The problem with old Hollywood stories is that it's often difficult to separate fact from fiction. Looking for a primary (and uninhibited) source, I just picked up and read Mickey Rooney's 1991 autobiography, Life Is Too Short. Unfortunately, the author is unreliable. I was skeptical when he described scenes from his toddlerhood in too much detail. When he wrote about Walt Disney naming Mickey Mouse after him, I knew I wouldn't be able to take his word for anything.
Some observations:
- Rooney is not afraid to write about sex, often using crude language. His description of sex with Ava Gardner verges on pornographic. That's fun, I guess, but I get the impression that he had a bigger grudge against Ms. Gardner than had against most of his other seven wives. There's a passage in the book where Rooney lists all of Gardner's lovers that he knows about, in an unmistakable attempt to slut shame her.
- Rooney had a lot of love and admiration for Judy Garland, and he wished he had taken a romantic interest in her while he had his chance. He said he would have treated her with more respect than he gave to the other women in his life, and even wrote a brief fantasy about what their marriage would have been like. I think Garland dodged a bullet.
- Mickey Rooney was a terrible husband. On the night of his marriage to Ava Gardner (then a virgin), he fell asleep, drunk. The next morning, he left to play two rounds of golf. (They finally consummated their marriage later that day.) This is how he treated all of his wives: as an afterthought. And he cheated on at least some of them, although I suspect he underreported that.
- Rooney reports what he was paid for just about every movie he made, along with the studio's (usually MGM) revenue and profits. He seems to think he was treated unfairly by the studios, but I don't know what would be cosmically just. His biggest problem as an actor wasn't studio greed, but competition from many other capable actors.
- Some stories in the book that I don't believe: He had a fist fight with Howard Hughes on Ava Gardner's front lawn. Rock Hudson sent an assistant to him to propose a sexual liaison. He walked in on Tallulah Bankhead performing cunnilingus on someone (implied to be Marilyn Monroe, but why wouldn't he just say so?).
- One story I did believe: Rooney writes, in passing, that Judy Garland had an affair with an unnamed female singer and felt guilty about it. I think if he were making it up he would have written it in lurid detail. The source isn't given, but I suspect he heard it from Garland herself.
Anyway, there are some enjoyable stories in Life Is Too Short, even if the book left me with a somewhat negative opinion of the author. I just wish I could believe most of them.
#bookstr #hollywood #biography #MickeyRooney
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Life Is Too Short
He soared form the wrong side of Brooklyn to the top of…
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