Mickey's Circus

Between 1927 and 1934, Mickey Rooney made 78 Mickey McGuire films. Nearly all were shorts and they helped make him a popular star. The style of the films was very similar to the Hal Roach 'Our Gang' comedies which begin several years before the McGuire series. While you might argue the films were ripoffs of the Our Gang films, the films were actually based on a cartoon character. "Mickey's Circus" is the second film in the series and the first one where Rooney received top billijng.

As far as the film goes, it has two problems....most of the jokes aren't especially funny AND the ending on the version I found on YouTube is truncated. Worth watching for film historians and die-hard Rooney-philes...otherwise, you could do better.

This will be the first of several Mickey (Himself) McGuire shorts I'm reviewing on this site. Mickey Rooney was 6 or 7 at the time of this one and he used the name of the character he's playing here as his "real" name off-screen as well, hence the "Himself" moniker. Anyway, he and his friends are playing hooky and in trouble with the truant officer who they manage to defeat again and again. So they do a circus with many animals and some stunts like a high dive on a trampoline. There were a few gags that I thought were more amusing than hilarious but my main problem with the short was the blurry print I saw on YouTube. Hope to see better prints then this Mickey's Circus one. So that's not much of a recommendation...