“See You Real Soon”: The Original Mouseketeers!

Cubby O’Brien Then and Now

Cute Cubby O’Brien was one of the first stars of the Mouseketeers. He is the son of a well-known big band era drummer named Hack O’Brien. He was, like Annette Funicello, personally chosen by Walt Disney himself to appear on the Mickey Mouse Club. After the show ended, he began to follow in his father’s footsteps as a drummer. He did drums for The Carol Burnett Show and even played drums for Karen Carpenter’s band before her tragic death from anorexia.

Cubby has also regularly participated in reunions with his Mouseketeer co-stars throughout the years including the 50th anniversary in 2005. He also still actively plays the drums.

Karen Pendleton Then and Now

Blonde haired beauty Karen Pendleton was one of the original cast members of The Mickey Mouse Club. As an original Mouseketeer, she was often partnered alongside the equally cute Cubby O’Brien. Unlike many of her co-stars, after the show, Karen fell away from show business. She returned to school and got married, later divorcing. In 1983, she endured a horrible tragedy when she suffered a snowmobile accident.

The accident left her paralyzed from the waist down. She then returned to school and earned a degree in psychology which she used to work with women at battered women’s shelters and she even served on a board advocating for physically handicapped people in California.