Editing Annette Funicello (section)

===''The Mickey Mouse Club''===
[[File:The Mickey Mouse Club Mouseketeers Annette Funicello 1956.jpg|thumb|right|Funicello as a Mouseketeer on ''[[The Mickey Mouse Club]]'' (1956)]]
Funicello took dancing and music lessons when she was a child in order to overcome her shyness. In 1955, the 12-year-old was discovered by [[Walt Disney]] when she performed as the Swan Queen in ''[[Swan Lake]]'' at a dance recital at the [[Starlight Bowl (Burbank, California)|Starlight Bowl]] in [[Burbank, California]]. Disney cast her as one of the original Mouseketeers. She was the last to be selected, and one of the few cast members to be personally selected by Walt Disney himself.{{Citation needed |date=July 2024}} 

In 1955, she signed a seven-year contract with Disney at $160 a week that would rise to $500 a week if all options were exercised.<ref name="contract">{{cite news|title=Annette Funicello Fails to Set Aside Contract: Young Singer Wanted Court to Act on 1955 Pact Made With Disney Productions|work=Los Angeles Times|date=December 18, 1959|page=B14}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Article 2 -- No Title|work=Los Angeles Times|date=November 10, 1955|page=A1}}</ref>

Funicello proved to be very popular and by the end of the first season of ''The Mickey Mouse Club'', she was receiving 6,000 letters a month, more than any other Mouseketeer.<ref name="letter">{{cite news|title=Annette Funicello shares life cheerfully Profile: The former Mousketeer thrives on the most demanding role of her life: herself|last=Griffith|first=Mary Jo|work=The Orange County Register|date=June 21, 1994|page=F04}}</ref> She dated fellow Mouseketeer [[Lonnie Burr]].<ref name="oregonlive/funicellos_first_kiss">{{cite news |date=9 April 2013 |title=Annette Funicello's first kiss: Former Mousketeer Lonnie Burr of Beaverton praises the late star |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/movies/2013/04/annette_funicellos_first_kiss.html |access-date=15 June 2023 |work=The Oregonian |language=en}}</ref><ref name="silive/goofy_about_disney/60">{{cite news |last1=Schmidt |first1=Chuck |date=30 October 2015 |title=Mouseketeer Annette Funicello offered dating advice in a 1964 teen magazine |url=https://www.silive.com/goofy_about_disney/2015/10/post_60.html |access-date=15 June 2023 |work=Staten Island Advance |language=en}}</ref> Saying goodbye to cast members in the 1958 show finale, Funicello said "I never cried so hard in my life".<ref name="Family" />

In addition to appearing in many Mouseketeer sketches and dance routines, Funicello starred in several serials on ''The Mickey Mouse Club''. These included ''[[Adventure in Dairyland]]'', the second and third ''[[Spin and Marty]]'' serials – ''The Further Adventures of Spin and Marty'' (1956) and ''The New Adventures of Spin and Marty'' (1957) –  and ''[[Walt Disney Presents: Annette]]'' (1958) (which co-starred [[Richard Deacon (actor)|Richard Deacon]]).{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}