R.I.P. Mickey Rooney

Mickey Rooney, that venerable yet mercurial Hollywood legend who was in movies longer than anyone, the last star to have had roles in silent movies, has passed. Because I teach Mark Twain's novel every semester, I primarily remember Rooney from his role as Huckleberry Finn in MGM's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939).

While it's easy to criticize this particular version as overly sanitized from our modern perspective, it's also worth noting that nearly every film version of Twain's novel has cleaned up the language and dealt with the issue of slavery in a "family-friendly" fashion, often by awkwardly repackaging the story as a message movie. Rooney's portrayal of Huck as an all-American, freckle-faced mild rebel may not seem very faithful to Twain's more complex vision of Huck, but it remains true to the plucky, generous spirit of the character. Rooney's Huck has a big heart, and it's a pleasure to watch him on screen, even 70 years later, as he energetically bounces from one predicament to another.

Although the obituaries have not paid much attention to this film, focusing instead on his highly profitable Andy Hardy films and musicals with Judy Garland, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is worth mentioning as a highly watchable, comical film of its era that, if not a faithful adaptation of the novel, that pays great tribute to Twain's humor and his admiration for the American youthful spirit.  It's no wonder this was the definitive Huck Finn adaptation for decades, a film that people remembered fondly as the first real cinematic vision of Huck. (The first adaptation was actually during the silent era.) Filmmakers have been trying to adapt Huck Finn for the screen ever since, with very little success, as the family-friendly movie genre proves to be too small a box for Twain's complex novel. But at least with Mickey Rooney's version, we get a lovable and suitably adolescent Huck (he's often portrayed as much younger), who looks pretty comfortable smoking a pipe.

Like Huck, Rooney was something of a rebel and an amiable trouble-maker in real life (see the linked obituary above), so perhaps he connected to Huck on some level. Like Huck, this was a guy who was hard to confine, hard to keep civilized in the way that society feels comfortable with.

R.I.P. to Mickey Rooney, who has lit out for the territories, so to speak.

Oh, and this is cool:  My name will forever be linked with Mickey Rooney's, at least in the official IMDB record for his last film, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (2014).  Just look at my name under the "Producers" heading.