What Ever Happened to Annette?

Remember Annette Funicello?

Even though she was before my time, I remember her (No offense intended if your reaction to my question was “Yeah!  She was my favorite actress growing up.”  The set up was not intentional!).  She was the most popular Mouseketeer of her time.  I still remember the song, “M-I-C.  See you real soon.  K-E-Y.  Why?  Because we like you.  M-O-U-S-E.”  Ah yeah, she was a teen icon.  The only original Mouseketeer picked by Walt Disney himself.  Girls from around the world looked up to her.  At the height of her career, she received around 6,000 letters a day.  The best part, mothers and fathers could feel good that their daughters idolized her.  They didn’t have to fear when their little girls wanted to be like her.  She didn’t have “suggestive” pictures in the latest magazine.  There were never any nude pictures of her on the internet (I know, it wasn’t around then, but stick with me for the comparison).  Her style did not make father’s fear.  Here is Annette in a racy 1960’s swimsuit…

I wish that were racy today.  No, now we have Miley Cyrus.  After years of Britney Spears and the like, we finally have someone our girls can look up to.  Someone who will stand for traditional values and speak of her faith in public.  So it seemed.

Her trouble didn’t start with the Vanity Fair pics everyone is talking about.  No.  Just a few weeks ago she appeared on Americal Idol: Idol Gives Back.  The first song was nice and innocent.  The second would not have been so bad had her dancing not been so provocative.  I was glad that my girls were in bed.  That was the first thing that made me wonder.  Now, a Vanity Fair photo shoot that throws innocence out the window.  Would I want to see one of my daughters in that picture.  Never!  I don’t care if she thought it was going to be artistic, wrapping up in a sheet and at least appearing to be topless is suggestive no matter what you do.  I do not want my daughters following in her footsteps.  Even now, as I scroll back through this post I am a little disturbed by the picture I grabbed of her off of the internet.  I don’t want to see my daughters in that.

Miley, I am forgiving.  I am also very protective of my children.  Will you be good example, or one that I use to show them what not to do or wear?  I am waiting to see.

So, whatever happened to Annette?  When she left the Disney company to pursue a beach film career, Walt Disney asked that she never show her naval and never appear in any suggestive scenes.  I guess she rebelled a little when she showed her naval, but she never appeared in any suggestive scenes.  The most controversy she’s had in her life were late rumors of alcoholism.  She dispelled those when she announced that she has multiple sclerosis.  She now fights to find cures for neurological disorders.

Let’s start a campaign.  Annette Funicello – role model for our daughters!

Brian