Rosie the Cleaning Lady at MGM

[hismattjesty]

As posted on 7/13/06:

I found this on Mouseplanet. Lets all wish Rosie the best. Does anyone know how we can make donations if we will not be there? Francis are you out there?



Benefit to raise money for Studios Streetmosphere performer

Donna Charles, best known for portraying Rosie the Cleaning Lady for many years as one of the popular Streetmosphere characters at the Disney-MGM Studios, suffered a stroke three months ago, but hopes to return to work in the next week or so. Her fellow cast members have organized an after-hours benefit show at the Theater of the Stars at the Studios (normally home to Beauty and the Beast Live on Stage) to help her out. Every dollar raised will go to Donna to help defray costs for medical expenses and loss of work.

An amazing line-up of Streetmosphere characters, current and retired, will be performing, as well as some of her former colleagues from her days at the Adventurer's Club. (Please note that this will not be a typical "Disney" show, as this is an unofficial event focused on Donna.) Since the show is not being sponsored by Disney, there will be no official mention of it anywhere, and only those who are already aware of it will have any knowledge that it is occurring.


A benefit will be held on August 11 for Donna Charles, best known as Rosie the Cleaning Lady. Photo courtesy of event organizers.

A Stella Night, For "Rosie" will take place on Friday, August 11, at 9 p.m. Doors will open between 8:00 and 8:30. As this is a special event, park admission is not required. A guest relations host will greet guests attending this event at the far right of the main gate of the Studios, near the ATM. Guests will be directed through a backstage area directly to the Theater of the Stars, During this walk to the Theater, Guests will be interacting with Streetmosphere as they are directed to this "Red Carpet" event.

There is a suggested $10-per-person donation at the door. A silent auction will also be held, featuring items not available to the public from all of the Equity stage shows within the Disney-MGM Studios.

Donna Charles began working at Walt Disney World in 1982, doing trunk shows at EPCOT Center with the SAK Theater. She was selected to be a member of the original cast of the Adventurer's Club at Pleasure Island, creating the role of the club's maid. She was later asked to move to the Disney-MGM Studios to become part of what became known as Streetmosphere. She has created several Streetmosphere characters, including Rosie, who is now one of the most requested characters at the Studios.

For further information about this special benefit performance, send an email to the event's organizers (link).

One thing I forgot to post from my trip 8/23-9/1 is that Donna Charles aka "Rosie the Cleaning Lady" was back to work (Although not in her role anymore). We saw her on 8/29 working the pre-show queue at The Magic of Disney Animation. Her nametag actually reads "Rosie", and you can see that her right arm is near motionless from the stroke. She also has somewhat of a limp now, but her speech and mouth movement did not suffer that badly. She can speak pretty clearly, and does a great job with the attraction. We had to ask her when we saw her, if it really was her. She said she was happy to be back to work, but missed her character.

I could not find a post about this, and somehow happened upon the original post from July. I was then surprised that no one had posted she was back or had seen her, so I had to say something. With all of the reflection and sadness people are feeling with the anniversary of 9/11 today, I though it would be nice to post something positive.

If anyone else can confirm this, please do. I won't feel like such an idiot for not saying anything for the last 2 weeks.

 

[anewvance]

That's so sad to hear, it's the first i've heard of it. I'm glad she was able to keep working at Disney but sad to hear she was unable to return to her Rosie roll. We've seen her a number of times at MGM and she was a hoot. She'll be missed.

I have a pic of her in her Rosie roll if anyone is interested...

 

[ryanally]

Good to hear she is still at Disney! We will try to see her next week.

 

[Tenten]

Holy Crap, I think I saw her, too! I didn't know if it was her or not, thansk for confirming. Glad to see she's back!

 

[Msslaydbug]

Glad to see that she is still there !

 

[safetymom]

My daughter and friends went to her benefit concert. It's so nice to be able to help someone so deserving.

 

[minniebeth]

Rosie is one of our fondest memories of our trip in 1/05. We were at MGM one day and the crowds were extremely light. She spent a really good amount of time bantering with our kids. She was soooo funny and gave my DS a pin and my DD a "gem" of a ring. They still have them and always remember Rosie when they see them or talk about them. That personal interaction and her humor is what we remember most about that day and one of the true magical highlights of our WDW trips. We will keep her in our thoughts and hearts!
We will look out for her in our upcoming trip...
Thank you for posting this information!

 

[dvcfamily41801]

We still have a rubber chicken keychain that Rosie gave to my DH for his birthday April 2005. Here are pictures of DH and DS with the big smoochies she planted on them.

And a picture of DS with Rosie

 

[anewvance]

Here she was posing for me. She'd pose and right when I was going to take it she'd say "wait" and do a different pose.... she did it like 3 times before I could actually take the picture. She's a riot!