Quotes by Annette Funicello

• Dick Clark really didn't make rock 'n roll safe for America, as many people think.
• I've always found Mr. Disney to be somewhat of a shy person, a kid at heart.
• I'm saddened to see that some have been misled into believing that Mr. Disney was something other than a kind, caring man.
• I was not prepared to live as a single parent.
• I still don't know precisely why The Mickey Mouse Club ended when it did.
• I have always thought of Walt Disney as my second father.
• I always considered myself a dancer before anything else.
• In the United States women develop MS at approximately twice the rate men do, and no one can explain why women are affected most often from the waist down.
• For me, the wheelchair symbolizes disability in a way a cane does not.
• Just learning that you have MS is such a devastating shock.
• At the beginning of 1955 only about 60 percent of American homes had TVs.
• As I travel across the country speaking about MS, perhaps I can offer others comfort and hope.
• As I grew older, I came to feel more responsible for any hardship or trouble my career caused my family.
• Animation did not become the dominant form of children's television until the '60s.
• Growing up in public is especially hard sometimes.
• The Lord has been with me throughout my life. He's never let me down.
• When you are young and healthy, it never occurs to you that in a single second your whole life could change.
• Watching television in those days was not the same experience as it is today. After years of listening to radio, we found the black-and-white images mesmerizing.
• To some, the '50s were a decade marked by the banal, the predictable.
• Then, as now, the Disney studio buzzed with activity. You had a strong impression of being at the center of something very exciting.
• In 1993 my birthday present was a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
• The mere thought of divorce terrified me. To me, divorce symbolized failure.
• Of the many guests we welcomed to the Mickey Mouse Club, my absolute favorites were the Lennon Sisters.
• Of all the roles I've played, none has been as fulfilling as being a mother.
• My dear friend Jimmie Dodd was the heart and the soul of The Mickey Mouse Club.
• MS is not really a degenerative illness. It is not fatal, nor is it always progressive.
• Mr. Disney believed everyone was still a child deep inside.
• Mr. Disney and his staff were constantly scouting for great stories to bring to life on film.
• Most original viewers of the Mickey Mouse Club didn't face the crush of family and social problems children have today.
• Mickey Mouse... is always there-he's part of my life. That really is something not everyone can call their claim to fame.
• The original Mickey Mouse Club, established in the '30s, was designed to attract children to movie theaters.