Annette Funicello - 70

[Duncan Edwards]

Annette died this morning at age 70 from complications of Multiple Sclerosis.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/09/movies/annette-funicello-mouseketeer-dies-at-70.html?pagewanted=all

This is a heart breaker. I learned about girls, bikinis, and later the ideal woman from Annette.

[BSink42]

Former British PM Margaret Thatcher also passed away today.

[Duncan Edwards]

:cry:

Former British PM Margaret Thatcher also passed away today.

And if you knew my personal politics you'd be amazed that I'm not at home sitting in the dark over that alone. But Maggie never rocked my early hormones like Annette did. She could still bring it as a forty-something in 1987's Back to the Beach

http://youtu.be/8r_77q0BnVs

And back in her early years -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h02oh5Ri4Y0

And earlier still -

http://youtu.be/Ne2yFQPYYmU

Always deferred to Walt Disney and quit the movies because she wanted to "Get married and have nine kids". The angels in Heaven will have to polish their act to keep up with her.

[PM2K]

Another loss...

My personal fav movie of hers is Beach Blanket Bingo... it was just so happy and cheerfully innocent and silly, plus all those healthy people frolicking, and a goofy motorcycle gang called The Rats (complete with laides auxiliary The Mice), how could you not love it?

You know, for all the heaviness of the movies these days, or just sheer crassness and crudity passing for entertainment, I really find myself missing light hearted, fun and inoffensive flicks like BBB...

Rest easy, Annette....

[Boggy Man]

And earlier still -

http://youtu.be/Ne2yFQPYYmU

i used to listen to "Tall Paul" all the time when I was younger, as well as the song on the flipside of that record, "Ma - He's Making Eyes At Me":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m76g6sKEjtU

Such a great loss. But, at least she has been immortalized in music and movies, for all to enjoy for generations to come.

[Mynock]

Before my time but definitely a beauty. RIP.
It's fun to watch this stuff and see how the times have changed......my girlfriend has worn less out to dinner then she wore to the beach.

[jack c]

Not before my time ( I am 58). I watched her and Roy and Cubby on a wooden framed almost round black and white TV set on The Mickey Mouse Club. She was more talented than that. Walt Disney was too traditional when he asked her to wear a one piece suit only on the set (he felt a two piece would just be too much for the male audience). He was wrong - it would have been just right. RIP to another icon.

[Nessie]

Wow. I never knew that she had been diagnosed with MS.

She has a website. Be warned, you see it all here (this has recent footage along with the vintage), but for anyone interested in the entire story of Annette, go here:

http://annetteconnection.com/

Nessie