Toonerville in The Movies
Founded by Siegmund Lubin, the Betzwood Motion Picture Studio in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, operated between 1912 and 1923. Over 100 films were produced at the 350-acre studio, which was run by the Wolf Brothers, Inc. of Philadelphia beginning in 1917. In 1920 and 1921, 17 Toonerville Trolley two-reel comedies were made at Betzwood. Only seven of these survive today.
In 1936, Burt Gillett produced animated cartoon shorts about the Toonerville folks; however, they never matched the success of the panel. What did succeed was the decision to make Mickey McGuire the star of a series of low-budget live-action shorts, getting into adventures with other back-alley kids, which led to more than 50 short silent black and white film comedies.
Joe Yule Jr., son of vaudeville comedian Joe Yule and Nellie W. (née Carter) Yule, auditioned for the role and landed the part. He was promptly renamed Mickey McGuire and starred as himself. When the young boy actor and the role parted company, Fox would not allow the juvenile to continue performing under Mickey McGuire, so Joe Yule Jr. / Mickey McGuire changed his name once more, this time to Mickey Rooney.
The Mickey McGuire shorts have a very similar feel to the Hal Roach studio's Our Gang shorts. Produced by Larry Darmour during the same period, they have many of the same flaws, such as racist gags at the expense of an African American member of the gang; however, the McGuire shorts benefited from the strong presence and talent of the young Mickey Rooney.
Read more about this topic: Fontaine Fox
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