Directed by Morton DaCosta. Starring Rosalind Russell.
“Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death.”
I associate Auntie Mame with Christmas. It’s an absurd and delightful sign of the season that brings me as much joy as that talking snowman and island of misfit toys did when I was a child. Rosalind Russell is an endearing master of ceremonies in this over-the-top Technicolor escapade.
I also associate Auntie Mame with my favorite bartender, Randy Hedrick (RIP). I first met Randy in 1999 in Boston at the Lenox Hotel bar Anago. Anago was a rather swanky place for riff-raff like me to be hanging out in. Randy had previously been employed at Jack Lynch’s Webster Lounge, a less tony establishment that existed in a strange place on the edge of a parking garage overlooking the expressway. I never went there but my drinking buddies Bob and Nat were regulars there and followed Randy to Anago when Jack Lynch’s closed. When I started hanging around with those two degenerates, I also started visiting Randy on a regular basis. He made a fine cocktail. He knew what you drank and how you liked it. Like Auntie Mame, he was good looking, witty, and charming as hell. Naturally, he loved Auntie Mame and quoted the film all the time as he danced behind the bar from cocktail to cocktail.
One of my favorite holiday memories was orchestrated by Randy. On a cold night in December, Bob, Nat, and I decided to head to Anago. Uncharacteristically, we called ahead to tell Randy that we were coming and that we would like to request eggnog as our drink of the evening. Anago was not a large bar, there were maybe 8 or 10 seats at the bar and it was usually full, especially during the holidays. When we arrived, there were three empty seats, each with a glass of eggnog waiting. When we three ragamuffins made our entrance and were shown to our beverages all the fancy heads turned. It was an absurd and delightful event – a memory of a man and a time that I hold dear.