This Cincinnati native wrote 'The Mickey Mouse Club' theme, was head of the Mousketeers

You know the tune.

“Who’s the leader of the club that’s made for you and me?

“M-I-C … K-E-Y … M-O-U-S-E.”

The theme song to “The Mickey Mouse Club” was written and sung by Cincinnati-born entertainer Jimmie Dodd , who also appeared as the head Mouseketeer on the children’s variety show on ABC-TV from 1955 to 1959.

Wearing mouse ears on his head and “Jimmie” on his sweater, Dodd strummed his specially made Mickey Mouse guitar (“The Mousegetar”), singing songs, which he wrote, and delivering brief homilies and positive messages dubbed “Doddisms,” to the audience.

“Mickey Mouse Club” was a cultural touchstone of the 1950s, and the theme song remains embedded in our collective memory.

The Disney show put the red-haired entertainer into America’s living rooms five days a week as a genial Pied Piper to millions of Baby Boomer youngsters.

From Cincinnati to Hollywood to 'The Mickey Mouse Club' star

He was born Ivan Wesley Dodd on March 28, 1910, in Cincinnati. But he went by the name James, and his mother later petitioned to legally make the change on his birth certificate. He grew up in his grandmother’s home at 2009 Clarion Ave. in Evanston.

The 1927 Withrow High School graduate played banjo and guitar, and he was an amateur tennis star who played in what is now called the Cincinnati Open tournament .

He attended the University of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and also studied at the Shuster-Martin School of Drama in Cincinnati, where Tyrone Power’s mother was his drama coach.

Dodd’s first professional job was performing on WLW radio in the mid-1930s. Around that time, he met his future wife, Ruth Wolfenden, who sang and played piano on WCKY as Ruth Carrell. She kept the name Carrell even after they were married in 1940.

Dodd got a job playing guitar on a radio station in Florida, attended Vanderbilt University and toured with bandleader Louis Prima and his orchestra, finally ending up in Hollywood. He had bit parts in dozens of films, such as “Easter Parade” with Fred Astaire and Judy Garland and “The Winning Team” with Ronald Reagan and Doris Day.

Although a heart condition kept him out of service during World War II, Dodd and his wife performed on several USO tours in the China-Burma-India theater.

A prolific songwriter with more than 400 songs to his credit, he won a contest in 1951 to write an official song for Washington, D.C. His entry, “Washington,” won him a $1,000 prize.

The Enquirer reported that Dodd and Carrell also co-wrote an unofficial Cincinnati anthem that got airplay on local radio stations.

“We found out somebody else had written a song called ‘Cincinnati,’” Dodd told the newspaper. “About the same time, a movie director heard our song, and said he’d like to use it in a picture, but the picture was a Western. He asked if we could rewrite it about a Western town.”

So, “Cincinnati” was changed to “Amarillo,” and “Miss those steamboats/Miss my Buckeye baby” became “Miss those night birds/Miss my Lone Star baby.”

Two Cincinnatians behind ‘The Mickey Mouse Club’

Another Cincinnatian gave Dodd his big break at Disney.

Bill Walsh (not the football coach) spent his teen years in Cincinnati, graduated from Purcell High School and attended UC. He was working in publicity at the Disney Studio when a chance meeting with Walt Disney launched a new career.

Disney was just dipping into the television medium in the early 1950s. As told in Neal Gabler’s book, “Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination,” one day Walt spotted Walsh in the hall.

“You – you be the producer of TV,” Walt said. Walsh said he knew nothing about television. “Who does?” Disney snapped back.

Walsh produced the anthology show " Walt Disney’s Disneyland ," which alternated live-action serials, cartoons and behind-the-scenes footage of the new Disneyland theme park. It was a huge hit for ABC, and the network wanted more.

Next, Walsh created “Mickey Mouse Club,” a children’s variety show with a cast of talented kids called Mousketeers – including fan favorite Annette Funicello. He thought Dodd, who had written the kid-friendly tune “The Pencil Song” for the “Disneyland” show, would be perfect as the adult emcee of the club.

But, he told Dodd, “We’ve got to let Walt discover you.”

So, Dodd was invited to a story session and performed his song. Walt said, “Hey, Jim is the one who should be on the ‘Mickey Mouse Club’!”

Dodd and his wife became close to the Mouseketeers and often had them over for barbecues.

“It was wonderful for both of us, since we have no children of our own,” Dodd told the Cincinnati Post in 1963. “We became whizzes at cooking hot dogs and hamburgers. We were like adopted parents and loved every minute we had with the kids.”

Dodd and his wife were in Honolulu working on a new TV show, “Jimmie Dodd’s Aloha Club,” when he fell ill and died on Nov. 10, 1964, aged 54.

“Jimmie was one of the happy people who fairly radiated his love for his fellow man,” Cincinnati Post columnist Mary Wood wrote.

Dodd was named a Disney Legend in 1992 and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . He is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

Sources: D23.com , WCPO , Enquirer and Cincinnati Post archives.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: This Cincinnati native wrote 'The Mickey Mouse Club' theme, was head of the Mousketeers