MICKEY ROONEY in SUMMER HOLIDAY, 1948

Watching this movie, Summer Holiday (1948) with Mickey Rooney, made me think of my mom and how much she loved watching his energetic, Irish performances.  He wasn't her favorite actor but he certainly entertained her.  Maybe his eager tones and high-octane moves were more endearing under the influence of the sweet Judy Garland acting beside him.  I don't know.  For sure, the two made a lot of movies together in my mother's era of the 1940s. 

The rhymed dialogue in the beginning is wonderful.  Certainly held my interest for as long as they performed that.  But it was when the movie shifted to the school's valedictorian speech by Mickey Rooney after the class marched past a bust of Lincoln that the movie became too formulaic.  

The 4th of July scene was a bit much; interesting, but a bit much. And what couple has a framed picture of George Washington above their bed in their bedroom? Jackie Butch Jenkins was interesting.  Interesting too to watch Walter Huston supervise younger actors, like Mickey Rooney and Agnes Moorehead, two of my favorite.  

I could imagine my mom being delighted by Mickey Rooney's character, chasing Gloria de Haven's Murielle.