Onetime Mouseketeer Sues Walt Disney Co.

An Antelope Valley woman who was a performer on television’s original “Mickey Mouse Club” has sued the Walt Disney Co., alleging that she and her family were robbed in the Disneyland parking lot and then held for hours against their will as park security officers questioned them.

The suit also complains that amusement park employees removed part of their costumes in front of her grandchildren, traumatizing them by “exposing the children to the reality that the Disney characters were, in fact, make-believe.”

Billie Jean Matay, 52, her adult daughter and three grandchildren were returning to their car Aug. 17 when a man pointed a gun at her head as she sat in the driver’s seat, according to police reports.

The robber escaped on foot with about $1,650 in cash, credit cards and numerous identifications cards, according to the suit filed in Orange County Superior Court.

Matay alleges that security guards then held her “against her will.”

The suit criticizes the Disneyland security force, whose size is reportedly around 380 officers, for its response time.

“At no time during this robbery did security officers from Disneyland arrive at the scene to assist Ms. Matay, Ms. [Denise] Bennette, and the children,” said the lawsuit.

Disneyland officials did not return phone calls about the lawsuit.

Matay was a member of the 24-member dance and entertainment troupe that performed at the opening of Disneyland in 1955 and then on “The Mickey Mouse Club.”

For two years, she was a member of one of two groups of Mouseketeers, the “blue group,” and performed in circus acts as part of the show.

Television viewers are more familiar with members of the “red group,” Mouseketeers such as Jimmy, Annette, Cubby, Darlene and Lonnie, who were introduced at the start of the show.