The Mickster Is Gone

Mickey doing what he did well, keeping Judy loose and happy. This is between takes on Babes On Broadway, 1941

       Joseph Yule, Jr, better known as Mickey Rooney, died yesterday April 6 at the age of 93. Rooney had an oversized talent, that was able to bust out of the room at anytime. His movies with Judy Garland and their friendship are a part of Judy-Lore. Rooney was supposedly a highly sex young buck. Lana Turner called him "Andy Hard-on" . In 1939/1940 he had a torrid affair with the Queen of the Lot, Norma Shearer. It ended when studio boss Louis B.Mayer caught wind of Andy Hardy bedding down with Marie Antoinette he told the Mickster to find a different home for his pecker, Rooney sniffed around the studio girls and came away with Ava Gardner, the just a struggling starlet and all of 19 at the time.

The sultry Ava Gardner, 3 years after she and the Mickster divorced. Looking like one of the most dangerous women ever. 1946's The Killers. 

       At one time Mickey Rooney was #1 box office star in the movies {1939-1941} when that kind of accomplishment really meant something { my kids would always say he was the biggest star in the world when America was still 13 colonies}. For me, there are very few of his movies that stand out, but one of them is my favorite Rooney film, 1943's The Human Comedy. Another would have to be The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, a movie I saw several times as a youth. I haven't seen it for awhile, and it probably doesn't hold up, but it's my fave version of the Twain novel. Another fun one is Young Tom Edison from 1940. For my money the best Mickey/Judy musical is the Gershwins' Girl Crazy. Not always the subtlest of actors his portrayal of Larry Hart in 1949's Words & Music nearly sinks it { the script was the major offender, thank god for the musical numbers }.

With the great Frank Morgan in the sentimental The Human Comedy from 1943. Rooney would receive an Oscar nom for Best Actor.

     
      He was Oscared, not once but twice and both were honorary awards and more than 40 years apart.Rooney was one of those all-round talents { like Sammy Davis,Jr } that was so extraordinary I feel we experienced only a fraction of what he could do : sing, dance, act, clown, Mickey could, and did, do it all, both professionally and personally. And anyone who was upclose and very personal with both Norma AND Ava earns instant respect points. Godspeed.