Mickey Rooney's Wealth

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23850, 28 December 1940, Page 5 (Supplement)

Mickey Rooney's Wealth

wolf will not howl outside Mickey Rooney's door for a good many years. He lias just signed a new contract that would keep a whole pack of wolves from the door. I nder his new contract he is to receive 1000 dollars each week for 40 weeks a year. In addition he is to receive a 25,000 dollar bonus for each picture he completes with a minimum annual bonus of 50.000 dollars over and above his regular salary. His salary will increase to 1250 dollars a week in the second year and will clirnb to 1500 dollars in the third year of the contract. Thereafter. if options are taken up, his salary will soar to 3000 dollars weekly. The Superior Court approved the contract and stipulated that the bonus money must be placed in a trust fund, Mickey to get two-thirds of it when he reaches the age of 35 and the re matin der to no to his mother. The court also allowed Mickey 100 dollars a week spending money, the other 900 dollars weekly going to his mother for household and other expenses. The judge thought that 100 dollars a week was a lot of spending money for a boy of 19. but Mickey's mother, Mrs. Ncl l McGuirc Yule Pankcv, explained that ]y»r son needed the money in order to pay the salaries of the jazz band he sponsored for his own and friend's amusement. This band allows Mickey an outlet for his own trap-drum talent* and assures him that the tunes he composes will got "played. Mickey can play almost any instrument in his band All this is a far cry from the day Mickey arrived in Hollywood a tiny freckled-faced hoy trying to get worl* in pictures. His mother took him from studio to studio trying to get him parts but was never able to get him anything: much but small hits. She rented room* to keep them both nlive. She final 1 v dyed his tow hair and got him the load

Neu) Contract's Lavish Terms

ing role in "Mickey AlcGuire." which brought him some fame for a few years. But then he began to grow tip and parts became fewer. He got his chance to make a comeback in "The Devil Is a Sissy," and since then has gone from one triumph to another. There's no doubt he is a fine trouper but fans refuse to accept him in anything but light roles. His "Young Tom Edison" was the best tiling he has ever done, but it was no great success at the box office. However, his future now looks rosy. Mickey is very good to his parents and even had the studio give his father, .Toe Yule, now divorced from bis mother, a contract.