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 briefly returned to social media in 2017. Created by Walt Disney and produced by Walt Disney Productions, the program was first te ...

'' television show from 1955 to 1959.

Early life

Tracey was born in St Pancras,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. 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, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

. 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 referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

''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!'', and in the third season of the ''Mickey Mouse Club'', had a role in the serial '' Annette''. She was cast as Scraps, the Patchwork Girl, in a musical number from the proposed live-action Disney film ''

The Rainbow Road to Oz ''The Rainbow Road to Oz'' was a proposed, but never finished, Walt Disney Studios 1950s live-action film about characters in the Land of Oz. Inspired by L. Frank Baum's early 20th century ''Oz'' novels, it was to have starred some of the Mouse ...

'' on an episode of the ''

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. 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, ...

'' 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 Pediatrics, pediatrician husband Dr. Alex Stone, and Shelley Fabares and Paul Petersen as their teenage childr ...

'', with

James Darren James William Ercolani (June 8, 1936 – September 2, 2024), known by his stage name James Darren, was an American television and film actor, television director, and singer. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, he had notable starring and su ...

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 (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...

and

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

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. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

where she promoted acts including

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...

and

the Doobie Brothers The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band formed in San Jose, California in 1970. Known for their flexibility in performing across numerous genres and their vocal harmonies, the band has been active for over five decades, with their greate ...

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

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

'' in 1976 and 1979; as a result, she was excluded from Mouseketeer reunions and official Disney functions for several years thereafter. She later reconciled with Disney and expressed regret at having posed for the photos. In 2001, an excerpt from her unpublished memoir originally cowritten with celebrity biographer Jeff Lenburg, ''Confessions of a Mouseketeer'', was published in the

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

anthology ''I Thought My Father Was God''.

Personal life

Tracey married Robert Washburn and had a son, but the marriage ended in divorce. In 2018, after having cancer for two years, Tracey died of pneumonia at a hospital in

Thousand Oaks, California Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, located in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles. Approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown Los Angeles, it is named after the many oak trees pr ...

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 Los Angeles County, California Actors from the London Borough of Camden Deaths from cancer in California Deaths from pneumonia in California English emigrants to the United States British child actresses American child actresses American female dancers People from St Pancras, London Writers from the London Borough of Camden