Why? Because We Still Like You: An Oral History of the Mickey Mouse Club(R)
Only a graying segment of the American public will have watched The Mickey Mouse Club (on ABC, preceded by American Bandstand), but they’ll flock to this oral history of the TV show that helped shape the Baby Boomers. So influential was the show that readers may be shocked to learn it only lasted three years (1955–57), albeit with plenty of later repackaging. For the original members of the cast, these few short years cast a long shadow over the rest of their lives, as some succeeded and others faltered badly in their post-Mouseketeer years. All of the A team are represented here (that’s really what they were called), some through interviews but others from previous writings, notably Annette Funicello, who has struggled for 20 years with MS, and Darlene Gillespie, who went to prison for shoplifting. Also present are preteen heartthrobs David Stollary and Tim Considine, who played Spin and Marty, along with lesser-known Mice. How little the Mouseketeers understood their popularity, how hard they worked, how quickly it was over—it all makes for a captivating cautionary tale. --Ilene Cooper