Mouseketeer and Disney's teen sex symbol who kept her clothes on

SHE was the first crush for a generation of boys, the perfect playmate for a generation of girls.

Annette Funicello

SHE was the first crush for a generation of boys, the perfect playmate for a generation of girls.

Annette Funicello, who became a child star as a cute-as-a-button Mouseketeer on Walt Disney's The Mickey Mouse Club in the 1950s, ruled among baby boomers, who tuned in every weekday afternoon to watch her on their flickering black-and-white television sets.

Then they shed their mouse ears, as Funicello did when she teamed up with Frankie Avalon in the 60s in a string of frothy, fun-in-the-sun movies with titles such as Beach Blanket Bingo and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini.

Decades later, she endeared herself to baby boomers all over again when she announced in 1992 she had multiple sclerosis and began grappling with the slow, degenerative effects with remarkably good cheer. "She really had a tough existence," Avalon said. "It's like losing a family member. I'm devastated, but I'm not surprised."

He said when the pair worked together she never realised how beloved she was: "She would say, 'Really?' She was so bashful about it. She was an amazing girl."

Born in Utica, New York, Funicello's family moved to Los Angeles when she was four. She began taking dance lessons, and she won a beauty contest at nine. Then came her discovery by Disney. The pretty, dark-haired Funicello was 13 when she gained fame on The Mickey Mouse Club, a kids' variety show that consisted of stories, songs and dance.

Cast after Disney saw her at a dance recital, she appeared in the Mouseketeer uniform of mouse ears, a pleated skirt and turtleneck sweater emblazoned with her first name, and captivated young viewers with her wholesome appeal. She became the most popular Mouseketeer, receiving 8000 fan letters a month, 10 times more than any of the 23 other young performers. "It was a happy time. They were wonderful times," she recalled as an adult.

Singer and composer Paul Anka, the one-time teen idol who briefly dated Funicello when they were on the concert circuit in the late 1950s, said that like seemingly every young American male of the time he was in love with her.

"She was just the girl next door and they were drawn just to her," Anka said. "She had that thing. She had the It, and there was just no stopping it."

When The Mickey Mouse Club ended, Funicello was the only cast member to remain under contract to the studio. She appeared in such Disney movies as Johnny Tremain, The Shaggy Dog, The Horsemasters, Babes in Toyland, The Misadventures of Merlin Jones and The Monkey's Uncle. She also became a recording star, singing on 15 albums and hit singles such as Tall Paul and Pineapple Princess.

Outgrowing the kid roles by the early 60s, Funicello teamed with Avalon in a series of movies for American-International, the first film company to exploit the burgeoning teen market. The filmmakers weren't aiming for art, and never stumbled across it. As Halliwell's Film Guide says of Beach Party: "Quite tolerable in itself, it started an excruciating trend."

The films had songs, cameos by older stars and some laughs. The 1965 Beach Blanket Bingo, for example, featured subplots involving a mermaid, a motorcycle gang and a skydiving school run by Don Rickles, as well as comic touches by silent film star Buster Keaton.

Among the other titles: Muscle Beach Party, Bikini Beach and Dr Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine. The beach films featured ample youthful skin. But not Funicello's.

She said in 1987: "Mr Disney said to me one day, 'Annette, I have a favour to ask of you. I know all the girls are wearing bikinis, but you have an image to uphold. I would appreciate it if you would wear a one-piece suit.' I did, and I never regretted it."

The shift in teen tastes initiated by the Beatles in 1964 and Funicello's first marriage the following year killed off beach movies. After that, she had no interest in edgier, more "adult" roles.

In 1965, Funicello married her agent, Jack Gilardi, and they had three children, Gina, Jack and Jason. In the 70s, she made commercials, appearing with her real-life children.

She and Gilardi divorced and in 1986 she married Glen Holt, a harness racehorse trainer.

Funicello and Avalon were reunited in 1987's Back to the Beach. During filming she noticed she had trouble walking, the first sign of MS. She gradually lost control of her legs. Fearing people might think she was drunk, she went public with her condition in 1992.

She wrote of her triumphs and struggles in her 1994 autobiography, A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes, the title taken from a Disney song. In 1995, she appeared briefly in a TV docudrama based on her book.

And she spoke openly about the degenerative effects of MS, which would eventually rob her of her ability to speak.
AP

OBITUARY
Annette Funicello
Actress and singer.
Born Utica, New York, October 22, 1942.
Died Bakersfield, California, April 8, aged 70.