When Mickey Rooney takes the stage at the Yukon Arts Centre this Wednesday, he will be two weeks (and a day) shy of his 90th birthday.

But the legendary star of stage, screen and television still brims with the kind of enthusiam that has endeared him to generations of fans.

"It's something new, it's interesting and it's fun, and that's what show business is all about,” says Rooney of his and wife Jan Rooney's collaboration, "Let's Put On A Show”.

"I used to say that whenever Judy (Garland) and I would decide to do a musical together,” he adds of the catch-phrase that's now a marquee.

"I like to say performing's in our DNA,” chimes in Jan during a brief interview the couple gave the Star Thursday from their home in Los Angeles.

"And Mickey, he still has the passion and the energy to give ... and like he says, ‘inspire, don't retire.'”

Born Joe Yule Jr. in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Sept. 23, 1920, to chorus girl Nell Carter and comic Joe Yule Sr., Mickey's talent surfaced unexpectedly just 17 months later when he sneezed during his father's act at a Chicago theatre.

When a spotlight located the source of the noise, Joe Jr. blew a mouth organ hanging on his neck by a string. The audience loved it, the show's manager got him a tiny tuxedo and the rest, as they say, is history.

Performing short ballads and monologues on stage with his parents gave way to Mickey's first big break in 1927, when he was cast in the role of the cocksure kid, Mickey "Himself” McGuire, a series based on a comic strip called Toonerville.

At the insistence of his mother, Nell, Joe Jule Jr. adopted his character's namesake permanently and became known as Mickey Rooney.

A decade later, with more than 50 two-reel film comedies and several Hollywood movie appearances (including a memorable performance of Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream) under his belt, Mickey made his first film alongside Judy Garland, and the two became friends and later formed a stage musical team.

According to Jan, "Let's Put On A Show” features Mickey performing a "wonderful tribute to Judy Garland that's guaranteed to bring a tear to your eyes.

"He plays a little piano, and his playing is just stunning to me; I never get tired of hearing Mickey play the piano,” she says.

A world class singer and comedienne in her own right, Jan first met Mickey in the mid-'70s while he was tickling the ivory at a party.

"It was at an afternoon gathering in Hollywood, and Mickey was seated at the piano and playing music,” recalls Jan.

"So I scooted over, sat next to him started humming along to his beautiful melodies.”

The pair have been making music together ever since, and in 2004, they were awarded a "Star” on The Hollywood Walk of Fame for their joint show business achievements. Both have three individual "Stars” to their credit and share the fourth.

With a tongue-in-cheek title, The One Man One Wife Show (Jan is wife number eight for Mickey), the couple launched its first stage collaboration in Australia and New Zealand in 1999.

The show enjoyed a five-year run and entertained audiences Down Under, then throughout the United States and Europe.

The version of Jan's and Mickey's "Let's Put On A Show” the Whitehorse audience will witness on Sept. 8 is an adaptation of the pair's Off-Broadway musical, first staged in New York City in 2004.

Filled with plenty of musical numbers, jokes and dance routines, the Rooneys' performance offers a retrospective of both entertainers' careers.

"We have a good old, rip-roaring time; we just have a blast,” enthuses Jan, who is 19 years Mickey's junior.

"I think people will see that we're actually having fun together, and it lifts your spirits. And the feedback you get from the audience, you can't help but enjoy.”

This year marks Mickey's 10th decade in show business, and according to his better half, "he's still a live wire.

"I think people are sometimes aghast at what they see,” Jan says of audience reaction to the fact her 89-year-old husband still has the chops and aplomb to captivate. "It kind of gives people hope.”

While Mickey Rooney's success is immeasurable and his place in Hollywood's canon assured, the living legend cautions the stage moms and dads against pushing their kids into a similar career.

"A lot of mothers and fathers want their children to get started in this business, but education should be first and foremost,” says Rooney.

"Don't pick out what they're going to do for them because there are all kinds of businesses or pursuits you can go into.

If (a career in entertainment) happens it happens, if it doesn't, it doesn't.”