Darlene on CD

[merlinjones]

A few more selections I hope make it to Wonderland CD are other contributions by the fabulous voice of Darlene Gillespie (the Alice record has long been a favorite of mine and I was so thrilled to get it on CD).

Walt Disney's Most Beloved Songs (originally released as Mouseketeer Song Fest) features not only the Alice songs from Darlene, but selections from Snow White, and Cinderella (through there are lots more here and there on other LPs as well).

Darlene of the Teens (late Top Tunes of the 50's) has some awesome covers of Love Me Tender, Come Go With Me, Teenage Crush, etc.

Little Gens from Big Shows has some great Darlene contributions including Inchworm and Shall We Dance?

And she did her own Sleeping Beauty interpretations too.

In fact, why not do a compilation of the Best of Darlene? Maybe the contemporary appreciation would help. Her voice is amazing.

 

[Squalls Ahead]

FYI... Sadly, Darlene is in trouble once more...


Cheesy rap for Mouseketeer

'50s star gets busted on mail fraud

BY JOHN MARZULLI
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

NEW YORK-November 4, 2005

Darlene Gillespie, one of the original Mouseketeers, is acting more like a racketeer these days.

Gillespie, 61, and her husband, Jerry Fraschilla, 66, were arrested by the FBI at their home in Ventura County, Calif., on Thursday to face federal mail fraud charges in Long Island.

The couple, who have served time for stock fraud, are accused of pocketing over $317,000 in bogus claims they submitted in a class-action settlement, according to a complaint unsealed in U.S. District Court in Central Islip.

They are being held pending a bail hearing Tuesday in Los Angeles, law enforcement officials said yesterday.

"I'm so sad to hear this happening to her," said Gillespie's former lawyer Michael Duberchin who represented her in a lawsuit several years ago against Disney.

Duberchin resisted tagging her as just another child star gone bad.

"I refuse to accept that her childhood success and her regular life later led her down any particular path," Duberchin said. "She accepted that she had success when she was young. She's a decent, hardworking human being. I never found her to have the prowess or the intent to commit a crime."

Gillespie was seeking millions of dollars in royalties from Disney for performing the voices of cartoon characters in Spanish for foreign releases of classic animated films.

But the suit fell apart after she and then boyfriend Fraschilla were charged with stock fraud in 1997. Before that, the couple had been arrested for shoplifting.

Gillespie was one of the original nine Mouseketeers on the classic TV show, which ran from 1955 to 1959. After a very brief Country-and-western singing career, Gillespie became a nurse and raised two children.

The criminal complaint alleges that between August 2004 and October 2005, the couple submitted claims to a Jericho, L.I., accounting firm handling a class-action settlement from a Hampton, Va., company called Measurement Specialties Inc.

One claim was made in the name of Fraschilla's late father.

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/362625p-308868c.html