Stage Named for Annette Funicello at Disney Studios

Disney Studios Monday named Stage 1 for longtime Encino resident Annette Funicello.

The much-beloved Mickey Mouse Club and Beach Blanket Bingo star died April 8 of complications due to multiple sclerosis, a disease she battled for more than 25 years. Known in the 1950s for her stint on Disney's original Mickey Mouse Club, and by film buffs for her numerous roles in a series of popular teen-oriented movies in the 1960s, Funicello became a pop culture icon.

After leaving the Mickey Mouse Club, Funicello was the only Mouseketeer to remain under contract to Disney and appeared on the TV shows Zorro (1957), The Nine Lives of Elfego Baca (1958), and starred in the Disney feature films The Shaggy Dog (1959), Babes in Toyland (1961), The Misadventures of Merlin Jones (1964), and The Monkey's Uncle (1965).

In the early 1960s, Annette starred in a series of beach party movies with teen idol Frankie Avalon, including Beach Party (1963), Muscle Beach Party (1964), Bikini Beach (1964), Beach Blanket Bingo (1965), and How to Stuff a Wild Bikini (1965). 

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During this time, she recorded a series of hit top-40 pop singles, including "Tall Paul," "First Name Initial," "How Will I Know My Love," and "Pineapple Princess."  Her string of successful record albums included such favorites as "Hawaiiannette" (1960), "Italiannette" (1960), and "Dance Annette" (1961).

"I think it's really important for companies not just to look ahead and to think about innovation and all the changes that are going on in the world and our businesses, but to look back at the heritage and the legacy and everything that really created the value in the first place," Bob Iger, chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Company, told KABC7.