Wildly successful when it was first published in 1955, Patrick Dennis’ Auntie Mame sold over two million copies and stayed put on the New York Times bestseller list for 112 weeks. It was made into a play, a Broadway as well as a Hollywood musical, and a fabulous movie starring Rosalind Russell. Since then, Mame has taken her rightful place in the pantheon of Great and Important People as the world’s most beloved, madcap, devastatingly sophisticated, and glamorous aunt. She is impossible to resist, and this hilarious story of an orphaned ten-year-old boy sent to live with his aunt is as delicious a read in the twenty-first century as it was in the 1950s.
Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"I reread and study Auntie Mame like a hilarious, glamorous bible where, among other wise lessons, one learns that true sophistication and innocence are two halves of the same glittering coin."
--Charles Busch, author of The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom
"Auntie Mame is the American Alice in Wonderland. It is also, incidentally, one of the most important books in my life. Its witty Wildean phrases ring in my mind, and its flamboyant characters still enamor me. Like Tennessee Williams, Patrick Dennis caught the boldness, vitality, and iridescent theatricality of modern American personality. In Mame’s mercurial metamorphoses we see American optimism and self-invention writ large."--Camille Paglia, author of Sexual Personae
"Mame Dennis is the grande dame of grand dames and I, for one, am thrilled that she’s back among us. She is still hilarious, sparkling, and utterly indestructible despite the best efforts of time, neglect, and Lucille Ball."
--Joe Keenan, Emmy-Winning Writer/Producer for Frasier, author of Blue Heaven and Putting on the Ritz
"Auntie Mame is a unique literary achievementa brilliant novel disguised as a lightweight piece of fluff. Every page sparkles with wit, style andthough Mame would cringe at the thoughthigh moral purpose. Let’s hope Patrick Dennis is finally recognized for what he is: One of the great comedic writers of the 20th century."
--Robert Plunket, author of Love Junkie
--Charles Busch, author of The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom
"Auntie Mame is the American Alice in Wonderland. It is also, incidentally, one of the most important books in my life. Its witty Wildean phrases ring in my mind, and its flamboyant characters still enamor me. Like Tennessee Williams, Patrick Dennis caught the boldness, vitality, and iridescent theatricality of modern American personality. In Mame’s mercurial metamorphoses we see American optimism and self-invention writ large."--Camille Paglia, author of Sexual Personae
"Mame Dennis is the grande dame of grand dames and I, for one, am thrilled that she’s back among us. She is still hilarious, sparkling, and utterly indestructible despite the best efforts of time, neglect, and Lucille Ball."
--Joe Keenan, Emmy-Winning Writer/Producer for Frasier, author of Blue Heaven and Putting on the Ritz
"Auntie Mame is a unique literary achievementa brilliant novel disguised as a lightweight piece of fluff. Every page sparkles with wit, style andthough Mame would cringe at the thoughthigh moral purpose. Let’s hope Patrick Dennis is finally recognized for what he is: One of the great comedic writers of the 20th century."
--Robert Plunket, author of Love Junkie
From the Inside Flap
Wildly successful when it was first published in 1955, Patrick Dennis? Auntie Mame sold over two million copies and stayed put on the New York Times bestseller list for 112 weeks. It was made into a play, a Broadway as well as a Hollywood musical, and a fabulous movie starring Rosalind Russell. Since then, Mame has taken her rightful place in the pantheon of Great and Important People as the world?s most beloved, madcap, devastatingly sophisticated, and glamorous aunt. She is impossible to resist, and this hilarious story of an orphaned ten-year-old boy sent to live with his aunt is as delicious a read in the twenty-first century as it was in the 1950s.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
51 of 51 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Patrick Dennis' famous "Auntie Mame" has so many incarnations that it can be hard to keep track. In the 1950s there was a famous stage version and still more famous film version, both starring the illustrious Rosalind Russell; in the 1960s there was an extremely popular stage musical starring Angela Lansbury and then a critically disasterous screen musical starring Lucille Ball. But this is the first, the original: AUNTIE MAME, one the 1950s' most talked-about books, a true runaway bestseller and one of the great classics of American humor.
The episodic book concerns an orphaned child, Patrick Dennis, who is sent to live with an aunt he has never before seen in 1920s New York--and the aunt is Mame Dennis, a fast-living, intellectually sharp, and decidedly eccentric woman beset by both the fads and fashions of the day and the money and social connections with which to indulge them. Although time has rather blunted the actual way in which Patrick Dennis writes (his framing device of a magazine article is more than a little tiresome), it certainly has not blunted the character herself: madcap Mame runs riot through the roaring twenties, goes through largely self-induced hysteria during the Depression, works for the boys during World War II, and along the way gets involves in art movements, theatrical performances, fox hunts, Southern country society, war orphans, a wealthy husband, an Irish poet, a college lover, and most famously her beloved nephew's unfortunate engagement to the shallow and snobbish Gloria Upson. Each comic disaster is more memorable than the last, and Mame herself lingers in the mind as an inspiration to live life to the fullest no matter the consequences.
Fans of the Rosalind Russell film version will quickly realize that Russell has captured the character perfectly; the book, however, is at once less structured and considerably broader than the Russell playscript and film. Very episodic and considered quite riske for its time, it contains a number of adventures (such as Mame's seduction of one of Patrick's college friends or her introduction of Patrick to the Maddox sisters) that never made it to any performance version. Both fans of the various plays and films and even the completely uninitiated will adore meeting the sparkling original, certainly one of the greatest comic creations in 20th Century literature. AUNTIE MAME deserves a special place on the shelf of any one who enjoys a range of humor that runs from sly giggles to screaming laughter. Strongly recommended.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Auntie Mame was first published almost fifty years ago, and although clearly describing times 75 long past (the book sees Mame through the twenties, the Depression and the War,) it is still charming, witty and absolutely hilarious. Far, far better than the embarassing movie starring Lucille Ball that was made from the book.
The story is told in the first person by Patrick Dennis who is adopted in 1928 by his Auntie Mame after being orphaned. Although a flapper enjoying New York society in the Roaring Twenties, Mame makes Patrick an integral part of her life, in her own inimitable and quite irrepressible way.
The story is told in the first person by Patrick Dennis who is adopted in 1928 by his Auntie Mame after being orphaned. Although a flapper enjoying New York society in the Roaring Twenties, Mame makes Patrick an integral part of her life, in her own inimitable and quite irrepressible way.
Unlike most post-War fiction, I think this book more than stands up to the passage of time. Perhaps because Patrick looks back at his childhood, which, even in 1955 (when the book was written) was part of the far distant past, the story is fun, rather than dated. And, certainly, contemporaneous readers have no trouble identifying with the excesses of the twenties, the financial desperation of the thirties or the terrors of the wartime forties.
This book is fun and a good, enjoyable read. I highly recommend it.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I remember checking out this book from my hometown library while in high school. Never have I read a book that made me laugh out loud! I remember my wife and I were laying in bed one evening after putting down our three children. I picked up this book and started reading. I was laughing outloud so much my wife had to jab me in the ribs to "pipe down! You'll wake the kids!" I would love to have a hardbound copy as my softbound copy is coming apart.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Classic of American good eccentricism, but borrrrring...
The movie was one of my favorites as a child and I love the endless theme of American eccentricism (is that a word? Read more
Published 3 months ago by F, 31, married, one tall dog
I'm definitely not starving to death.
Having grown up with my own version of an Auntie Mame - my mother - who took me all over NYC's art world while growing up, and who also introduced me to the Rosalind Russel movie,... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Greg Polansky
A Must Read for Film Buffs
If you have seen the original film with Rosalind Russell and Forest Tucker and now you want to read the book, you will not be disappointed. The movie and the book run very true. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Dianne E. Socci-Tetro
Wonderful classic!
Good: many stories/adventures in one book, overfilled with sophisticated vocabulary and historical/cultural references
Bad: should be accompanied with a dictionary and... Read more
Bad: should be accompanied with a dictionary and... Read more
Published 8 months ago by qiao'r
Required reading!
A must have in any self respecting Queen's Library,I don't CARE if you've seen the movie,Rosalind Russell or Lucy version ,or even if you got to see Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Gnome De Plume
A nice little book
I find this a nice little book, one that you will not regret reading, but I would not heal it as high-end literature or a true classic. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Anigriv
Mame
Purchased this book for myself and daughter. I've read a short bit of it and I like it very much. I can picture Rosalind Russell as I read it.
Published 21 months ago by Nancy M. Martin
A humor classic
This book and the character "Auntie Mame" changed forever how we looked at older women. In the '50's we were dealing with prejudice and "eastern classism". Read more
Published on April 11, 2009 by R. Bagula
Hilarious - absolutely exceeded my expectations!
I've always been a fan of the Rosalind Russell film, Auntie Mame, and after recently watching the dreadfully sub-par Mame, starring Lucille Ball, I decided it was finally time to... Read more
Published on March 29, 2009 by Ruth Anderson
great source
advertised as used, but only had name in front cover, otherwise in excellent condition. arrived quickly.
Published on January 14, 2009 by Victoria K. Jewell-Mahler
Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
It has rained all day. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
only bracelets, unforgettable character Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Auntie Maine, Auntie Mame, Sally Cato, New York, Uncle Beau, Miss Gooch, Emory Oglethorpe, Miss Fan, Miss Peabody, Miss Pringle, Washington Square, Lightning Rod, Mickey the Mick, Margaret Rose, Miss Dennis, Beekman Place, Boniface Academy, Unforgettable Character, Agnes Gooch, New Year's Eve, Buffalo Gal, Mary Lord Bishop, New England, Patrick Dennis, Auntie Mime New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Surprise Me!
It has rained all day. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
only bracelets, unforgettable character Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Auntie Maine, Auntie Mame, Sally Cato, New York, Uncle Beau, Miss Gooch, Emory Oglethorpe, Miss Fan, Miss Peabody, Miss Pringle, Washington Square, Lightning Rod, Mickey the Mick, Margaret Rose, Miss Dennis, Beekman Place, Boniface Academy, Unforgettable Character, Agnes Gooch, New Year's Eve, Buffalo Gal, Mary Lord Bishop, New England, Patrick Dennis, Auntie Mime New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 8
books:
See all 8 books this book cites
2
books
cite this book:
- Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis on 20 pages
- Auntie Mame - Acting Edition by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee on page 65, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Absolutely Fabulous by Jennifer Saunders in Back Matter
- A Farewell To Arms by Ernest Hemingway on page 24
- New Year (Celebrations) by Jane Cooper on page 114
See all 8 books this book cites
- Jerry Herman: Poet of the Showtune by Mr. Stephen Citron on page 122
- The Fiction of Walker Percy by John Hardy in Back Matter
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