Old Hollywood Theatre Trained For Mickey Mouse Club

by Leo Campbell

Northeast: Added on November 18, 2006

In about 1957 when I was 12 years old, you could go to the Hollywood Theatre at 10 am. You got in for 25 cents, it was one big theatre area, and it soon filled up with kids. A young man in his twenties would jump up on stage before the old movies started, with Armour Star Franks props, and a patter that would get the kids excited. He would have songs and skits going, and run little contests, winners going up to the stage to get a package of Armour Star Franks. I saw him on television a year later... he was one of the adults on stage with the Mouseketeers on the first Mickey Mouse Club shows. He died in a car crash later that year. Jimmy was the adult that took his place for the rest of the series. I can't remember the young man's name anymore, but I can still remember his talent at the Hollywood Theatre.