Customer Reviews

Forever Hold Your Banner High!: The Story of the Mickey Mouse Club and What Happened to the Mouseketeers

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This "where are they now" book about the Mickey Mouse Club stars was published in the mid-1970s and is a good snapshot of what their lives were like some 15 years after the Mouse Club. Obviously, much has happened since then - Annette is gravely ill with multiple sclerosis and Karen is a paraplegic, to mention two examples. Still, for those of us who rushed home every afternoon after school to commune with our Mouseketeer friends, Jerry Bowles' midlife memoir is worth reading.

Filled a gap in the mid-Seventies. More readable and interesting and with fewer mistakes than "The Mickey Mouse Club Scrapbook" [or "...Handbook"; Sorry, I've forgotten] of a few lears later. "Why? Because We Still Like You!" borrows very heavily from it.

This book is a lot of fun to read. The information is, of course, dated, but the stories behind the scenes and the history of the Mickey Mouse Club are interesting. It was a story of an innocent time, and it was part of my growing up.

This book is a backhanded compliment to the original Mouseketeers and all their fans! Yes, there is a lot of information in it, and especially the first chapters where Bowles writes about what the world was like in the 1950's-that's pretty good. After that, there is a real meanness to the things he writes. It's as if he really believes that the Mickey Mouse Club was some sort of pathologic TV. In a sweet, almost harmless appearing way, he makes the Mouseketeers look bad, except maybe Annette. The Mouseketeers couldn't have been happy when they saw this book in print. This is the kind of take you'd get if TV's "Inside Edition" or "Hard Copy" did the research. This book is mean, cynical, and cruel. The Mouseketeers and we, as readers and fans of the show, deserve better.

He bad mouths Disney as a corporation, which is fine if he wants to do that and he tells the truth objectively. But then he attacks individuals. He makes Walt Disney out to be a micro-managing tightwad who couldn't draw, and Ruth Dodd comes off as Mrs. Jim Jones instead of Mrs. Jimmie Dodd. Nasty. Every time a Mouseketeer says they're happy with the way their life has turned out, he overtly doubts their sincerity. This is similar to the spiteful and vindictive book written about John Lennon after he wasn't around to defend himself. He even has an interview with Mickey Mouse, which obviously never took place, just so he could prove his point that Walt Disney was a back-stabbing crook who stole fame and fortune from Ub Iwerks! Lorraine Santoli's book, "The Official MMC Handbook" is much better written and more satisfying reading. Bowles could have taken a few lessons from her.

Amazon found this book quite handily for me from a used bookseller, but after reading it, I'm glad it's out of print.

I didn't like this book because the author really tore Disney down. Being a big Disney fan I didn't like that very much. This guy obviously didn't like the show. If you want good reading read The Official Mickey Mouse Club Book.