Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Literature / AuntieMame

Go To

1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/auntie_mame_1958.jpeg]]
2[[caption-width-right:350:"I'm your Auntie Mame!"]]
3
4->''"Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!"''
5
6''Auntie Mame'' (1955) and its sequel ''Around the World with Auntie Mame'' (1958) were comedic novels about the adventures of a young boy, orphaned by the death of his father, who is raised as the ward of his wealthy, eccentric, and impulsive aunt during TheGreatDepression. The author, Evan Tanner, wrote under the [[PenName pseudonym]] of "Patrick Dennis", and used that name for the boy (who [[NostalgicNarrator narrates as an adult]]).
7
8The first novel was adapted into a 1956 play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, which debuted on Broadway with Creator/RosalindRussell starring in the title role. This was itself adapted into a 1958 film (also starring Russell). In 1966 Jerry Herman turned the story into TheMusical ''Theatre/{{Mame}}'' (starring Creator/AngelaLansbury), and this version in turn was made into a 1974 film (starring Creator/LucilleBall).
9
10----
11!!''Auntie Mame'' and its sequel contain examples of:
12
13* AccidentalAthlete: Auntie Mame, when she manages to stay on top of the mad horse that Sally Cato makes her ride.
14* AgeInsecurity: It's a big deal when Auntie Mame begins to "admit" she's forty now and it's time to take on a more mature role, which doesn't happen until her fifties.
15* AsianSpeekeeEngrish: Mame's Japanese valet, Ito, speaks in this manner.
16* BelligerentSexualTension: Patrick and his future wife [[spoiler: Pegeen]] spend pretty much of their time on page snarking at each other. It doesn't stop them in find some qualities in each other.
17* BitchInSheepsClothing: Sally Cato, Beau's former fiancé who would do anything to get him back. Even MurderTheHypotenuse. While pretending to be Auntie Mame's friend and the perfect SouthernBelle. Also Gloria Upson and her family.
18* BlitzEvacuees: During World War II, Mame and her nephew take in a group of English children evacuated to the US. Unfortunately, they're slum children and very prone to serious misbehavior.
19* TheBore: The Upsons are an obnoxious mix of being both snobs and incredibly dull, having no interest in culture or broadening their minds, and content to stay in their upper class, antisemitic bubble. Gloria's "Ping pong ball" story says it all.
20* CassandraTruth: Sally Cato's younger brother warns Patrick several times about his sister's true intentions towards Mame, but Patrick doesn't catch on until he overhears Sally trying to seduce Uncle Beau. He then tries to warn Mame, but she doesn't buy into it until it becomes too obvious.
21* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Mame's eccentricity sometimes takes on the form of spaciness.
22* ExecutiveMeddling: The sequence in ''Around the World'' where Mame and her nephew travel to 1930s-era Russia was cut from the original edition at the insistence of the editors.
23* FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: The main story is encased in a "frame" narrative, in which Patrick, now grown and married, reads an article about a nauseatingly sweet spinster who raises an orphan boy, and remembers being an orphan himself and raised by his aunt.
24* FleetingPassionateHobbies: Mame goes from interest to interest, all through the books.
25* AFriendInNeed: If one of Mame's pals is in trouble, or needs help, Mame's right there. Of course, things don't always go as planned...
26* FunetikAksent: Ito the Japanese butler, Norah the Irish maid and also the Mame's southern in-laws and their friends.
27* GoldDigger:
28** Patrick's college mistress Bubbles.
29** The Maddox sisters are always in hope to land a rich bachelor.
30* TheGreatDepression: When most of the first part takes place. ''Around The World'' takes place exclusively in the 1930s, since it's set during Patrick's gap year between high school and college.
31* GuessWhoImMarrying: Patrick is due to be married to Gloria Upson, whom Mame finds, along with her parents, to be boring and bigoted.
32* HeterosexualLifePartners: Auntie Mame and her best pal, stage star Vera Charles.
33* ImpoverishedPatrician: The Maddox sisters come from a wealthy OldMoney family who used to lord over Maddox Island (ensue the name). They lost their wealth in the 1929 crash and in the late UsefulNotes/1930s they are still not adjusted to being poor.
34* LadyDrunk: Mame and Vera (and sundry other chums of Mame's) are very fond of wetting their whistles, usually with something like a martini... or two, or three.
35* LaserGuidedKarma: Sally Cato (Beau's ex-girlfriend) tricks Mame into riding a crazy horse hoping that the fall kills her, but Mame miraculously manages to stay on saddle and gains everyone's respect for it. Also the town's veterinarian comes to publicly expose her scheme, ruining her public image.
36* MaidenAunt: Mame is very much a subversion of this. The author has a fictional (and every bit traditional) MaidenAunt to compare.
37* MeetTheInLaws:
38** Telling that Mame is met with hostility by her mother-in-law, Mama Burnside is {[Understatement}} (she doesn't approve that her son married a Yankee and ditched Sally Cato). Things ''do not'' get better. At least she's welcomed by cousin Fan and all the other Burnside relatives.
39** Patrick gets engaged to Gloria Upson and she introduces him and Mame to her shallow, snobbish, and racist parents. With Mame's help, Patrick comes to the conclusion that Gloria is not suited for him at all.
40%%zce* MoodyMount: Sally saddles Mame with one of these, Lightning Rod. [[AdaptationNameChange In the movie]], he is much more [[IronicName unfittingly named "Meditation"]].
41* MurderTheHypotenuse: Sally tries to arrange for Mame to die in a horse-riding accident.
42* {{Nephewism}}: The narrator, "Patrick Dennis," is Mame's nephew.
43* NostalgicNarrator: The adult Patrick.
44* OnlySaneMan: Patrick, usually, when Mame goes on one of her kicks.
45* OverlyLiteralTranscription: Mame hires Agnes to transcribe her thoughts for her book. Agnes does it so well she even transcribes people asking Agnes why she's writing so fast.
46* PaperThinDisguise: Auntie Mame's idea of going incognito (as when visiting her nephew at school) makes her more conspicuous than she would be normally.
47* TheRoaringTwenties: The story starts a few years before the Great Crash of 1929, and Mame is riding high on stock profits.
48* TheShowMustGoWrong: At one point after the 1929 Crash, Mame's finances are so low that she has to take a minor part in one of Vera Charles' stage plays. It doesn't work out well, although the reasons differ between the book and the stage versions.
49* SmugSnake: After Mame's wealthy husband dies unexpectedly, she is courted by a somewhat-younger poet named Brian O'Banion, who is pretentious, untalented, lecherous, indolent, and too self-satisfied by half.
50* SouthernBelle: Sally Cato, of the evil variety. Also Auntie Mame briefly attempts acting as it, but decides to drop it when she meets her in-laws.
51* SouthernGentleman: Beau fits the trope to a T.
52* StacysMom: When Patrick gets to college, there are several of his peers who flirt with Mame, much to her delight since she's in her forties at this point.
53* UnclePennybags: Beau Burnside, Mame's filthy rich and extremely generous husband. [[spoiler: And Auntie Mame herself once Beau unexpectedly dies and leaves her the 9th richest widow of the USA.]]
54* UpperClassTwit: Gloria Upson, who talks constantly about friends with names like P.J. and Bunny and Franny.
55** The Maddox sisters are unbelievably so. They're unbearably snobbish, have delusions of grandeur, and are completely useless in anything else.
56* VitriolicBestBuds:
57** Mame and Vera are great friends, who nonetheless snap at each other and quarrel very often.
58** This dynamic applies between Mame and another of her old friends, whom she runs into in Venice.
59
60----
61!!The 1950s adaptations provide examples of:
62
63* AccidentalMisnaming: When Gloria compliments Vera on her latest performance in Mary of Scotland, Vera points out that was Helen Hayes.
64* BlackComedy: Beau's death, falling off the Matterhorn while taking Mame's picture.
65* CameraFiend: Beau shows a few signs of this, given that most of his scenes involve him taking at least one picture.
66* CordonBleughChef: Doris Upson serves seafood with peanut butter, and her husband prepares overly sweet daiquiris with honey.
67* ForeignQueasine: At one point, Mame serves the Upsons pickled rattlesnake. Though they actually liked it before she told them what it was.
68* HereWeGoAgain: The end scene of the 1958 movie has this vibe, with Auntie Mame dramatically declaring her plans to broaden her great-nephew's horizons.
69* HollywoodCostuming: The first film had the characters dressed in styles much closer to then-current ('50s) dress than the '20s and '30s.
70* IdiosyncraticWipe: The 1958 movie uses stage-like scene transitions. As a scene ends, all the lights fade except for a spotlight which is left on Mame.
71* INeedAFreakingDrink: The reaction of Mame and her friends to Gloria's anecdotes is to grab something strong from the bar. After the ping pong story, Vera even hands Mame a new drink like she was reloading an artillery gun.
72* JerkassHasAPoint: Babcock's right in that a school where one class involves the kids all being naked and apparently re-enacting fish mating probably isn't a suitable place for Patrick... or any child... '''ever'''. Mame's pause after Patrick finishes explaining "Fish Family" implies even she wasn't prepared for that response.
73* OrderVersusChaos: A major theme of the movie and the play is the contrast between the chaos represented by Mame and the order represented by Babcock. In the end, Patrick manages to find a happy medium.
74* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: On top of all their other faults, the Upsons are anti-Semites, to the point of getting outraged at the thought of a shelter for refugee Jewish children being built near their house[[note]]In the 1974 film, it's a home for unwed mothers, which gets much the same reaction from the Upsons.[[/note]]
75* PrettyInMink: Several furs are worn, such as Mame loaning Agnes a brown mink wrap, and Gloria Upson wearing a sheared fur jacket in her first scene and later a white mink stole.
76* {{Pun}}: The Upsons' property is called Upson Downs (ups and downs).
77* SheCleansUpNicely: Mame's mousy secretary Agnes Gooch looked rather fetching in the black velvet evening dress Mame has her wear.
78* SleepMask: Auntie Mame is wearing one when Patrick bursts into her room to show her his new toy airplane.
79* SouthernGentleman: Beau is a somewhat more open, personal variant.
80* TWordEuphemism: In the 1958 film.
81-->"What's that, Auntie Mame?"
82-->"That's a B, dear. The first letter in a seven-letter word that means ''your late father''."
83

Top