Cubby O'Brien
Encyclopedia
Carl Patrick O'Brien who generally goes by the nickname of "Cubby", is a professional American
drummer
, and a former child actor
, who is best known for having been a Mouseketeer
.
era ensembles. When he was an infant, his mother thought he resembled a bear cub, and tagged him with his lifelong nickname. He has two older brothers, Haskell O'Brien, Jr., a trumpet
player, and Warren O'Brien, also a drummer.
Although born in Burbank
, O'Brien grew up in the Los Angeles
suburb
of Shadow Hills, California between Sun Valley and Sunland. He began studying music at the Carl Babcock School of Music from age five, and later performed with the Roger Babcock Dixieland Band at charity events and for local television. He would eventually graduate in 1962 from Hollywood Professional School
, where he was president of his class.
, was personally selected to audition for The Mickey Mouse Club by Walt Disney
, in the spring of 1955. Disney had been alerted to him by a staff member, who caught his live performance at a charity gala.
Though he had little prior experience in singing or dancing, O'Brien was placed on The Mickey Mouse Club's first-string "Red Team" right from the start. He quickly picked up enough dance skills to perform in musical numbers, though his solo performances remained centered around his drums. He remained with the show for all three seasons (1955–1958) of original programming, and after filming stopped, went on live-performance tours with other Mouseketeers to Australia
in 1959 and 1960.
Following Disney, he joined the Lawrence Welk
organization for two years, having performed with the "Little Band", doing guest bits on the maestro's show
, as well as other television series. After graduating from high school, Cubby started touring with Spike Jones
, playing show tunes and dance music with the formerly manic bandleader's final group. He then played for Ann-Margret
in her live performances, and in the late sixties returned to television as the sometime on-camera drummer for CBS
's The Carol Burnett Show
.
O'Brien also acted as Music Director for LA
touring companies of the Broadway hits Hair
and Oh, Calcutta! in the early seventies, and often fulfilled the same role for other engagements where his primary responsibility was drumming.
Beginning in 1973, O'Brien played drums for The Carpenters
during tours, through the early eighties. Karen Carpenter
usually played them herself on recordings, but for live performances sometimes needed a substitute, so she could sing. The two drummers became quite close, in a platonic, professional sense, with O'Brien introducing Karen Carpenter to drumming-legend Buddy Rich
.
O'Brien was a contestant on the ABC
game show The Big Showdown
in the mid-1970s, winning $5,000 for rolling "Show Down" during the timed dice roll round.
In 1980, O'Brien reunited with his fellow Mouseketeers for a television special, in which he sang and danced, and, of course, played drums. He also joined some of these same Mouseketeers for live shows on fall weekends at Disneyland during the early 1980s.
Since the eighties, O'Brien's career has predominated around performing for Broadway productions, as well as for live shows by performers like Bernadette Peters
. He based himself out of New York City
instead of the West Coast
for many years, though he has since moved back.
d in 1976.
Two years later, O'Brien married Terry Wilemon, whom he met in Las Vegas
while touring with the Carpenters. He relocated from New York City
to her hometown of Dallas, but after twenty years together, they parted in 1999.
O'Brien and his current wife, Holly, have been together since 2002. They recently moved from New York City to the Pacific Northwest
.
He now lives in Amboy, Washington.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
drummer
Drummer
A drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
, and a former child actor
Child actor
The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting in motion pictures or television, but also to an adult who began his or her acting career as a child; to avoid confusion, the latter is also called a former child actor...
, who is best known for having been a Mouseketeer
Mickey Mouse Club
The Mickey Mouse Club is an American variety television show that began in 1955, produced by Walt Disney Productions and televised by the ABC, featuring a regular but ever-changing cast of teenage performers. The Mickey Mouse Club was created by Walt Disney...
.
Early life
O'Brien was the third son of musician Haskell "Hack" O'Brien, a well-known drummer for several big bandBig band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
era ensembles. When he was an infant, his mother thought he resembled a bear cub, and tagged him with his lifelong nickname. He has two older brothers, Haskell O'Brien, Jr., a trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
player, and Warren O'Brien, also a drummer.
Although born in Burbank
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
, O'Brien grew up in the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
of Shadow Hills, California between Sun Valley and Sunland. He began studying music at the Carl Babcock School of Music from age five, and later performed with the Roger Babcock Dixieland Band at charity events and for local television. He would eventually graduate in 1962 from Hollywood Professional School
Hollywood Professional School
Hollywood Professional School was a private school in Hollywood, California, United States, for children working in show business, operating mornings only so that the children could work in the afternoon...
, where he was president of his class.
Career
O'Brien, like Annette FunicelloAnnette Funicello
Annette Joanne Funicello is an American singer and actress. She was Walt Disney's most popular cast member of the original Mickey Mouse Club, and went on to appear in a series of beach party films.-Early life and early stardom:...
, was personally selected to audition for The Mickey Mouse Club by Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
, in the spring of 1955. Disney had been alerted to him by a staff member, who caught his live performance at a charity gala.
Though he had little prior experience in singing or dancing, O'Brien was placed on The Mickey Mouse Club's first-string "Red Team" right from the start. He quickly picked up enough dance skills to perform in musical numbers, though his solo performances remained centered around his drums. He remained with the show for all three seasons (1955–1958) of original programming, and after filming stopped, went on live-performance tours with other Mouseketeers to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in 1959 and 1960.
Following Disney, he joined the Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk was an American musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted The Lawrence Welk Show from 1955 to 1982...
organization for two years, having performed with the "Little Band", doing guest bits on the maestro's show
The Lawrence Welk Show
The Lawrence Welk Show is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years , then nationally for another 27 years via the ABC network and first-run syndication .In the years since first-run syndication...
, as well as other television series. After graduating from high school, Cubby started touring with Spike Jones
Spike Jones
Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny and other Warner Brothers cartoon characters, performed a drunken, hiccuping verse for 1942's "Clink! Clink! Another Drink"...
, playing show tunes and dance music with the formerly manic bandleader's final group. He then played for Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret Olsson is a Swedish-American actress, singer and dancer whose professional name is Ann-Margret. She became famous for her starring roles in Bye Bye Birdie, Viva Las Vegas, The Cincinnati Kid, Carnal Knowledge, and Tommy...
in her live performances, and in the late sixties returned to television as the sometime on-camera drummer for CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
's The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show
The Carol Burnett Show is a variety / sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33...
.
O'Brien also acted as Music Director for LA
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
touring companies of the Broadway hits Hair
Hair (musical)
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement...
and Oh, Calcutta! in the early seventies, and often fulfilled the same role for other engagements where his primary responsibility was drumming.
Beginning in 1973, O'Brien played drums for The Carpenters
The Carpenters
Carpenters were an American vocal and instrumental duo, consisting of sister Karen and brother Richard Carpenter. The Carpenters were the #1 selling American music act of the 1970s. Though often referred to by the public as "The Carpenters", the duo's official name on authorized recordings and...
during tours, through the early eighties. Karen Carpenter
Karen Carpenter
Karen Anne Carpenter was an American singer and drummer. She and her brother, Richard, formed the 1970s duo The Carpenters. She was a drummer of exceptional skill, but she is best remembered for her vocal performances of idealistic romantic ballads of true love...
usually played them herself on recordings, but for live performances sometimes needed a substitute, so she could sing. The two drummers became quite close, in a platonic, professional sense, with O'Brien introducing Karen Carpenter to drumming-legend Buddy Rich
Buddy Rich
Bernard "Buddy" Rich was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer" and was known for his virtuosic technique, power, groove, and speed.-Early life:...
.
O'Brien was a contestant on the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
game show The Big Showdown
The Big Showdown
The Big Showdown is a game show that aired on the ABC television network from December 23, 1974 to July 4, 1975. Jim Peck, making his national television debut, was host with Dan Daniel, then a disc jockey on New York City's WHN radio, as announcer....
in the mid-1970s, winning $5,000 for rolling "Show Down" during the timed dice roll round.
In 1980, O'Brien reunited with his fellow Mouseketeers for a television special, in which he sang and danced, and, of course, played drums. He also joined some of these same Mouseketeers for live shows on fall weekends at Disneyland during the early 1980s.
Since the eighties, O'Brien's career has predominated around performing for Broadway productions, as well as for live shows by performers like Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters is an American actress, singer and children's book author from Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Over the course of a career that has spanned five decades, she has starred in musical theatre, films and television, as well as performing in solo concerts and recordings...
. He based himself out of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
instead of the West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
for many years, though he has since moved back.
Personal life
O'Brien has been married three times, and has one adult daughter. His first wife, Marilyn Miller, was a vocalist with the Good Time Singers, whom he met while touring together with Spike Jones. Their daughter, Alicia O'Brien, was born in 1971. The couple divorceDivorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
d in 1976.
Two years later, O'Brien married Terry Wilemon, whom he met in Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
while touring with the Carpenters. He relocated from New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to her hometown of Dallas, but after twenty years together, they parted in 1999.
O'Brien and his current wife, Holly, have been together since 2002. They recently moved from New York City to the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
.
He now lives in Amboy, Washington.
Television credits
- The Spade Cooley Show: 3 episodes (1954) ....as guest drummer
- Where's Raymond?Where's Raymond?Where's Raymond? is a 1953-1954 ABC situation comedy television series starring Ray Bolger as Raymond Wallace, a song-and-dance man who is consistently barely on time for his performances...
: 1 episode (1955) ....as guest drummer - Disneyland: 3 episodes (1955–1957) ....as Mouseketeer Cubby
- The Mickey Mouse Club: series regular (1955–1958) ....as Mouseketeer Cubby
- The Lawrence Welk ShowThe Lawrence Welk ShowThe Lawrence Welk Show is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years , then nationally for another 27 years via the ABC network and first-run syndication .In the years since first-run syndication...
: unknown episodes (1958–1959) ....as guest drummer and singer - Dick Powell's Zane Grey TheaterDick Powell's Zane Grey TheaterDick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961.-Overview:Zane Grey Theatre was created by Luke Short and Charles A. Wallace...
: "The Man from Yesterday" (1960) ....as Ted Duncan - The Wonderful World of Color: "The Mickey Mouse 40th Anniversary Show" (1968) ....as Mouseketeer Cubby
- The Carol Burnett ShowThe Carol Burnett ShowThe Carol Burnett Show is a variety / sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33...
crew (1967–1970) ....as drummer - TomorrowTomorrow (TV series)Tomorrow was an American late-night television talk show hosted by Tom Snyder...
1 episode (1975) ....as Cubby O'Brien - The Wonderful World of Disney: "The Mouseketeer Reunion" (1980) ....as Mouseketeer Cubby
- The Mickey Mouse Club Story documentary (1995) ...as Cubby O'Brien
Broadway credits
- Annie Get Your GunAnnie Get Your Gun (musical)Annie Get Your Gun is a musical with lyrics and music written by Irving Berlin and a book by Herbert Fields and his sister Dorothy Fields. The story is a fictionalized version of the life of Annie Oakley , who was a sharpshooter from Ohio, and her husband, Frank Butler.The 1946 Broadway production...
(1999–2001) ...as drummer - Gypsy (2003–2004) ...as drummer
- The ProducersThe Producers (musical)The Producers is a musical adapted by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan from Brooks' 1968 film of the same name, with lyrics written by Brooks and music composed by Brooks and arranged by Glen Kelly and Doug Besterman. As in the film, the story concerns two theatrical producers who scheme to get rich...
(2001–2007) ...as drummer