Mame (US, 1974)


Figure 1.--Aunty Mame and Patrick do New York after he first arrives. Here they visit the Museum of Natural History. Notice the school group in the background.

Disappointing musical version of Patrick Dennis' novel Aunty Mame with Lucy. Patrick Dennis (Kirby Furlong) whose very conservative father has died is sent to live with his only living relative, an eccentric aunt. Mame is the exact opposite of his father. She is a fun-lovin flake, with a flare for life to the upmost. She also has a insightful wit. Patrick's transition is show cased in his clothing. He shows up in rather dowdy knickers, but Aunty Mame soon has him in all sorts of short pants outfits, all with knee socks. There is even one little ensemble with a beret. We see several scenes of Patrick and the amtics of his wonderfully scatter-brained aunt. There is brief glimpse of a school group at a museum, all smartly uniformed in caps, short pants suits, and knee socks. In another scene Patrick makes an appearance in a speakeasy. He descends the stairs in short pants tuxedo. Patrick's arrival occurs at the end of the Roaring-20s. In fact Aunty Mame loses her money in the Wall Stree Crash soon after. Patrick's frolics with his Aunt are put to an end by Mr. Babcok, the executor of the will Patrick's father left. Patrick is rushed off to a boarding school. Mame is rescued from poverty by a wealthy Southern plantation owner who somehow has oil money. They marry, but she is soon widowed. Her dear actress friend, Vera Charles, adds to yhe insanity at 3 Beekman Place. The non musical version is "Aunty Mame".

Filmology

"Mame" is the disappointing musical version of Patrick Dennis' novel Aunty Mame starring Lucile Ball. The production filming was originally planned for for 1972, but had to be postponed when Lucy broke her leg in a skiing accident. This delay resulted in a change of directors. George Cukor was had other obligations was forced to quit the project. Gene Saks who had directed the Broadway production was given the job. This resulted in the choice of his wife Beatrice Arthur getting the role of Vera Charles she had played on Broadway. This was certainly a fortuitous choice. Bette Davis was actively seeking the part. Production finally began in January 1973. Lucy had a great say in the production, including casting approval. She was disapointed with Madeline Kahn's interpretation of Gooch--a particular amusing plot line. She replaced her with Jane Connell, who played the role in the original Broadway play. One problem in choosing Lucy was her age (62) and how it showed on film. Cinematographer Philip H. Lathrop did his best to desguise this by using a special filter, but the contrast between these soft-focus close-ups and the clarity of the rest of the film was disturbing to some film purists. The biggest problem, however, that this was the misical version of "Auntie Mame" and Lucy couldn't sing. The dance routines are another problem. Here her age and probably the mending broken leg were factors.

The Book (1955)

The popular 1955 novel depicted the experience of Patrick, a rich orphan who comes to live with his eccentric aunt. Another real favorite of mine based on the humerous novel of the same name by Patrick Dennis (aka Ed Fitzgerald). The author and boy in the book do not share the same name by accident. The book is in part autobiographical. Fitzgerald always insisted publicly that his book was purely fictional. Actually he did have a very real eccentric aunt--Marion Tanner. Her life and basic outlook was similar to Mame, but we suspect did not reach the same level of insanity. Dennis was, however, raised by both his parents. His book was an immediate runaway best seller. It set records on the New York Times bestseller list.

Musical Score

"Mame" opened on Broadway (1956). The music and lyrics for the Broadway production were written by Jerry Herman. The play was Originally titled "My Best Girl", one of the songs. There are some minor differences between the Broadway and film score. It retained all but one song, "That's How Young I Feel," from the original Broadway production. It also adds a new song, "Loving You." Some of the best remembered songs are "St. Bridget", "Open a New Window", "The Man in the Moon", "My Best Girl", "We Need a Little Christmas", "Mame", "My Best Girl", "Bosom Buddies", and "If He Walked into My Life".

Cast

It was Lucile Ball that played Mame in the musica version of "Auntie Mame". Of course Lucy is a comic legend. She will always be the most beloved famle commedian in American show business. Somehow Lucy's performance here was disappointing. I think it was just that Rosalind Russel in the non-musical version so defined the role. The New York Times reviewer liked Lucy in the slap-stick scenes, but wrote, "Miss Ball has some great moments but she is not even a nonsinger who fakes singing very well, and as for the dances, well, she just more or less follows what the chorus people do with her, or she stands aside and sort of conducts them. What is worse is that she has been photographed in such soft focus that her face alternately looks beatific—all a religious glow—or like something sculptured from melting vanilla ice cream. Gene Saks, the director, has so protected Miss Ball's appearance that when the comparatively rugged Robert Preston, who plays Mame's Georgia millionaire, comes into the same frame, he too, becomes suddenly fuzzy of contour, as if he'd walked into a Nylon tent." [Canby] Lucy was just not right for tge part. The character of Mame Dennis was a pseudo-sophisticate. Lucy with her slap stick commedy was anythging but a sophisticate. The only right thing about Lucy was her gender. And choosijg a non-singer was absurd. A good example of producers picking an ctor because of their box office appeal rather than some one right for the part. Maybe if Lucille Ball had played Mame when she was younger, it would have worked better, but I don't think she could ever have given a performance to compare with Ms Russell's. Lucy, I don't think, ever displayed the ebullience Roz infused into Auntie Mame. Robert Preston and Beatrice Arthur also have important parts. TV regular Kirby Furlong played the young Patrick. He does an adequate, but not particularly memorable job. Kirby had an extensive TV career appearing in many episodes of various TV series. "Mame" was, however, his only movie role. I liked both Jan Handzlik and Kirby Furlong's "Patrick". Jan in "Auntie Mame" played Patrick with a convincing sheltered kind of innocence. It's interesting to imagine how Kirby would have been matched with Rosalind Russell. His Patrick seemed more an easy-going, nice, all-American boy than Jan's Patrick. That may have resonated well with Ms. Russell's Mame.

Setting

"Mame" is set in New York with excusions to the Deepp South and the Alps. Most of the film, however, takes place in Mame's New York apartment--3 Beekman Place. It is a large, luxrious apartment with plenty of room for the action and Mame keeps redecorating it. The film spans the Roaring 20s, the Great Depression, World War II, and the post-War period. Of course the Roaring 20s offers the greatest opportunities for Mame's mad-cap adventures. Perhaps the signature piece for the Roaring 20s was the visit to the speakeasy.


Figure 2.--Here Mame gets the bad news that she has lost all her money in the Wall Steet crash. An irate Mr. Babcock has hold of Patrick.

The Plot

Lucy's musical version like the earlier non-musical version is reasonably faithful to Patrick Dennis' book. Patrick's conservative father has died is sent to live with his only living relative, an eccentric aunt. Mame is the exact opposite of his father. She is a fun-loving flake, with a flare for life to the upmost and a big heart. She endorses whatever liberal fade that comes along. She also has a insightful wit. Mame's tag line is "Life is a banquet and most poor sons-of-bitches are starving to death." Patrick's arrival occurs at the end of the Roaring-20s. Mame is surprised when Patrick arrives at her 3 Beekman Place luxury apartment. She soon makes him her project de jore. They launch upon a mad-cap sight-seeing tour of New York. This includes all the well known land marks from museums to the statue of Liberty. There is also an apoearance in a speakeasy--one of the better production numbers in the film. It sets the tome of the Roaring 20s. But then Wall Street crashes. Aunty Mame loses her money which was invested inthe stock market. Patrick's frolics with his Aunt are put to an end by Mr. Babcok, the executor of the will Patrick's father left. Patrick is rushed off to a boarding school. Mame is left to make a living, not to successfully. She is rescued from poverty by a wealthy Southern plantation owner who somehow has oil money. They marry, but she is soon widowed. Her dear actress friend, Vera Charles, adds to the insanity at 3 Beekman Place.

Costuming

Patrick's transition is show cased in his clothing. He shows up in rather dowdy knickers, but Aunty Mame soon has him in all sorts of short pants outfits, all with knee socks. Most American boys at the time wore knicker suits. Short pants suits were more common among the more English-influenced well-to-do. There is even one little ensemble with a tam. This was somethong even the well to do did not wear. I'm not sure where this fashion inspiration came from. We see several scenes of Patrick and the antics of his wonderfully scatter-brained aunt. There is brief glimpse of a school group at a museum, all smartly uniformed in caps, short pants suits, and knee socks. In another scene Patrick makes an appearance in a speakeasy. He descends the stairs in short pants tuxedo.

Auntie Mame (1958)

The non-musical film version is "Auntie Mame". It was based on the Patrick Dennis book and Broadway play. The non-musical version came out several years before Lucy's musical version, 1958. This was only a few years after the book came out. Mame was marvelosly played by Rosalind Russel who recreated the Broadway play along with her co-star Jan Handzlik who played Patrick. She insisted on him for the movie version. Those of who loved the book, will always picture Mame as Rosalind Russel.

Sources

Canby, Vincent. "Mame (1974): Mame Puts On New but Familiar Face--Lucille Ball," New York Times (March 8, 1974).






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Created: 9:24 AM 8/26/2008
Last updated: 10:54 PM 9/9/2008