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A More Sympathetic View of the Role of Rooney's "Mr. Yunioshi" in Breakfast at Tiffanys

posted 9 months ago by roger1 (3703)
6 replies | jump to latest

A thought:

Mickey Rooney's buck-toothed pidgeon English speaking "Mr. Yunioshi' in Breakfast at Tiffany's sure gets a lot of hate these days. And justifably so. Whether or not his scenes will all be deleted from future prints of the film remains to be seen. They shouldn't be. Movie history IS history.

Anyway, I was coming at the Mr. Yunioshi problem from another angle the other day, thinking about Rooney in this movie.

From all reports, Truman Capote's novella was much darker and bleaker than the movie made from it -- but the movie made from it STILL has a darkness for a 1961 studio film.

For instance, the revelations that Hepburn's "super sophisticate" was once a 14-year old poor hillbilly girl who married a man 30 years her senior(suggesting an early sexual life) played by JED CLAMPETT for God's sake, AND she had a "slow" brother in peril of military service and no way to escape it...bleak.

Plus the life she DOES live...call girl, maybe? Fantasist, maybe? Hoping to marry a rich royal but with no real chance?

In the finale in the taxicab, though a happy ending is in the cards, the journey there is an argument of great angst and power, as George Peppard confronts Hepburn with the lies and fantasies of her life.

So in other words, a lot of this movie is a DOWNER. Even with "Moon River" and the great Mancini score, and the climax with the cat in the rain, and the party sequence.

So....did Blake Edwards and his writers decide that this movie could use a little...comic relief?

Some SLAPSTICK comedy relief?(Blake Edwards was a lot of things as a sophisticated filmmaker, but he was perhaps above all a director of slapstick -- see Mr. Yunioshi, Inspector Clouseau in ALL the Pink Panther movies(which turned into "all slapstick, all the time" in the 70's...almost no plot.) See also : The Great Race("Professor Fate and his henchman Max"), The Party(Peter Sellers doing Chaplin and Keaton); 10(Dudley Moore's many pratfalls and mishaps) Victor/ Victoria(Alex Karras out in the snow) even "Skin Deep"(with two men, each wearing glow in the dark colored condoms, "swordfighting in the dark.")

Against this backdrop of Blake Edwards slapstick, it is just possible that Mr. Yunioshi was "ordered up" to give audiences(especially any youngsters in the crowd) a nice laugh away from the melodrama of the main story.

Too bad, though: that might EXPLAIN Mr. Yunioshi back then , but it doesn't EXCUSE him today.

[–] mechajutaro (2788) 9 months ago

[–] roger1 (3703) 9 months ago

Another way to think about this:

There's an argument to be made that Gedde Watanabe's turn in 16 Candles(An actual East Asian actor, playing a stereotype)was far more offensive than Rooney's too-over-the-top-for-believability work here

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Great point! I've only seen 16 Candles a couple of times. Weirdly, my memories of that film from the 80's are weaker than my memories of BAT in the 60s(though word has it that our earlier memories "lock in" better.)

Still-- over 20 years AFTER Mickey Rooney's turn as Yunioshi came this "new and unimproved" version of the caricature, willingly enacted BY an East Asian. And this has taken its hits -- notably from 16 Candles star Molly Ringwald herself.

Still...whether the 60's or the 80s, the dirty little secret of these comedy characterizations is "somebody out there laughed at them." Comedy is its own rule-breaker.

PS. I have found a book I bought on Breakfast at Tiffany's and there is some OUTRAGEOUS historical material in there about how Rooney was promoted for the film. MORE offensive than what it in the film itself. I can't share this today, but I will at a later date.

[–] mechajutaro (2788) 9 months ago

"And this has taken its hits -- notably from 16 Candles star Molly Ringwald herself"

She was compelled to demonstrate just how much of a White Woman she is, it would seem

"I can't share this today, but I will at a later date"

And I look forward to reading this!!!

[–] roger1 (3703) 9 months ago

Thanks. I can't get to the book right now but...soon.

[–] roger1 (3703) 9 months ago

PS. I have found a book I bought on Breakfast at Tiffany's and there is some OUTRAGEOUS historical material in there about how Rooney was promoted for the film. MORE offensive than what it in the film itself. I can't share this today, but I will at a later date.

---

I got to the book; I have it right here, and here is the "offensive" passage:

Book: "Fifth Avenue, 5 AM" (Which was when and what time they filmed the opening "Breakfast at Tiffany's credit scene on Sunday, October 2, 1960)

Page 117 (excerpts):

"In December of 1960, a Paramount press release confirmed that (the renowned Japanese comic actor Ohayo Arigatou had accepted the role of Mr. Yunioshi, but was not ready to come to America to film yet.)

'No work yet," Arigatou said. "Study part. I Methodist actor. Lee Stlassburg Methodist actor. Take time. No hully."

"Meantime, build theater in Yokohama. Put name in rights. Ohayo Arigatou, in "Bleakfast at Tiffany's," with Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard (the "legitimate plug" for the movie.) You want to hear (my comedy routine) "Clasey at Bat?" Now? Say good. I baseball fan, gleat actor. You tell bosses I come when leady, not before, got to open new theater, put name in rights."

END

Well, there you go. Reads pretty offensive in 2024. In 1960, it can be seen as perhaps "standard vaudeville accent humor on paper." You could see how an American impressionist could "do Japanese." Simply replace every "R" with an "L" (Bleakfast at Tiffany's) or replace every "L" with an "R" (put name in rights.)

And as I stated above, this press release is extolling a Japanese actor(Ohayo Ariguto) who didn't exist. (Was Ohayo a gag on Ohio?)

Elsewhere in this book(recommended) a couple of people associated with the film said that AT THE TIME, they urged Blake Edwards to cut the Rooney/Yunioshi scenes but "he refused, he felt the movie needed comedy relief."(Which, maybe it did -- it is quite a bleak story until the end -- but THIS?)

CONT

[–] roger1 (3703) 9 months ago

This Breakfast at Tiffany's book yields a few other great trivia gems, and one stretch -- about Truman Capote's friendship with CBS owner Bill Paley's wife, Babe Paley, yields this connection years later: this book was published in 2010, but in 2024, Ryan Murphy has created a "Feud" miniseries entitled "Truman Capote vs the Swans" -- rich New York socialistes, and Babe Paley is one of them(played by Naomi Watts) and...full circle..Capote based a lot of Holly Golightly's style ON Babe Paley.