MICKEY ROONEY IN TROUBLE WITH THE MOB AND MARRIED TO A WOMAN WHO HAD BEEN MARRIED TO A MOBSTER

Of all the wives Mickey Rooney had, perhaps the one that Mrs. Smith thought to be the user was Elaine Mahnken, who had started modeling as a teenager and had first been married to a man who went to prison for armed robbery.  Divorced, and a young woman, she went home to live with her mother, a neighbor of Rooney. She grew up seeing him on the Andy Hardy series he starred in, and also admired him as a musician. (He played piano and drums.) But what was in it for her?

Excerpt:  "For thirty days, Mickey proposed to Elaine every night (reminiscent of his courtship of Ava.) For thirty days, Elaine politely told Mickey that she wasn't in love with him...."  (page 325)

It was 1952. He was thirty-two and she was twenty-three. She claimed he was already in financial upheaval. Her ex-husband was in similar trouble with the mob.

Excerpt: (Elaine speaking) "I handled the finances for two and a half years.  Finally, the government was paid, all our bills were paid.  And I took the envelope that contained all of our unpaid bills.  And I said, 'Look Mickey, no more debts.' And what was the thanks I got? Two weeks later Mickey went up to Vegas to play a nightclub date.  He went to the tables and lost fifty grand, just like that. We were back in the hole again.  When I heard that I threw up my hands and said, 'No more.  From now on he could take care of his own finances."  (Page 326)

 

Excerpt: .... " Mickey found out that Elaine was "meeting" her ex-husband.  She claimed he owed money to the mob in Vegas and needed cash to replay them, and he needed it right away because they were putting the heat on him.  She pleaded with Mickey to lend him the money, "as one human being to another," which he refused....  (page 326)

Elaine's ex also put pressure on Mickey for money. The man was murdered with two shots to the back of his head by men working for Mickey Cohen, the mobster.

Excerpt:  "The pseudonymous Mrs. Smith told us, "She (Elaine) didn't give a shit about Mick. She saw him as a sugar daddy who might be able to get her in the movies... Mickey tried to keep her happy... He bought her a vacation home in Lake Arrowhead, a new house in Studio City, and all kinds of toys, like a speedboat, clothes, servants.  She lived like a queen.  But Mickey gets bored easily," his longtime mistress admitted.  "They lived separate lives, and Micky was on to new girls, gambling and living ... well, living like Mickey.  She was living in Lake Arrowhead and partying... I'm also pretty sure she was f***ing her ex-husband who was a hood and e-con, and (she) was giving him money before he was killed.  Mickey was constantly whining to me about her.  He just dreaded another divorce.  (Pages 326-327)

Missy here!

As I read these passages, and the rest of the book, it seems to me that Mickey Rooney was a man who makes decisions on a whim, or as dictated by his sexual drive, and doesn't stop to think much.  He's always running from one situation to another.  Mrs. Smith is the stalwart one in his life who maintains her own marriage while being the consistency in his life.

So I ask you if today we would consider Mrs. Smith to be a "co-dependent" who, because he has her, helps him continue to maintain a chaotic way of living.  It seems to me that she accepted him as he was, giving him an unconditional kind of love that did not depend on him performing as a Hollywood star, as a husband, as a father to her children (if she had any), and so on.

 

C 2024 Mistress Manifesto BlogSpot  All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights