Long Runs

A number of folks have written to me to suggest one name which has Mickey Rooney beaten in terms of screen longevity. Carla Laemmle was born October 20, 1909 and is still with us. The niece of Universal Pictures studio founder Carl Laemmle, she played a bit part in the 1925 The Phantom of the Opera and she has recently, at age 104, made some small cameos in movies that have yet to come out. She doesn't have anywhere near the volume of credits as Mickey Rooney but you could count her if you wanted to.

Someone asked about Milton Berle. Berle was born in 1908 and claimed to have made his screen debut in shorts made in 1914 as well as the feature Tillie's Punctured Romance with Charlie Chaplin and Mabel Normand. He said he played the newsboy in that film and I believe most historians have concluded he didn't…but no one is sure he didn't play another, smaller role in the movie or appear in other films that year. His last appearance in a movie is a little hard to peg. He died in 2002 amidst a flurry of cameos and appearances in documentaries…and it's hard to say which, if any, qualify as movies as opposed to television.

Assuming he was in some movie in 1914 and some movie in 2002, that would give him a screen career of 88 years. Assuming Mickey Rooney's first role was in 1926 and his last is this year in the Night at the Museum sequel, that would give him 88 years. If all of Ms. Laemmle's recently-filmed cameos come out this year and she never appears again on screen, she's still got Miltie and Mickey beat by a year.

While we're at it, I'm getting nominations of other folks who qualify as the Oldest Living Comic Book Artist. Morris Weiss, who drew the Joe Palooka comic strip and tons of comics for Stan Lee, was born August 11, 1915. That makes him older than Irwin Hasen or the man Guinness says is the oldest, Ken Bald. D.D. Degg, a longtime reader of this site, suggests that Bill Crooks, who used to draw the Captain Easy newspaper strip, may be older. I don't know Mr. Crooks' age but I don't think he ever worked in comic books.