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i . i tor tor biography biography wri INSIDE HOLLYWOOD ByHerbStein HOLLYWOOD, Calif., May 10.— Mickey Rooneys all but signed for the lead in Lootville- when the musicalized version i . i of of the the Benedict Benedict and and of of the the Benedict Benedict and and Nancy Freedman novel hits Broadway. Thats the story in which the authors do to a top comic what Sugar Ray did to Fullmer. ... It was just 13 years ago this month that Cecil B . De M i 1 1 e sang "Mairzy Doats" on Frank Sinatras radio I show. . . . "Take My Life,- the Eddie Can- written tten with with Jane Jane Kesner Kesner tor tor biography biography wri written tten with with Jane Jane Kesner Kesner Ardmore, is in its third printing before the May 17 publication date. Cantor worked a year and a half with Miss Ardmore, came up with an unusual format for a bio, which is more an encyclopedia of show business. Its divided into four sections: The Women in My Life, The Men in My Life, The Rest McCalls and Readers Digest have already snapped chapters from the Cantor book. Coupla jacket-blurb excerpts: "It always interested me." says Cantor, that Gold-wyn started life as a glove salesman. He never treated any of his employees with kid gloves." . . . "The opening of the 1917 •Follies I did what every actor dreams of — stopped the show. Will Rogers dropped by my dressing room to pat me on the back. I didnt see him. My head was down on the dressing table. What are you crying about, Eddie? Theyre still clapping downstairs. But my grandmother had died a few months before and I was wondering why, of all the people in the world, why couldnt my grandmother have been there tonight to see me finally make it? Now Eddie, "what makes you think she didnt see you? Will safti. And from a very good seat. " • * * L. A. Herald-Express columnist Jimmy Starr snubbed Paramounts invite to play a newspaperman along with 60 visiting scribes from around the country for the studios "Teachers Pet, starring Gable. Proffered scale price of 85 for the five-day stint held no allure for Starr, who gets 50 to a grand for a weeks work in front of the camera and saw no good reason to scale down to scale. . . . Poor Paramount. They went to enormous expense to haul the news lads here for what still seems like a good stunt. But now the studios praying it doesnt backfire, that some of the boys dont get miffed because several of the better-known Fourth-Estaters are being pegged in shots closest to Gable in the pics big city room sequence. Doesnt look good to hometowners when their reps are shoved in the background. . . . Look mag got off to a slow circulation start on its Sinatra series initialer in the current issue. His suit zoomed the mag buy all over the country. . . . Theyre telling of the tobacco executive who inserted a clause in his will that when he died he was to be buried in a flip-top box. AAA Brando due back this week from his Hawaiian vacation, has three must appointments his first day here : 1 with scrivener Bill OBrien, whos scripting Brandos "Burst of Vermillion "; 2 with Buddy Ad-ler, to set plans for "The Young Lions and ! 3 with Warners for a still session on Bill Goetz "Sayonara." . . . Twosome on the Ojai golf links: Rita Hayworth and Jim Hill, the middle initial of H-H-L. . . . Gordon Gordon, co-author with spouse Mildred of "The Jagged Edge" novel, just sold to 20th for 5,000, used to be a -a-week ■ flack at the same studio. . . . "Rain-tree ■ County" will be Liz Taylor s last picture ■ for over a year, unless she makes one - for Todd. Shes off salary at Metro. . . . • Billy Wilder ran his Audrey Hepburn-Gary Cooper-Chevalier "Love in the Afternoon" picture for John Huston before the la tiers l takeoff for the Orient. Huston was nuts about it, gave it four Hustons. ■ A A Mannie Manheim gives television 10 I more years. Then its back to the stereop-ticon. | j . . . "The Fabulous Irishman," life ; , ! story of the Lord Mayor of Dublin, set for June 20 via Playhouse 90. . . . Merrill Pan- | [ , itt, managing editor of TV Guide, here for a 10 -day lookaround. . . . Eddie "Rochester" Anderson was telling of the time Clarence j Muse was a singer in vaudeville. For one playdate he came on singing "Swan-nee River," then "Old Man River," followed I by "River Stay Way From My Door," [ "Lazy River" and "One More River." For an encore, Muse did a Negro spiritual, "Rising Waters." Muse came off stage thisj ; particular performance to shattering ap- i plause and winked to the stage manager. • "I killed em, didnt I?" "Killed em?" replied | the stage manager. "Man. you damned near drowned em!"
