The Mickey Mouse Club was an American variety television show that aired on from 1955-1996. It was created and produced by Walt Disney and aired by ABC Network. ABC aired reruns on weekday afternoon during the 1960’s after being brought broadcast again in syndication from 1989 to 1998 on The Disney Channel.
The idea of the show first came about from Bill Walsh and Hal Adelquist. They wanted to create a show for children that had features such as a newsreel, a cartoon, music, talent, and comedy segments. They also waned to add a Mouseketeer Roll Call, which involved a regular line up of performers whom would introduce themselves by name to the audience and preform various entertaining acts. The show focus a lot of teenage relationships and everyday situations they would face, how they would overcome them and what advice they would receive from their elders. Seldom Mickey Mouse would appear in episodes of the original show and the vintage cartoon itself; creator Walt Disney voiced Mickey Mouse.
The main cast members of the Mickey Mouse Club consisted of a song and dance troop called the Mouseketeers. They preformed various musical and dance numbers as well as informational segments. In total there were 30 Mouseketeers to be featured on each season.
In 1959 the original show was cancelled after its fourth season due to ABC and Disney not being able to come to terms for a renewal agreement. For one Disney didn’t realize there high profit margins form sales of merchandise, additional the shows sponsors were not interested in funding any educational programming for children with the result being that no commercial’s were willing to fund the program. Later in 1996 Disney acquired ABC but they had no plans to air The Mickey Mouse Club on the network.
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