# RIP Mickey Rooney. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 7, 2014, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mickey-rooney/685526 "2014-04-07T03:34:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2014, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mickey-rooney/685526/41 "2014-04-07T23:30:04Z")
> [@MovieMogul](#): > > Which is a lovely extension of his role as the jockey/trainer in the second best horse-racing movie ever made (after the Ballard masterpiece), **National Velvet** 34 years earlier. > > His first Oscar-winning movie was **Manhattan Melodrama** in 1934, his last was **The Muppets** in 2011–a 77-year span and a record unlikely to be beaten anytime soon. Lillian Gish’s first credit of record was in 1912, and her last in 1987, but she claimed to have been in a few short films as early as 1905, and there isn’t much reason to doubt this. Aside from both her sister and DW Griffith mentioning her earliest shorts, and lots of people who remembered seeing them, it wasn’t typical to display actors names until about 1910 or so, and until Griffith started archiving his films, it was usual to melt them down and reuse them for the silver nitrate, which is why few films from before the teens exist. Anyway, Gish had been on the stage since she was six years old, in 1899. Sadly, one lost film is Lillian Gish’s only directorial effort, _Remodeling Her Husband_, starring her sister Dorothy, and from a screenplay by Dorothy Parker. ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mickey-rooney/685526/42 "2014-04-08T00:29:10Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Abe Vigoda now cries triumphantly out to the heavenlies… “There can be only one!” Of the Clan Vigoda? ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mickey-rooney/685526/43 "2014-04-08T00:49:48Z")
Awww… Johnny Casar is gone. Loved the movie “The Fireball” as a kid. I discovered only recently that Marilyn Monroe was in it. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mickey-rooney/685526/44 "2014-04-08T03:35:23Z")
The episode of _ **Family Guy** _ I just watched had Mickey Rooney doing his batshit-insane shtick. Surely, this couldn’t have been a coincidence! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mickey-rooney/685526/45 "2014-04-08T04:18:15Z")
People still sit around the campfire and sing about the stubby finger. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mickey-rooney/685526/46 "2014-04-08T12:45:22Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > People still sit around the campfire and sing about the stubby finger. Tapping out Morse code all day for years will do that to a guy. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mickey-rooney/685526/47 "2014-04-08T15:16:32Z")
For some reason I’m reminded of this old verse from _Mad_ magazine: As I was going to St. Yves I met a man with seven wives I know it sounds absurd and looney But that poor man was Mickey Rooney! [illo shows Rooney being chased by a mob of angry women] ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mickey-rooney/685526/48 "2014-04-08T15:19:45Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > My favorite Mickey Rooney clip: > > A Hollywood classic! :o Truth in Television, actually. The blackface minstrel show as regular commercial stage entertainment had died out by 1910 (not because of any rising anti-racism, it just couldn’t compete with Vaudeville); but college and amateur and community-theater productions continued into the 1960s. Not surprising a “backyard musical” in the 1930s or '40s would have been of that form. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mickey-rooney/685526/49 "2014-04-08T15:24:28Z")
I’ll always remember him as Bill Sackter. Rest in peace. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mickey-rooney/685526/50 "2014-04-08T16:07:37Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > People still sit around the campfire and sing about the stubby finger. You mean…? :dubious: [VOLUPTUARY IN A ONE-HORSE TOWN: Image](http://jerome1951.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/boys-life.jpg?w=980&h=1368) :eek: ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mickey-rooney/685526/51 "2014-04-08T16:21:13Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Hmmm. It’s interesting that the women went for a more realistic “blackface”. I wonder if that was standard. Actually, I think it was standard in minstrel shows for men in drag to play the female parts; and there were not many female parts. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mickey-rooney/685526/52 "2014-04-08T16:24:03Z")
RIP, Mickey. We hardly knew ye. I liked him okay, but I know someone here in Bangkok who hated him with a passion. A Brit who is originally from Brunei and is a quarter Chinese. And he hated Mickey due to his performance as the buck-toothed Japanese Mr. Yunioshi in _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_. This stuck in his craw more than anything else. He’s always going on about Hollywood’s record of using non-Asians in Asian roles. Charlie Chan, you name it, but his biggest gripe has always been Mickey Rooney in _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_. Many times within his hearing, some of us would start commenting on Mickey Rooney’s masterful portrayal of a Japanese gentleman and how he was more Japanese than the Japanese. He used to get all pissed off when we did that until he realized we were just – dare I say it? – taking the Mickey out of him. Turns out several of us independently e-mailed him news of Mickey Rooney’s death. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mickey-rooney/685526/53 "2014-04-08T16:28:45Z")
But, if you want to see Judy Garland sing in full-on minstrel blackface, see [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7Y2Ll24GRU). ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mickey-rooney/685526/54 "2014-04-08T16:30:05Z")
> [@lawoot](#): > > He was also in _It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World_ with Buster Keaton (with Buster in a “blink and you’ll miss it” cameo). Sadly, almost all of the Keaton footage including dialogue was chopped from the picture, leaving only that unexplained cameo. [/Hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mickey-rooney/685526/55 "2014-04-08T16:38:12Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > My favorite Mickey Rooney clip: > > A Hollywood classic! :o > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I liked him okay, but I know someone here in Bangkok who hated him with a passion. A Brit who is originally from Brunei and is a quarter Chinese. And he hated Mickey due to his performance as the buck-toothed Japanese Mr. Yunioshi in _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_. This stuck in his craw more than anything else. He’s always going on about Hollywood’s record of using non-Asians in Asian roles. Charlie Chan, you name it, but his biggest gripe has always been Mickey Rooney in _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_. Many times within his hearing, some of us would start commenting on Mickey Rooney’s masterful portrayal of a Japanese gentleman and how he was more Japanese than the Japanese. He used to get all pissed off when we did that until he realized we were just – dare I say it? – taking the Mickey out of him. Turns out several of us independently e-mailed him news of Mickey Rooney’s death. I just e-mailed the blackface clip to my friend. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mickey-rooney/685526/56 "2014-04-08T16:48:39Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Truth in Television, actually. The blackface minstrel show as regular commercial stage entertainment had died out by 1910 (not because of any rising anti-racism, it just couldn’t compete with Vaudeville); but college and amateur and community-theater productions continued into the 1960s. Not surprising a “backyard musical” in the 1930s or '40s would have been of that form. You’re missing an important nuance. After the minstrel show died, blackface simply moved over to vaudeville. Eddie Cantor and Al Jolson performed in it through the 20’s, with Jolson - a strong supporter of was then called negro rights - starring in the movie, replacing George Jessel who had starred in the play. Wikipedia has a page called [List of entertainers who performed in blackface](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_entertainers_who_performed_in_blackface). Not only are there a huge number of vaudeville performers, but a surprising number of movie names well into the 1950s. Not only wasn’t there a stigma to it but even some modern commentators have claimed that the use of blackface in The Jazz Singer was [a positive act](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_jolson#As_metaphor_of_mutual_suffering). Some opposing claims are mentioned there as well. As for Breakfast at Tiffany’s, I’d say that writer George Axelrod did one of the best adaptation of a book to screen I’ve ever seen. He claims that director Blake Edwards wanted Rooney to play the part as he did and also accuses him of most of the other stuff in the film that feels out of place with the tone of the film like the party scene. It’s too bad that Rooney is more remembered for that role today than his real body of work. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mickey-rooney/685526/57 "2014-04-08T17:06:36Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Lillian Gish’s first credit of record was in 1912, and her last in 1987, but she claimed to have been in a few short films as early as 1905, and there isn’t much reason to doubt this. Aside from both her sister and DW Griffith mentioning her earliest shorts, and lots of people who remembered seeing them, it wasn’t typical to display actors names until about 1910 or so, and until Griffith started archiving his films, it was usual to melt them down and reuse them for the silver nitrate, which is why few films from before the teens exist. Anyway, Gish had been on the stage since she was six years old, in 1899. > > Sadly, one lost film is Lillian Gish’s only directorial effort, _Remodeling Her Husband_, starring her sister Dorothy, and from a screenplay by Dorothy Parker. Yeah, I’m well aware of the prolific Ms. Gish (herself an Honorary award recipient from the Academy). I was referring to the Oscar stat in particular. It’s hard to think of many performers who even pass the 50-year mark on that stat, let alone 3/4 of a century. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mickey-rooney/685526/58 "2014-04-08T22:08:35Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > You’re missing an important nuance. After the minstrel show died, blackface simply moved over to vaudeville. Eddie Cantor and Al Jolson performed in it through the 20’s, with Jolson - a strong supporter of was then called negro rights - starring in the movie, replacing George Jessel who had starred in the play. Yes, I know; the minstrel **show,** with its full-length formula and its Interlocutor and Endmen, died out by 1910, but blackface short-acts survived on Broadway, I know the Al Jolson story. Jazz Age minstrelsy was a slightly different phenomenon, however, and apparently not quite so resented by blacks – indeed, Al Jolson was famously the only white man welcome in the black nightclubs of Harlem. See [this clip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFPgCGlxQa0) from Eddie Cantor – not so much an ill-natured satire on African-American culture as a tribute to it. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mickey-rooney/685526/59 "2014-04-08T22:12:49Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Lillian Gish’s first credit of record was in 1912, and her last in 1987, but she claimed to have been in a few short films as early as 1905, and there isn’t much reason to doubt this. And that’s what you call a [Gish Gallop](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Gish_Gallop)! ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2014, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mickey-rooney/685526/60 "2014-04-08T22:30:13Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Yes, I know; the minstrel **show,** with its full-length formula and its Interlocutor and Endmen, died out by 1910, but blackface short-acts survived on Broadway, I know the Al Jolson story. I figured you did but your post didn’t make it clear and it’s an important point to remember. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mickey-rooney/685526.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-mickey-rooney/685526.md?page=4)