Mame-the movie: Is it really that bad? Is Lucy that bad?

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 8:44pm

Has anyone ever seen the movie of "Mame" (the musical)? I've allways been interested in seeing it,but I never could bring myself to doing so. I have allways loved Lucille Ball, and the last 25 years of her life were tragic. She always wanted to be in a musical, and this was her big chance, but she was given rotten reviews by everyone because she was too old to play the part. I remember seeing some footage of her in an interview nearly breaking down. She was talking about the media taking pictures of her on the set, instead of the soft-focus ones the studio took to make her look younger. She said something to the effect of "So what if I'm getting old? I can't help it." maybe it wasn't wise for her to pick this movie, but still...anyway, she never did a movie again. What I wanted to know is...is the movie really that bad? And if so, is it because of her?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 8:48pm

Yes and Yes.

She's awful and the movie's awful -- my pick for the worst movie musical ever. Laughably bad. She's too old, can't sing and isn't funny. Were it not for Bea Arthur as Vera, I'd say burn all remaining prints of it and forget it ever happened.

Updated On: 10/4/04 at 08:48 PM

[Glebb]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 8:49pm

Poor Lucy. There is a book about all of the productions of "Auntie Mame" and "Mame," and in the book there is a section with reviews. One review says: "If the south were to rise again, it would be to lynch Lucy."

Her singing is not good at all. She's a clothes horse for sure and I think her acting is good.

I love her no matter what.

[Glebb]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 8:50pm

Oh my! I don't think it's that bad MargoChanning. Actually I do. I think it's so bad, it's entertaining.

[musicalfandukie]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 8:51pm

i've seen this movie years ago. her voice was pretty much shot by this time in her life from smoking and getting old. Her singing is horrible in it. just shows you how bad smoking can effect someone's singing voice. i can't remember how bad the movie was it was long ago i seen it. Updated On: 10/4/04 at 08:51 PM

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 8:56pm

Yeah, that happened something awfull to Harry Nielson.

[magruder]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 8:57pm

Yeah, it's terrible, but it still has a few tolerable to decent moments... Lucy's slapstick on the moon is funny, and the fox is very very cute. It's a strong contender for worst movie adaptation of a stage musical, but I still think Man of La Mancha, Paint Your Wagon and especially, A Chorus Line are higher on the atrocity list.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 8:58pm

Lucy, I love you no matter what.

[Glebb]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 9:00pm

I howl when the grieving Vera/Bea grabs the waiter's arm to order her stiff drink.

Updated On: 10/4/04 at 09:00 PM

[magruder]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 9:02pm

It's Lucy's "Sextette"!

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 9:03pm

"But Darling, I'm Your Auntie Mame" by Richard Tyler Jordan is the book Glebb refers to.

Other reviews from the book:

"There she stands, her aging face practically a blur in the protective gauze of softer than soft focus.... looking alternately like any of the seven deadly sins." -- Newsweek

"The sound is somewhere between a bark and a croak... and it doesn't quite match the movement of the lips. Did Lucille Ball sync her own singing in "Mame" or did Dick Cavett dub for her? After more than 40 years in movies and television, did she discover in herself an unfulfilled ambition to be a flaming drag queen?" -- The New Yorker

[Glebb]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 9:08pm

Miss Channing, would Miriam Hopkins or Tellulah Bankhead have made good Mames? I guess they would have been too old. I love the Lucy/Desi Comedy episode which guest stars Miss Bankhead.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 9:19pm

I think I may have the Bankhead episodes of the Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour somewhere back in my tape library -- hilarious. "STRAWBERRIES!!"

Both Bankhead and Hopkins were dead by the time of the movie version in '74, so, NO, I guess they wouldn't have been the best casting choices (and would have required even more gauze on the lens than Mme. Ball).

Bankhead would seem to have been born to play Vera -- she may have even been a model for the character (perhaps she did the play in stock somewhere in the 50s or 60s, like half the actresses "of a certain age" during that period).

I don't remember seeing Miriam Hopkins in anything after her Bette Davis run-ins in the 40s so I have no idea what she might have been like even at the time of the play in the late 50s.

Lansbury was the only choice for the musical role and its criminal she didn't get a chance to play it (she says she was never even offered it).

[Glebb]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 9:22pm

Did you see Lansbury on Broadway?
I know my mother would have killed to have seen that performance and I was so thrilled to see Madame Lansbury on stage, live in "Sweeney Todd", in memory of my mother.

Hopkins was kind of perfect in "The Heiress".

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 9:24pm

The really sad part about it is that if it had been a non-musical and she had a director that could tone down her slapstick, she could have turned in a credible Auntie Mame. (By the way, Bea Arthur's husband directed the movie).

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 9:31pm

I saw Lansbury in the short-lived Mame revival in the 80s (I was barely even alive for her first go at the role in the 60s). She was magical and masterful and dominated the stage in the role like no one else (other than Russell, of course). Brilliant comedically, dramatically, singing, dancing -- a tour de force.

[Glebb]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 9:37pm

Stupid me, I must have been spending all of my money on Studio 54. Don't know why I didn't see that revival.

Posted: 10/4/04 at 9:40pm

My recollection is similar to those stated by Miss Channing. My further recollection is that Bea Arthur is costumed to look like a man in very bad drag. The entire film is anemic. Truly a poor production.

[CurtainUp2]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 9:41pm

Wasn't there talk a while back about Cher starring in a T.V. remake of Mame? Anyone know what's up with that?

Posted: 10/4/04 at 9:42pm

Talk about another bit of bad drag costuming: Cher as Mame.

YIKES!

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 10:06pm

Cher was going to do it after she finished her Farewell Tour ...... that was 5 years ago and she's still saying goodbye with no end in sight. Herman et al have moved on and are considering other actresses....

The Mame revival in the summer of '83 ran just over a month so it wasn't hard to miss (you probably were up in the balcony of 54 for most of that time Glebb). It wasn't Lansbury's fault -- she was touring the show around the country and the producer decided to move it to New York suddenly, almost on a whim, in the middle of summer, with no advance publicity or advertising. It came and went before most people even knew it was here (had they done it properly, stayed on the road for another month or two during which time they made a big advertising push for October or so, and THEN come into town, it probably would have had a nice run).

[Gothampc]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 10:10pm

Remember the great Forbidden Broadway line: "And let Lucille Ball, wreck it all again! No more revivals".

[Glebb]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 10:10pm

LOL! I lived on 53rd and 8th. Convenient, no?
Except for blistering my fingers from a night full of snapping, I was a pretty good boy at Studio. But funny you should say that Margo! I watched Eartha Kitt in a New Years Eve perf from the balcony at 54.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 10:12pm

And who was "watching" you as you were watching Miss Kitt?

[Glebb]

Posted: 10/4/04 at 10:14pm

Do we know each other?