The Story Behind the Photo:
Part 2
Before the 1978 live shows at Disneyland, there was a smaller core group of fans who were able to attend the Mouseketeer appearances. Karen Blackburn, who was the first one to start a Mouseketeer Fan Club, was at many of the events and first met the Mice at the live Easter Week '77 shows at Disneyland. Back then (and still to this day) Karen taught a group of talented singing and dancing kids called "Karen's Kids" who would perform at various functions and at schools. She must have seen the Mice perform many times because she learned the songs and dance routines well enough to teach them to her group of kids. She organized a whole show based on their songs, created a live show "Salute to Mouseketeers" and invited the Mouseketeers and their families to attend. On August 10, 1977, eight of the Mice attended the show which was a lot of fun for everyone. It was held at a school auditorium, I believe. After Karen’s Kids performed (in trademark rainbow suspenders and Mouse ears), the real Mice were brought on stage and performed a song (I think it was "Friends") which is what they’re doing in the above photo.




This photo was taken at "Charlie's Summer of 1978 Reunion Beach Party" that I believe Dale W. and Tim C. organized. Charlie was a beloved guard at Harbor House, the Disneyland employee entrance guard shack. I think the gathering was held at Bolsa Chica State Beach. Besides Kelly, other Mouseketeers who attended were Pop, Nita and Scott. SInce no trees were available for me to take photos near (I seem to have gotten a reputation for taking Mice photos anywhere there was a tree, branch or leaf within shouting distance), I took some photos of Kelly near the water’s edge. Can you tell in this shot that she wrote her name in the sand?




The story that goes along with this photo is that Missy Sutton (was she a Disney publicist?) called me looking for a photo of Kelly that Disney could print up for her to autograph for an appearance. I thought that was unusual because wouldn’t Disney have publicity photos that they could print up? Anyways, I picked the best B&W photo of Kelly that I had taken recently and Missy sent a messenger over to where I was working back then to pick up the negative. I thought that was quite cool. A Disney Studios messenger! They printed up a bunch of 5x7 photos. I wish I could remember the appearance the photo was used for.




This photo was taken May 22, 1977 at Josephina's, an Italian restaurant. This is where some of the Mice and their families went after the taping of "All-Star Anything Goes" at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, CA. Todd, Shawnte, Pop and Allison competed against the cast of "Little House on the Prairie." I remember also seeing Kelly, Scott, Julie, Curtis and Nita who were also there to cheer them on.

What's funny about this photo (it's similar to a shot in Photo Gallery #13) is this ... Notice the hands in the photo holding the two candles. Julie's also holding a tiny flashlight (remember they sold them at Disneyland back in the '70s?). The reason they were doing this is because the restaurant was so dark I couldn’t focus the camera properly (manual focus camera). Don't remember who belonged to the arms reaching out to light the photo.

As a side note, it's unfortunate that there wasn't somebody working to better promote the Mice appearances. This was years before the internet, of course. I'm sure there were many kids who would have loved to have attended events like All-Star Anything Goes and the numerous charity events, just to meet or see the kids. Disney didn't do such a hot job in promoting their appearances. The only way I found out at this point in time was through Karen B., who ran the Mouseketeer Fan Club. Later, I would hear about appearances directly from Todd's mom.




Mike Montgomery recently reminded me about this photo. It was the Christmas card the Turquands sent out in 1980. (Dee sends out a photo card every year.) That year, I took the photo for them. Dee's friend wore the Santa suit and posed in the background swiggin' a beer. Quite the jolly Santa!




This shot was taken at Todd's house on 8/12/77. We went over for a visit and to see Julie and Jeanette off at the airport for their flight back to St. Louis. Two of the guys on the couch are Jeff and brother Rod. I hung out with Rod before I met Gregg W. The blonde guy was their friend but I don't recall his name.

Stay tuned for more "The Story Behind the Photo" ...