Mame
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Mame is a musical with the book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee and music
 and lyrics by Jerry Herman.Originally titled My Best Girl, it is based on the 1955 fictional novel Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis and a 1956 Broadway play, by Lawrence and Lee, that had starred Rosalind Russell. Set in New York and spanning the Great Depression and World War II, it focuses on eccentric bohemian, Mame Dennis, whose famous motto is "Life is a banquet and most poor sons-of-bitches are starving to death." Her fabulous life with her wealthy friends is interrupted when the young son of her late brother arrives to live with her. They cope with the Depression in a series of adventures.

In 1958, a film titled Auntie Mame, based on the play, was released by Warner Brothers once again starring Rosalind Russell in the title role. Russell was nominated for an Academy Award and won a Golden Globe for her portrayal.

A musical version entitled Mame starring Angela Lansbury and Beatrice Arthur opened on Broadway in 1966. The production became a hit and spawned a 1974 film with Lucille Ball in the title role and Arthur reprising her supporting role, as well as a London production, a Broadway revival, and a 40th anniversary revival at the Kennedy Center in 2006.


Background and productions

With Hello, Dolly!, Mame and Dear World, Herman was the first songwriter to have three Broadway shows simultaneously playing in their original Broadway runs. Lawrence and Lee revisited the material a fourth time after 1955 novel by Edward Everett Tanner, III (writing under the pseudonym of "Patrick Dennis"), 1956 hit Broadway comedy and the successful 1958 film version of the play with Russell playing Mame in both versions. Tanner wrote several more comic novels, including a sequel, Around the World with Auntie Mame, and Little Me, which was made into a Broadway musical starring Sid Caesar. The success of that musical may have prompted Lawrence and Lee to turn Mame into a musical.  Mary Martin turned down the title role, and after numerous actresses had been considered, the part went to Angela Lansbury.

After five previews, the original Broadway production, with orchestrations by Philip J. Lang, directed by Gene Saks and choreographed by Onna White opened on May 24, 1966 at the Winter Garden Theatre. Three years later, it transferred to The Broadway Theatre, where it remained until closing. Between the two venues, it ran a total of 1,508 performances. Besides Lansbury as Mame, the opening night cast included Bea Arthur as Vera Charles, Frankie Michaels as Patrick, Jane Connell as Agnes Gooch, and Willard Waterman (who had played Claude Upson in the 1958 film) as Dwight Babcock. Lansbury, Arthur and Michaels all won Tony Awards, while Saks, White, the writers, Herman, and set designers William and Jean Eckart all received nominations. Celeste Holm, Ann Miller, Jane Morgan, and Janis Paige succeeded Lansbury in the title role. Lansbury left the Broadway production on March 30, 1968, to take the show on a limited US tour while it was still playing on Broadway. The tour played in San Francisco starting in April 1968 and also played Los Angeles.

The 1969 West End production of Mame starred Ginger Rogers in the title role. It ran for a fourteen month engagement at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane with a special performance for Queen Elizabeth.

Despite the presence of Lansbury, a much-heralded Broadway revival proved to be a commercial bust. After seven previews, it opened on July 24, 1983 at the George Gershwin Theatre, where it ran for only 41 performances.

A 1974 film version of the musical starring Lucille Ball, Bea Arthur as Vera and Robert Preston as Beauregard, attracted an audience but was considered disappointing by the critics because Lucille Ball was considered not up to the musical demands of the title role.

The Kennedy Center production ran from June 1, 2006 until July 2, and starred Christine Baranski as Mame, Harriet Sansom Harris as Vera, with Emily Skinner as Gooch.



Synopsis

The madcap life of eccentric Mame Dennis and her bohemian, intellectual arty clique is disrupted when her deceased brother's 10-year-old son Patrick is entrusted to her care. Rather than bow to convention, Mame introduces the boy to her free-wheeling lifestyle, instilling in him her favorite credo, "Life is a banquet, and most poor sons-of-bitches are starving to death." Also figuring in the story line are Mame's personal secretary and nanny-in-law, Agnes Gooch; her "bosom buddy" Vera Charles, the baritone actress and world's greatest lush; and Dwight Babcock, the stuffy and officious executor of Patrick's father's estate. Mame loses her fortune in the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and tries her hand at a number of jobs, with comically disastrous results, but perseveres with good humor and an irrepressible sense of style.

Mame eventually meets and marries Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside, a Southern aristocrat with a Georgia plantation called Peckerwood. The trustees of Mame's late brother (Patrick's father) force Mame to send Patrick off to boarding school (St Boniface, in Massachusetts), and Mame and Beau travel the world on an endless honeymoon that finally ends when Beau falls off an Alp. Mame returns home a wealthy widow to discover that Patrick has become a priggish snob engaged to an empty-headed debutante, Gloria Upson, from a bigoted family. Mame brings Patrick to his senses just in time to introduce him to the woman who eventually will become his wife. As the story ends, Mame is preparing to take Patrick's young son Peter to India (Siberia in the 1974 film version) with her usual flair.



Awards and nominations
1966 Tony Awards
Tony Award for Best Musical - Book by Jerome Lawrence; Music by Jerry Herman; Lyrics by Jerry Herman; Produced by Fryer, Carr & Harris Inc
Tony Award for Best Composer and Lyricist - Music by Jerry Herman; Lyrics by Jerry Herman
Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical - Angela Lansbury (WINNER)
Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical - Frankie Michaels (WINNER)
Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical - Beatrice Arthur (WINNER)
Tony Award for Best Scenic Design - William and Jean Eckart
Tony Award for Best Choreography - Onna White
Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical - Gene Saks
Theatre World Awards
1966 Theatre World Award - Jerry Lanning (WINNER)
1967 Theatre World Award - Sheila Smith (WINNER)



MAME, the Movie Trivia

Madeline Kahn was originally cast as Agnes Gooch but was replaced right after shooting began. She was later told that when she reported for work on the set, star Lucille Ball took one look at her, realized that Kahn's curvaceous body could never be made to look like the frumpy, somewhat shapeless Agnes Gooch, and had her fired. Some sources claim that Kahn got herself fired on purpose so she could star in Blazing Saddles (1974) and still get paid, which by her contract wouldn't have happened if she'd merely quit.

Even though she played Auntie Mame on stage, a part originally performed by Rosalind Russell, and had won a Tony award for her performance in the Broadway production in 1966, Angela Lansbury was passed over for the role of Mame. Jerry Herman went to Warner Bros. executives and begged them to reconsider, explaining the reasons why he considered Lucille Ball to be wrong for the part. Lansbury admitted in a 2009 interview with The Wall Street Journal that she never forgave Warner Bros. for passing her over.

It was originally planned to have Lucille Ball's singing voice dubbed if her vocals were not good enough to use in the film. Alternate vocals were rumored to have been recorded by Lisa Kirk, but at any rate Ball intervened and her vocals (a point of contention for many critics) were ultimately used.

Lucille Ball's involvement in this film began in an interesting way. She felt that Rosalind Russell had clearly gotten some of her "inspiration" for her performance in the non-musical Auntie Mame (1958) from Miss Ball's character on the TV series, "I Love Lucy" (1951). She then put up $5,000,000 on the agreement that she would be considered for the lead.

This is Lucille Ball's final theatrical feature film.

George Cukor was originally slated as director, only to be replaced with the original Broadway director, Gene Saks, who was then married to co-star Bea Arthur.

The large oil portrait of Mame is based on the painting "Emile Floge 1902" by Gustav Klimt, but with Lucille Ball's face substituted, and a slightly different color scheme.

During the line "If you'll follow your Auntie Mame" in the "Open A New Window" montage, you can see the grandfather clock in the background with the door open. It was being used as a secret mini-bar for the gag where Mame teaches Patrick how to make a martini, but this bit was deleted from the general release. Furthermore, she is setting aside a silver serving tray as she begins the line, and you can see this as well, though the drink itself is not evident. Another bit cut from the same song is a portion of the tango in which Mame and the ladies all lean back dramatically, supported by the gentlemen dancers, but most of that can actually be viewed in the film's trailer.

Another bit of the "Open A New Window" sequence filmed but cut depicted Mame and Patrick on a tandem bicycle in costumes that were not used anywhere else in the film, but are often seen in publicity shots, including here on IMDb. Similarly, Mame and Patrick were to be seen playing her glass piano, and this is another widely circulated publicity shot, despite being cut.

During the fox hunt, most of the female riders are shown in brown and tan riding gear. A few of these outfitted ladies are visible in the background during the "Mame" number, but all the female dancers, many more than were initially depicted in the hunt, are costumed in black and white.

Patrick is actually visible in the background during the early portions of the "Mame" number. He is halfway up a tree behind the chorus during the first verse. Then during the second verse he runs behind the chorus to observe Beau and Mame's promenade. These easy to miss appearances are most obvious in the letterboxed version.

The lyric "We'll always be dear companions, My crony, My mate. We'll always be harmonizing, Orphan Annie and Sandy, like Amos and Andy!" was cut from the "Bosom Buddies" number, though it is left intact on the original soundtrack album.

Costumes designed by Theadora Van Runkle for this movie often turn up in other productions. The loose, flowing white gown Lucille Ball wears during "Loving You" was worn (with a different belt) by Suzanne Pleshette in the television movie Leona Helmsley: The Queen of Mean (1990) (TV), while the stylish dress, coat and hat Mame wears when she first takes Patrick to Ralph Devine's school is worn by Jane Alexander in Malice in Wonderland (1985) (TV). Currently, the red dress from the "It's Today" number is on display at Universal Studios Hollywood's Lucy exhibit.

The interior of Mame's Beekman Place apartment was built in Sound Stage 25 on the Warner Bros. Studio lot; but the exterior of the apartment was located on the back-lot's "Wimpole Street," the only exterior sets from My Fair Lady (1964) that remained on the studio lot in 1973, when "Mame" was filmed. Mame's apartment was in the same row of townhouses where the exterior of Henry Higgins's home had been filmed. The street was converted to rows of brownstone tenements in 1981 for the musical Annie (1982), produced by Columbia Pictures, which had moved onto the Warner Bros. lot in 1972.

The lyric sung by Robert Preston, "Loving you is rain and winter wind" was changed to "Loving you is Rome and New Orleans" and overdubbed, but the original lyric remained on the original soundtrack album.

Bea Arthur and Jane Connell reprise their stage roles for this film version.

The first image seen of Lucille Ball, the b/w portrait seen in the den preceding the main titles, is a shot taken during the "Open A New Window" segment at the burlesque theatre, which takes place later in the movie. She's in the same dress, hat and fox wrap, and even has her hands in a bag of popcorn.

The original Broadway production of "Mame" opened at the Winter Garden Theater on May 24, 1966, ran for 1508 performances and was nominated for the 1966 Tony Awards for the Best Musical and Best Score. Bea Arthur recreated her stage role for this film version for which she had won the 1966 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

Bea Arthur has confessed that she had reservations about making this film, but agreed to do so in order to work with her husband, director Gene Saks. In a 2008 interview, she called the film "a disaster."

The name of Robert Preston's character, Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside, is taken from four Civil War Generals, three Confederate - Pierre Goustave Toutant Beauregard, Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, and George Pickett - and one Union, Ambrose Burnside.

Jerry Herman worked with Lucille Ball to improve her singing, but she could barely sustain even for one sentence without becoming winded. Even simple phrases like "Open a new window" had to be pieced together from multiple takes. Audio engineers tried to use whatever methods of processing existed at the time to make her vocals sound passable.

Jerry Herman disliked this film so much (and was also unhappy with the film of his prior musical Hello, Dolly! (1969) that no film of his musicals can be made again without his direct involvement and approval. After the successful CBS-TV remake of Gypsy (1993) (TV), plans were announced for a made-for-TV remake. At alternate times Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, Cher, and even Whoopi Goldberg were discussed as potential stars. As of 2009, it has yet to materialize.

This film was originally intended to be released in late 1973 so that it would be close to the Oscar nomination season. However, when Warner Bros. executives screened the final results they admitted that its Oscar prospects were highly unlikely, and pushed the release back to the spring of 1974.