The Search For Annette's Secret Passage

You'd have never known it to look at her. There was talk at the Triple R Ranch, of course; the rumor was that if you were around when Annette had her bathing suit on, you might be lucky enough to see her secret passage. That was the game, anyway.

That's right, Mouseketeers! Disney had made Annette a star, but it took Parker Brothers, the makers of Sorry! and Tell It To The Judge, to make searching for Annette's Secret Passage a national pastime. Parker had included secret passages in previous games (Clue has two of them) but to make a young woman's secret passage the sole focus for an entire board game was unprecedented in the 1950's.

The game play has the ring of truth to it: first, you swim around the lake for a while (according to the rules, any number of players may occupy the lake at the same time). Then, you walk around the island. Once you've accomplished a complete trip around Shell Island, slip back gently into the water and wait. When it's your turn, prepare to maneuver your piece towards Annette's Secret Passage.

But beware! Already circling Annette's secret passage are two vigorous, powerful, elongated, round-bodied fighters with long projecting swords. (Yellow Arrows were added to this illustration and do not appear on the original gameboard).

Worse, according to Wikipedia, is that swordfish happen to be one of the very few species with the ability to heat "selected body parts" above the temperature of the surrounding water. Thus, the question "Does Annette like swordfish?" takes on a whole new meaning in the game, which introduced many a young lad to the concept of "secret passages," perhaps explaining why an original set in good condition commands thousands on eBay.

According to the instructions printed on Annette's box, "Annette, Spin and Marty are on a cruise off the coast of California with Marty's Grandmother. During the night Marty's grandmother's jewels were stolen! (Parker Brothers' exclamation point). Annette thinks that whoever stole them must have escaped to the island. The next morning, with Captain Blaney's permission, Annette, Spin and Marty decide to do some "skin diving" and "explore the island" (quotation marks mine).

A careful inspection of the entire game board reveals the entire story.


Disney knew that The Mickey Mouse Club wouldn't last forever, and in the fall of '57 - around the same time the Studio was making money hand over fist from Annette's Secret Passage - the studio announced two productions designed to carry the success of the Mouseketeers forward.

The first was a theatrical motion picture, "The Road To Oz," featuring Annette as Ozma. Although considered a "sure thing," the studio was curiously quiet about the project afterwards, ultimately announcing that the movie had been shelved.

The second production was a groundbreaking TV series to be based on Walt Disney's Annette and the Mystery at Smugglers' Cove, the Disney book that had been perched atop the Times Best Seller List for 38 consecutive weeks. The cover gives some of the plot away; Annette is sailing across Bodega Bay with a pair of lovebirds when a seagull swoops down and pecks at her forehead, drawing blood. This is the first of many inexplicable events Annette encounters as she arrives in, then tries to escape from, Smugglers' Cove Island.

The pilot for the TV series was produced, but test audiences found it confusing and "disjointed," something many viewers claimed Annette would have to physically have been in order to fit into the minuscule boat seen on the novel's dust jacket.

The Disney studio would have to wait until it owned ABC Television in order to return to the project nearly five decades later, when it unexpectedly became a huge success. Alas, none of the footage from the original "Smugglers' Cove" pilot still exists, and the episode is one of the ten "most sought after lost television shows" identified by the Library of Congress and something called The Paley Center for Media. All that survives is a single color still featuring Annette in her role as the upbeat, dancing castaway, Kate.

Strangely Similar Music

"Wow, this song reminds me so much of some other song, only I can't think of what that other song is while this song is playing, but if I turn off this song, I'll forget what the other one sounds like."

Sometimes, it's coincidence. One song just happens to sound like another. I refer you to the words of Mr. Andy Breckman, who wants this phrase on his tombstone: These Things Happen.

Sometimes, it's carefully plotted strategy (Gary Puckett and the Union Gap always made sure that their next hit contained roughly the same notes in roughly the same order as their previous hit).

Sometimes, it's an honest mistake. The late George Harrison didn't consciously elevate He's So Fine into the realm of the sacred as My Sweet Lord. (When Paul McCartney was convinced that he had stolen the melody of Yesterday unconsciously, he hummed the tune to dozens of friends who failed to identify it, leading Paul to eventually conclude that he did, in fact, write it in his sleep).

Sometimes, egregious thievery is involved. That's the subject of this post, although some of these amazing sound-alikes may not have resulted from conscious lifts.

The first one did, though:

The Song You Know is Venus by Shocking Blue (1970)
(Listen at the above link or watch the video below. If you use box.net's player, close it each time before returning to this page.)

Why was Dutch group Shocking Blue a one-hit wonder? Maybe because they stole their hit song from The Big Three featuring Cass Elliot (before she became a Momma). Oh, and you'll notice, in the opening notes, that Shocking Blue also "borrowed" Pete Townsend's signature guitar riff from Pinball Wizard, released the previous year.

The song Shocking Blue wishes would disappear is Banjo Song by The Big Three (1963). (OK, The Big Three "borrowed" some lyrics from Stephen Foster, but still...)

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Another song: Ernie's Tune by the Tony DeSimone Trio. The instantly recognizable song was actually titled Oriental Blues and is credited to Jack Newton. It accompanied some of the best comedy ever to appear on TV.

What a great song it is - worthy of a George Gershwin. Very worthy.
Rialto Ripples by George Gershwin.

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Last but not least, one that I've been thinking about for a couple of months. It is The Theme to National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."

When you're pledging to your local public radio station to support Melissa Block, you might want to send a couple of bucks to the poor devil who wrote Just One Smile by Dusty Springfield. (Wait for the chorus).