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Annette Funicello


thesometimesaint

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In tribute, here's

It's Annette singing the title song during the opening credits of "Monkey's Uncle," with the Beach Boys doing a cameo, singing backup.

But the song is not a Brian Wilson composition. It's by the Sherman brothers, who wrote so many of the Disney songs in that era.

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She was definitely someone to be admired. Wish they had more role models like her.

I read that she thought the world of Walt Disney, that she followed his advice when she made the beach party pictures not to appear in a bikini because she should uphold her wholesome image.

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I watched some interviews with her and Entertainment Tonight's, Mary Hart. Apparently Annette asked for the first interview to inform or shed light on her MS disease. She knew she was soon going to quit walking and then eventually she'd lose her speech as well. She had a wonderful husband who stuck by her through it all. They mentioned that in her younger days she and Paul Anka had a crush on each other and some of Paul's love songs were written for her. But people at Disney and Paul Anka's people nipped it in the bud.

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I read that she thought the world of Walt Disney, that she followed his advice when she made the beach party pictures not to appear in a bikini because she should uphold her wholesome image.

Except that she foillowed that advice only in the first one, IIRC. ]

BTW, Disney's advice was not to show her bellybutton, not to appear in a bikini. To appear in a bikini of course means bellybutton display, of course.

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Except that she foillowed that advice only in the first one, IIRC. ]

CFR.

I don't recall seeing Annette in any swimsuit other than a one-piece. And one of the stories done about her death quoted her as saying that Disney asked, as a favor to him, specifically that she appear in a one-piece, not a bikini.

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I read that she thought the world of Walt Disney, that she followed his advice when she made the beach party pictures not to appear in a bikini because she should uphold her wholesome image.

But weren't the beach party movies all about teenage sexual exploration? I've seen them all recently or at least tried to on this oldies TV station I have on sometimes when I work and I was surprised at the implicit messages being sent. Doesn't her "wholesome image" therefore, lend credibility to these messages? Doesn't she become the unsure but ultimately permissive parental figure in all of this?

Btw, this oldies station is fascinating. One can literally see the breakdown of moral society piece by piece before your eyes through cultural entertainment. There always seems to be some wholesome character, some champion, who stands for the right and for morality, who ultimately gets beaten down or gives in.

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Well, only 363 days until we can do her work for her. There has to be a member out there somewhere related to her.

OK, listen up! Check your family trees, people! I'll expect reports back from all of you (and that at least one of you will report the requisite relatedness) by oh-nine-hundred Mountain Time tomorrow! Now hop to it! Dis-MISSED! :D

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OK, listen up! Check your family trees, people! I'll expect reports back from all of you (and that at least one of you will report the requisite relatedness) by oh-nine-hundred Mountain Time tomorrow! Now hop to it! Dis-MISSED! :D

Bear in mind that her husband -- who heroically cared for her until the day of her death -- and her children are still living.

As I understand it, we don't do the work without explicit permission from the nearest living relatives.

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But weren't the beach party movies all about teenage sexual exploration? I've seen them all recently or at least tried to on this oldies TV station I have on sometimes when I work and I was surprised at the implicit messages being sent. Doesn't her "wholesome image" therefore, lend credibility to these messages? Doesn't she become the unsure but ultimately permissive parental figure in all of this?

I'm not here to defend them as a bastion of moral wholesomeness. But I'm a child of the '60s, and maybe it's because I hadn't yet come of age when the American International beach party releases were big, but I recall a stark difference between the permissiveness/sleaze/suggestiveness of them and what emerged from, say, the late '60s onward.

And Annette a parental figure? I don't recall that at all, unless you're talking about the "Back to the Beach" movies from the '80s that reunited Annette with Frankie Avalon.

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CFR.

I don't recall seeing Annette in any swimsuit other than a one-piece. And one of the stories done about her death quoted her as saying that Disney asked, as a favor to him, specifically that she appear in a one-piece, not a bikini.

You probably need to go watch the movies again. Wikipedia states:

When she was cast in her first beach movie, Walt Disney requested that she only wear modest bathing suits and keep her navel covered. However, she wore a pink two-piece in Beach Party, a white two-piece fishnet suit in the second film (Muscle Beach Party) and a blue and white bikini in the third (Bikini Beach). All three swimsuits bared her navel, particularly in Bikini Beach, where it is visible extensively during close up shots in a sequence early in the film when she meets Frankie Avalon's "Potato Bug" character outside his tent.

Here's the trailer for Bikini Beach:

Somewhere in there is a brief shot of Frankie Avalon and Annette reclining onto beach blankets. Annette is clearly wearing a navel-revealing bikini. It's white with black polka-dots.

Sorry to squash your illusions about Annette! But all that being said, she was nevertheless a good woman and a good role-model for anyone. She should R.I.P.

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I'm not here to defend them as a bastion of moral wholesomeness. But I'm a child of the '60s, and maybe it's because I hadn't yet come of age when the American International beach party releases were big, but I recall a stark difference between the permissiveness/sleaze/suggestiveness of them and what emerged from, say, the late '60s onward.

And Annette a parental figure? I don't recall that at all, unless you're talking about the "Back to the Beach" movies from the '80s that reunited Annette with Frankie Avalon.

I've seen them all recently on the aforementioned station. The sex in her beach movies is implied whereas the sleaze we transitioned to was of course explicit.

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