James Wesley "Jimmie" Dodd was an American actor, who was best known as the MC of the popular 1950s Disney TV show Mickey Mouse Club, as well as the writer of its well-known theme song "Mickey Mouse March". A slowed-down version of this march, with different lyrics, known as the "Alma Mater", closed the show. In 1992, he was posthumously named a Disney Legend, alongside Mouseketeer Annette Funicello.
Career[]
Films[]
Dodd had some early film roles in The Three Mesquiteers series of westerns. Coincidentally, he performed in two unrelated series whose names were plays on "musketeers".
Dodd made his first screen appearance in the 1940 William Holden film Those Were the Days! in a minor role. He also played the taxi driver in the MGM film Easter Parade, starring Fred Astaire and Judy Garland. Dodd had a small role in an early episode of Adventures of Superman titled "Double Trouble".
He also appeared in many theatrical films in the 1940s and 1950s, often uncredited. Two of his films were biographies of baseball players: The Jackie Robinson Story, in which Jackie Robinson played himself, and The Winning Team, in which future president Ronald Reagan portrayed pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander. Dodd had a small, but important, part in the Mickey Rooney hit Quicksand. He also appeared with John Wayne in the film Flying Tigers.
Mickey Mouse Club[]
Mickey Mouse Club aired each weekday. Dodd always wore "Mouseke-ears", played his "Mouse-guitar", and sang self-composed songs. His tunes contained positive messages for kids. In addition, among his other musical contributions is a song that a generation of kids has used for nearly a half-century to spell "encyclopedia". Dodd also wrote some themes for Zorro and performed songs in several of his movies.
The original Mouseketeers, frequent guests at the Dodd home for backyard barbecues and sing-alongs, said that Dodd treated them as part of his extended family. Jimmie was not related to Mouseketeer Dickie Dodd.
Death[]
Dodd died of cancer on November 10, 1964, in Honolulu, Hawaii. He was 54 years of age. Cheryl Holdridge was the last Mouseketeer to see Dodd alive. Holdridge visited Dodd in his final hours because she and her new husband, Lance Reventlow had flown to Hawaii for their honeymoon. They came to the hospital before Dodd died.
Gallery[]
Row two: Charley Laney, Sharon Baird, Darlene Gillespie, Jay-Jay Solari
Row three: Tommy Cole, Cheryl Holdridge, Larry Larsen, Eileen Diamond
Row four: Lonnie Burr, Margene Storey, Doreen Tracey
Back row: Jimmie Dodd, Bobby Burgess.
