[IMG:L]The Los Angeles Film Festival is not just about discovering new talent, but showing some appreciation for the classics, too. This year LAFF took a nostalgic look back with movies ranging from The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance to National Lampoon’s Vacation. They also hosted speaking engagements with Hollywood royalty.
There could be few Hollywood veterans more representative of the Golden Age than Mickey Rooney. With over 300 credits dating back to 1926, Rooney was at one time the biggest star in all of cinema. Today’s kids may only know him as one of the old guards in Night at the Museum, but his Mickey McGuire comedy shorts (for which he legally changed his name from Joe Yule to Mickey McGuire) ran from 1927 to 1936, giving way to the Andy Hardy series through 1946, and then some.
At 87, Rooney (his adult stage name) showed no signs of slowing down when he spoke with fans last week. His legs too short to quite reach the ground, he kicked them out from under his chair during his most impassioned stories. He wasn’t ranting, though. Slow and steady with appropriate pauses, he answered fan questions about his most notable movies and stories of the old Hollywood days. Here are some of the highlights:
Mickey Rooney on his Enduring Energy: “If you don’t have some kind of energy, you’re in trouble. I think I derive my energy from my wife. I’ll tell you, I derive my energy from God.”
Mickey Rooney on his Work Ethic: “There’s a difference between show business and work. Show business isn’t work. You’re honored because something has been given to you by the great maker who says, ‘Do your best.’ Whenever we do our show or we do a picture together or whatever, show business is doing your best and being honored to be a part of it and the people who care enough about you, consider you with kindness, courtesy, pleasantness. It’s a wonderful thing.”
Mickey Rooney on Theater Vs. Film: “Well, everything is similarly different. It’s the same thing only you’re doing it. I mean, television is different from radio and radio is different from television. Everything is different but it’s part of one word: show business.”
Mickey Rooney on Naming Mickey Mouse: “It’s true, I gave Mickey Mouse his name. I was doing a Mickey McGuire film. I was on Hollywood Boulevard at Darmour studios. I was on my way to lunch and there was this other man. I was short and pleasant and I said, ‘Hello, who is this?’ He says, ‘Hello, who are you?’ I said, ‘I’m Mickey McGuire. What’s your name, sir?’ He says, ‘My name is Walt Disney.’ I said, ‘Well, glad to know you, Mr. Disney.’ He says, ‘Come here, I want to show you something.’ So I went into this awful door and down to the office. He said, ‘I want to show you the picture of a mouse.’ So he had this cartoon of this mouse and I said, ‘It’s wonderful. What are you calling it?’ He says, ‘I call it Mortimer Mouse.’ It’s true. Look it up. It’s true, the first [name] was Mortimer Mouse. I said, ‘That’s a wonderful mouse.’ He said, ‘Thanks son, glad you liked it Mickey.’ [Pause, like a lightbulb over his head] He says, ‘How would you like it if I named this mouse after you.’ I said, ‘Thanks very much Mr. Disney but right now I gotta go get a cheese sandwich.'”
[IMG:R]Mickey Rooney on the Andy Hardy Movies: “We had maybe eight, 10, 12 pages of dialogue and we would just come in and do it. You know why the dialogue was easy to remember? It was saying what you say every day. And the plots were things, kind and slower. Not hurried up like today, ‘I’ve got no time.’ It was a quieter period and I think the Andy Hardy series could be recouped and done again. That’s Americana.”
Mickey Rooney on His Wife Telling Him to Make The Black Stallion: “I really didn’t know [it would be a hit]. I said, ‘They don’t want to see me as a horse trainer.’ Like everything else she tells me, she’s right. Listen men, if you listen to your wife, you can’t go wrong.”
Mickey Rooney on Boys Town: “How long do you think it took for Spencer Tracy and I to make Boys Town? Two weeks. One week in a studio and a week in Omaha, Nebraska where it still stands to this very day. It’s been changed. It’s no longer Boys Town. It’s Girls and Boys Town. [They help] unwanted girls and boys with no education. There are children in trouble. There are youngsters nobody cares about, abused. This is [a] wonderful [organization].”
Mickey Rooney on National Velvet: “It’s played in England before the Grand National every year. And of course Elizabeth Taylor panned out to be Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Cleopatra, this and that. A wonderful lady and a wonderful actress.”
Mickey Rooney on A Midsummer Night’s Dream: “I don’t think a lot of people got their mind around Shakespeare today but that was fun doing it. We were at the Hollywood Bowl for three months. Max Reinhardt came over from Salsburg, Germany. I had a chance to meet the most wonderful man you’d ever want to know, James Cagney. It’s a gentle picture. And you can get the music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, not for, but to. You can purchase that.”
Mickey Rooney on the Move to Digital Technology: “Everything changes. You’ve got digital cameras today and film. The thing that frightens me is if we’re able to show you when you don’t come on the set. Your lines will be read and other people will be there with you. They just get the right to use your name. And that’s dangerous because they’ve gone too far.”
Mickey Rooney on Retirement: “You don’t retire, you inspire.”
Mickey Rooney on Acting School: “You can’t learn to act. I think acting comes down to being who you are, saying what you say the way you say it. Enjoy the opportunity life gives you. You don’t have to study. You study every day. A doctor is a doctor is a doctor. A lawyer is a lawyer. I just think slow down, take your time to think about situations and then kindness, courtesy, caring, sharing, loving. This is from our savior himself. ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’ How many people say a prayer? It’s very important because you don’t last. Time runs out so take your time.”
Mickey Rooney on Seeing an Angel: “I was asleep and I awakened. There was this golden haired vision. I said, ‘I’m honored.’ And the vision said to me, ‘Mickey, Jesus Christ loves you very much.’ I looked up and he was gone. Like that.”
Mickey Rooney on Our Troops: “Before I leave the stage, I just want to say remember we live in the United States of America. Don’t take that for granted. Don’t take for granted our army, our navy, marines and our flyers who every day while you’re sitting around doing what you do are protecting and giving their all for you and our great nation.”
