Cheryl and Darlene

Caveat Emptor: This posting relates to my transness tangentally, i.e., it recalls that as long as I can remember, I loved females.

I recalled how long while reading an article in Reminisce magazine, in which readers reminisced about the original run of The Mickey Mouse Club.

Readers recalled how Mousketeers Annette and Karen were the fan favorites on the distaff side of the club. Contrarian that I am, my favorites were Cheryl and Darlene.

As I recall, I liked Cheryl because I thought she was the prettiest Mousketeer and I liked Darlene because she appeared to be the tallest female Mousketeer (yes, my affinity for tall women goes back a long way).

The Mickey Mouse Club aired from 1955 to 1959; I was 4 to 8 years old during its run, so my love of females goes back at least that far.

Curious, I wondered what became of Cheryl and Darlene, so I looked them up on the Internet.

Cheryl had parts in a lot of television shows until she married in 1964. (I recall that she was Wally Cleaver's girlfriend on Leave It To Beaver, but I do not recall her other television appearances.) Sadly, she died in January from lung cancer.

Darlene had a less auspicious acting career and did not do much after The Mickey Mouse Club. Sadly, she served time in prison after being convicted of a check-kiting scheme and in 2005 she was indicted for fraud.

And so it goes.