Had a nice time today at the Hollywood Collectors Show out in Burbank. I spoke to many of the folks I mentioned would be there and encountered many other persons of interest in the aisles. Got Mickey Rooney to sign a copy of his autobiography (the first one — he's done two) and bought Bill Marx's new bio about his life as a musician and his father's as a comedy legend. It's called Son of Harpo Speaks.
Mr. Rooney seemed surprisingly healthy but a bit disoriented by the crowds. Hard to believe that at age 86 — he'll be 87 in September — the man has been in show business for more than 84 years. I heard someone today describe Sid Caesar as an "old-timer" and he is. But Mickey Rooney was a performer before Sid Caesar was born.
Oddly enough, Rooney wasn't the oldest actor in the room today, nor was he the shortest. Jerry Maren, who was born eight months before The Mighty Mick, was wandering around. Maren was in his late teens when he played a member of the Lollipop Guild in The Wizard of Oz, and you saw him in a video clip here the other day playing Buster Brown.
My friend Earl Kress and I had a nice chat with Mally Lewis, daughter of famed ventriloquist Shari Lewis. Mally has been carrying on the family tradition, performing (and doing a fine job) with Lamb Chop. Actually, the whole place was full of interesting folks…but not too full today. The longest lines seemed to be for Rooney, Henry Winkler, Erik Estrada, Joey Heatherton and Seka. Most but not all of those folks are scheduled to be there tomorrow.