of the Century. The segment was based on the California train robbers Chris Evans and John Sontag. The Mickey Mouse Club Dodd came to the attention of Walt Disney after submitting a song for the show. Disney was impressed by Dodd's outgoing personality and rapport with the younger members of the cast and signed him to a seven-year contract. The Mickey Mouse Club aired each weekday. Dodd always wore "Mouseke-ears", played his "Mouse-guitar", and sang self-composed songs. His tunes contained positive messages for kids. Among his other musical contributions is a song that a generation of kids used for nearly a half century to spell "encyclopedia." He performed a regular segment on the show singing "Proverbs, proverbs, they're so true"... and would then expound on a proverb from the Bible and give an explanation of its value in everyday life. He wrote some themes for Zorro and performed songs in several of his movies. He also wrote "Lonely Guitar," a Billboard Top 50 charted hit for fellow Mouseketeer Annette Funicello in 1959. The original Mouseketeers, frequent guests at the Dodd home for backyard barbecues and sing-alongs, said Dodd treated them as part of his own extended family. John Updike's novel Rabbit, Run makes reference to Dodd and his appearance on a Mickey Mouse Club episode. Death Dodd died of cancer at age 54 on November 10, 1964, in Honolulu. He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles. He was survived by his wife, Ruth. References From Club Court to Center Court by Phillip S. Smith (2008 Edition) External links 1910 births 1964 deaths 20th-century American male actors 20th-century guitarists 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers American acoustic guitarists American children's television presenters American male film actors American television personalities Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) Deaths from cancer in Hawaii Disney music Disney people Guitarists from Ohio Male actors from Cincinnati Musicians from Cincinnati Songwriters from Ohio