Mickey Rooney (l.) as Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream (Dec. 5, 8:00 PM)
We're into a new month, which means that it's once again time for a new Star of the Month on TCM. This time out it's Mickey Rooney, who was likely selected because, as an MGM contract player for close to 20 years, a lot of his movies are in the old Turner Library and, I'd guess, easier (and cheaper) to license to show on TCM. I'm posting this a bit early because, unlike a lot of Stars of the Month, Rooney's movies aren't limited to prime time. Often when that happens, the salute will start in prime time, and continue into the morning of the following day. This month, however, the movies are starting on Thursday mornings, and continuing through Thursdays in prime time. There's also only the four weeks because if TCM had wanted to do five nights, one of the nights would have come in the run-up to Christmas, and TCM presumably wanted to prioritize its annual Christmas marathon.
Mickey Rooney with Maureen O'Sullivan in Hide-Out (Dec. 5, 1:30 PM)
Anyhow, the salute to Rooney kicks off tomorrow (Dec. 5) at 6:00 AM with Rooney in a small, uncredited role in Beast of the City, a movie I'm pretty certain I've seen, but which a search of the blog says I haven't done a full-length post on before. So I've still got some Turner Library movies to record at least. The rest of tomorrow's daytime schedule includes more juvenile roles. Rooney basically is only in the opening scene or two of Manhattan Melodrama (Dec. 5, 3:00 PM), but has a slightly bigger part in a movie I really love, Hide-Out (Dec. 5, 1:30 PM).
Mickey Rooney in a promotional still with Judy Garland; I guessed when I first found this picture that it's from Babes on Broadway (Dec. 20, 12:15 AM), but your guess is as good as mine
I don't see any particularly noteworthy theme in the movies that TCM is running on Dec. 12, but prime time on December 19 looks to be entirely movies that feature both Rooney and Judy Garland. Finally, December 26 brings the Andy Hardy movies, I think all of them, which includes the late 1950s coda Andy Hardy Comes Home (Dec. 27, 7:15 AM). Also worth mentioning is a double feature on Dec. 12 of The Human Comedy (10:15 PM) followed by Boys Town (Dec. 13, 12:15 AM). Note, however, that Boys Town may start a few minutes late since The Human Comedy is listed as a 118-minute movie in a two-hour slot that's bound to have an intro and outro. Boys Town is only 96 minutes in a 105-minute slot, so the schedule would definitely catch up by 2:00 AM.
Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney in Boys Town (Dec. 13, 12:15 AM)
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