Mickey Rooney, One of a Kind

I had the pleasure years ago to work on a publicity campaign with Mickey for the 65th anniversary of the classic film, Boys Town (1938).

We ended up doing a press tour for the movie. Mickey was joined by a priest from the organization to talk about the movie and what Boys Town means to them. The priest, whose name I have forgotten had a voice loud enough to rival Grandpa Simpson.

I was asked to do an interview for ABC News One when ABC realized they could not make the interview. We introduced ourselves  to one another and got right to it.

Mickey immediately started to wax poetic on Boys Town and Spencer Tracy. He must have said Boys Town 50 times during our interview and you knew right then and there how much that film, then 65 years old, really meant to him.

Rooney then described how Spencer was a father figure to him and the cast. In fact you could see his fondness for Tracy just by looking at his face. A radiant disposition and a smile 10 miles wide. That is when things got weird. There was a quick pause and Mickey nudged the priest and whispered, “tell em’ about the gun.”

 I thought to myself, “the gun?” What is he talking about?”

The priest, who was pretty frail as it was, rose up and put his hands together to form a gun and said as loud as possible,”A BOY IN TUCSON, ARIZONA WAS FAILING HIS GRADES AND WALKED INTO MY OFFICE AND POINTED A GUN TO MY HEAD.”

Mickey, then said, “what did you say?”

“YOOOOOU ARE NOT GOING TO SHOOT ME!!!”, said the priest. Reminding me of that scene in the movie Parenthood where the kid forgets his words in the play yelling, THEY’RE NOT STOLEN!

 Mickey continued, “so what did you do, what did you do?”

The priest began to whisper and actually began to salivate, “So I took the gun, I looked him in the eye and said, you know what we are going to do kid? We are going to study, we are going to get good grades and you are going to graduate.”

At this point I realized, they were actually doing a bit right in the middle of our interview. I had to admit, I was trying to hold back my laughter. Not just because I was confused by what was happening, but I honestly felt like I was in the middle of a vaudeville routine in 1929. It also did not help the priest was very dramatic in his approach. I could not do anything but let this gem go.

So Mickey jabbed the priest again and said, “so what happened to the kid?”

The priest’s voice became lower and started to salivate some more. “You know where that kid is today?” Voice rose again, “HE IS AN INVESTMENT BANKER, FOR A VERY LARGE COMPANY AND HE IS DOING JUST FINE.”

Mickey, “isn’t that great Danny? Boys Town, Boys Town, Boys Town.”

Even though this was a bit, I had that same 10 miles wide smile as Mickey. I knew I would never have an interview like this ever again. I am just glad I was there to witness it and have the honor of interviewing one of Hollywood’s classic film legends.

Rest in Peace Mickey.