The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney
Page 57
2. Mort Briskin, interview by authors, June 7, 1998.
3. Callander interview.
4. Rooney, Life Is Too Short, p. 221.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid., p. 222.
7. Ibid.
8. Marx Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 148.
9. Rooney, Life Is Too Short, p. 223.
10. Miller interview.
11. Rooney, Life Is Too Short, p. 226.
12. Ibid.
13. Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince, Elizabeth Taylor: There Is Nothing Like a Dame (New York: Blood Moon Productions, 2012).
14. Ibid., p. 322.
15. Richard A. Lertzman and William J. Birnes, Dr. Feelgood: The Shocking Story of the Doctor Who May Have Changed History by Treating and Drugging JFK, Marilyn, Elvis, and Other Prominent Figures (New York: Arcade, 2013).
16. Irv Brecher, interview by authors, June 2006, March 2007.
17. W. Ward Marsh, Cleveland Plain Dealer, December 9, 1946.
18. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 151.
19. Rooney interview.
20. Murray Lertzman archive and Greg Bautzer Law records.
21. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 154.
Chapter 16: The Lion Strikes Back
1. Rooney, Life Is Too Short, p. 227.
2. Eyman interview.
3. Private Screenings: Mickey Rooney, 1997, Turner Classic Movies website, http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/309370/Private-Screenings-Mickey-Rooney/.
4. Robert Osborne, interview by authors, March 2006.
5. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 156.
6. Ibid., p. 157.
7. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, pp. 157–58.
8. Marx interview.
9. Sevano interview.
10. Lertzman interview.
11. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, pp. 158–59; and the personal archives of Murray Lertzman and his law office, Bautzer Law.
12. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 160.
13. A. C. Lyles, interview by authors, March 2006, April 2007, April 2008. The late A. C. Lyles was one of the most gracious and cordial individuals we ever spoke to and was a source of profound insight. He was the embodiment of the perfect studio exec.
14. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 162.
15. Marcy Cassell, interview by authors, January 2, 2014.
16. Wally Cassell, interview by authors.
17. Marcy Cassell, interview by authors, January 2, 2014.
18. Ibid.
19. Miller interview.
20. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 168; and quoted in Harrison Carroll’s column in the Evening Herald Express, June 4, 1949.
21. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 168.
22. Sevano interview.
23. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 165.
24. Barty interview.
25. Rooney interview.
26. Los Angeles Times, March 22, 1950, but also reported by Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 171.
27. John Liebert, interview by authors, November 19, 2014. John Liebert and William J. Birnes, Wounded Minds: Understanding and Solving the Growing Menace of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (New York: Skyhorse, 2013); and John Liebert and William J. Birnes, Hearts of Darkness: Why Kids Are Becoming Mass Murderers and How We Can Stop It (New York: Skyhorse, 2013).
Chapter 17: The Mick, the Duke, and the Deuce in the Coconut
1. Sevano interview.
2. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 170.
3. Marcy and Wally Cassell, interviews by authors, January 2, 2014.
4. Roger Kahn, interview by authors, May 6, 2014.
5. Marcy Cassell interview.
6. Rooney interview; and Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 172.
7. “He’s a Cockeyed Wonder: Original Trailer,” video, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZjKRNLlZT4.
8. Marcy Cassell interview.
9. Pam McClenathan, interview by authors, January 7, 2015.
10. Sevano interview.
11. Wally Cassell interview.
12. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 176.
13. Rooney, Life Is Too Short.
14. Rooney, Life Is Too Short, p. 240.
15. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, pp. 180–81.
16. Ibid.
17. Mrs. Smith, interview by authors, January 4, 2015. Mickey’s mistress for sixty years, unknown to any of his wives, agreed to talk to us and to share Rooney’s love letters only in exchange for our keeping her real identity secret.
18. Rooney interview.
19. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 185.
20. Rooney interview.
21. Ibid.
22. Marx interview.
23. As recounted to Ted Schwartz, interview by authors, December 23, 2014. Schwartz and Sevano cowrote Sinatra: His Story as an Insider (Wellesley, MA: Branden Books, 2013).
24. Fredrica Duke, interview by authors, December 23, 2014; January 7, 2015; February 1, 2015, quoting her father’s boast.
25. Sandy Hackett, who is comedian Buddy Hackett’s son, in personal interviews on August 8, 2014 and January 7, 2015, told us that Joe E. Lewis used that joke in his act.
26. Rooney, Life Is Too Short, p. 248.
27. Duke interview.
28. Ibid.
29. June Wilkinson, interview by authors, January 12, 2015 and March 7, 2015.
30. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 194.
31. Maurice Duke, interview in documentary Fuck ’Em, directed by Fredrica Duke, released 2011.
32. Maurice Duke unpublished notes as told to us by Fredrica Duke, October 22, 2014.
33. Ibid.
34. Rooney, Life Is Too Short, p. 247.
35. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 187.
36. Ibid., p. 188.
37. Ibid., p. 189.
38. Ibid., p. 195.
39. Mrs. Smith interview.
40. Norman Brokaw, interview by authors, March 7, 2007.
41. Maurice Duke, interviewed in Fuck ’Em.
42. Marx interview.
43. Austin “Rocky” Kalish, interview by authors, November 7, 2014; January 6, 2015; and February 12, 2015.
44. http://www.originalmmc.com/mickey.html(http://www.originalmmc.com/mickey.html.
45. Paul Petersen, interview by authors, August 13, 2014.
46. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 217.
47. Patricia Breslin, personal interview, March 14, 2002.
48. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 218.
49. Teddy Rooney, interview by authors, October 27, 2014; November 13, 2014; November 20, 2014.
50. Marx interview.
51. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 215.
52. Chris Aber, interview by authors, December 16, 2014; January 2, 2015; January 22, 2015; and March 10, 2015.
53. Melody Doff, interview by authors, November 10, 2014; January 10, 2015; January 14, 2015; February 7, 2015; March 7, 2015.
54. Kalish interview.
55. Miller interview.
56. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 220.
57. Dick Cavett, interview by authors, May 23, 2014.
58. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 224.
Chapter 18: Bigamy and Barbara Ann
1. Larry Gelbart, interview by authors, May 23, 2014.
2. Kelly Rooney interview.
3. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 206.
4. Story from Red Doff in the Los Angeles Daily Times, September 13, 1958.
5. Ibid.
6. Pam McClenathan interview, October 27, 2014; November 13, 2014; November 20, 2014; January 2, 2015; May 7, 2015.
7. Maurice Duke, in his interview with Fredrica Duke, who repeated the story to us in our interview with her.
8. Mrs. Smith interview.
Chapter 19: The Mickey Jinx and the Murder in Brentwood
1. Belgrade, Yugoslavia: Knjizevne Novine, 1987.
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2. Kelly Rooney interview.
3. Rooney, Life Is Too Short, p. 273.
4. Kelly Rooney interview.
5. Emma Brockes, “Murder in Tinseltown,” The Guardian, October 17, 2005, http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2005/oct/17/theatre.
6. Milos Milosevic, entry on Murderpedia, http://murderpedia.org/male.M/m/milosevic-milos.htm.
7. Kelly Rooney interview.
8. Ibid.
9. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 258.
10. Ibid., p. 260.
11. As quoted in the Los Angeles Times, February 6, 1966.
12. Rooney, Life Is Too Short, p. 264.
Chapter 20: Career Swings
1. George Raft, interview by authors, March 1978.
2. Martin Milner, interview by authors, April 2007.
3. Kalish interview.
4. Stephen Magagnini, “Mickey Rooney Upset about Claims His ‘Tiffany’s’ Role Is Racist,” Sacramento Bee, September 28, 2008.
5. Rooney, Life Is Too Short, p. 264.
6. Jeff Yang, “The Mickey Rooney Role Nobody Wants to Talk About,” Speakeasy blog, Wall Street Journal, April 8, 2014, http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/04/08/the-mickey-rooney-role-nobody-wants-to-talk-about.
7. Teddy Rooney in Pam McClenathan interview.
8. Hackett interview.
9. Kramer interview by Garland.
10. Rooney interview.
11. Karen Kramer interview in which she related her conversation to Jeff Garland, January 20, 2015; February 12, 2015; March 7, 2015.
12. Sid Caesar interview by authors, March 7, 2007; April 2, 2007.
13. It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World reunion, October 27, 2013.
14. Statement made at the fiftieth-anniversary celebration of the film, October 27, 2013.
15. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, pp. 226–27.
16. Forever Dobie: The Many Lives of Dwayne Hickman (Birch Lane, 1994).
17. Interview by Scott Tobias, The Onion, A.V. Club, February 16, 2000, http://www.avclub.com/article/john-frankenheimer-13639.
18. Stuart Shostak, interview by authors, October 8, 2015.
19. Ibid.
20. Rooney, Life Is Too Short, p. 292.
21. Miller interview.
22. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 236; and Marx interview, for Mickey’s comment about the show that Marx and his partner, Bob Fisher, created for him.
23. Also cited in Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, pp. 233–34.
24. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 245; and Marx interview.
25. Ibid.
26. Ibid., p. 249.
27. Ibid., p. 250.
28. William Schallert, interview by authors, March 21, 2008, and July 21, 2013.
29. Ellen Wesson interview by authors, February 6, 2015.
30. Ibid.
31. Dan Kessel interview, in which he told us the entire story of the Rooney Brothers and Mickey’s heretofore untold story of his late-night meeting with Howard Hughes.
Chapter 21: The Seventies: Aftermath of Tragedy
1. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 264.
2. Transcript from Larry King Live, broadcast on June 27, 2001, CNN.
3. Rooney, Life Is Too Short, pp. 288–90.
4. Mickey Deans and Anne Pinchot, Weep No More, My Lady: Judy Garland (Boston: G. K. Hall, 1972).
5. Rooney, Life Is Too Short, pp. 289–90.
6. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 264.
7. Robert Finkel, interview by authors, March 10, 2007, and April 12, 2008.
8. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, pp. 266–67.
9. Ibid., p. 268.
10. Lertzman and Birnes, Dr. Feelgood.
11. Rooney, Life Is Too Short, p. 292.
Chapter 22: Escape from Los Angeles
1. Rooney, Life Is Too Short, p. 292.
2. October 17, 2005.
3. Rooney, Life Is Too Short, pp. 306–7.
4. Donald Trump, interview by authors, December 10, 2014.
5. Ruth Webb, interview by authors, September 20, 1991, and Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 282.
6. Webb interview.
7. Rooney, Life Is Too Short, p. 303.
8. Jan Rooney, interview by authors, December 4, 2014; January 16, 2015; January 18, 2015; February 7, 2015; March 7, 2015; and Jan’s appearance on Future Theater Radio (www.futuretheater.com) with the authors on January 26, 2015.
9. Rooney, Life Is Too Short, p. 308.
10. Jan Rooney interview.
Chapter 23: Sugar Babies
1. Norm Abbott, interview by authors, February 7, 2015.
2. Ibid.
3. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 289.
4. New York: Doubleday, 1972.
5. Terry Allen Kramer, interview by authors, January 21, 2015.
6. Merv Griffin and Peter Barsocchini, Merv Griffin: An Autobiography (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1980).
7. T. Morris, “John Kenley: On with the Show,” Dayton Daily News, July 14, 1995.
8. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 224.
9. Kramer interview.
10. Ibid; and Robert Malcolm, interview by authors, January 26, 2015.
11. Kramer interview.
12. Ronna Riley, interview by authors, October 7, 2014.
13. Kramer interview.
14. Ibid.
15. Joey Bishop, interview by authors, March 7–8, 2005.
16. Marx, Nine Lives of Mickey Rooney, p. 308.
17. Dan Sullivan, “ ‘Sugar Babies’ Makes Whoopee in London,” Los Angeles Times, December 3, 1988.
18. Miller interview.
Chapter 24: Mickey’s Back: The Oscars, and the Emmys, and Bill
1. Sabini interview.
2. Rooney, Life Is Too Short, p. 307.
3. Carroll Ballard, interview by authors, June 27, 2014, for all the commentary in this section.
4. Jan Rooney interview.
5. Rooney, Life Is Too Short, p. 323.
6. Saul Turteltaub, interview by authors, August 21, 2014.
7. Bernie Orenstein, interview by authors, August 20, 2014.
8. Nathan Lane, in a presentation at Feinstein’s in New York City at Rooney’s ninetieth birthday party.
9. Rooney, Life Is Too Short, p. 324.
10. Barry Morrow, interview by authors, September 4, 2014, and May 7, 2015. For a fuller and more professionally detailed discussion of this issue of mainstreaming the developmentally challenged and the mentally ill into society, see Liebert, and Birnes, Wounded Minds; Liebert and Birnes, Hearts of Darkness, and the forthcoming Liebert and Birnes, Psychiatric Criminology: A Roadmap for Rapid Assessment (London: CRC Press, 2016).
11. Morrow interview.
12. Ibid.
13. “The Best and Worst Oscar Moments of All Time,” Oscar, Oscar, http://www.oscarworld.net/ow.asp?P=10.
Chapter 25: Going Ungently into That Good Night
1. Ballard interview.
2. Abbott interview.
3. Kalish interview.
4. Chris Aber interview.
5. Donald O’Connor, interview by authors, September 2001.
6. Donald Trump, interview by authors, February 2014.
7. Mark Dawidziak, interview by authors, January 10, 2014.
8. Doug McDuff, interview by authors, January 26, 2015.
9. Geoffrey Mark Fidelman, The Lucy Book: A Complete Guide to Her Five Decades on Television (Metairie, LA: Renaissance, 1999).
10. Geoffrey Fidelman, interview by authors, November 15, 2014.
11. Chris Aber interview.
12. Feinberg interview.
13. Fredrica Duke interview.
14. Courts interview.
15. Rip Taylor, interview by authors, November 7, 2014.
16. Michael Simkins, The Rules of Acting (London, UK: Ebury Press, 2013), p. 12.
Chapter 26: Time May Lie Heavy Between
1. Mrs. Smith interview. This, and all quotes, incl
uding from Mickey’s love letters, were read to us by Mrs. Smith.
Chapter 27: The Last Years
1. “Rooney Feels ‘Great’ After Bypass Surgery,” Daily Journal, December 22, 2000, http://archives.smdailyjournal.com/article_preview.php?id=1431.
2. Nelson Deedle, interview by authors, January 30, 2015.
3. Dominic Cavendish, “Cinderella: Mickey Rooney Takes the Mickey,” Telegraph, December 13, 2007, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/drama/3669889/Cinderella-Mickey-Rooney-takes-the-Mickey.html.
Chapter 28: His Revels Are Now Ended
1. “Last Will and Embezzlement: Official Trailer,” video, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJCDQpqHPEQ.
2. Liebert and Birnes, Wounded Minds; Liebert and Birnes, Skyhorse; and Liebert and Birnes, Psychiatric Criminology.
3. Michael Augustine, interview by authors, October 7–8, 2014, and February 3, 2015.
4. Ibid.
5. Jan Rooney interview.
6. Chris Aber résumé, at http://www.indeed.com/me/chrisaber.
7. Mickey’s comments appear in Ann Oldenburg, “Butt Out: Fox Nixes Super Bowl Backside Ad,” USA Today, January 5, 2005.
8. “Mickey Rooney Sizzle Reel,” video, YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKmSs684hS0.
9. Feinstein interview.
10. Keith Black, interview by authors, January 17, 2015.
11. Ibid.
12. Shawn Levy, interview by authors, January 27, 2015.
13. Ibid.
Chapter 29: It’s a Wrap
1. Augustine interview; Yevgeny Belous interviews by authors, October 8, 2014.
2. Rooney, Life Is Too Short, p. 337.
Index
A note about the index: The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.
Page references in italics indicate illustrations. Rooney’s films are indexed under “Rooney, Mickey—FILMS”
Abbott, Norman, 429–33, 435–38, 463
Abbott and Costello, 16–17, 185, 228, 229, 231, 430–31, 436–37
Abel, Walter, 128
Abeles, Harold, 352
Aber, Charlene, 6–7, 9, 13, 478, 511–12
Aber, Chris (MR’s stepson). See Rooney, Chris
Aber, Mark (MR’s stepson), 4, 12–13, 483–84, 511
Abie’s Irish Rose, 71
ad agencies, 318–19
Adams, Edie, 372
Adler, Hyman, 127
ageism, 462