Andy Hardy Movies

Andrew "Andy" Hardy is a fictional character played by Mickey Rooney in an 
MGM film series from 1937 to 1958. Spanning over 20 years, the movies were 
based on characters in the play Skidding by Aurania Rouverol.
Earlier films in the series focused on the entire Hardy family, but later films 
in the series focused on the character of Andy Hardy.


Most of the movies were set in the Hardys' fictional hometown of Carvel, 
located in Idaho in the original play but described in the films as being in the Midwest. 
All of the films were sentimental comedies celebrating ordinary American life. 
The people in Carvel were generally pious, patriotic, generous and tolerant. 
The town represented movie mogul Louis B. Mayer's idealized vision of his 
adopted country.

The early movies focused on the Hardy family as a whole, but the character Andy 
soon became the center of the series. They were a big factor in Rooney's rise to stardom. The first two Hardy films dealt moralistically but fairly frankly with the danger of adultery among the younger generation, but the later ones avoided such controversial themes. While teenager Andy's romantic misadventures were pivotal in most of the films, they were always "wholesome" affairs.

The Andy Hardy series served as a platform for MGM to introduce new performers, some 
of whom became stars themselves. As examples, Love Finds Andy Hardy featured 
Lana Turner in one of her first film appearances, while Andy Hardy's Private Secretary 
launched Kathryn Grayson's movie career, and Andy Hardy's Double Life marked the 
screen debut of Esther Williams.

In three films, Rooney was paired with Judy Garland, beginning with Love Finds Andy Hardy, and continuing with Andy Hardy Meets Debutante and Life Begins for Andy Hardy. Garland's character, Betsy Booth, is an aspiring singer and she sings in the first two of these films. However, although Garland songs were planned for the final film, they were eventually dropped. Unlike Garland-Rooney films outside of the Andy Hardy series, Rooney's Hardy character is not a musician, so Garland and Rooney do not perform together in the Hardy films.

Rooney played the character continuously from age 16 to 25, wrapping up the series with Love Laughs at Andy Hardy, in which Hardy returned to civilian life after fighting in World War II. 12 years later, an attempt to revive the series with an older, wiser Andy was made in 1958 with Andy Hardy Comes Home, but a new series failed to emerge. Thus, the series ended with a "To Be Continued" which, indeed, has yet to be continued.


Films


1 You're Only Young Once (1937)

2 Out West with the Hardys (1938)

3 Judge Hardy's Children (1938)

4 The Hardys Ride High (1939)

5 Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)

6 Andy Hardy Gets Spring Fever (1939)

7 Judge Hardy and Son (1939)

8 Andy Hardy Meets Debutante (1940)

9 Life Begins for Andy Hardy (1941)

10 Andy Hardy's Private Secretary (1941)

11 Andy Hardy's Double Life (1942)

12 The Courtship of Andy Hardy (1942)

13 Andy Hardy's Blonde Trouble (1944)

14 Love Laughs at Andy Hardy (1946)

15 Andy Hardy Comes Home (1958)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - www.en.wikipedia.org