When Annette Funicello died on April 8, 2013, the world mourned one of the iconic figures of the Boomer generation. She was the first crush for many heterosexual boys and gay girls who watched her every week on The Mickey Mouse Club, and later in comedies co-starring Tommy Kirk and Frankie Avalon (left).
The Mickey Mouse Club (1955-59) was the first children's television program that starred real children, "the Mouseketeers." They wore wore mouse ear-shaped caps and white sweaters emblazoned with their first names, and performed song-and-dance numbers interspliced with Disney cartoons, amateur talent contests, and dramatic serials.
In the early 1980s, the original series was broadcast on the Disney Channel. My sister watched every day after school, and I saw a few episodes. Girls outnumbered boys three to one, but if you could find them, the boys were exceptionally cute. And in the 1950s, singing and dancing were widely labeled "sissy" pursuits, so they were all gay coded. Turns out that only two were actually gay.
1. Bobby Burgess (born 1941), who was very tall, well-scrubbed, and always smiling. Straight.
He went on to dance on The Lawrence Welk Show.
2. The short, sandy-haired Lonnie Burr (born 1943) was the intellectual of the group (his website commemorates Annette Funicello's death with the Latin phrase "ave atque vale"). Straight.
2. The short, sandy-haired Lonnie Burr (born 1943) was the intellectual of the group (his website commemorates Annette Funicello's death with the Latin phrase "ave atque vale"). Straight.
He was a poet and playwright as well as an actor.
3. Tommy Cole (born 1941) was hired primarily for his singing ability, though had a handsome face and the hunkiest physique among the Mousketeers (left). Straight.
3. Tommy Cole (born 1941) was hired primarily for his singing ability, though had a handsome face and the hunkiest physique among the Mousketeers (left). Straight.
After MMC, he had a stint in the air force and then became a makeup artist.
4. Cubby O'Brien (born 1946), the kid of the show, became a professional drummer. Straight.
More after the break
I don't remember seeing these Mousketeers, who stuck around for less than a year before moving on to tv stardom:
8. Tommy Kirk (1941-2021). Gay. He became a Disney adventure boy, starring in Old Yeller, The Shaggy Dog, Swiss Family Robinson, Savage Sam, and others. But during the filming of The Misadventures of Merlin Jones (1964), he was outed and fired. His Disney friends and co-stars all dropped him, except for Annette, a gay ally through her life.
9. Dennis Day (1942-2018), not the teenage singer on The Jack Benny Show. Gay.
An All-New Mickey Mouse Club (1989-94) featured several Mousketeers who went on to stardom, including Ryan Gosling and Justin Timberlake.
4. Cubby O'Brien (born 1946), the kid of the show, became a professional drummer. Straight.
More after the break
5. Don Grady of My Three Sons
6. Johnny Crawford of The Rifleman (left)
7. Paul Petersen of The Donna Reed Show
8. Tommy Kirk (1941-2021). Gay. He became a Disney adventure boy, starring in Old Yeller, The Shaggy Dog, Swiss Family Robinson, Savage Sam, and others. But during the filming of The Misadventures of Merlin Jones (1964), he was outed and fired. His Disney friends and co-stars all dropped him, except for Annette, a gay ally through her life.
9. Dennis Day (1942-2018), not the teenage singer on The Jack Benny Show. Gay.
After 158 episodes of The Mickey Mouse Club, he came out and moved to San Francisco, where he continued to work as an actor and dancer, performing on stage and in Renaissance faires and Christmas pageants. He and his partner, Henry Ernest Caswell, also ran a guest house for gay actors and a head shop, and made wine jelly. When he disappeared in July 2018 (and his body found in 2019), his live-in handyman was convicted of negligent homicide.
An All-New Mickey Mouse Club (1989-94) featured several Mousketeers who went on to stardom, including Ryan Gosling and Justin Timberlake.
