Annette Funicello on Eye to Eye w/ Connie Chung 1993

it was 1955 and every afternoon my sister and I went across the alley to watch The Mickey Mouse Club over at the Sur acids our eyes were on one little girl she was the star but edie magnet says at 51 Annette Funicello is in a very different kind of spotlight now Edie Connie I was just the opposite I never really understood what all the fuss about a net was until I met her in person and spoke with her friends who would believe that a good girl from a strict family could make it in Hollywood and still hang on to her reputation Walt Disney did before Madonna before share with the show the girl who got America all hot and bothered was who's that little lady who's as dainty as a dream she could steam up the glass on millions of TV sets just by standing there cute and corny the darling of the Disney Studios Annette Anand and your life has a very fairytale quality to it no it was real it was very real for me these were my wishes they came true everything that has happened in my life happened for a reason even the adversity has happened for a reason adversity like one of those dark Disney villains came in the form of multiple sclerosis a crippling disease of the central nervous system and that's been grappling with it now for seven years see and that gets it and that gets in trouble and that needs your help your reinforcement but it took me a long time to be able to admit that trapped by her body she's finding joy in sharing memories of happier days in her new autobiography Annette's story begins once upon a time in 1955 when a twelve-year-old ballerina danced the lead in Swan Lake at her school's year-end recital mr. Disney unannounced was in the audience because he was looking for Mouseketeer material and so began the fabled partnership between a powerful Hollywood visionary and a captivating dark-haired girl from Utica New York Mouseketeer Annette Funicello received more than 6,000 fan letters a week the boys would send you rings in the mail uh-huh would you please marry me and I love you but it wasn't the rodent eared cap that fueled boys fantasies it was the shirt most people don't even know that we have this t-shirt Robert Eamonn keeps the costume and other priceless artifacts in climate-controlled Disney archives a costume so revered it was the object of desire in the 1986 coming-of-age movie stand by me yeah I think he's right I've been noticing lately that the aim you're starting a bender on the side there's a misconception that I outgrew my Annette t-shirt in fact there was a late bloomer ah but when she did and that grew to become a prized Disney property and at the end of the Mouseketeers they let 23 kids go and they kept you I hope you're not going to ask oh I I don't know Walt Disney knew this good girl was good for business he signed her to a recording contract within weeks Annette had her first top ten hit and appearances on the influential Dick Clark broadcast American Bandstand in the summer of 59 clark invited annette now sweet 16 to tour the country in his caravan of stars but he'd ordered his musicians not to mess around with mr. Disney's creation don't swear in front of the net don't drink in front of a net don't smoke in front of a net and why did you feel the need to be protective of her when she was on the road it was an immediate introduction to a very very young sophisticated world I probably was afraid of what it would do to her but all the rules in the world couldn't stop a romance on the road and net and teen idol Paul Anka fell in love he had a great part of my heart it was her first serious relationship and as always Walt was watching were you very aware of the influence of Walt Disney in her life she was Disney she was this little satellite of Disney you go on the road and they reported back to the Disney office and that let's go somewhere next week I got a check with Disney to make matters worse Anka Zone handlers were telling him to stop mooning and keep crooning the adults were conspiring against them you're too young to be serious they said and they called it puppy Lou Anker wrote this world famous song in frustration swiss 17 you have to realize you're 16 17 you have emotions that really aren't allowed to come out anything you say frankly Walt Disney would allow the safe romance of the silver screen he loaned a net to star with Frankie Avalon in a series of Beach movies but even then he had one request would you mind not exposing your navel you know wearing a bikini she had a one-piece bathing suit on so why are you wearing that didn't know you got a good figure you know you look terrific where's he said oh no mr. Disney doesn't want me to wear that and there was nothing else to be said on my part I mean you have certainly a reputation as a as a saint goody two-shoes you were a goody two-shoes horse I did not II think there was a time when I wanted to see an x-rated movie okay I bought a blonde wig and I got into the movie and I remember thinking is this what everyone is talking was boring how old were you when you got in in my 30s you were in your 30s yes now what would have been the harm if someone had seen a net Funicello go into an x-rated movie because the net doesn't do things like that she left the spotlight as quickly as she entered it for marriage children carpools and occasional peanut butter commercials she divorced her first husband and married again life was ordinary and good her beach buddy Frankie finally coaxed Annette back into pictures they went back to the beach in 1987 taking an irreverent look at their past a reader corniest couple you have ever seen or what but this time the present kept in true there were little signs at first Lurie vision suddenly so bad she could barely read her script a tingling sensation in her feet and during the filming of the beach scenes and that couldn't keep her balance just walking along the sand it would lead her to a series of doctors and the diagnosis that would change her life when I was diagnosed with MS I thought I wish she could be here Walt Disney had died of lung cancer twenty-one years earlier I know I could say mr. Disney what what should I do how should I handle this frightened and unwilling to face being sick and that told almost no one including her own father she's still appeared in public several people called to see if she had a drinking problem her close friend former Mouseketeer Sharon Baird he said I know your good friends you can tell me I said no that I know she doesn't why did you decide to hide it but because nothing bad ever happens to Annette I think she was just waiting to someday just wake up in the morning and to be gone Annette joined Avalon on stage for 30 reunion concerts she didn't learn until afterward he'd known the truth all along well I would make sure that I'd hold on to her throughout the performance and many times I mean I'm amazed when I think back how strong she was and determined she was to be able to stand on her two legs that really weren't supporting her but she was determined and she remains determined to lead as normal a life as possible I am what the doctors called chronic progressive I have had no remission you write about dreaming of walking do you still dream about walking all the time in every dream where I'm seated when the conversation has ended I get up and walk do you remember the big rumor that was out that I died I've no done a piece of the Bubblegum and believe it or not and that still snacks on Skippy sharing fork falls this day with Sharon and another former Mouseketeer look familiar Tommy Cole now an award-winning makeup artist Tommy prepared a net for our interview I believe you know that's what they'll see yeah see real soon why because we do it E when you look at everything she's been through and that is just amazingly resilient and it is tough Connie when you remembered that she has trouble seeing she can no longer write her own name and as we saw walking is becoming more and more difficult but her autobiography comes out this week this is a woman who does not give up all right Thank You Edie

Channel: Annette Funicello TV

Views: 115,962

Rating: 4.8297873 out of 5

Keywords: Connie Chung (TV Program Creator), Annette Funicello (TV Actor), Multiple Sclerosis (Disease Or Medical Condition), yt:stretch=4:3

Id: bvLavGnvWgM

Length: 11min 11sec (671 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 23 2014