The first Mickey Mouse Club
When you mention the Mickey Mouse Club, one might think of sitting in front of a TV and watching Annette Funicello or Christina Aguilera. Or pulling out your phone and streaming Ky Baldwin, all depending on your generation.
But how about actually heading to a movie theater.
Long before first premiering in 1955 on ABC, the clubs and meetings were held in movie theaters.
The club started on January 11, 1930 at the Fox Dome Theater in Ocean Park, California. The kids who joined would meet on Saturdays where kids would watch cartoons and listen to music. By March 31 there were 60 theaters hosting the clubs. By April 1930, the club released its first issue of the “Official Bulletin of the Mickey Mouse Club.”
By 1932 there were 1 million members and by 1933 the first British club opened.
But as 1935 came along Disney started to phase out the club. Twenty years later, The Mickey Mouse Club debuted on television.
Following its initial run on ABC from 1955 to 1959, the show had three successful revivals. First, it returned in first-run syndication from 1977 to 1979. Then, from 1989 to 1996, it aired as The All-New Mickey Mouse Club (often referred to as simply “MMC” by fans during its later years) on The Disney Channel. Finally, the show experienced a resurgence as Club Mickey Mouse from 2017 to 2018, this time finding a home on internet social media platforms.
