Young Thomas Edison (1940)
The same year Spencer Tracy starred as the grown-up Thomas Edison in Edison, The Man, Mickey Rooney starred as the young inventor in Young Thomas Edison. If you thought the Spencer Tracy version was corny, you obviously haven’t seen Mickey’s movie. Little things like, “Gee willikers, wouldn’t it be great if you could capture a sound?” are interspersed into Mickey’s dialogue, only entertaining people in the audience who have no idea why Hollywood would make a movie about someone named Thomas Edison. He tinkers with inventions, chemicals, Morse code, and creating light with mirrors, but it’s just way too corny to be any fun.
The most amusing part of the story is the difference in parenting between Fay Bainter and George Bancroft. While George spanks his children with his belt, Fay prefers a far gentler touch. We hear Mickey’s tortured cries emanating from the barn after he pulled a prank on a neighbor boy. He sounds like he’s in so much pain, George moves to open the barn door and stop the punishment, then he realizes, “She knows what she’s doing,” and correctly guesses it’s all fake. Inside the barn, we see Mickey himself slapping a whip against a wooden table, and kissing Fay’s cheek in between hollers.
If you want to show this movie to your kids in grammar school as part of their history unit, they might enjoy it since they haven’t had it drummed into their heads for decades all that he accomplished. Plus, since the protagonist is younger, they might be able to relate to it more than either a dry textbook or the old and elderly Spencer Tracy in Edison, The Man. If you do watch this one with your kids, you’ll actually see Spence in a cameo in the very end, as MGM promotes their “double feature” that will soon hit theaters and continue young Tom’s story as he starts his life in New York.
Want to watch it? Click here to see it on ok.ru and thanks "Classic Movies Cinema Central" for posting!
More Mickey Rooney movies here!
More Spencer Tracy movies here!
Be sure to check out Hot Toasty Rag's review of Edison, the Man here!
The most amusing part of the story is the difference in parenting between Fay Bainter and George Bancroft. While George spanks his children with his belt, Fay prefers a far gentler touch. We hear Mickey’s tortured cries emanating from the barn after he pulled a prank on a neighbor boy. He sounds like he’s in so much pain, George moves to open the barn door and stop the punishment, then he realizes, “She knows what she’s doing,” and correctly guesses it’s all fake. Inside the barn, we see Mickey himself slapping a whip against a wooden table, and kissing Fay’s cheek in between hollers.
If you want to show this movie to your kids in grammar school as part of their history unit, they might enjoy it since they haven’t had it drummed into their heads for decades all that he accomplished. Plus, since the protagonist is younger, they might be able to relate to it more than either a dry textbook or the old and elderly Spencer Tracy in Edison, The Man. If you do watch this one with your kids, you’ll actually see Spence in a cameo in the very end, as MGM promotes their “double feature” that will soon hit theaters and continue young Tom’s story as he starts his life in New York.
Want to watch it? Click here to see it on ok.ru and thanks "Classic Movies Cinema Central" for posting!
More Mickey Rooney movies here!
More Spencer Tracy movies here!
Be sure to check out Hot Toasty Rag's review of Edison, the Man here!