R.I.P. to the "Queen of Teen"

You have to be of a certain cohort to be terribly saddened by today's news that Annette Funicello had breathed her last, succumbing to the effects of Multiple Sclerosis, a disease she had battled for 25 years. Back in the early days of television, fewer than two-thirds of American homes had even one television...and Annette was the glue that cemented us all to the set. Our parents proclaimed Ed Sullivan to be television's greatest star, but we kids knew that the 24 Mouseketeers that we could watch every day after school really ruled the airwaves. We could name them all during the roll call (always wondering if Jimmy wasn't a bit too old to be hanging out with the kids), and everybody had his or her favorite among the gang...but everyone loved Annette. Squeaky clean and cute, all the boys wanted her, and all the girls wanted to BE her. 

At the onset, she was 12, but then, I guess, we weren't much younger. In her Disney heyday, she earned $85 per week...though she and other Mouseketeers were charged $55 for their felt ears if they happened to lose them; of course, that's probably what they cost at the Disney theme parks now, but, really, how much could the hat have cost back then? Just another case of the man trying to keep the working stiff down!

Anyway, after the beach movies and quasi-singing career, she settled down, raised three kids...and started a foundation to aid research for MS. She also did some commercials for Skippy peanut butter.

To think she has died is sad enough, but to imagine her being 70?

Incomprehensible.