Auntie Mame

Remember darlings, "Life's a banquet, and most suckers are starving to death." That tag line sums up this exuberant and immensely amusing 1958 comedy that can be seen repeatedly, as it never grows stale. Rosalind Russell plays the flamboyant aunt who takes in poor, orphaned Patrick, played with sophisticated ease by Jan Handzlik. Mame, all glitter and martinis, raises her nephew in a world filled with acceptance and her oddball literati friends. Nothing is too bohemian. This unfolds in colorful episodic segments that allow us to watch Patrick grow as Mame oversees his unusual upbringing while she juggles a few spouses and an extended household. Russell, who created the title role for the stage, simply shines. She is bright and brassy, but never goes too far over the top. Peggy Cass is a comedic delight as her befuddled secretary, and Coral Browne brings class to the production as her best friend. This was based on the exuberant stage play, which in turn was based on Patrick Dennis's humorous, bittersweet novel. The screen version was written by the clever duo of Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Not to be confused with the pathetically lackluster musical version starring Lucille Ball (1974), simply entitled Mame. --Rochelle O'Gorman

Genre: Comedy, Drama

Director(s): Morton Dacosta

Stars: Rosalind Russell, Forrest Tucker, Coral Browne, Fred Clark

Production: Warner Bros. Pictures

Nominated for 6 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 6 nominations.


IMDB:: 8.0
Rotten Tomatoes:: 92%

Auntie Mame Screenplay »

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: NR (Not Rated)
Year:: 1958
: 143
: 14,875 Views

Auntie Mame:
Oh, Agnes! Here you've been taking my dictations for weeks and you haven't gotten the message of my book: live!

Agnes Gooch:
Live?

Auntie Mame:
Yes! Live! Life's a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!

Mame:
This will calm you down.

Agnes Gooch:
Oh, no! Spirits do the most horrible thing to me. I'm not the same person!

Mame:
What's wrong with that?

Agnes Gooch:
Will it mix with Dr. Pepper?

Mame:
He'll love it! Drink!

Mame Dennis:
Well, now, uh, read me all the words you don't understand.

Patrick Dennis:
Libido, inferiority complex, stinko, blotto, free love, bathtub gin, monkey glands, Karl Marx... is he one of the Marx Brothers?

Patrick Dennis:
...Neurotic, heterosexual...

Mame Dennis:
Oh, my my my my, what an eager little mind.

Mame Dennis:
You won't need some of these words for months and months.

Auntie Mame:
Run along to Ito and tell him to bring me a light breakfast - black coffee and a side car. Oh, oh. And a cold towel for your Auntie Vera.

Patrick Dennis:
Is she in the guest room again?

Auntie Mame:
Since Sunday, dear. Now run along to Ito and hurry my tray, darling. Your Auntie needs fuel.

Auntie Mame:
Hurry my tray, darling. Your auntie needs fuel.

Dwight Babcock:
For nine years, Mame Dennis Burnside, I have done everything in my power to protect this boy from your idiotic, cockeyed nincompoopery.

Emory:
Hot damn! My sister's gonna bust a gut!

Mame Dennis:
That's a B. It's the first letter of a seven-letter word that means your father.

Patrick Dennis:
Is the English lady sick, Auntie Mame?

Auntie Mame:
She's not English, darling... she's from Pittsburgh.

Patrick Dennis:
She sounded English.

Auntie Mame:
Well, when you're from Pittsburgh, you have to do something.

Auntie Mame:
Oh, you know I really am fascinated by aviation. I never knew they did it all with rubber bands.

Auntie Mame:
Please dear, your Auntie Mame is hung.

Vera Charles:
If you kept your hair natural like I do...

Auntie Mame:
If I kept my hair natural like yours, I'd be bald.

It may be drab, but it’s clear!!

Mame:
Pack the martinis Ito, we're going to Connecticut!

Mame Dennis:
Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!

Mame Dennis:
Spitting distance? How vivid!

Mame Dennis:
Are we all lit?

Mame Dennis:
Child, how can you see with all that light?

Mame Dennis:
There's no such place as San Francisco.

Gloria Upson:
Bunny Bixler and I were in the semi-finals—the very semi-finals, mind you—of the ping-pong tournament at the club and this ghastly thing happened. We were both playing way over our heads and the score was 29-28. And we had this really terrific volley and I stepped back to get this really terrific shot. And I stepped on the ping-pong ball! I just squashed it to bits. And then Bunny and I ran to the closet of the game room to get another ping-pong ball and the closet was locked! Imagine? We had to call the whole thing off. Well, it was ghastly. Well, it was just ghastly.

Gloria Upson:
Books can be awfully decorative, don't you think?

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phila.25010
Pilgrim, if you were a balloon, Mame would tell you to cut the string. Lucy the person was scary, even if she did endorse Star-Trek for Desilu ..
LikeReply3 years ago
pilgrim
We 2 small town girls longed to be Mame but never reached her lofty summits of living each moment. Lucy was an abomination.
LikeReply3 years ago
Mary Sullivan
You forgot: Aryan from Darien!
LikeReply 24 years ago