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| Auntie Mame - 1958 |
Well, we made it. Our final post of 2021. For this installment, we feature 1958's "Auntie Mame", the story of lovable eccentric Mame Dennis and the crazy world she inhabits.
The film's cast includes Rosalind Russell, Forrest Tucker, Coral Browne, Fred Clark, Jan Handzlik, Roger Smith, Patric Knowles, Peggy Cass, Joanna Barnes, Pippa Scott, Connie Gilchrist, Yuki Shimoda, Brook Byron, Robin Hughes, Lee Patrick, and Willard Waterman.
In 1928, young Patrick Dennis arrives at No 3. Beekman Place in New York. He's just been orphaned and has been sent to live with his aunt, Mame. When he arrives with his faithful family retainer Norah, they are both shocked at the very different kind of lifestyle that Mame lives.
The house is full of people. There are absolutely everywhere and doing absolutely everything!
Mame is the ringleader of this circus. She floats from one guest to another completely unaware of exactly whom she's shaking hands with at one point.
When she meets Patrick for the first time, she throws open her arms and exclaims, "Darling, I'm your Auntie Mame!" She whisks him off for some food (pickled octopus, raw fish tails, and fishberry jam - "caviar").
In time, Mame teaches Patrick all the essentials of life, including how to mix a cocktail for adults. The man who oversees Patrick's money and the one who makes all the decisions with regard to Patrick is a little confused when he sees Patrick expertly mixing drinks.
Naturally, Mame is horrified when she sees Patrick mixing drinks for Mr. Babcock, a very conservative man.
Mr. Babcock has come to tell Mame that Patrick needs to be enrolled in school, and he's provided a list of some of the best ones.
The thing is: Mame's already enrolled him in a school, a very progressive one. When Mr. Babcock finds out about it, he's furious! He directly oversees Patrick's education, placing him in a boarding school so that he can only come under Mame's influence on holidays and during the summer.
When the stock market crash of 1929 hits, Mame has to get a job. She decides to turn to acting, working alongside her dearest friend Vera Charles. However, this turns out to be a disaster.
Mame turns to the want ads in the newspaper. She has a couple disastrous jobs, including working as a telephone operator and working as a clerk at Macy's department store, where the only kind of sales slip she can handle is C.O.D.
However, it is at Macy's that Mame meets the man of her dreams, Mr. Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside. Not only is he an excellent match for Mame, but he's rich, having an unlimited supply of cash from his oil wells.
He invites Mame and Patrick down to Peckerwood, his family estate outside Savannah, Georgia. There Mame meets Beau's mother and his former girlfriend, Sally Cato.
Jealous of Mame's relationship with Beau, Sally Cato organizes a fox hunt. She arranges for Mame to ride a horse called Meditation, which is a complete misnomer. That horse is a killer!
It's hilarious to watch as Mame tries to mount the steed. She's never ridden a horse in her life. Patrick tries to coach her by reading a "how to" book. All she can remember is to "look the animal in the eye with a masterful gaze". Sadly, when it comes right down to it, she fumbles even this phrase.
The hunt is on! Mame's horse runs in the opposite direction. She does manage to stay on the wild animal, though.
She even is the victor! She holds on to the tired old fox to the astonishment of all those gathered.
After the hunt, Beau proposes marriage, and Mame happily accepts, becoming the new Mrs. Beau Burnside.
Mame and Beau spend their days traveling the globe. When the opportunity arises, they even take Patrick along with them.
Several years later, Mame and Beau are climbing the Matterhorn. Beau goes up a little higher to take Mame's picture from a different vantage point. He leans over too far and plummets to his death, leaving a bereft Mame.
After 10 months of traveling through Europe visiting the places that she and Beau went, Mame returns home to No. 3 Beekman Place, greeting Patrick, Vera, and her good friend Lindsay.
They've also got a project lined up for her. They want Mame to write her autobiography. Patrick has even hired a secretary for her. Her name is Agnes Gooch. She's someone who doesn't exactly fit into Mame's social circle. I mean, the strongest thing she drinks is Dr. Pepper.
Patrick has also hired an assistant to guide Mame with the writing process. Brian O'Bannion arrives and Mame goes completely weak at the knees.
She throws off the mantel of widowhood (literally) and becomes again the fun-loving Mame that everybody knows and loves.
Agnes has a great time transcribing Mame's memoirs. Mame rattles off such wonderful lines as, "Life's a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!"
A little while later, Patrick introduces Mame to a very special woman in his life, Gloria Upson ("really top drawer"). There's just something about her that Mame doesn't like no matter how hard she tries.
And when she meets Gloria's parents, she finds she doesn't like them any better. They are the most close-minded, bigoted people she's ever met.
So, Mame organizes a little party to show Patrick just what kind of people Gloria and her parents are. She orders new avant-garde furniture and serves things like rattlesnake to her guests. Before the evening is out, Patrick feels about them the way that Mame does, and he can't thank his aunt enough for showing him the light.
Plus, there's already someone with whom Patrick gets along much better than stuffy old Gloria. Her name is Pegeen and she and Patrick seem to have so much in common.
Several years later, Patrick and Pegeen are married and have a son named Michael. Mame is currently obsessed with India and is planning an extended trip to that country. She wants to take Michael. Initially, his parents protest, but soon they are brought round. Who can refuse Auntie Mame?
As she and Michael prepare for the trip, Mame tells Michael of all the doors she's going to open for him, doors he never even dreamed existed.
Cast rundown:
Rosalind Russell...................................Mame Dennis
Forrest Tucker......................................Beau Burnside
Coral Browne.......................................Vera Charles
Fred Clark...........................................Dwight Babcock
Jan Handzlik........................................Patrick Dennis
Roger Smith........................................Older Patrick Dennis
Patric Knowles.....................................Lindsay Woolsey
Peggy Cass..........................................Agnes Gooch
Joanna Barnes.....................................Gloria Upson
Pippa Scott..........................................Pegeen Ryan
Connie Gilchrist...................................Norah Muldoon
Yuki Shimoda.......................................Ito
Brook Byron........................................Sally Cato MacDougall
Robin Hughes......................................Brian O'Bannion
Lee Patrick..........................................Doris Upson
Willard Waterman.................................Claude Upson
And that's it for Auntie Mame. Rosalind Russell, who reprised her role from the Broadway play, received a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. Also reprising their Broadway stage roles were young Patrick, Agnes Gooch, and Ito. While filming the very first scene where Mame runs down the stairs, Rosalind Russell broke her ankle. Filming was delayed until her recovery was complete.
Thanks for joining us this year on the blog. We are looking forward to another great year in 2022. So, from all of us at The Silver Screen Project, I wish you a joyous holiday and, as Mame says, "a happy little old new year!" The blog will return on Tuesday, January 4, with our regularly scheduled programming.
