Has Mickey Rooney Lost It?

[SzczerbiakManiac]

Check out this longish but funny article. I've culled a few tidbits:

originally posted by The The Star-Ledger
BEVERLY HILLS, CA—Mickey Rooney once was, as he will eagerly tell you, the No. 1 box office attraction in the world. To that, he can add another distinction: centerpiece of the most surreal news conference in the history of the Television Critics Association press tour.

Rooney, 84, was on stage to discuss PBS' "Pioneers of Primetime," a documentary about the early days of television, scheduled to run in November. Since Rooney appeared so infrequently on television back then that he's not even in the documentary, no one could quite understand what he was doing on the panel—not even the "Pioneers" producer could explain it—but he proceeded to do his best to take over the joint.
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"I think everybody in the entertainment world is special," he said, "because God gave them that talent to move forward and to go with the good, the mediocrity of things and the good things. And people who say that they never made mistakes, don't you believe it. Everybody makes mistakes and they're nothing to be ashamed of. But, in entertainment, you try your best not to make any mistakes. Sometimes, it's good. Sometimes, it's fair. Sometimes, it's not even worth going. But all of these people on this venue today have worked with good taste, good taste, and that's what we're all proud of."

A startled Buttons asked, "What the hell did Mickey (just) say?"
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Later, Rooney began listing all the actors with whom he'd worked at MGM, and likely would have kept going for several minutes if Buttons hadn't interrupted to start talking about his love of Rooney's Andy Hardy movies, inventing new ones like "Andy Hardy and the Hasidic Housewife." Rooney then took this as a cue to explain to the audience that Lionel Barrymore had played Judge Hardy in the first Hardy picture.
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A reporter wondered if anyone on the panel had a theory about why Milton Berle became a big TV star while his vaudeville contemporary Fred Allen didn't.

"Can I answer that?" Rooney asked.

"I would be amazed if you didn't!" said Reiner.

There's a lot more. If you want a good laugh, read the whole thing.

[Tref]

He's 84, give him a break! Rooney is a national treasure, and by that I mean he should be put into a pirate's trunk and dropped to Davey Jones' Locker. Ever want to know what's in Davey Jones' locker? I hear its Peter Tork! But what do I know? And besides, I digress. I LOVE MICKEY ROONEY. He is a nut, to be sure, but he has lived the life of ten men! Rooney is funny, weird and a true Hollywood star -- maybe, the last of its kind! Rooney used to drive around Beverly Hills in the morning so he could listen to the Howard Stern show, which he couldn't get at his house. Igottalikehimjustforthat.

He was in the last great, dark, children's movie, too, Babe: Pig in the City.

All hail Mickey Rooney! All hail Babe! Peter Tork, too!