# There's Just Something . . . Creepy About Mickey Rooney **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 9, 2004, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068 "2004-04-09T00:16:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/41 "2004-04-09T19:46:02Z")
Apparently, Mickey played Clark Gable’s character as a kid in “Manhattan Melodrama.” Huh? Except I don’t believe Mickey was ever really a kid. It seems to me he was born 40. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/42 "2004-04-09T21:33:21Z")
Incidentally, I was trying to find out if any of the online transcript services had a transcript of the Mickey Rooney interview in Americus. (I actually have found copies of transcripts of interviews they did with authors and a couple of politicians.) I couldn’t, but here are two interviews with him that show him for the insane little egomaniac that he is. [1](http://pages.prodigy.net/mshimkus/superbrat.htm) This one discusses his marriage and later-relationship with La Belle Ava. > [@](#): > > “Let me straighten you out on this, pal. It isn’t how tall you are in life; it’s what you do with it… I have no ego”. All the more remarkable, then, that somebody so “secure” insists on stamping almost every page of his braggart memoirs with his macho persona. He is clearly proud of his sexual prowess, although his wedding night with the virginal 19-year-old Ava Gardner was unconsummated because he had drunk too much champagne. Oh, he “more than” made up to her the following night, he says. “I was, by turns, alternatively tender and tremendous, and that helped.” No ego? [2](http://www.montrealmirror.com/ARCHIVES/1998/022698/film1.html) In this one he goes into some of his wackier views and stories (how an Angel _saved_ him in a Florida diner, for example) and his views on gays. > [@](#): > > Mickey on Ellen Degeneres: Jesus Christ said the effeminate are an abomination to me. Are you aware of that? I don’t watch the Ellen show. I wish her all kinds of luck. Except that I’m not a fan. But there are a lot of people who aren’t fans of Mickey Rooney and you can’t please everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs\_Milburn\_Drysdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs\_Milburn\_Drysdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs_Milburn_Drysdale)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/43 "2004-04-09T22:05:43Z")
I have to stop reading this. Everytime I read a quote of Rooney’s I get angrier! What is frightening are those shorts (movies, not pants) he made as a “small” child (I know) under the name “Mickey McGwire” - he’s even more terrifying than he was as Puck and that’s saying a lot. Oh, that face! That voice! Pass me the pepto-bismol. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/44 "2004-04-09T22:49:23Z")
For your delectation, [Mickey McGuire](http://www.geocities.com/~childactors/images/r/mickeyrooneymcquire1a.jpg) . . . ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/45 "2004-04-09T22:53:42Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Let me (mildly) defend the Mickster by saying that his Puck is perversely irresistable in an already bizarre enterprise . . . Regrettably, though, he has never lost his Puckishness . . . (How often do you get to use that word _literally?_) ---
**Author:** ![Mrs\_Milburn\_Drysdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs\_Milburn\_Drysdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs_Milburn_Drysdale)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2004, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/46 "2004-04-09T23:02:45Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > For your delectation, [Mickey McGuire](http://www.geocities.com/~childactors/images/r/mickeyrooneymcquire1a.jpg) . . . Blecch! The only redeeming thing about that photo is the adorable dog (who looks quite similar to my own.) The fact that Rooney has outlived almost everyone else enables him to tell his ridiculously tall tales (the hub swears he saw Rooney say that MM gave the best bj’s in Hollywood - I shudder at the thought.) ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2004, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/47 "2004-04-12T12:57:10Z")
“(the hub swears he saw Rooney say that MM gave the best bj’s in Hollywood - I shudder at the thought.)” I’ve seen it reported in several places that it was actually Nancy Davis (later Nancy Reagan) that was the best fellatiatrix (fellater? blow job giver?) in all of Hollywood. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2004, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/48 "2004-04-12T13:02:48Z")
> [@Mrs Milburn Drysdale](#): > > Blecch! The only redeeming thing about that photo is the adorable dog (who looks quite similar to my own.) > > The fact that Rooney has outlived almost everyone else enables him to tell his ridiculously tall tales (the hub swears he saw Rooney say that MM gave the best bj’s in Hollywood - I shudder at the thought.) Other claims (in addition to the “no queers in Hollywood’s Golden Era” thing): -that Mickey Mouse was named for him (absolute B.S.) -that he was the Number 1 Box Office Attraction for 10 years (he was only number 1 if you categorize the lists, and even then it wasn’t for 10 years) -that Ava Gardner regarded him (not Frank Sinatra) as the love of her life As far as best b.j.s in Hollywood, I always heard that was Cesar Romero. ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2004, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/49 "2004-04-12T16:45:29Z")
> [@RindaRinda](#): > > I was neutral about him until I saw _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_. Although I probably shouldn’t blame him personally for that. Gah! I just watched BAT for the first time this weekend. Imagine my surprise when I saw the credits at the beginning “…And Mickey Rooney as Mr. Yunioshi.” 😕 Very disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2004, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/50 "2004-04-12T19:40:07Z")
The only performance of his I even mildly enjoyed was that of Whitey Marsh in _Boys’ Town_, and mostly just when Spencer Tracy’s character was slapping him around. BTW, wasn’t the Whitey Marsh character the model for Lampwick the poolhouse punk in Disney’s _Pinocchio_? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2004, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/51 "2004-04-12T20:28:30Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > To me, he’s always been 90% icky and about 7% . . . sexy in a kind of fetishistically trollish way–call the remaining 3% equal parts confused and disturbed. > > Who was Robert Osborne quoting the other day, some short list of hollywood royalty who claimed to feel that Mickey Rooney was the greatest actor they’d ever worked with? Laurence Olivier is the name I always have heard in this context. I don’t know who the others were. Mickey Rooney was initially popular as a singer and dancer. He also played several instruments well, and was just an all around talent. I’d say that in his youth he traded primarily on his “small-guy-but-with-the-drive-of-a-locomotive” appearance and general demeanor. He certainly exuded confidence in his early roles, and if what I’ve been hearing from the female Dopers, when asked what makes men attractive, is half true, they should be all over him. His first notable role was as Puck in _Midsummer Night’s Dream_; he was great in that because, IMO, he played it completely without the effeminacy that usually goes with sprite or fairy type roles. According to [this](http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=2:108826) that was considered one of the greatest juvenile performances in the history of film. In short, he was a huge star because he was a huge talent. I think in retrospect his rep has suffered due to the datedness of many of his old fims. You couldn’t make Andy Hardy movies today, nor the Boys Town series. Also, he did have some very regrettable roles such as that of the buck-toothed Japanese landlord in _Breakfast at Tiffany’s_. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2004, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/52 "2004-04-12T20:36:17Z")
I thought he was well cast in _The Bridges At Toki Ri_ but the rest of this has been pretty disturbing, especially the thought of Ava slipping herself a Mickey. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs\_Milburn\_Drysdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs\_Milburn\_Drysdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs_Milburn_Drysdale)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/53 "2004-04-13T17:39:32Z")
Eve, you jinxed me. Milburn and I spent the weekend in Palm Springs and that little \*\*troll’s \*\* face was \*everywhere! \* Seems he and his wife are doing their musical act there soon, AND he has a star on the “walk of fame.” ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/54 "2004-04-13T18:12:28Z")
Did you do one of your patented “Mrs. Drysdale Appalled Dowager Swoons?” ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/55 "2004-04-13T19:08:39Z")
Hell, he was even creepy in _It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World_. I see the guy got to boff a _19-year-old_ Ava Gardner though…Sinatra had to settle for sloppy thirds, after Artie Shaw had a whack at her in the mid-1940s. ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/56 "2004-04-13T19:10:54Z")
Who _is_ his wife, anyway? I just saw a documentary about child-stars. Mickey Rooney is scary, his wife pretty annoying. She talked to him as if he’s a kid and tried to steal his thunder [well…, rumblings] every time the interviewer asked something. When needed at a certain spot, she’d grab him by the shoulders - she’s two heads taller than him - and put him there as if he was silly putty. So, Is she his ‘Nurse Ratched’, or merely a concerned spouse? ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/57 "2004-04-13T19:53:16Z")
“I see the guy got to boff a 19-year-old Ava Gardner though…Sinatra had to settle for sloppy thirds, after Artie Shaw had a whack at her in the mid-1940s.” Sorry for the slight hijack here, but I’ve read in several places that Artie Shaw is something of a renaissance man and a genius. Sort of a rose between two thorns as far as Mickey Rooney and Frank Sinatra are concerned. Ava Gardner’s sloppy thirds…I don’t care - that woman was scaldingly hot. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs\_Milburn\_Drysdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs\_Milburn\_Drysdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs_Milburn_Drysdale)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/58 "2004-04-13T20:26:20Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Did you do one of your patented “Mrs. Drysdale Appalled Dowager Swoons?” Of _course_, dear. We wanted to deface his star and then take a photo so I could post it here, but we never got around to it. However, as they were on the cover of the free Palm Springs info-guide, his ugly mug **was** everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/59 "2004-04-13T20:29:18Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > I see the guy got to boff a _19-year-old_ Ava Gardner though… Not to mention a 19-year-old Lana Turner! What did Artie Shaw do, turn them out of doors when they became 20? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068/60 "2004-04-13T21:00:38Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Not to mention a 19-year-old Lana Turner! What did Artie Shaw do, turn them out of doors when they became 20? [Doris Dowling](http://www.assodesantis.it/Riso1.jpg) wasn’t too bad herself (though her sister was prettier); she war around that age when they married. He was also married to one of my favorite novelists, Kathleen Winsor of _Forever Amber_ fame, who was quite [pretty](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=famousdeaths.150m.com/images03/0531/WinsorKathleen.jpg&imgrefurl=http://famousdeaths.150m.com/WeekInReview/WIR2003/WIR20030531.html&h=200&w=137&sz=9&tbnid=orAs1gUmiiEJ:&tbnh=97&tbnw=67&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dkathleen%2Bwinsor%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26ie%3DUTF-8%26oe%3DUTF-8%26safe%3Doff%26sa%3DN) herself- she claimed she was 27 when they married but she was probably older. (Winsor basically fictionalized her husband’s doctoral thesis and never had to work again after the Hays Office, Catholic Index [and, after the movie premiered, the Legion of Decency], Massachusetts Atty. General and every other conservative organization banned the book as filth for its > [@](#): > > 70 references to sexual intercourse, 39 illegitimate pregnancies, seven abortions, 10 scenes in which women undressed in front of men who were not their husbands, and nearly 50 miscellaneous objectionable passages ) Shaw’s last wife was Scarlett’s baby sister, Evelyn Keyes (he was her fifth husband, she was his eighth wife, but they were married for more than 30 years before separating). A few years ago Johnny Depp was attempting to do a biopic of Shaw, becoming friends with Shaw (who is reclusive) and even learning clarinet, but apparently it was dropped. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-just-something-creepy-about-mickey-rooney/239068.md?page=4)