kids for the show," Walt directed his staff. "I don't want children who tap dance or blow trumpets while tap dancing or skip rope or have curly hair like Shirley Temple. And I don't want nutty mothers. I just want ordinary kids."

Although members of "The Mickey Mouse Club" production team protested, arguing, "But Walt, what if they can't do anything?," the boss was adamant. "Then we'll teach them," he replied. "Go to a school and watch the kids at recess. Watch what happens to you. You'll notice that you're watching one kid, not any of the other kids and sooner or later your gaze will always go back to this one kid. That kid has star quality. That's who we want to get for 'The Mickey Mouse Club.'"

Walt was right on target. Although several of the original group of twenty-four Mouseketeers who populated the first season of the show had some professional experience, most were non-show business kids who were recruited from local dancing schools. They were the kind of children to whom the audience for the show could relate. They were natural and made the kids at home feel like they too could put on their mouse ears and join their friends on TV. From the thousands of fan letters that poured into Walt Disney Productions following the debut of the show, it seemed like every kid in America wanted to be a Mouseketeer.

"Our Mouseketeers are likable youngsters of whom we are very proud," Walt said. Their job is to sing, dance and generally regale the home audience with entertainment. They will have guest stars, personalities, circus and novelty acts. But they will make it their special business to introduce youthful talent from every part of the world. We feel there is a strong secondary value here - in that watching the Mouseketeers and their guests in action - boys and girls in homes throughout the land will feel impelled to discover and develop their own talents, whatever they may be."

So intense was the impact of the group on the young viewing audience, that to this day the Mouseketeers are vividly and fondly remembered by a generation of baby boomers who can still sing every word to the show's classic closing song that begins, "Now it's time to say good-bye...". As the show business Bible, Variety, described it "The effect of the show was electric."

"The Mickey Mouse Club" aired for four seasons from 1955 to 1959 in its original run on television. During that time, at least 175 leading directorial, technical, artistic and administrative staff worked directly on the show under the guidance of Walt Disney who was considered the overall producer. Although intensely involved in numerous motion picture and theme park activities at the time in addition to his television projects, Walt somehow managed to always keep a sharp eye on the show. The Mouseketeers today often recall his visiting the set, standing in the back of the soundstage and quietly observing the goings on. "I remember his soft presence on the set," recollected Sharon Baird, one of the Mouseketeers who appeared on the show every day. "He would just stop by from time to time and watch. Although I do remember that he once entertained us kids during a break with card tricks!"

While "The Mickey Mouse Club" enjoyed great success, it's demise was ill-fated, tied into a dispute between Walt Disney Productions and ABC-TV over the amount of commercials used on the show. Walt believed the network overloaded it with advertising to generate more revenue which caused viewers to lose interest. Unfortunately, commercial time allowance was dictated by the network and Walt had no control over the situation. As Bob Thomas, author of "Walt Disney, American Original" stated in his book, "What killed 'The Mickey Mouse Club?' Walt Disney hinted that it was greed." The series that had captured the imagination of children across the country was canceled. The final episode aired on September 25, 1959.

In the 1960s, and indeed throughout the four decades since it first appeared on television, "The Mickey Mouse Club" has continued to entertain and enrich the lives of children around the world in syndication. As recently as the mid 1990s when the original show aired on the Disney Channel, it maintained great popularity, even in black and white and with no slick special effects. The foundation and values that Walt Disney incorporated into the show nearly a half-century ago, continue to endure.

But perhaps the most important contribution "The Mickey Mouse Club" made to television, was the example it set for future children's programming that would combine entertainment with education. Could it be that the roots of a show like "Sesame Street," developed in the late 1960s, were nurtured by a mouse?

In 1956, at the height of the success of "The Mickey Mouse Club," thousands of letters poured into the Disney fan mail department each week, many of them addressed not to the Mouseketeers or the stars of the serials, but to Walt Disney himself. "Dear Walt: Please send Karen over to my house when I move. I will write you again next year," said one. Another came from a 10-year-old who wrote a song called "ABC Boogie" and wanted to sing it on the show; and another from a young lady who can "tap dance real good."

But according to a 1956 ABC press release entitled, "Compliments from the Lollipop Set," the letter Walt appreciated most of all is one that that speaks for a generation of kids who were devoted fans of "The Mickey Mouse Club," who sang and danced along with the Mouseketeers and who learned volumes about the world around them. The letter stated, simply and eloquently, "Dear Walt Disney, I love you very much."

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR: LORRAINE SANTOLI

Lorraine Santoli was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and spent ten years working for the National Broadcasting Company before relocating to Los Angeles and joining The Walt Disney Company. Her twenty-year tenure with Disney includes work in motion picture, television, and theme park publicity. In 1980 she met the original Mouseketeers when she was assigned to handle the publicity for a television special celebrating the 25th anniversary of "The Mickey Mouse Club." That fortuitous meeting led to an ongoing friendship and business relationship with the group that over the years has seen the Mouseketeers featured in many Disney special events, theme park shows and parades. Currently Director of Corporate Special Projects for The Walt Disney Company, Santoli has also served as a consultant on Annette Funicello's biography, "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes," and is the author of "The Official Mickey Mouse Club Book."


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