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Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes, A |
For many kids of the fifties and the sixties, Annette Funicello helped to make their entry into adolescence considerably less painful. Glowing with health and energy, Annette's warm personality was so strong that she was THE centrepiece of the Mickey Mouse Club where she got her start in 1955. Annette had the unique gift of being able to attract admiration without stirring up resentment, ever. Did we wish her luck with Spin, Marty, Merlin Jones, Frankie, Fabian, etcetera? Yes, ALWAYS. It may have been her enormous brown eyes or her basic kindness or her underlying shyness or...Well, Annette was definitely blessed with what appeared to be a total lack of vanity. And this all comes through in her recent autobiography, dictated to Patricia Romanows.
"A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes" is especially poignant since it emerges as Annette is dealing with her greatest challenge: multiple sclerosis. It was an illness she coped with in silence for several years before going public in 1992. Her candor now gives us a chance to see the wryly humorous woman Annette grew up to be as well as the emotional protection she has received throughout her life from family and friends. Despite a lifetime in the public eye, Annette always knew that the surface friendliness of Hollywood was not for her: she enjoyed the work, but deliberately steered clear of show business games. You will not find endlessly predictable scandals recounted here, but you will receive confirmation of what lifelong Annette fans have always known: she had and still has a great sense of fun and a clear sense of what matters in life and what doesn't.
Copyright 1997 Monica Sullivan
"Movie Magazine International"
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