Annette: "Now it's time to say goodbye..."

Annette Funicello was America's Hayley Mills - the movie star everybody loved. I have vague memories of watching Mickey Mouse Club when I was a kid. I mainly remember Jimmie (the grown-up), Annette and Cubby. I remember Cubby because my parents thought my brother looked a bit like him, and "Cubby" became his nickname.

I remember Annette more for her Disney movies, like Babes in Toyland, and for her guest star roles on The Wonderful World of Disney than for Mickey Mouse Club. I'm sure I watched the beach movies with Annette, Paul Anka and all, but I wasn't a huge fan.

I became a fan of Annette by a fluke - her album, "Annette: The Story of My Teens and the Sixteen Songs That Tell It" was delivered to our house either by mistake or as a promotion for a record club. I'm absolutely sure my parents didn't order it, but one way or another it became my very first album. It came out in 1962, when I was 10 years old. I played that album until it wore out or broke - I still have the very battered album cover, but the album itself is long gone.

I can remember most of the songs on the album and even after all these years, I still remember the words to a lot of them. "Tall Paul," "Pineapple Princess" and other questionable classics. They might not rank with the Beatles, but these songs still bring back happy memories. All of the songs in the YouTube links below were on that album.

R.I.P. Annette. I remember these words from the closing of the Mickey Mouse Club episodes: "Now it's time to say good-bye..." You'll be missed.