Signed by Actor MICKEY ROONEY in 1969 , Signature Warwick Musical Theatre Rhode

Description

Original Vintage Program
" George M. "
at the
Warwick Musical Theatre , Warwick , Rhode Island
August 25th - 30th,
1969
Signed
by
Mickey Rooney
Stapled Wraps.
5 5/8" x 8 1/2"
12 pages, including covers.
A little staining on the front cover, a little wear.
Otherwise good.
George M.
is a Broadway musical based on the life of George M. Cohan, the biggest Broadway star of his day who was known as "The Man Who Owned Broadway."
Act I opens in Providence , Rhode Island in the year 1878.
The program gives the Cast of actors , the various songs and singers in both Act I & Act II., biographical blurbs on Mickey Rooney , Patti Mariano , and Bill McDonald , Crew credits , and Advertisements for local Rhode Island businesses.
( the Ads include Tiffany's Restaurant , Dick Cranston Ford , Main Street Garage in East Greenwich , The Golden Lantern Restaurant , The Barnsider in Warwick , Baboli Boutique in the Midland Mall " Imported Fashions From Italy ," Gershkoff Body & Radiator Co. in Providence , Colony Motor Hotel on Beautiful Narragansett Bay , Roitman Furniture in Providence , Norwood Chevrolet , Stafford Furniture in Fall River Massachusetts , Show Boat Entertainment & Dancing in Coventry RI , Nanette Academy of Wiggery in Warwick , Donnelly's Men's Clothing , Liberace coming to the theatre , etc., etc. )
Carefully Packed for Shipment to the Buyer
Additional Information
Mickey Rooney
Born Joseph Yule Jr. on September 23, 1920.
American actor , vaudevillian , comedian , producer and radio personality.
Mickey Rooney appeared in more than 300 films.
His career spanned nine decades ; before his death on April 6, 2014, he was among the last surviving stars of the silent-film era.
At the height of a career marked by declines and comebacks, Rooney performed the role of Andy Hardy in a series of 16 films in the 1930's and 1940's that epitomized American family values. A versatile performer, he became a celebrated character actor later in his career.
Laurence Olivier once said he considered Rooney " the best there has ever been".
Clarence Brown, who directed him in two of his earliest dramatic roles, National Velvet and The Human Comedy, said he was " the closest thing to a genius I ever worked with".
His role as Andy Hardy became one of "Hollywood's best-loved characters ."
Marlon Brando called him " the best actor in films ".
Rooney first performed in vaudeville as a child and made his film debut at just six years old.
At 14, he played Puck in the play and later the 1935 film adaptation of Shakespeare 's " A Midsummer Night's Dream ." Critic David Thomson hailed his performance as "one of the cinema's most arresting pieces of magic ".
In 1938, he co-starred in the film " Boys Town ."
At 19, he was the first teenager to be nominated for an Oscar for his leading role in " Babes in Arms ," and he was awarded a special Academy Juvenile Award in 1939.
At the peak of his career between the ages of 15 and 25, he made 43 films, which made him one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's most consistently successful actors and a favorite of MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer.
Rooney was the top box-office attraction from 1939 to 1941 and one of the best-paid actors of that era, but his career would never again rise to such heights. Drafted into the Army during World War II , he served nearly two years entertaining over two million troops on stage and radio and was awarded a Bronze Star for performing in combat zones.
Returning from the war in 1945, he was too old for juvenile roles but, at just 5' 2" in height, was considered too short to be an adult movie star.
Hewas unable to get as many starring roles although there are numerous inexpensively made but critically well-received films noir with Rooney playing the lead during the post-war period and 1950s. Nevertheless, Rooney's popularity was renewed with well-received supporting roles in films such as " Breakfast at Tiffany's ' (1961) with Audrey Hepburn , " Requiem for a Heavyweight " (1962) with Anthony Quinn and Jackie Gleason, " It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World " (1963), and " The Black Stallion " (1979).
In the early 1980s, he returned to Broadway in " Sugar Babies " and again became a celebrated star.
Rooney made hundreds of appearances on Television , including dramas, variety programs, and talk shows.
He won an Emmy in 1982 plus a Golden Globe for his role in " Bill " (1981).
Film historian Jeanine Basinger said this of Mickey Rooney's career :
" Rooney's abundant talent, like his film image, might seem like a metaphor for America: a seemingly endless supply of natural resources that could never dry up, but which, it turned out, could be ruined by excessive use and abuse, by arrogance or power, and which had to be carefully tended to be returned to full capacity. From child star to character actor, from movie shorts to television specials, and from films to Broadway, Rooney ultimately did prove he could do it all, do it well, and keep on doing it.
His is a unique career, both for its versatility and its longevity. "
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Warwick Musical Theatre
was a musical theater located on Route 2 in Warwick, Rhode Island.
Buster Bonoff opened the theatre in 1955 on the site of an open field. Initially the theatre hosted touring Broadway shows, but by the 1970s "big-name" entertainers became its standard offering.
In 1967, the original tent was replaced with a 3,300-seat theatre in the round that used a building from the 1964 New York World's Fair.
Facing increased competition from larger venues and the two casinos in Connecticut , Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun , Warwick Musical Theatre hosted a farewell season in 1999, ending its 54th season with a concert by Vince Gill.
The founders of the theater , Buster and Barbara Bonoff, did not live long after the theatre closed.
Buster died in 2000 and Barbara in 2003.
The Warwick Musical Theatre was torn down in June 2002.
A " Lowe's " now occupies the site.
Since its demise, the theatre has been honored by a pair of Rhode Island artists.
Frank Galasso included it in two of his lithographs, Remember When... and Icons of Rhode Island Past and present.
Duke Marcoccio made a commemorative ornament as a part of his series of 'My Little Town' Rhode Island landmarks.
In 2009, The Tent Life in the Round was shown in local theaters and is now available on DVD from Revolving Stage Productions.