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A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes: My Story,
by Annette Funicello, with
Patricia Romanowski
Published by Hyperion.
ISBN-13: 978-0786860203
When on a spring evening in 1955
Walt Disney saw a pretty, talented twelve-year-old performing in her dance
school's annual recital, he knew he'd found just what he'd been looking for:
the twenty-fourth and last member of the cast of the new children's TV series
he was planning. Only a few months later Annette Funicello set a pair of black
felt ears atop her brown curls and marched onto the set of The Mickey Mouse
Club, and into the hearts of millions of Americans. From then on, nothing would
ever be the same.
Whether as a Mouseketeer, as a
Top-Forty singing idol, as the reigning sweetheart of the classic Beach Party
films, or as the familiar "Skippy Mom" of TV commercials, Annette
(who almost instantly became known by her first name alone) has been a beloved
star for nearly four decades. In her charming autobiography, A Dream Is a Wish
Your Heart Makes, the wholesomely sexy (and eternally youthful) girl next door
looks back with equal parts of wit, wistfulness, and wonder on her remarkable
career, and gives us a privileged look behind the scenes at some of the most
cherished landmarks of our popular culture.
As the shy only daughter of a
close-knit Italian family, Annette was unprepared for the phenomenon The Mickey
Mouse Club would prove to be, and in these pages we learn not only about the
thrill of appearing on the show but also about the pleasures and challenges her
own status of favorite Mouseketeer brought. It was through Walt Disney's
encouragement that she later undertook her successful recording career, and in
her account of her years as a teen idol we learn what it was like being the
youngest member of Dick Clark's arduous Caravan of Stars tour, as well as the
difficulties her popularity placed in the path of her first romance with Paul
Anka (who presented her with the sublime gift of "Put Your Head on My
Shoulder," which he wrote in her parents' living room). Next came the
movies, and a series of beloved Disney films (including her own and her fans'
favorite, Babes in Toyland), until, with Mr. Disney's blessing, she headed for
the beach and a role in the epochal Beach Party. Even though, as Annette confesses,
she never really liked the beach (it frizzed her hair), she was delighted to be
enthroned with her friend Frankie Avalon as one of the great cinema couples.
At the peak of her career
Annette chose marriage and motherhood, and for over twenty years appeared only
occasionally in films and TV shows. By the late 1980s, however, she was eager
to perform again, and along with Frankie made a new beach film, Back to the
Beach, and launched a triumphal comeback tour. It was during this period, after
she experienced a series of puzzling symptoms, that she discovered she had
multiple sclerosis. Her subsequent struggles with her condition, and her
ultimate decision to make it public, bring A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes
to a poignant and inspiring conclusion that will draw her even closer to the
millions of fans who, from the start, have dreamed along with her.
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