Cinema: Mickey’s Old Man

When cocky young Cinemactor Mickey Rooney left Los Angeles last fortnight for an eastern personal appearance tour, among the crowd that saw him off at the station was a wrinkle-faced, red-mopped little man who looked enough like Mickey Rooney to be his father. Soon the news got around that he was. Asked for his autograph, Comedian Joe Yule, at 44 the veteran of 36 years on the professional stage, smilingly consented. Said he: “It’s the first time anybody ever asked me for it.”

Mickey Rooney’s father gave him his start, aged three, in the Yule family vaudeville act, and the two played together in silent comedies when Mickey was billed as Mickey McGuire. Divorced from Mickey’s mother twelve years ago, Joe Yule married Dancer Leato Hullinger, kept his song-&-dance act going as long as vaudeville. Seven years ago he turned up for a two-week engagement as featured comic at the Follies Theatre, a Los Angeles burlesque house which caters to the sailor trade. He has been there ever since. Meanwhile, Mickey’s mother had pushed Mickey into the films. A good friend of Mickey and his mother, nowadays “the old man” is often invited to swim and ride on their swank San Fernando Valley estate, occasionally takes his son to a prizefight or baseball game.

Last week Joe Yule, who has done bits in Idiot’s Delight and two other recent pictures, was signed to a three-year contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Mickey’s home lot. Salary: $100 a week, $25 more than he was earning at the Follies. Promptly assigned a bit as a stagehand in Fast and Furious with Franchot Tone and Ann Sothern, Joe Yule modestly remarked: “My ambition is to be as much of a success in the movies as I was on the stage.”