I’ve always been fascinated by TV’s earliest child stars, the kids who gained fame on television nearly 70 years ago as the medium began to spread to millions of homes. Among the most prominent were those associated with The Mickey Mouse Club (1954-57). That popular Disney series made instant stars of the early “Mouseketeers,” but
Usually I beg off radio requests to pay homage to celebrities who have just died unless I have a personal story to tell. The latest request came with news of the passing of Kirk Douglas. The Hollywood legend passed away Wednesday at 103, and so many others have better stories to tell. Still, it was
Gawrsh! Yesterday was Mickey Mouse’s 90th birthday. It’s easy to be cynical about the Walt Disney Company’s big-eared corporate icon in 2018. While new attempts are made every decade or so to reboot the mouse as a relevant, animated “property,” he’s often seen today as a symbol of American commercial excess, or pointed to as the
My buddy Bob Cowan had me on CHCH Morning Live Monday to chat up the 2015-16 season. That was the idea, anyway, but we spent a lot of time trashing ABC’s revival of The Muppets. So be warned–we come off like those two old coots who used to heckle The Muppet Show from the balcony–Stadler
News of Annette Funicello’s passing Monday at age 70 sent me scrambling through a box of old cassette tapes. Thanks to my friend Lorraine Santoli, a former Disney publicity manager who authored a book on the Mouseketeers and who formed a close bond with Funicello, I was able to interview the Disney princess. That memorable