Our shores have been graced recently by a visit from the veteran movie star Mickey Rooney, who is shortly to turn 87. A lot of people are surprised that he is still active, for he seems to have been around forever. He started young, making his debut at the age of two in his parents' vaudeville act. His original name ws Joe Yule and whereas some authorities describe him as being of Scottish descent, he told RTE some years ago that his mother came from Ireland. He made his first apearance in a 1926 movie short, in which he was billed as Mickey McGuire, an alias which he used until 1932 when he began calling himself Mickey Rooney. He used to claim that Disney's famous rodent star was originally called Mortimer Mouse, and had his name changed to Mickey Mouse, inspired by Mickey McGuire, around about 1928.
Rooney was already an experienced actor when he was cast, at the age of 15, as Puck in the Warners' production of Shakespeare's 'Midsummer Night's Dream' which also starred James Cagney. Shortly after that he moved to MGM and by the end of the decade he was voted by movie exhibitors as the most popular film star in the world. He was the title character in a popular series about a teenager called Andy Hardy, which celebrated the joys of small-town America in what is seen now as a different world. Looking back on his career Rooney was later to remark: "I was a fourteen year old boy for 30 years."
He was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1938 for bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth in the same year as his performance in the film 'Boys Town'. Rooney once recalled that this movie was shot in ten days. This is not to suggest that it was a 'quickie', it is, rather, a tribute to the professionalism of the studio system at its height. The picture brought a second back-to-back Oscar for Spencer Tracy, who played Father Edward Flanagan, who set up an open farm for the rehabilitation of young offenders, regardless of colour or creed, built on his conviction that, "There is no such thing as a bad boy." The institution in Nebraska, now called Girls and Boys Town still exists and remains highly respected.
During his visit to Ireland last week Rooney did a one-night stint in a Dublin theatre on Sunday night and on Monday he went to County Galway where he attended a function in Fr Flanagan's native Ballymoe, to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the establishment of Boys Town. Fr Flanagan visited Irish industrial schools in 1946 and described them as a national disgrace. This did not make him very popular with the Irish authorities.
In the early 1940s Rooney made a series of musicals with Judy Garland. He also appeared with the youthful Elizabeth Taylor in the 1944 horse-racing picture 'National Velvet'. One of his best rules was in a wartime film called 'The Human Comedy' which dealt with life on the home front during World War II, in which Rooney saw service.
Mickey is small of stature, but nonetheless was a great ladies' man in his younger life. He married eight times, one of his wives being the actress Ava Gardner. He was once asked how short he was, and quipped, "About 200 dollars a month since my last divorce."
When the big studios began shedding their contract stars in the early 1950s Rooney, like many others, was left to fend for himself. He took work where he found it and was particularly impressive in tough-guy roles in such fifties movies as 'The Last Mile' and 'Baby Face Nelson'. A supporting role in the war movie 'The Bold and the Brave' earned him a third Academy Award nomination. Among other memorable films of his middle period were 'The Bridges at Toko-Ri' (1954) and 'Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). A lot of his subsequent film roles were unworthy of his talents, but he never let himself be written off, a 1979 film 'The Black Stallion' bringing him yet another Oscar nomination. In the 1980s a Broadway show called 'Sugar Babes' in which many of his 30s or 40s musicals were recalled, was a massive hit, although it bombed in London.
Mickey has been married to his present wife for 35 years and seems to have become a home-loving type. This has not in any way diminished his great appetite for work: he is to play the Baron in a pantomime in Sunderland at Christmas. He does not overly exert himself on the stage these days, but for his many fans the main point is that he is still up there at all. The playwright Tennessee Williams once observed that he considered Mickey Rooney to be the best actor in the history of the movies. As he himself said, "There may be a little snow on the mountain, but there's fire in the furnace."
In evidence the court heard that the plaintiff's home had been invaded by insects which had caused much irritation and annoyance, occasioning itches and rashes amongst the plaintiff and his family. His problems had begun when he had been induced by a local fuel supplier to investigate the attractions of an open fire in his hearth and the olde-world comforts that it offered. To this end he had invested in a lorry load of peat which had been cut from a bog not far from the town. He was able to prove that the troublesome tics that had plagued his household had been delivered with the bags of fuel. "You could say" said the presiding judge, "That this comes with the turf."
RTE has reported that the Taoiseach would be "appearing to answer questions about his personal finances" at the Mahon tribunal. You can read that whatever way you like.
Mrs Thatcher showed up at 10 Downing Street last week for tea with the Prime Minister. Press reports differed about the colour of her suit. Some called it pink, others described it as fuchsia. Still others called it 'cerise'. Hearing this on the radio I thought they were calling it 'Cherie's'.
Soccer supporters, North and South, have been seeing quite a few European capital cities lately: Prague, Riga, Bratislava, Reykavik.
It all reminds me of a story told by a local businesman who went on a day trip out of Belfast to Budapest. When the plane landed one wee man made straight for the airport bar. Apparently, he stayed there all day. When it came time to fly home one of the cabin crew asked him how he had enjoyed his visit.
He managed to reply: "I really think Yugoslavia is a lovely country."
It is reported that Dublin now covers a greater area of ground than Los Angeles. An ancient schoolboy joke had it that the Irish capital was always doublin'.
A young lad from a Protestant school in Belfast, who has taken up playing hurling, was asked by Radio Ulster, "I imagine you're getting a lot of stick these days."
