Cubby O'Brien

Carl Patrick O'Brien was the youngest of three sons of Haskell "Hack" O'Brien, a well-known professional drummer. His oldest brother Haskell Junior played trumpet, while the middle brother Warren played drums. Cubby got his nickname from his mother, who thought he looked like a bear cub as an infant. The family lived in Sun Valley, California. Cubby began playing drums in earnest at age five, while attending the Carl Babcock Music School in Sherman Oaks, where his father taught. At age eight, with the Roger Babcock Dixieland Band, Cubby performed several times on the Spade Cooley television show, and at rallies and benefits. One of these was the 1954 Screen Actors Guild Christmas benefit, where a Disney producer spotted him and later told Walt. Walt Disney then saw Cubby perform on the Ray Bolger Show and requested he be auditioned for the Mickey Mouse Club. Cubby was the only musician among the Mouseketeers who was allowed to play on-camera; whether this had something to do with Wal