It's the Time For... Makin' Merry!

This is just a brief photo essay to mark the occasion of New Year's Eve. I thought it would be fun to supply you with a variety of pictures depicting some famous ladies who portrayed Mame Dennis (aka - Auntie Mame, as in the play, and Mame, as in the musicalization.) The title of this post comes from a lyric in the song "It's Today," which introduces audiences to the zesty, enthusiastic, madcap aunt of the show. Tooting her own horn at left (as rightly she should!) is the divine Miss Angela Lansbury, who enjoyed unqualified success as Mame. 

Auntie Mame first saw life as a hugely-successful novel by Patrick Dennis, published in 1955. Already by the following year, it had been adapted into a Broadway stage play, starring the indefatigable Miss Rosalind Russell.

When Russell departed the production, her replacement was Oscar-winning film actress Greer Garson. (Now that had to have been quite a switch as these two are not particularly similar in delivery...!)

'Course the idea goes down easier once you see Garson in her Auntie Mame drag instead of in a dated Tinseltown portrait.

After Miss Garson's departure came Canadian-born British actress Beatrice Lillie. (Lillie also was the star when the show went to London's West End.)

Star of the first national tour was 1930s leading lady, Constance Bennett.

As Bennett was absent from movie screens from the early-1950s to 1966, this serves as bridge for how she appeared in those less public years.

The second national tour was headed up by Miss Sylvia Sidney, once a cinematic leading lady (who later returned to great success in cranky supporting parts, copping an Oscar nomination for 1973's Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams.) 

For the California tour, Oscar-nominated wisecracker Eve Arden essayed the part.

Her real-life husband, Brooks West, played her stage spouse Jackson Burnside in the tour.

Looking at the above photos and this one, I began to wonder if young girls had truly invented the duck-lipped selfie smile that's so often razzed or if they merely borrowed it from Miss Eve!

In a rare instance of a Broadway star being permitted to repeat their stage triumph on screen, Russell was cast as Auntie Mame for the 1958 movie. She won the Golden Globe and was Oscar-nominated (losing to Susan Hayward in I Want to Live!) Just check out all the dazzling jewelry in this portrait! Love it.

The much sought-after role was played by many a dame in various productions across the nation (and the world!) Here we find Lucille Ball protege Carole Cook in a 1964 incarnation.

Not long after that, in 1966, Miss Lansbury landed on Broadway in the Jerry Herman musical version with the title shortened to Mame. (Many prior Auntie Mames were either considered or had gunned for the role, along with a legion of other actresses. Mary Martin was on board for a minute, but had a change of heart before it fell to Lansbury, who more than delivered.)

I dearly love this photo of Lansbury in Mame and, in fact, it's what got this whole ball rolling today! (I've always been a hopeless sucker for "statement necklaces" though!)

After two years, Lansbury evacuated the role with Janis Paige successfully inheriting the part.

Next came Jane Morgan as the title character.

Then it was Ann Miller's turn to trot!

Celeste Holm (who had successfully filled in for Lansbury's vacation) headed up the national tour. Holm also was a replacement for the Las Vegas production of the show. Do you remember who the initial headliner was in that?

Yes! Oscar-winner Susan Hayward was the initial star of the Vegas production, which proved to be a grueling introduction to the stage for the veteran film actress.

When the show crossed the pond to open in London's West End, it was Oscar-winner Ginger Rogers who was the famed character.

Rogers discreetly slipped into town unannounced with as little fanfare as possible. LOL!

These shots depict the numbers "We Need a Little Christmas" and "The Moon Song" (The Man in the Moon.)

Rogers, an avowed Christian Scientist, likely had to fall back on her acting chops in order to portray a hangover.

No matter how many times I see it, I'm always staggered by Rogers' eye makeup in this period.

For someone with such light hair and pastel eyes, it's so dark and heavy... almost hypnotic.

This portrait and the shots above come from an invaluable tome made available to audiences at the time...

One tour with Janet Blair had the added attraction of Elaine Stritch on board as Vera Charles.

People from Blair to Sheila Smith lead various productions of Mame (and Lansbury did the California tour and later a 1983 Broadway revival!) Michele Lee and Mariette Hartley took their turns at bat. In 2006, Christine Baranski did it at The Kennedy Center. This gal appears to have not even needed billing when she inhabited the part! (It's Edie Adams, if you don't know.) I couldn't list all the ladies that have played Mame. But I'll toss out some unusual ones.

Dancer Juliet Prowse in a Las Vegas rendition.

Were you ready for this?

As a youth, Brittany had played Baby June in the 1962 movie Gypsy (with Rosalind Russell!), so it's not like she had zero musical background.

In 2014, Boca Raton, Florida audiences were granted the most unusual opportunity of seeing this Mame.

Leslie Uggams...!

The game 71 year-old found herself amid local theatre performers who were favorites of the community there, though hardly "names."

This sort of reminded me of once when my very best longtime friend played Mame and was nothing short of sensational, but every other person in the cast seemed like they were amateurishly wading through molasses. I thoughtlessly proclaimed to her after the performance that she was "...a glorious, beautiful, sparkling Roman candle... stuck in a pile of steaming horse shit!" That got me into some significant trouble at that theatre company, believe you me! LOL

When 1974 brought the movie Mame to screens, it was not the by-then iconic Lansbury in the part, but TV's comic queen Lucille Ball. I'm not going to delve into this now because I have intended for years to do an in-depth post on that movie, but haven't!

I'll just say that few people found the role to be a good fit for Ball. And attempts to temper her familiar clowning persona with less slapstick and more "legitimate" singing and dancing (and a battery of wig and clothing changes) simply did not land well with many audiences. It was far from a "cheap" production. Much money was funneled into it. But the movie was no success at the box office.

Everyone has his favorites, but I think the majority of folks consider Roz Russell to be the definitive Auntie Mame...

...and Angela Lansbury to be the definitive Mame.

Anyhoo... If you're makin' merry and kicking up your heels tonight for New Year's Eve, please be careful! We want you back here in Poseidon's Underworld in 2025. Till next time!

A Case of Jacques Itch!

Many a Hollywood female wound up with it... Jacques itch! Ha ha! I have to say I've had a mild case of it lately, too, thanks to checking out some of his work on screen. I refer to that French charmer Jacques Bergerac, seen here in a publicity still for The Hypnotic Eye (1960.) (If you're curious, the gals are Merry Anders, Allison Hayes and Marcia Henderson.)

Full disclosure is that about a month ago I had minor surgery and spent some time recuperating at home, then working from home. I also was not permitted to do any strenuous exercise for several weeks. The result is that I watched a ton of television, including many movies on television. One of them was called Fear No More (1961), a thriller featuring a strong performance by Mala Powers. Her leading man in the movie was played by Jacques Bergerac. It was while looking into him a bit further that I unearthed that Joan Collins movie I recently posted about, in which he had a supporting role.

The broodingly handsome, dark-featured Bergerac was born May 26th, 1927 in Boarritz, France. He had aspirations of becoming an attorney and was in law school when fate intervened.

In 1953, while Oscar-winning movie actress and former dance partner to Fred Astaire Ginger Rogers was vacationing in France, she spotted the young man. Immediately smitten, she (strongly!) recommended that he be given a featured role in her upcoming movie.

The movie was Twist of Fate (1954) and, though her male costars were Herbert Lom and Stanley Baker, she wound up in Bergerac's arms on and off-screen.

The inseparable twosome, he 26 and she 41, briefly dispelled any rumors of marriage, but were indeed wed in Palm Springs, California in February of 1953.

Twist of Fate was convoluted and failed to take proper advantage of its location filming. It also didn't have any particular prestige at the box office, though he was given "Introducing" credit.

In the majority of photos one finds of the couple, she is generally gazing at him. And who can blame her?! There was no fancy wedding, or even published photos of the nuptials. After all, he was her fourth husband.

With this, he found himself hobnobbing amidst show business royalty, from Charles Boyer to Gloria Swanson and Van Johnson to Ethel Merman.

Before it was all said and done, Bergerac had a contract at MGM Studios.

Ginger's handsome hubby played Armand to Signe Hasso's Camille on Kraft Theatre and wound up as a love interest to Ida Lupino in Strange Intruder (the male lead being Edmond Purdom) in 1956. But the wheels were coming off their whirlwind romance and marriage. They were divorced in 1957.

Bergerac had been honing his craft on American television, usually when someone handsome and continental was called for. He's seen here with Ann Sothern on her sitcom Private Secretary, but also did Climax! and Playhouse 90.

In 1957, he played the second male lead in Gene Kelly's final MGM musical under his original contract. Les Girls had him romancing Taina Elg. 

Bergerac appeared three times on Alfred Hitchcock Presents between 1956 and 1958.

This introduction to his character gave me a start! Because his skin and his trunks are so close in tone, I thought he was presenting his own Hitchcock to the female costar!

For this episode, he was cast opposite Oscar-winner Claire Trevor. It seemed as if half the ladies in Hollywood were getting a turn at working with him.

Not everyone can say that he or she appeared in an Oscar-winning Best Picture, but Bergerac could. He had a supporting role in MGM's Gigi (1958), seen here with Eva Gabor. I don't know whether anything developed with Eva...

...but he was seen about town with her sister Zsa Zsa and you just know that she took him for a test drive!

The same year as Gigi, he starred in a little-known French-Canadian picture called Un homme se penche sur son passé. Based upon a novel (with inspiration from the works of Jack London), the title translates to "A Man Scans His Past."

He plays a horse smuggler whose profile looks divine whether chatting with partner Pierre Dudan or love interest Barbara Rutting.

At one point, Dudan is shot and Bergerac slides onto the bed to speak to him.

I couldn't help but take notice that, even in this innocuous scene, Bergerac's innate sensuality gives the images a certain feeling that surely was not intended...!

In any event, the pal healed rather swiftly.

Love was in the air once more. And once more a blonde, Oscar-winning actress was gazing in awe at her prize while he looked into the camera's lens. Dorothy Malone was only 3 years his senior.

And the two were wed in Hong Kong (where she was filming The Last Voyage, 1960) in 1959 amid throngs of interested well-wishers.

1959 also saw the release of Thunder in the Sun, in which he was third-billed behind Susan Hayward and Jeff Chandler. He was Hayward's husband in the wagon train tale which focuses on Basques (who were represented so inaccurately that people still complain about it today!)

1960 saw him portraying a nefarious hypnotist in The Hypnotic Eye, a movie we've profiled extensively on this site. This same year in April, Wife Dorothy gave birth to their daughter Mimi.

Then in 1961 came the aforementioned Fear No More, in which he was heroically trying to assist a very troubled Mala Powers who may or may not be leveling with him.

He went to Italy in order to costar in 1962's Fury of Achilles, playing a nemesis of the fabled hero. In February of 1962, a second daughter, Diane, was born.

It would be nearly impossible to count the Italian sword and sandal films that sprang up in the 1950s and '60s. As far as they go, this one was pretty decent.

Certainly, Bergerac had the right looks for portraying a toga-clad swordsman.

He, and many of the other gents on hand, occasionally flashed a pair of 100% authentic white cotton undies during the action scenes. Ha ha!

The only time we got any glimpse of his chest, though, was during a bloody and prolonged battle with Gordon Mitchell (as the title figure.)

Having appeared in the Vittorio Gassman/Joan Collins movie La conguintura and popping up in the Bob Hope comedy A Global Affair (both 1964), he next starred in the unlikely Taffy and the Jungle Hunter (!), in which a child and every sort of animal imaginable threatened to retain all the focus. This same year, his marriage to Dorothy Malone came to an end, though the two would battle in court over child support and custody for some time.

If you hadn't already noticed, Bergerac's level of quality when it came to movies was fast on the wane. Low-budgets, international fluff and now tacky bedroom farce in the form of Mother Goose a Go-Go (1966.)

Make no mistake, this wasn't any sort of explicit type of movie, more a goofy, innocuous romp with a lot of suggestiveness. Tommy Kirk (who you just know enjoyed bumping up against Jacques) can't seem to avoid his nursery rhyme obsession and do the deed with his wife Anne Helm, so resident Lothario Bergerac acts as a mentor.

Kirk is shirtless a lot, while Bergerac is limited to two brief, dark instances.

It should've been the other way around if you ask me...!

1966 marked Bergerac's last appearances in cinematic releases. The aforementioned flick and this one, Special Mission Lady Chaplin, were the final movies he did before turning exclusively to television. In this one, he seemed to be in a chair, smoking a cigar and on the phone for the bulk of his scenes. 

Still, the James Bond rip-off had Daniela Bianchi (of From Russia with Love, 1963) as the title character, a fashionista, and brawny Ken Clark as a spy (at one point skulking around in some abbreviated blue patterned swim trunks.)

From 1966 to 1969, Bergerac would pop up on hit television series of the day, often as a movie star, a member of royalty or some other elegant type of gent. Seen here with one of Ginger Rogers' old pals, Lucille Ball, he lent charm to The Lucy Show.

On the Ben Gazzara show Run for Your Life, he was one of several wealthy lodgers at a ski resort, trapped by an avalanche.

He appeared twice on Batman as an epee-wielding fencer who is also a "fence" for stolen jewelry.

This is the way Mr. B. looked during the last of his on-screen acting appearances.

He played, naturally, a handsome movie star who charms not only Rose Marie, but also the blonde star of The Doris Day Show.

Public appearances after this were rather rare. Bergerac departed Hollywood, showbiz and all its trappings and headed back to France. There, he ran the Paris office of Revlon and also worked for Perfumes Balmain.

Still fit and handsome, though older, he's seen here (in the main photo) at a Revlon presentation in 1976.

As shown in this mid-1980s photo, his and Malone's daughters inherited their father's dark features. (Of course, Malone was a brunette under the peroxide, too!) Today, these gals are in their 60s...!

Bergerac passed away in 2014 at the age of 87 from undisclosed causes. He did not remarry again in the wake of the (very) acrimonious divorce from Malone in 1964. His daughters provided him with six grandchildren between them.

And with that, I bid you adieu!