Showing posts with label Mickey Rooney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mickey Rooney. Show all posts

Will Mickey Rooney Best Be Remembered for His ‘Yellow Faced’ Mr. Yunioshi in ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’?

Hollywood, California –

As a gay man, Truman Capote was outraged when he heard that Mr. Yunioshi was reduced to a caricature of an Asian man on the silver screen adaptation of his famous novella ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’. 

“I didn’t write him that way,” said Capote in a 1961 Vanity Fair article. “They did.” 

Capote was so offended; he denounced the character and dedicated an entire chapter to Mr. Yunioshi in his memoirs, affectionately describing him as his little “yellow faced” stoic.  

Later, Capote attempted to extract himself from the movie version release of his book by writing several sequels to the original, which he titled: ‘Lunch at Tiffany’s’, ‘Dinner at Tiffany’s’ and sadly, ‘Brunch at Tiffany’s’ --  Although the Capote estate did come close to publishing one final work in the 1980's titled, ‘Breakfast Club at Tiffany’s’. 

Needless to say, the novels were never published. That according to Capote’s publisher in a rejection letter addressed to him:

-----

"It’s not that they are badly written. It's just that they are so ill conceived. In addition, as for your idea for a Broadway musical based on a poem by T.S.Elliot and a cast consisting entirely of cats, we’ll be sure to pass that on.

Just a suggestion, however, perhaps the role of the cats could be more suitably be played by humans dressed up as cats and not actual cats as you insist. Cats after all are not so easily trained or so easily inclined to taking stage directions as human beings.

With all due respect, Mr. Capote, frankly and sadly maybe the world is just not ready for an all-cats musical.

However, your idea for an all-cat musical notwithstanding, we’re still conditionally open to your idea for your serial killer series of sequels to ‘In Cold Blood'. 

Although the titles ‘In Colder Blood’, ‘In Even Colder Blood’ and ‘In the Coldest Blood Yet’ leave much to be desired, it would be an understatement to say we’re not just a little bit concerned that with the apprehension, conviction and subsequent execution of the antagonists in your original body of work that their passing presents an insurmountable factual issue which just can’t be overcome. 

Even for a talented pioneering creative fiction writer like yourself. Your readers are bound to recall that the victims of the ruthless violence, which you sensationalized in creating a new genre were murdered in your first novel, creating a credibility gap.

However, we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed. Don't give up. Keep pounding away on that typewriter. Good luck.

P.S. And don’t call us. We’ll call you."

------

Incidentally, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) also recently joined the protest movement bandwagon against ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ for the mistreatment of “Cat” in the movie. 

“Never has a pussy been treated so badly on the silver screen,” said a spokesman for PETA. “Not since the heyday of the chain of X-rated Pussy Cat theaters in the 1960s to the 1980s.”    
  
“Why can’t the public just remember me for my other non-racists work?” said the late Mr. Rooney. “Like I did in my Academy Award winning performance in the movie ‘Black Beauty' -- Oh my God!” 

Copyright © 2008-2014 by Robert W. Armijo. All rights reserved.