Hey there! Hi there! Ho there! The original club made for you and me, the Mickey Mouse Club, premEARed on this day in 1955 on ABC television. Several months earlier, on July 17th, the Mouseketeers were first introduced on live television during the televised grand opening of Disneyland, with the promise that the Mickey Mouse Club would debut in the fall. At 5 p.m. on October 3 as promised, children around the country anxiously gathered around their TVs to see Jimmie Dodd, Roy Williams, and the Mousketeers, grinning from “ear to ear.” Following the theme song and “roll call,” “The Mickey Mouse Club Newsreel” segment kicked off the first episode showcasing various kids from around the world. The Mouseketeers then sang and danced in several numbers, introduced a serial, and the Cartoon of the Day, which was Pueblo Pluto. The following day it was official, viewers came along, sang a song and joined the jamboree watching the Mickey Mouse Club, making it the highest rated regular daytime television program of its time. Shortly after, the reviews were in. Variety stated, “There’s never been anything like MICKEY MOUSE to hit television…” King Features wrote, “…It was several cuts above the customary noisy nonsense deployed by Pinky Lee and Howdy Doody for about the same audiences.” New York Daily News agreed, “ABC-TV’s Mickey Mouse Club is a smash box office hit, no doubt about that.” New York World-Telegram & Sun felt, “…It has great adult as well as child appeal.” It was evident, the Mickey Mouse Club would forever hold its banner high.
