FUNICELLO FAN LOVES EVERYTHING ANNETTE : WHY? BECAUSE HE LIKES HER TEXAS MAN'S HOME, WEB SITE GLORIFY MOUSEKETEER.Byline: Paul Bourgeois Fort Worth Star-Telegram The Fort Worth Star-Telegram is a major U.S. daily newspaper serving Fort Worth and the western half of the North Texas area known as the Metroplex. Its area of domination is checked by its main rival, The Dallas Morning News For boys growing up in the '50s, Annette Funicello wasn't just a Mouseketeer - she was a ``woman'' in mouse ears. Most of those young men outgrew out·grew v. Past tense of outgrow. their fascination with the attractive TV star. Then there's Jim Banks, a computer technician at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. At 46, Banks is among Funicello's biggest fans. He has gone so far as to create a Funicello Web site. Banks' tidy Arlington Heights Arlington Heights, village (1990 pop. 75,460), Cook county, NE Ill., a residential suburb of Chicago; founded 1836, inc. 1887. Its manufactures include machinery, drugs and medical equipment, and metal fabrication. Arlington Park racetrack is there. home is adorned a·dorn tr.v. a·dorned, a·dorn·ing, a·dorns 1. To lend beauty to: "the pale mimosas that adorned the favorite promenade" Ronald Firbank. 2. with photos and memorabilia that track Funicello's career from the Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse Famous character of Walt Disney's animated cartoons. He was introduced in Steamboat Willie (1928), the first animated cartoon with sound. Mickey was created by Disney, who also provided his high-pitched voice, and was usually drawn by the studio's head animator, Club to beach movies and beyond. There's something resembling a shrine in the living room, where built-in shelves are loaded with photos, a Funicello autobiography, a lunch box featuring Funicello in her Roundup Day duds, a complete set of novels that feature Funicello as the heroine and a complete set of little stuffed bears wearing Mouse ears. Elsewhere, locked away, are dozens and dozens of rare Annette Fan Club Newsletters tucked into individual plastic sleeves and an equally rare collection of 17 Funicello albums - everything from ``Annette,'' her debut album recorded around 1960, to a country-western album, her last, recorded in 1980. In between, there are albums devoted to Italian and Hawaiian songs, appropriately titled ``Italianette'' and ``Hawaiianette.'' ``There's everything but `Kitchenette,' '' Banks said. And so, given his interest in Funicello and his knowledge of computers, it was only natural that Banks would go on line with a Web page that is all Annette, all the time. ``Mine is the only Web page in the world exclusively dedicated to Annette,'' he said. It's right there at www.flash.net/(tilde A symbol used in Windows, starting with Windows 95, that maintains a short version of a long file or directory name for compatibility with Windows 3.1 and DOS. For example, the short version of a file named "Letter to Joe" would be LETTER~1. Then "Letter to Pat" becomes LETTER~2. )jbanks. Banks said interest is strong. Since January, about 4,400 Internet subscribers have visited the all-Annette Web site. Once there, visitors are treated to everything Annette - news and photographs. Clicking on current news, you can learn that Funicello's line of perfume, called Cello, will be discontinued. Also hot is the news that Funicello and Frankie Avalon Frankie Avalon (born Francis Thomas Avallone, September 18 1939, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American actor, singer, and former teen idol. Career By the time he was 12, Avalon began making appearances on U.S. will issue a collector's plate commemorating 30 years of beach movies. There's also news about the collector and fan clubs and the Annette Funicello Fund for Neurological Disorders This is a list of major and frequently observed neurological disorders (e.g. Alzheimer's disease), symptoms (e.g.back pain), signs (e.g. aphasia) and syndromes (e.g. Aicardi syndrome). . Funicello, 54, has multiple sclerosis. Among the more esoteric factoids, Funicello has a ``Bacon'' number of 2, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the Oracle of Bacon at Virginia, an Internet game devised by a couple of guys with way too much free time. The theory of their game is that most people in the known universe can be linked to actor Kevin Bacon. In Funicello's case, for instance, she was in ``Head,'' a 1968 flick with Jack Nicholson John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22 1937), known as Jack Nicholson, is a three time Academy Award winning American actor internationally renowned for his often dark-themed portrayals of neurotic characters. , who in turn appeared in the 1992 film ``A Few Good Men,'' with none other than Kevin Bacon. Funicello, therefore, has a Bacon number of 2. Banks' Web site also will accept messages that he will pass along to Funicello, at least sometimes. ``I get an average of five to 10 e-mail messages to Annette a day, but I throw 95 percent of them away,'' he said. ``Most are: `Hi, Annette, how are you? I've been a fan for a long time.' ``You could fill up the world with `Hi, how are yous,' so I trash those.'' Banks' interest in Funicello goes back about four decades. Fate may have been involved. The very first broadcast of the Mickey Mouse Club interrupted his fifth birthday party Oct. 3, 1955. As the Mouseketeer roll call spilled out of the TV and into his parents' Fort Worth home, the party stopped and there she was: Annette. ``I've always had a fascination with Annette, and I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. why,'' he said. ``She was and still is a very attractive lady. ``For many people she was a role model.'' Even in all those beach movies, she never displayed her navel, Banks said. ``Annette really was one of the most honest and open people. She's absolutely genuine. ``I'm not sure I understand why I do this. She's just a nice person, and you want to say something good about the people who have been good. ``Maybe it's that she's a reminder of a better, simpler time in our lives.'' CAPTION(S): 2 Photos Photo: (1) Former Mouseketeer Annette Funicello's filled her Encino home with pictures of family and friends. Michael Owen
(2) Annette Funicello starred in numerous beach movies. |
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