Mame
Encyclopedia
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 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 suckers 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.
The musical opened on Broadway
in 1966, starring Angela Lansbury
and Beatrice Arthur
. 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.
, as well as the 1955 novel by Patrick Dennis
. Dennis 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 was ultimately unsuccessful. After seven previews, it opened on July 24, 1983 at the George Gershwin Theatre
, where it ran for only 41 performances.
Also in 1983, a Mexican production of the play was performed in Mexico City with Silvia Pinal
in the title role and Aida Pierce
as Vera; two decades later, they would reunite for several episodes of Pinal's TV series, Mujer, Casos de la Vida Real
.
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.
, 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 (the fictional St Boniface, in Massachusetts
), and Mame and Beau travel the world on an endless honeymoon that finally ends when Beau falls to his death while mountain climbing. Mame returns home a wealthy widow to discover that Patrick has become a priggish snob engaged to an equally priggish 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.
Act II
In 1966, Bobby Darin
, Louis Armstrong
, and Herb Alpert
all charted in the United States
and Canada
with their cover records of the musical's title song. Eydie Gormé
had a huge success with her recording of "If He Walked into My Life", for which she received a 1967 Grammy Award
for Best Female Vocal Performance. "We Need a Little Christmas" is a well known holiday tune and can be heard in several Disney Christmas parades.
Cut song "Camouflage", between Mame Dennis and Vera Charles before the discussion of whether Patrick could stay with Mame, was released on the 1999 CD release, performed by Jerry Herman and Alice Borden.
Theatre World Awards
Jerome Lawrence
Jerome Lawrence was an American playwright and author.-Life and career:Lawrence was born Jerome Lawrence Schwartz in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Sarah , a poet, and Samuel Schwartz, a printer. He worked for several small newspapers as a reporter/editor before moving into radio as a writer for CBS....
and Robert Edwin Lee
Robert Edwin Lee
Robert Edwin Lee was an American playwright and lyricist. With his writing partner, Jerome Lawrence, Lee worked for Armed Forces Radio during World War II; Lawrence and Lee became the most prolific writing partnership in radio, with such long-running series as Favorite Story among others.-Life and...
and music and lyrics by Jerry Herman
Jerry Herman
Jerry Herman is an American composer and lyricist, known for his work in Broadway musical theater. He composed the scores for the hit Broadway musicals Hello, Dolly!, Mame, and La Cage aux Folles. He has been nominated for the Tony Award five times, and won twice, for Hello, Dolly! and La Cage...
. Originally titled My Best Girl, it is based on the 1955 novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
Auntie Mame
Auntie Mame
Auntie Mame is a 1955 novel by Patrick Dennis that chronicles the madcap adventures of a boy, Patrick, growing up as the ward of his deceased father's eccentric sister, Mame Dennis. The book is a work of fiction inspired by the author's eccentric aunt, Marion Tanner, whose life and outlook in many...
by Patrick Dennis
Patrick Dennis
Patrick Dennis was an American author. His novel Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade was one of the bestselling American books of the 20th century. In chronological vignettes "Patrick" recalls his adventures growing up under the wing of his madcap aunt, Mame Dennis...
and a 1956 Broadway play, by Lawrence and Lee, that had starred Rosalind Russell
Rosalind Russell
Rosalind Russell was an American actress of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as a fast-talking newspaper reporter in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday, as well as the role of Mame Dennis in the film Auntie Mame...
. Set in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and spanning the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
and World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, it focuses on eccentric bohemian, Mame Dennis, whose famous motto is "Life is a banquet and most poor suckers 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
Auntie Mame (film)
Auntie Mame is a 1958 film based on the novel by Patrick Dennis and its theatrical adaptation by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee. This film version stars Rosalind Russell and was directed by Morton DaCosta...
, based on the play, was released by Warner Brothers once again starring Rosalind Russell
Rosalind Russell
Rosalind Russell was an American actress of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as a fast-talking newspaper reporter in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday, as well as the role of Mame Dennis in the film Auntie Mame...
in the title role. Russell was nominated for an Academy Award and won a Golden Globe for her portrayal.
The musical opened on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in 1966, starring Angela Lansbury
Angela Lansbury
Angela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins...
and Beatrice Arthur
Beatrice Arthur
Beatrice "Bea" Arthur was an American actress, comedienne and singer whose career spanned seven decades. Arthur achieved fame as the character Maude Findlay on the 1970s sitcoms All in the Family and Maude, and as Dorothy Zbornak on the 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls, winning Emmy Awards for both...
. The production became a hit and spawned a 1974 film
Mame (film)
Mame is a 1974 musical film based on the 1966 Broadway musical of the same name, directed by Gene Saks, written by Paul Zindel, and starring Lucille Ball and Beatrice Arthur.Warner Bros...
with Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
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
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts center located on the Potomac River, adjacent to the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C...
in 2006.
Background and productions
The musical was inspired by the success of the 1956 Broadway comedy and subsequent 1958 film version starring Rosalind RussellRosalind Russell
Rosalind Russell was an American actress of stage and screen, perhaps best known for her role as a fast-talking newspaper reporter in the Howard Hawks screwball comedy His Girl Friday, as well as the role of Mame Dennis in the film Auntie Mame...
, as well as the 1955 novel by Patrick Dennis
Patrick Dennis
Patrick Dennis was an American author. His novel Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade was one of the bestselling American books of the 20th century. In chronological vignettes "Patrick" recalls his adventures growing up under the wing of his madcap aunt, Mame Dennis...
. Dennis wrote several more comic novels, including a sequel, Around the World with Auntie Mame, and Little Me
Little Me
Little Me was the parody "confessional" self-indulgent autobiography of "Belle Poitrine" , subtitled The Intimate Memoirs of the Great Star of Stage, Screen and Television, by Patrick Dennis, who had achieved a great success with Auntie Mame...
, which was made into a Broadway musical starring Sid Caesar
Sid Caesar
Isaac Sidney "Sid" Caesar is an Emmy award winning American comic actor and writer known as the leading man on the 1950s television series Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and to younger generations as Coach Calhoun in Grease and Grease 2.- Early life :Caesar was born in Yonkers, New York,...
. The success of that musical may have prompted Lawrence and Lee to turn Mame into a musical. Mary Martin
Mary Martin
Mary Virginia Martin was an American actress and singer. She originated many roles over her career including Nellie Forbush in South Pacific and Maria in The Sound of Music. She was named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1989...
turned down the title role, and after numerous actresses had been considered, the part went to Angela Lansbury
Angela Lansbury
Angela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins...
.
After five previews, the original Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production, with orchestrations by Philip J. Lang
Philip J. Lang
Philip J. Lang was an American musical arranger, orchestrator and composer of band music, as well as a musical educator...
, directed by Gene Saks
Gene Saks
Gene Saks is an American stage and film director.-Life and career:Saks was born in New York City, the son of Beatrix and Morris J. Saks...
and choreographed by Onna White
Onna White
Onna White was a Canadian choreographer and dancer nominated for eight Tony Awards.-Career:Born in Inverness, Nova Scotia, White began taking dance lessons at the age of twelve, and eventually her studies took her to the famed San Francisco Ballet Company, where she danced in the first full-length...
opened on May 24, 1966 at the Winter Garden Theatre
Winter Garden Theatre
The Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 1634 Broadway in midtown Manhattan.-History:The structure was built by William Kissam Vanderbilt in 1896 to be the American Horse Exchange....
. Three years later, it transferred to The Broadway Theatre
The Broadway Theatre
The Broadway Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 1681 Broadway in midtown-Manhattan....
, 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
Frankie Michaels
Frankie Michaels is an American actor of stage and film. He holds the record for being the youngest person to win a Tony Award at age ten for his performance in the Broadway musical Mame in 1966.-External links:...
as Patrick, Jane Connell as Agnes Gooch, and Willard Waterman
Willard Waterman
Willard Lewis Waterman was a character actor in films, TV and on radio, remembered best for succeeding Harold Peary as the title character of The Great Gildersleeve at the height of that show's popularity.Peary was unable to convince sponsor and show owner Kraft Cheese to allow him an ownership...
(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
William and Jean Eckart
William and Jean Eckart were a husband-and-wife team of theatre designers in the 1950s and '60s. They designed sets, costumes, and lighting for many productions, including Mame, Here's Love, Damn Yankees, Once Upon a Mattress, The Fig Leaves Are Falling, and The Golden Apple.William Eckart was born...
all received nominations. Celeste Holm
Celeste Holm
Celeste Holm is an American stage, film, and television actress, known for her Academy Award-winning performance in Gentleman's Agreement , as well as for her Oscar-nominated performances in Come to the Stable and All About Eve...
, Ann Miller
Ann Miller
Johnnie Lucille Collier, better known as Ann Miller was an American singer, dancer and actress.-Early life:...
, Jane Morgan
Jane Morgan
Jane Morgan is an American popular singer, specializing in traditional pop music. Her first broad fame came in Europe....
, and Janis Paige
Janis Paige
Janis Paige is an American film, musical theatre and television actress. Born Donna Mae Tjaden in Tacoma, Washington, she began singing in public from the age of five in local amateur shows...
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
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
production of Mame starred Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
in the title role. It ran for a fourteen month engagement at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
with a special performance for Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
.
Despite the presence of Lansbury, a much-heralded Broadway revival was ultimately unsuccessful. After seven previews, it opened on July 24, 1983 at the George Gershwin Theatre
George Gershwin Theatre
The Gershwin Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 222 West 51st Street in midtown-Manhattan in the Paramount Plaza building. The theatre is named after composer George Gershwin and lyricist Ira Gershwin...
, where it ran for only 41 performances.
Also in 1983, a Mexican production of the play was performed in Mexico City with Silvia Pinal
Silvia Pinal
Silvia Pinal is a Mexican actress, who had roles in several of Luis Buñuel's movies such as El ángel exterminador and Viridiana...
in the title role and Aida Pierce
Aida Pierce
Aida Maria Zerecero Pierce is a Mexican actress and comedienne, best known internationally for her work on various telenovelas and comedy series that have aired on Televisa over the years. Most of her television series have aired on television networks in other countries, most notably Univision...
as Vera; two decades later, they would reunite for several episodes of Pinal's TV series, Mujer, Casos de la Vida Real
Mujer, casos de la vida real
Mujer, casos de la vida real is a television show produced by Hispanic television Televisa for Canal de las Estrellas. The show first aired after the Mexican earthquake of 1985 as a method to assist victims of the natural disaster...
.
A 1974 film version of the musical
Mame (film)
Mame is a 1974 musical film based on the 1966 Broadway musical of the same name, directed by Gene Saks, written by Paul Zindel, and starring Lucille Ball and Beatrice Arthur.Warner Bros...
starring Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...
, Bea Arthur as Vera and Robert Preston
Robert Preston (actor)
-Early life:Preston was born Robert Preston Meservey in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of Ruth L. and Frank Wesley Meservey, a garment worker and billing clerk for American Express. After attending Abraham Lincoln High School in Los Angeles, California, he studied acting at the Pasadena Community...
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
Christine Baranski
Christine Jane Baranski is an American stage and screen actress, and is perhaps best known for her Emmy Award winning portrayal as "Maryanne Thorpe" in the sitcom Cybill, and her Emmy nominated portrayal of "Diane Lockhart" in The Good Wife...
as Mame, Harriet Sansom Harris
Harriet Sansom Harris
Harriet Sansom Harris , often credited as "Harriet Harris" is an American actress best known for her portrayals of Bebe Glazer on Frasier and Felicia Tilman on Desperate Housewives. She won a Tony Award in 2002 as a Featured Actress in a Musical for playing the evil white slaver Mrs. Meers in...
as Vera, with Emily Skinner
Emily Skinner
Emily Skinner is an American musical theatre actress and singer. She has performed in such Broadway shows as Side Show, James Joyce's The Dead, The Full Monty, Dinner at Eight and, currently, in Billy Elliot...
as Gooch.
Synopsis
The madcap life of eccentric Mame Dennis and her bohemianBohemian
A Bohemian is a resident of the former Kingdom of Bohemia, either in a narrow sense as the region of Bohemia proper or in a wider meaning as the whole country, now known as the Czech Republic. The word "Bohemian" was used to denote the Czech people as well as the Czech language before the word...
, intellectual
Intellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
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
Wall Street Crash of 1929
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 , also known as the Great Crash, and the Stock Market Crash of 1929, was the most devastating stock market crash in the history of the United States, taking into consideration the full extent and duration of its fallout...
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
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
aristocrat with a Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
called Peckerwood. The trustees of Mame's late brother (Patrick's father) force Mame to send Patrick off to boarding school (the fictional St Boniface, in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
), and Mame and Beau travel the world on an endless honeymoon that finally ends when Beau falls to his death while mountain climbing. Mame returns home a wealthy widow to discover that Patrick has become a priggish snob engaged to an equally priggish debutante
Debutante
A débutante is a young lady from an aristocratic or upper class family who has reached the age of maturity, and as a new adult, is introduced to society at a formal "début" presentation. It should not be confused with a Debs...
, 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
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
(Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
in the 1974 film version) with her usual flair.
Musical numbers
Act I- Overture (Open A New Window, If He Walked Into My Life, That's How Young I Feel, Mame)
- St. Bridget − Patrick Dennis, age 10 and Agnes Gooch
- It's Today − Mame Dennis and All
- Open a New Window − Mame Dennis and All
- The Man in the Moon − Vera Charles, Mame Dennis and All
- My Best Girl − Patrick Dennis, age 10 and Mame Dennis
- We Need a Little ChristmasWe Need a Little Christmas"We Need a Little Christmas" is a popular Christmas song originating from Jerry Herman's Broadway musical, Mame, and first performed by Angela Lansbury in that 1966 production....
− Mame Dennis, Patrick Dennis, age 10, Agnes Gooch, Ito and Beauregard Jackson Picket Burnside - The Fox Hunt − Uncle Jeff, Patrick Dennis, age 10, Cousin Fan, Mother Burnside and Cousins
- Mame − Beauregard Jackson Picket Burnside and All
Act II
- Mame (Reprise) − Patrick Dennis, age 10 and Patrick Dennis, age 19-29
- My Best Girl (Reprise) − Patrick Dennis, age 19-29
- Bosom Buddies − Mame Dennis and Vera Charles
- Gooch's Song − Agnes Gooch
- That's How Young I Feel − Mame Dennis and All
- If He Walked into My Life − Mame Dennis
- It's Today (Reprise) − Mame Dennis and All
- My Best Girl (Reprise) − Patrick Dennis, age 19-29
- Open a New Window (Reprise) − Company and Mame Dennis
- Finale
In 1966, Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin
Bobby Darin , born Walden Robert Cassotto, was an American singer, actor and musician.Darin performed in a range of music genres, including pop, rock, jazz, folk and country...
, Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
, and Herb Alpert
Herb Alpert
Herbert "Herb" Alpert is an American musician most associated with the group variously known as Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass, or TJB. He is also a recording industry executive — he is the "A" of A&M Records...
all charted in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
with their cover records of the musical's title song. Eydie Gormé
Eydie Gormé
Eydie Gormé is an American singer, specializing, with her husband, Steve Lawrence, in traditional pop music, in the form of ballads and breezy swing. She has earned numerous awards, including the Grammy and the Emmy...
had a huge success with her recording of "If He Walked into My Life", for which she received a 1967 Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Female Vocal Performance. "We Need a Little Christmas" is a well known holiday tune and can be heard in several Disney Christmas parades.
Cut song "Camouflage", between Mame Dennis and Vera Charles before the discussion of whether Patrick could stay with Mame, was released on the 1999 CD release, performed by Jerry Herman and Alice Borden.
Awards and nominations
1966 Tony Awards- Tony Award for Best MusicalTony Award for Best MusicalThis is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Musical, first awarded in 1949. This award is presented to the producers of the musical.-1940s:* 1949: Kiss Me, Kate – Music and lyrics by Cole Porter, book by Samuel and Bella Spewack...
- 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 ChoreographyTony Award for Best Choreography-1940s:* 1947: Agnes de Mille – Brigadoon / Michael Kidd – Finian's Rainbow* 1948: Jerome Robbins – High Button Shoes* 1949: Gower Champion – Lend An Ear-1950s:* 1950: Helen Tamiris – Touch and Go* 1951: Michael Kidd – Guys and Dolls...
- Onna White - Tony Award for Best Direction of a MusicalTony Award for Best Direction of a MusicalThis is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical. Prior to 1960, category for direction included plays and musicals.-1950s:Note: this category was for both dramatic and musical productions...
- Gene Saks
Theatre World Awards
- 1966 Theatre World AwardTheatre World AwardThe Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.-History:...
- Jerry Lanning (WINNER) - 1967 Theatre World Award - Sheila Smith (WINNER)
See also
- Auntie MameAuntie MameAuntie Mame is a 1955 novel by Patrick Dennis that chronicles the madcap adventures of a boy, Patrick, growing up as the ward of his deceased father's eccentric sister, Mame Dennis. The book is a work of fiction inspired by the author's eccentric aunt, Marion Tanner, whose life and outlook in many...
, the fictional novel by Patrick Dennis - Auntie Mame (film)Auntie Mame (film)Auntie Mame is a 1958 film based on the novel by Patrick Dennis and its theatrical adaptation by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee. This film version stars Rosalind Russell and was directed by Morton DaCosta...
- Mame (musical film)Mame (film)Mame is a 1974 musical film based on the 1966 Broadway musical of the same name, directed by Gene Saks, written by Paul Zindel, and starring Lucille Ball and Beatrice Arthur.Warner Bros...