The Mickey Mouse Club
Talent Round Up: The Thompson Brothers - Inside Report on Washington
TV-G
S3 E85 Jan 23, 1958 22mIn 1957, the Mickey Mouse Club was televised weekly over ABC and aired 5:30 pm Pacific Standard Time and was highly popular. One of the segments was a short documentary like newsreel segment sometimes shot by independent companies. These were inexpensive to purchase or make and were popular with viewers according to survey, and producer Bill Walsh was constantly looking for material to fill that slot. After months of negotiations and prodding, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) finally agreed to cooperate and allow the Disney Studio to feature the FBI in it's 'Inside Washington' Mickey Mouse Club Series which would feature young Dirk Metzger in Washington as on-site correspondent. Four episodes dealt with the FBI and then two on Congress, three on the making of money and two on the White House. These episodes were edited down to ten minute shorts. In the first episode shown Friday afternoon, January 24, 1958, Dirk Metzger is filmed against backdrop of Washington, D.C. with Capitol Building in foreground, as seen through window. Desk in foreground. Close Up on window, pull back to find Dirk in Medium Shot partially facing backdrop. He speaks before turning: "Washington, D.C. Quite a place. Believe me. I'm Dirk Metzger. Maybe some of you will remember me as a Mickey Mouse Club foreign correspondent from a couple of years ago. Well, Walt Disney has now assigned me to cover Washington..not from the tourist angle, as we just saw.but Washington from the inside. What goes on behind those big doors? As a Mickey Mouse Club reporter I did a little exploring, and for the next two weeks, I'm going to show you what I saw, where I went, what I did. Follow me!" Dirk is then photographed with J. Edgar Hoover in the Director's outer office. After that opening, Dirk goes right to Quantico and there is a sequence with firearms training.
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