People of a certain age understand the widespread sense of loss and sadness brought about by the death yesterday of forever Mouseketeer Annette Funicello.

Annette became a teenage TV idol in the ’50’s, at a time when the idea of a TV idol was still new. Today it is considerably more common for an attractive young person to have her or his real persona distributed to a global audience for profit and entertainment. Back when the Disney Corporation did this with Annette Funicello, maintaining the aura of innocence in the midst of a marketing campaign was still possible. To her credit, she was able to maintain that image in spite of the usual pressures of fame.

I was a few years too young to catch the full blast of Annette-mania among ’50’s and ’60’s youth, but when I think of her it’s not the Mouseketeers theme song that comes to mind as readily as this one – a Beach Boys classic written and performed here by one of the least-famous Beach Boys, Bruce Johnston. It comes from a BBC2 program called “The Old Grey Whistle Test.”

What kind of fantasy world would you like to live in?