This Month

Auntie Mame, having already been a hugely successful novel, stage play and film was turned into a Broadway musical in 1966 called Mame. Angela Lansbury starred in the title role, and the show was a triumph, running for 1508 performances.

The Broadway musical version of Mame was turned into a film in 1974 starring Lucille Ball in the title role and Robert Preston as her southern Millionaire husband. This version, unfortunately, was a box office disappointment.

Among the many well-known actresses who have portrayed Mame in various productions of the stage musical around the world include Celeste Holm, Ann Miller, Jane Morgan, Janis Paige, Ginger Rogers, Ann Sothern, Janet Blair, Elaine Stritch, Juliet Prowse and Christine Baranski. Interestingly, actress Susan Hayward, who beat Rosalind Russell for the Best Actress Academy Award in 1958, was cast as Mame in the Las Vegas production of the musical.

In 1958 writer Patrick Dennis published a sequel to his original book Auntie Mame called Around the World with Auntie Mame. The book follows Mame's nephew Patrick, now a married father, as he recounts his side-splitting adventures with his madcap aunt during a trip around the world he took at the age of 17. The book was dedicated "to the one and only Rosalind Russell."

Rosalind Russell appeared on the cover of the November 12, 1956 Life magazine in character as Auntie Mame, celebrating "Broadway's Red-Hot Hit."

Rosalind Russell appeared on the May 13, 1957 cover of Newsweek under the heading "Most Durable Star on Broadway" for her celebrated performance in the Broadway production of Auntie Mame.

Rosalind Russell titled her 1977 autobiography Life Is a Banquet in a nod to the famous line said by her indelible character Auntie Mame.

by Andrea Passafiume