Annette Funicello Theatre: Episode 1 “The Newcomer”

As promised last week, we now bring you a special series in honor of the late Annette Funicello, who in her final years worked to raise both awareness of multiple sclerosis (MS), and funding to eventually find a cure. This is first of nineteen episodes about a country girl who moves to the big city, where she learns about love, friendship, and the excess self-indulgence of the thoroughly modern teenager in postwar America.

In our first episode, little Annette McCleod of Beaver Junction, Nebraska, appears with suitcase in hand at the door of her only surviving relatives; an anal-retentive professor Uncle Archie (Richard Deacon) and his sister (huh???) Aunt Lila (Sylvia Field). This episode originally aired on The Mickey Mouse Club on February 11, 1958.

Next week: “Annette Meets Jet.”