Doreen Isabelle Tracey (April 13, 1943 – January 10, 2018) was a British-born American performer who appeared on the original ''

Mickey Mouse Club ''The Mickey Mouse Club'' is an American variety television show that aired intermittently from 1955 to 1996 and returned to social media in 2017. Created by Walt Disney and produced by Walt Disney Productions, the program was first televised fo ...

'' television show from 1955–59.

Early life

Tracey was born in St Pancras,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Her parents, Sidney Tracey and Bessie Hay, were an American vaudeville dance team that performed for Allied soldiers during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Her father's original name was Murray Katzelnick. He emigrated to the United States from Russia with his Jewish parents as an infant.

Career

When Doreen was four, her family returned to the United States, where her father first ran a nightclub, then opened a dance studio in

Hollywood, California Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...

. She learned to dance and sing at an early age, courtesy of the many instructors and performers who worked out at her father's studio. Her first professional work was an uncredited singing and dancing bit in the musical film ''The Farmer Takes'' ''a Wife'' (1953). At age twelve she auditioned for the

Disney's The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

''Mickey Mouse Club'' and was hired. She appeared for all three seasons of the show's original run. In 1956, Tracey was featured in the Disney western ''

Westward Ho, the Wagons! ''Westward Ho the Wagons!'' is a 1956 American Western film starring Fess Parker and Kathleen Crowley and produced by Walt Disney Productions. Based on Mary Jane Carr's novel ''Children of the Covered Wagon'', the film was produced by Bill Wa ...

'', and in the third season of the ''Mickey Mouse Club'', had a role in the serial ''

Annette Annette may refer to: Film and television * '' Walt Disney Presents: Annette'', 1950s television series * ''Annette'' (film), a 2021 musical film Other * Annette (given name), list of people with the name * Annette Island, Alaska * Tropical Stor ...

''. She was cast as Scraps, the Patchwork Girl, in a musical number from the proposed live-action Disney film ''Rainbow Road to Oz'' on an episode of the ''

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...

'' television show in September 1957. The movie was never made, and when the ''Mickey Mouse Club'' was cancelled in 1958, Tracey switched to singing live at concerts and teen nightclubs. Tracey appeared on several television programs, including the episode "April Fool" (April 1, 1959), of ABC's ''

The Donna Reed Show ''The Donna Reed Show'' is an American sitcom starring Donna Reed as the middle-class housewife Donna Stone. Carl Betz co-stars as her pediatrician husband Dr. Alex Stone, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage children, Mary ...

'', with

James Darren James William Ercolani (born June 8, 1936) known by his stage name James Darren, is an American television and film actor, television director, and singer. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, he had notable starring and supporting roles in fi ...

in a guest-starring role as well. She ended her career as a performer by touring American military bases in

South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...

and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

and performing lead vocals for a rock group called "Doreen and the Invaders". Tracey later worked as a publicist at

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

where she promoted acts including

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

and the

Doobie Brothers The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band formed in 1970 in San Jose, California, known for their flexibility in performing across numerous genres and their vocal harmonies. Active for five decades, with their greatest success in the 1970s, ...

. For awhile, she was also an amateur weightlifter. Tracey twice posed nude for the sex magazine ''

Gallery Gallery or The Gallery may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Art gallery ** Contemporary art gallery Music * Gallery (band), an American soft rock band of the 1970s Albums * ''Gallery'' (Elaiza album), 2014 album * ''Gallery'' (Gr ...

'' in 1976, and again, in 1979; as a result, she was excluded from Mouseketeer reunions and official Disney functions for several years thereafter. In 2001 an excerpt from her memoirs, ''Confessions of a Mouseketeer'', was published in the NPR anthology ''I Thought My Father Was God''.

Personal life

She married Robert Washburn and had a son, but the marriage ended in divorce. Tracey died of pneumonia as a result of a two-year battle with cancer, at the age of 74.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tracey, Doreen Mouseketeers 1943 births 2018 deaths Actresses from Los Angeles County, California Actresses from London American people of Russian-Jewish descent Writers from California People from St Pancras, London Deaths from cancer in California Deaths from pneumonia in California