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Monday, April 7, 2014

Saying Goodbye to Mickey

Joe Yule's Life Was a Show
 
 
"Let's Put On A Show !"
 

 
How many times did we hear those words in the early movie career of Mickey Rooney?
 
Or how many times did his movie dad, Lewis Stone, better known as Judge Hardy, sit with young Andy and give him some fatherly advice...
 
 
...advice most of us also realized as we grew up....
 
...that "father really did know best "...

 

 
...no matter how old you were !
 

 
We lost Mickey Rooney at the age of 93 on Sunday, April 6th, and his loss in my mind, is yet another reminder of the "days of yore" that so many of us knew as children...days that lately seem to be traveling at a speed faster than ever imaginable.
 
Let's look back at Joseph Yule, Jr., born on September 23, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York.

 

 
Joe Jr. was the product of parents that were a part of vaudeville, and one day...92 years ago, young Joe somehow entered his dad's act while crawling on stage...in a specially made "tuxedo".
 
 

And from that moment,  Joe Yule Jr. got the "bug" that would keep him in show business for nearly the remainder of his 93 years.
 
Joe's folks separated in 1924 due to a slump in vaudeville, and his mother, Neil, caught notice of an article in an entertainment magazine that a man named Hal Roach in Hollywood was looking for young kids to star in a movie series called "Our Gang".
 
However, the ad wanted a dark haired child....and well, Joe Jr. didn't have dark hair.
 
Neil couldn't afford hair dye, so she used burnt cork on his scalp to darken his locks....the result, Joe Jr. got the part of " Mickey McGuire" that lasted for 78 films from 1927 to 1936.
 
 



 
Joe wanted to keep the name "Mickey McGuire" due to the fame he had achieved in addition to wanting to use it for his future career and...he legally changed it to "Mickey McGuire" in 1937.
 
Unfortunately for the "new Mickey", a lawsuit ensued and the Our Gang people were able to retain the original rights to that name, barring young Joe from using it professionally.
 
Mom stepped in again....and decided that at least the Mickey part would be used, and urged her son to change his last name from "McGuire" to "Looney". 
 
Joe wouldn't have anything to do with a name like "Looney", so he compromised with his mother and Joe Yule Jr. went from Mickey McGuire to a name that would last for the remainder of his life....
 
Mickey Rooney
 
And in 1937....at the age of 17, life dramatically changed for Mickey when he landed a role in a "B" movie called "A Family Affair" in which he was to play a character named
 
"Andy Hardy".
 
...a "B" movie that became so popular, that 16 of them were subsequently made from 1937-1958 !
 
And for being a "tall " 5'3", he managed to have quite a few girlfriends along the way....Lana Turner, Kathryn Grayson, Donna Reed, Esther Williams, Ann Rutherford (as Polly Benedict), and a character named "Betsy Booth" played by Judy Garland ! 
 



 
Mickey didn't stop as "Andy"; and in the early years starred in such great films as "Boys Town" with Spencer Tracy in 1938, and "Young Tom Edison" in 1940.
 

 
Think Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, or Tyrone Power were the big "hunks" of the day, then think again.
 
In 1938, 1939, and again in 1940, Mickey Rooney was the top Box Office Movie Star in Hollywood.
 
War was declared in late 1941, and Mickey patriotically entertained the troops until in 1944, he too enlisted in the Army, serving 21 months until is discharge.  He received the Bronze Star medal for his service in entertaining troops in combat zones.
 
Life became a bit strained for Mickey following the war, and his career stalled. 
 
He continued to make a number of  memorable films that included "Words and Music" (1948)  in which he played the role of Lorenz Hart, lyrist partner of Richard Rodgers; "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961); "Requiem for a Heavyweight" (1962); "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" (1963); and perhaps the most successful, "The Black Stallion" (1979).
 
A new entertainment medium called television came into being, and Mickey Rooney soon became a staple year after year primarily as a character actor.
 
His memorable performance as the title character "Bill", a mentally handicapped man attempting to live on his own after leaving a mental institution,  opposite Dennis Quaid in 1981, earned him both Emmy and Golden Globe awards.
 


The Big and Small screen was still not enough for Mickey and Broadway stage success with Ann Miller in "Sugar Babies" in the 1980s and 90s was the highlight of his stage career...

 

 
...in addition to such other great performances in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" and "The Will Rogers Follies".
 
As if aging would never stop the excitement he brought to his audiences, in 2014 he made his final movie appearance as the character, "Gus", in "NIght in the Museum 3" which is still in production.
 
 

One can't end a Mickey Rooney story without mentioning the women of his real life.....8 wives....the first of which was the glamorous Ava Gardner, who he married in 1942...

 
 

... and last, Jan Chamberlin to whom he was married for 36 years...and separated from...until the time of his death.
 
He also had 10 of his own children along with one which he adopted.
 
Mickey Rooney...we'll never forget him.
 
Why?
 
He made us laugh...and...cry
 
because
 
He knew how to...
 
"Put On a Show"
 
Dick Arendt

3 comments:

  1. From Dave Nall of North Carolina...to...Anthem Opinions

    A beautiful Memorial, Dick. It has been sent around the world exactly as written as always!

    Cheers! ... ... ... Dave

    ReplyDelete
  2. From Ed Easter of Birmingham, Alabama...to...Anthem Opinions

    Very good

    ReplyDelete
  3. From Barbara Wollard of Barrington, IL....to...Anthem Opnions

    Enjoyed Mickey Rooney very much. Your article was great.

    ReplyDelete