If you’re like me and mourning the end of Pride Month I humbly ask you to start celebrating what I present for your consideration the perfect bookend to pride: Auntie Mame Day!

“But why did you tell me you were coming today! I’d never have been giving this party.”
“Mum I wired you…”
“Yes but you said July first. Tomorrow. This is the thirty-first of June.”
Norah shook her head balefully. “No, mum, ’tis the first, God curse the evil day.”
The tinselly laugh rang out “But that’s ridiculous! Everyone knows ‘Thirty days hath September, April, June and…’ My God!” There was a moment’s silence. “But darling,” she said dramatically, “I’m your Auntie Mame!” She put her arms around me and kissed me, and I knew I was safe.

Auntie Mame By Patrick Dennis

I have always loved the movie Auntie Mame. I first watched it when I was a young teenager. I had never seen Rosalind Russell before and I was entranced by her. Her presence for me was the perfect amalgamation of masculine and feminine. She’s elegant and well dressed but her low voice somehow manages to be both bell like and gravelly all at once.

When after watching Auntie Mame I realized there was a musical version of that story my little 14 year old heart sang. I may have been the only teenager who kept both Mame and Jagged Little Pill with her disc man at all times. Also the OBC of Into the Woods but I digress…

The source material for the play, movie and musical are just as amazing. The novel Auntie Mame is such a fun frothy summer read, one that I have indulged in annually. It’s episodic and its author is one of its main characters: Patrick Dennis, which is a pseudonym for one of my favorite forgotten characters of the 20th Century, Pat Tanner.

It seems ridiculous to me that Pat is not a better remembered author. He was the first person to have 3 novels on the New York Times Bestseller list (Auntie Mame, Gustward Ho! and The Loving Couple) and Auntie Mame spent an astonishing 112 weeks on that same list. Some contend the decline of his popularity is due to the fact that he published under pseudonyms and never did radio or television appearances; he valued his privacy. Some contend that the the decline of the comic novel made his cannon largely slip through the cracks. What is positive is that he was an eccentric character who led an unconventional life in a time period that heavily valued the conventional. He was bisexual but in a loving marriage with a woman, however his feeling of inadequacies with his bisexuality eventually forced him to leave his home. After a stint in Mexico he become a butler to the owner of McDonalds, Roy Kroc. Roy seemingly had no idea his butler was in fact a famous author. After being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer he came home to his wife, Louise and died in 1976. If you want a great read, I reccomend Uncle Mame, a great biography about Pat. The relationship between Pat and his wife has always fascinated me and is another writing project I’ve been working on for years.

The movie Auntie Mame for me would be nothing without the dreamy outfits by Orry-Kelly. Below find my top 5 outfits from the movie:

Happy Auntie Mame Day! I hope you celebrating by using the mantra “Live, live, live!” and remember “Life is a Banquet!”