The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney, by Richard A. Lertzman, William J. Birnes
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The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney, by Richard A. Lertzman, William J. Birnes
Free Ebook The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney, by Richard A. Lertzman, William J. Birnes
A definitive biography of the iconic actor and Hollywood legend Mickey Rooney (1920-2014) and his extravagant, sometimes tawdry life, drawing on exclusive interviews, and with those who knew him best, including his heretofore unknown mistress of sixty years.“I lived like a rock star,” said Mickey Rooney. “I had all I ever wanted, from Lana Turner and Joan Crawford to every starlet in Hollywood, and then some. They were mine to have. Ava [Gardner] was the best. I screwed up my life. I pissed away millions. I was #1, the biggest star in the world.” Mickey Rooney began his career almost a century ago as a one-year-old performer in burlesque and stamped his mark in vaudeville, silent films, talking films, Broadway, and television. He acted in his final motion picture just weeks before he died at age ninety-three. He was an iconic presence in movies, the poster boy for American youth in the idyllic small-town 1930s. Yet, by World War II, Mickey Rooney had become frozen in time. A perpetual teenager in an aging body, he was an anachronism by the time he hit his forties. His child-star status haunted him as the gilded safety net of Hollywood fell away, and he was forced to find support anywhere he could, including affairs with beautiful women, multiple marriages, alcohol, and drugs. In The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney, authors Richard A. Lertzman and William J. Birnes present Mickey’s nearly century-long career within the context of America's changing entertainment and social landscape. They chronicle his life story using little-known interviews with the star himself, his children, his former coauthor Roger Kahn, collaborator Arthur Marx, and costar Margaret O’Brien. This Old Hollywood biography presents Mickey Rooney from every angle, revealing the man Laurence Olivier once dubbed “the best there has ever been.”
The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney, by Richard A. Lertzman, William J. Birnes - Amazon Sales Rank: #76805 in Books
- Published on: 2015-10-20
- Released on: 2015-10-20
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.00" h x 1.70" w x 6.00" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 624 pages
The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney, by Richard A. Lertzman, William J. Birnes Review "Covers everything...Lertzman and Birnes are deeply and appropriately sympathetic biographers." (The New York Times)"A definitive biography of Hollywood legend Mickey Rooney...[T]his is a page-turner; many of the people portrayed are long gone, but there's enough tell-all entertainment to keep almost any reader pushing through." (Publishers Weekly)"Richard A. Lertzman and William J. Birnes have done their homework...If you’re looking for the definitive book on Mickey Rooney, this is it." (Bookreporter) "Lertzman and Birnes understand Rooney, presenting him as a colorful American guy who had it all, lost it all, regained it all, but no matter what, never gave up. It’s the story of a true professional, and a great read by anyone’s standards." (Jeanine Basinger, Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies, Wesleyan University)
About the Author Richard A. Lertzman and William J. Birnes coauthored Dr. Feelgood, which garnered wide publicity in the United States, has been excerpted for second serial in the UK, and was translated into German. Lertzman is the former editor and publisher of Screen Scene magazine. Birnes, a New York Times bestselling author, has written more than forty books; produced, hosted, and written the History channel television series UFO Hunters; was a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow; and now hosts his own radio show, “Future Theater” on the Dark Matter Radio Network.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney
Introduction by Jeanine Basinger
Mickey Rooney had talent to burn, and he burned it. He lived a long and often messy life, going up and down the ladder of success as if it were a department store elevator. He did everything there was to do in show business: vaudeville, radio, nightclubs, theater, television, and of course movies, where he ranked at the top of the box office in 1939, 1940, and 1941. He could perform both comedy and drama equally well, and he did impressions of everyone from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Carmen Miranda. He sang, he danced. He played the piano, the drums, and the banjo, and he composed music. He also wrote books, taught acting, spearheaded various business ventures, and served his country during World War II, earning the Bronze Star for performing in combat zones. When he died at age ninety-three in April of 2014, Rooney had been working in some form of entertainment for nine decades. Along the way, he won an Emmy, two Golden Globes, and racked up countless nominations for others, including two Oscar bids for Best Actor and two more for Best Supporting Actor. He had also been awarded two honorary Oscars, the first in 1939, for “bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth,” and another in 1983, “for his 60 years of versatility in a variety of memorable performances.” The latter award seemed at the time to close the book on Rooney, acknowledging the man who had been performing for more than sixty years. Yet Rooney carried on for another three decades. He died with his boots on, leaving behind small roles in two unreleased movies: Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014) and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (2015). Rooney’s success is a unique American tale. He wasn’t necessarily the type for box office stardom. Standing only a little more than five feet, two inches tall, with a boyish face, a shock of untamable hair, and a sort of “gosh, darn” demeanor, he might have been limited to a brief career or no career at all, but his prodigious talent transcended his limitations. He proved to be a performance Everyman who could play a wide variety of roles: a maniacal Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935); a heartbreaking Western Union messenger who delivers the World War II telegrams that announce the deaths of young soldiers in The Human Comedy (1943); the roustabout jockey who helps an adolescent Elizabeth Taylor ride to victory in National Velvet (1944); the down-on-his luck drummer in the underrated The Strip (1951); a doomed GI in The Bold and the Brave (1956); the psychopathic killer in Baby Face Nelson (1957), which won him the French César Award; a sympathetic boxing trainer in Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962); the elderly and sensitive horseman of Black Stallion (1979); and the mentally handicapped man in the TV movie Bill (1981). Even the horror of his now-politically incorrect Mr. Yonioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) is somehow fascinating. Yet even without any of these standout roles, Mickey Rooney would be an important part of film history. If he had made only musicals with Judy Garland or just his sixteen-movie series as Andy Hardy, he’d still be famous. Rooney and Garland were young and hopeful together, and the wow factor of the energetic talent they unleash in such movies as Babes in Arms (1939) and Girl Crazy (1943), among others, is unparalleled. Rooney said, “Judy and I were so close we could’ve come from the same womb,” and this instinctive sympathy, rhythmic harmony, and mutual survival skills infuse all the numbers they perform. They sing it sweet and they sing it hot, but they are always amazing. And as to his embodiment of Andy Hardy, Rooney is immortal. Despite the fact that he was chasing girls, gambling, drinking, and carousing off-screen while he made films, on-screen Rooney perfectly captures the spirit of an American teenager of the late 1930s and early 1940s. Andy Hardy is often called a fantasy figure, the imaginary kid MGM envisioned to goose up its box office receipts. The character is far more honest and believable than that, or else the low-budget series built around him would never have lasted. There may be hokeyness in the Hardy family stories, but there’s also something audiences recognized as true, and that truth was in Mickey Rooney’s performance. With so many well-remembered film roles across so many decades, it makes one wonder why Mickey Rooney wasn’t more respected in his elder years. For Rooney, there was no Kennedy Center Honors award, no American Film Institute Life Achievement Award, and certainly no luxurious retirement to a villa in Switzerland. (He left only eighteen thousand dollars in his estate.) The older Rooney was always just a little bit over the top, lacking what Hollywood thought was class. He went bankrupt, became addicted to sleeping pills, and ran up gambling debts. He incited lawsuits, quarreled with his family, and often gave crazy interviews that went way beyond what could be labeled as merely eccentric. Most spectacularly of all, he married a legendary (and tacky) eight times. (“Always get married in the morning,” he was quoted as saying. “That way if it doesn’t work out, you haven’t wasted the whole day.”) These very public peccadillos no doubt kept him off the A-list of Hollywood legends—except, of course, where it counted: in the history books and in the hearts and memories of his fans. A book that tells Mickey Rooney’s full story and puts his life and work in proper perspective has been long overdue, and Bill Birnes and Rick Lertzman have done the job. They don’t ignore the embarrassing parts of Rooney or his tragedies and failures, but they emphasize the Mickey Rooney that counts: the one who was first, last, and always a performer who never let his audience down. Birnes and Lertzman understand Rooney, presenting him as a colorful American guy who had it all, lost it all, and regained it all, but no matter what, never gave up. It’s the story of a true professional, and a great read by anyone’s standards. Jeanine Basinger is the Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies, Wesleyan University, and trustee emerita at the American Film Institute.
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Most helpful customer reviews
24 of 28 people found the following review helpful. Ladies and Gentlemen...The One-and-Only...Mickey Rooney! By Mike O'Connor When Joseph Yule Jr. (AKA Mickey Rooney) was born in September 1920, they broke the mold. Breaking into show biz at the tender age of two, Rooney began an entertainment career spanning 90 years that encompassed vaudeville, movies, TV, nightclubs and theater. A prodigiously talented and enormously appealing entertainer, he graduated from being a lovable squirt in the 'Our Gang' shorts to America's favorite teen in the 'Andy Hardy' series only to run into the dreaded typecasting curse in the mid-1940s. The following years saw Rooney on an up-and-down roller-coaster as he sought to make a living in any way he could. Along the way, this man-child lived a turbulent personal life, running through several fortunes and eight(!) wives before taking his final curtain in April 2014. Richard Lertzman and William Birnes chronicle the career of this amazing individual in THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MICKEY ROONEY. A 2015 Gallery Books release, Lertzman and Birnes' book provides a fascinating but ultimately bittersweet chronicle of this show business great.Mickey Rooney was a child star writ big; no pun intended. Even at an early age, he could do comedy and drama equally well. He could be a charming innocent in his 'Mickey McGuire' comedies, a believable Puck in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM and go toe-to-toe with Spencer Tracy in CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS. Yet behind the rags-to-riches façade, his early home life defined dysfunctional - an alcoholic, abusive father brought about the end of the Yules' marriage. To make ends meet in the following years, his mother sometimes turned to prostitution and drink. Taken into the MGM fold, Rooney flourished, eventually claiming the part of Andy Hardy that made him a top star and money-maker but also fixed his image in the public's mind as the perpetual teenager. Case in point: his honorary Oscar awarded in 1939 for "bringing to the screen the spirit and personification of youth." Even while he was making millions of dollars for Louis B. Mayer, Rooney's share of the profits were disappearing in various pockets, bad business deals or being squandered by the headstrong young star who loved wine, women and gambling. The bed-hopping led to first wife, Ava Gardner, but more wives were in the offing and children as well. That family life would make for an extended, sad soap opera. Following World War II, Rooney struggled to survive and eventually triumphed in 'Sugar Babies' on Broadway. Along the way, though, more marriages/divorces/bankruptcies/etc. In the end, Rooney never received the recognition from Hollywood his rich and varied career deserved nor did he benefit financially from the enjoyment he gave millions of movie-goers over nine decades of performances.Like other 'warts-and-all' biographies, reading Lertzman and Birnes' book is a mixed blessing. While they give you the straight skinny - and then some! - on Mickey Rooney the man, they don't do justice to Mickey Rooney the entertainer. More time spent on exploring his film hits and his popularity with audiences would have produced a more balanced portrait. Considering all the joy he gave audiences over the years, 'The Mick' deserved better.I was never a big Mickey Rooney fan but did enjoy him in whatever he was performing in. He was always so alive, so entertaining, so effortless in what he did, you couldn't help but like him. It's sad that his personal life was such a mess but, given his early family life, it's perfectly understandable. It seems Rooney spent most of his life looking for a surrogate mom and dad to take care of him and the stable home life he never had. Sadly, he never found happiness but, in the meantime, he left us with many wonderful, entertaining performances. Recommended.*****9,050 Helpful Votes!
15 of 18 people found the following review helpful. Great read! By Mary H This is one of the best show business biographies I've read. I've always loved the old MGM musicals, and Mickey Rooney was a major part of them. I knew very little about the man himself.The authors did an excellent job recounting his life with its many ups and downs. They don't whitewash, and they don't overdo the bad stuff. Rooney was the total entertainer, alive when performing. He was a failure in relationships, too self absorbed and bipolar.He was his own worst enemy, especially when it came to money. All this made it hell for wives and children, but it's the stuff of great reads. Which this is.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. The life and times of Mickey Rooney (1920-2014) the Brooklyn superstar of stage, film and Broadway By C. M Mills Mickey Rooney liked the girls and the girls liked him. He was married eight times beginning his matrimonial journey with the lovely Ava Gardner. His wives and eight children kept him in financial difficulty resulting in two bankrupt episodes. Rooney also loved the ponies and cards losing millions of dollars to his gambling addiction. he could sing, dance and act like on one else. He was number one at the box office in the late 1930s and early 1940s. During World War II he served in Europe as a private while entertaining the troops. His film roles cover nine decades in the business featuring such late life hits as The Black Stallion. Rooney shot to stardom as Andy Hardy in the low budget series for MGM. He was viewed as a wholesome character but his real life was vastly different than his screen persona. Rooney cheated on his wives; was horrible in business dealings and gambled and partied with passion. He was often rude and was a total egotist. He was a horrible husband and father. Yet he was a great entertainer whose career is well chronicled by the authors. A good read!
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