Mame is a 1974 Technicolor musical film in Panavision based on the 1966 Broadway musical of the same name (itself based on the 1958 film Auntie Mame) and the 1955 novel Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis.
It was directed by Gene Saks, and adapted by Paul Zindel, and starred Lucille Ball in her final theatrical film performance. The film also stars Bea Arthur, Bruce Davison, and Robert Preston.
The story focuses on the madcap life of Mame Dennis (Ball), which is disrupted when she becomes the guardian of her deceased brother's son. She marries a wealthy Southern plantation owner (Preston), is widowed, yet through it all, with the help of her dearest friend, Vera Charles (Arthur), manages to keep things under control.
Plot
At the reading of the will of young Patrick Dennis' father, a trustee, Mr. Babcock, reveals that Patrick is to be left in the care of his aunt, Mame Dennis, and his nanny, Agnes Gooch. Taking a train to New York City ("St. Bridget"), Agnes and the boy arrive at Mame's home, where they walk into a wild party ("It's Today").
Mame wants to fill the child's life with adventure ("Open a New Window"), but when Babcock finds out she has enrolled Patrick in a non-traditional school, Patrick is taken from Mame's custody. Simultaneously, the stock market crash leaves Mame penniless. Mame's friend, actress Vera Charles, offers Mame a small role in her newest show as "The Man in the Moon." Mame flubs her one line and causes the play to be a disaster, which puts a major rift in their friendship. Patrick reassures Mame that he still loves her ("My Best Girl").
A desperate Mame takes a job in a department store, where she meets Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside, to whom she attempts to sell a pair of roller skates. She cannot write up a cash order and is fired. At home, Mame decides to lift everyone's spirits by decorating the house for Christmas and giving everyone their gifts early ("We Need a Little Christmas"). Burnside appears at her front door and invites everyone to dinner. They fall in love and move to his family's plantation in Peckerwood, Georgia. At first, Burnside's relatives are unhappy about his marrying a Yankee, but when Mame captures the fox in a fox hunt, they sing her praises ("Mame").
The Burnsides go on an extended honeymoon, traveling all over the world ("Loving You"). Meanwhile, Patrick goes from a young child who pulls in a B+ average to a high school senior failing many classes ("The Letter"). When Burnside dies in an avalanche, Mame returns home to be reunited with a now-grown Patrick, who is dating a snobby, conservative girl named Gloria Upson.
When Mame meets Vera for a drink, the two trade snippy comments, which they insist are not being made out of hatred, but simple honesty, as that's what "Bosom Buddies" do. The two come home and reminisce about men they've dated. Agnes, who is listening to the conversation, admits that she's never had a date. Mame and Vera decide to give the uptight, frumpy Agnes a makeover and send her out to live. Six months later, Agnes returns home, pregnant, and describes what she did while living it up ("Gooch's Song").
Mame visits the Upsons at their home in Connecticut, where she learns that Patrick and Gloria are engaged. After finding the Upsons to be insufferable bores and bigots, Mame is asked to help pay for a piece of property next door so that Patrick and Gloria could live there, as opposed to "the wrong kind of people". Afterward, she is candid with Patrick about her disdain for the family. He admits that he's ashamed of her and her "crazy" friends. A heartbroken Mame wonders what she did wrong with this boy she raised ("If He Walked Into My Life").
Mame and Patrick apologize to each other at her home. They are dressed for company: the Upsons. Mame promises to behave and Patrick meets Mame's new maid, Pegeen. Mr. and Mrs. Upson announce that the property they wanted has been bought by some "Jew lawyer". Mame reveals that she bought the property next door so she could build the Beauregarde Burnside Memorial Home For Single Mothers. This is the final straw, and the Upsons leave, angry that Mame isn't "one of us." Patrick, visibly upset, also leaves.
Years later, following World War II, Patrick and Pegeen are married and have a child, Peter. Mame, who is going on a trip to Siberia, requests that Peter be allowed to go with her. The two get onto a plane, and Patrick states that Mame has not changed. Mame and Peter wave goodbye and go into the plane.