Walt Disney Treasures: The Mickey Mouse Club - October 3, 1955 - October 7, 1955

The contents of this set has been released.

This set will contain the first week of the Mickey Mouse Club - 5 one-hour shows shown 10/3 thru 10/7, 1955.

Disc 1 Program

Show #1 10/3/55 Monday

Newsreel #1
Fun With Music Day: The Friendly Farmers (and) The Shoe Song
Serial: What I Want To Be - Episode #1
Cartoon: Pueblo Pluto

Show #2 10/4/55 Tuesday

Sooty #8: TV Set
Guest Star Day: Wally Boag (comedian)
Serial: What I Want To Be - Episode #2
Cartoon: Mickey's Kangaroo

Show #3 10/5/55 Wednesday

Newsreel #3
Anything Can Happen Day: Gadget Band #1
Serial: What I Want To Be - Episode #3
Cartoon: Mickey's Service Station

Disc 1 Bonus
Leonard Maltin Introduction
The Leader of the Club (The Jimmie Dodd Tribute)

Disc 2 Program

Show #4 10/6/55 Thursday

Jiminy Cricket: I'm No Fool With A Bicycle (educational cartoon)
Circus Day: The DeWaynes (acrobats)
Serial: What I Want To Be - Episode #4
Cartoon: The Wise Little Hen

Show #5 10/7/55 Friday

Talent Roundup Day: Larry Ashurst (trumpeter) and Cubby O'Brien (Mouseketeer and drummer)
Serial: What I Want To Be - Episode #5
Cartoon: Two Gun Mickey

Disc 2 Bonus
Mouska-Memories (6 of the original Mouseketeers share their memories of the club - Sharon Baird, Bobby Burgess, Lonnie Burr, Doreen Tracey, Cubby O'Brien, and Karen Pendleton - I guess Annette was too ill to contribute to this)
The Mouseketeers Debut at Disneyland
Opening Sequences in Color (the original animated openings)
Still Frame Galleries

Sooty was an ill-tempered puppet from England.

The "What I Want To Be" serial was about a Mickey Mouse Club newsreel reporter (Alvy Moore) who picks two 10-year olds and takes them to the headquarters of Trans World Airlines in Kansas City, Missouri, where they learn how TWA trains its flight crews. These five episodes are part of a total of 10 episodes.

I like the idea of the first 5 shows being released as this set. However, being the very early shows, the entertainment value will be less than some of the better later shows. I have never seen the hourly shows - most of the shows I have seen have been the half-hour repeats shown on the Disney Channel in the mid to late 1980s.

But at the very minimum, these first five shows are very interesting to me historically - since they are the very first shows.

I will be glad to have this treasure set but would have preferred a set of the Mickey Mouse serials - such as Spin And Marty, The Hardy Boys, or Annette. Maybe these serials will be released in future treasure sets.

I have given this a 5 star rating, based on others in the series. I am sure this will be of the same high quality. What many of us want, however are the serials from the MICKEY MOUSE CLUB, such as my all time favorite "Spin and Marty", (there were three seasons of them), The "Annette" serial, "Corky and White Shadow", and of course, the wonderful "Hardy Boys" serials. This is what the baby boomers who grew up wearing the ears want!!!!!! I have contacted the Disney Company with my requests and although they answered my emails and letters, as of late, there are no plans to release these. Also, darling Kevin Corcoran as "Moochie" was in "Moochie of the Little League" and "Moochie of Pop Warner Football", how about getting those on DVD?

When the Mickey Mouse Club aired in 1955, the New York Times predicted it would never last. But in 1955, an estimated 10 million kids tuned in, and at it's peak, Disney sold 26,000 pairs of mouse ears weekly. As reviewers have noted, this DVD is not the best of the MM Club. Instead of rating episodes, Disney went for historical value. Here's the first week of hour long shows. The talent line up went like this: Monday: Fun with Music Day; Tuesday: Guest Star Day; Wednesday: Anything Can Happen Day; Thursday: Circus Day; Friday: Talent Round-Up Day.

The best of the extras include Leonard Maltin's intros ( a staple on all Disney Treasures DVDs) and a reunion with the Mousketeers. As many people are beginning to realize, Disney's live action productions were second only to his animation. No, this isn't the best of the club run (Another video has been released with the "best" on it). But it is a trip back down memory lane to when TV was a new fantasyland, and a dreamer named Disney put kids on the stage and turned it upside down.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 35 reviews  4.2 out of 5 stars