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Joe Yule

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"Joseph Yule" redirects here. For his son, the actor, see Mickey Rooney.
Joe Yule
Yule in Air Raid Wardens (1943)
Born
Ninnian Joseph Yule

April 30, 1892
Glasgow, Scotland
DiedMarch 30, 1950 (aged 57)
Hollywood, California, U.S.
OccupationActor
Years active1912–1950
Spouse
Nellie W. Carter
​
​
(m. 1919; sep. 1924)​
ChildrenMickey Rooney

Ninnian Joseph Yule (April 30, 1892 – March 30, 1950) was a Scottish-American burlesque and vaudeville actor who later appeared in many films as a character actor. He starred alongside Renie Riano in the Jiggs and Maggie film series. Yule was the father of actor Mickey Rooney.[1]

Biography

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Ninnian Joseph Yule was born in the Hutchesontown district of Glasgow on April 30, 1892, the son of Elizabeth (née McKell; 1866–1919) and boiler maker Ninnian Yule (1866–1943). He emigrated to the United States with his parents on the steamship Bolivia, arriving at the Port of New York on August 2, 1892.[1] He was one of seven children.[2] They settled in Brooklyn's[3] Greenpoint neighborhood[2]. He was performing in stock theater in Brooklyn by age eight.[4] As a teenager, Yule performed in local vaudeville theatres and was later booked into leading burlesque wheels, including the Columbia Burlesque Wheel, where he adopted the stage name Joe Yule.

In 1919, Yule married fellow vaudevillian Nellie W. Carter, a native of Kansas City, Missouri. In 1920, while they were appearing together in a Brooklyn production of A Gaiety Girl, their son Ninnian Joseph Yule Jr. was born. He later became a Hollywood actor under the name Mickey Rooney.[5] The Yules separated in 1924 during a slump in vaudeville, and Carter moved with her son to Hollywood in 1925. Yule was naturalized as an American citizen in Los Angeles on May 14, 1943.

Character actor

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Mickey Rooney was one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's biggest stars, and he arranged for his father to sign an MGM contract in November 1938.[6] Yule joined the MGM stock company. The pay was lower than for stars or featured players, but the work was steadier, with stock actors being called upon to take small roles in everything the studio produced: important "A" features, lesser "B" features (which were still the most expensive in the industry), two-reel dramas like the Crime Does Not Pay series, and one-reel comedies like the Our Gang shorts. Joe Yule, with his memorable facial features, became a familiar presence in dozens of MGM productions through 1946.

Monogram Pictures then hired Yule to star in its new Bringing Up Father comedies, known informally as the Jiggs and Maggie series. Yule was ideally cast as the trouble-prone Irish character of the comic strip, and this was his only starring role in motion pictures. He remained with the series until his death.

Monogram released only one Jiggs and Maggie feature per year, and the studio's speedy shooting schedules (usually no more than two weeks per picture) allowed Yule to accept a major role on the New York stage. He portrayed Finian McLonergan in the Broadway musical Finian's Rainbow (1947).[7]

Joe Yule died of a heart attack on March 30, 1950 in Hollywood, California.[1] He was 57. Rooney arranged to have his father buried near Rooney's friend and longtime acting colleague, Wallace Beery, who had died the year before. He wrote, "I thought it was fitting that these two comedians should rest in peace, side by side."[8]

Filmography

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Joe Yule, 55, Father Of Mickey Rooney". The New York Times. March 31, 1950.
  2. ^ a b "Our Neighbor, Mr. Rooney's Grandpa". The Bayonne Times. December 28, 1940. p. 5May 4, 2026. Retrieved May 4, 2026.
  3. ^ "Join Ancestry®".
  4. ^ Corby, Jane (August 22, 1948). "'Finian' got experience on stages of Brooklyn". Brooklyn Eagle. p. 24. Retrieved May 4, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Rooney, Mickey (1965). i.e., an Autobiography. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. p. 63. ASIN B0007DMBBQ.
  6. ^ Joe Yule's professional resumé, published in International Motion Picture Almanac, Quigley Publications, 1946, p. 430.
  7. ^ "Joe Yule". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Archived from the original on October 16, 2019. Retrieved May 4, 2026.
  8. ^ Rooney, Mickey (1991). Life is Too Short. Villard Books. p. 239. ISBN 978-0679401957.
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