One of the highlights of the day was a panel discussion with eight Mousketeers, followed by the opportunity to say hello and obtain their autographs. Although THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB was off the air years before I was born, as a child of the '70s I loved watching it in syndicated reruns. One of the earliest film or TV books in my collection is THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB SCRAPBOOK (1977), which I saved up for by doing chores.
The Mouseketeers in attendance were Bobby, Tommy, Cubby, Karen, Sharon, Doreen, Sherry, and Mary. They spent an hour or so sharing varied memories regarding how they were cast, what it was like to work on the show, and memories of Walt, Jimmie, and Roy.
Sharon said she is still very close to Annette and would be going to visit her after the D23 appearance. Annette has suffered from multiple sclerosis for many years and retired from public life.
After the discussion, the Mousketeers signed autographs for two solid hours in an adjacent hall. They couldn't have been more gracious, and they were so appreciative of their fans and that people took the time to share special memories of watching the show.
Unfortunately Bobby Burgess had to leave just before I was able to speak with him; it would have been fun to say hello to my father's childhood next-door neighbor!
The event organizers seemed somewhat surprised by how many people wanted to participate in the Mousketeer "meet and greet," which was rather surprising to those of us in line! It was a long wait for some of us during the lunch break. Hopefully at a future event of this type they can organize it so that people with certain color wristbands return at certain times, so that everyone doesn't have to stand in line during the entire lunch break.
On the plus side, each person in line was given a nice piece of card stock with the Mousketeers' names printed below lines where they signed their names. It was efficient and attractive, and it also prevented people in line from attempting to have multiple items signed, which would have made the wait even longer.
As mentioned here previously, a brand-new book on the Mousketeers will be published at the end of October: WHY? BECAUSE WE STILL LIKE YOU: AN ORAL HISTORY OF THE MICKEY MOUSE CLUB.
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