ANDY HARDY Growing up in Carville, USA

I discovered the ANDY HARDY movies (1937-58) in the '50s when I was about the same age as teenager Andy was supposed to be. I say, "supposed to be," because Mickey Rooney was always older than his character – and toward the end of the 16-entry run, a lot older. But no matter, because so many of the scrapes and life lessons that Andy went through seemed so much like what I was going through. The earlier films were better than most of the later ones; and the final one in the series, ANDY HARDY COMES HOME, made 20 years after the first, was flat-out awful. By then, sentimental movies were out of style, and most of the original actors had flown to MGM heaven. Rooney himself was middle-aged, so it just didn't feel like a real Andy Hardy movie. Yet, it was fun seeing him counsel his real-life son (who looked just like the young Rooney/Hardy), just as Screen Dad Lewis Stone had counseled Andy, himself, so many years before. It's always fun to return to Andy's hometown. For like the hometown of another Andy we know – Mayberry – Carville looks like an awfully nice place to visit.