"Mame" Addendum: The Criticism

The release of the movie version of "Mame" in 1974 brought many a severe critical review. The main object of the scorn was Lucille Ball, whose singing and age were often the target. When I read through some of the critical writings about the movie and Lucille Ball, I came to the conclusion that some people have too much time on their hands, or they are consumed by a bitterness in their own limited abilities that manifests itself in tantrums and diatribes against others. Criticism is an important part of life, as it gives us a chance to see how others view us, or our work, and it gives us a chance to assess how we can improve. But some people seem to feel the need to spend gads of time being negative; oozing negativity like pus running from a sore. Just putting something or somebody down is not constructive, and it may tell us more about the person who is so highly critical, than it does about the recipient of the criticism. We also have to look beyond the negative at times and view the overall story and its message.

I'm not saying that some of the criticism was wrong, but it was the ferocity with which it was delivered. No question about it, Lucille Ball was not a great singer in "Mame." She also was already in her 60s, playing a character who in a great deal of the movie was supposedly much, much younger. By contrast, Angela Lansbury, who played Mame in the earlier Broadway version was only about 40 when she first got the role. When the movie was cast, I'm sure those involved thought they had guaranteed a box office success by landing Lucille Ball for the lead role. In those times, while Lucille Ball's television popularity had peaked prior to the filming of "Mame," she was one of the best known people on the planet, and most of us didn't refer to her as "Lucille Ball," but rather simply as "Lucy," and there was no need for further explanation, as everyone knew whom was meant. The thing was, Lucy's magic of the 1950s and 1960s only carried into the early 1970s, and by the time of "Mame," while still much admired, she was unable to command the strong box office numbers in the lead role of "Mame" the movie needed to cover the large cost of its production. It seemed that audiences were far more willing to sit at home and watch Lucy on television for free, than to pay to watch her performance at a movie theater. So the critics had their points, and the movie was not financially successful,* but those points were often just made in an unnecessary way, in my opinion. I'm not sure of this, but since those times, the film may now be seen in a better light than when it was released. But regardless what the critics said, I liked the movie and its great music and lessons about life.

The character of Mame perseveres through some trying times in her life and she inspires others to do so too. It isn't that Mame doesn't get depressed, she does, but she bounces back and doesn't let life's beatings destroy her. She exemplifies TOLERANCE for other people's eccentricities, something that all of us need to learn, and it isn't always easy, as even some of the most patient people likely have "their days," where just about anything gets on their nerves, let alone those with some unusual behavior. I don't recall the exact lines, but in the movie, when Agnes, her nephew's nanny, calls Mame "peculiar," Mame answers with something like, "Thank you Agnes, you're peculiar too." No offense taken, but rather seen more as a compliment received and then returned in kind. Mame's conflict with her nephew after she leaves the home of the parents of his fiancee is capped off by her retort to his accusation that she and her "crazy friends" have embarrassed him in the past. "My friends are not crazy. My friends are colorful," and she proceeds to contrast those friends with the bigoted and self centered parents of his fiancee. This is my favorite scene in the movie. 

Mame's desire to experience more about life and that general philosophy is expressed in one of the film's (and the stage play's) great songs, "Open A New Window," as well as in another, "It's Today," which really expresses that yesterday is past and tomorrow may be too late, live for today, now. Mame was not afraid to fail, although most of us likely shudder at the thought of failing. There are many lessons in "Mame," things the nasty critics of the film quickly forgot.    

* I have no idea if the movie became financially successful later with its release to network television (NBC), and I believe also it was later available to be shown on local stations, or with its release on video/DVD. I seem to recall that John Wayne's film, "The Alamo," was a financial disaster for him in its original release, but that the film later recouped its losses and made some money through re-releases to theaters and its network television showings. Now whether similar happened with "Mame," I have no idea. 

WORD HISTORY:
Dizzy-This word, related to "doze," and likely also "tizzy," goes back to Indo European "dheu," which had the notion of  "smoke, haze, dust," and the derived "dheus," meaning "swirl, whirl." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "dusijaz," which had the more figurative meaning, "hazy/unclear in the mind, confused." This gave Old English "dysig," which meant "foolish, unwise." This then became modern "dizzy." The other Germanic languages have: German and Low German Saxon "dösig/däsig" (meaning "drowsy, dizzy, unclear in the mind"), ^ Low German Saxon also has "düsig" (dizzy), Dutch "duizelig" (dizzy), West Frisian "dize" (a noun meaning "fog" or "mist"), Danish and Norwegian "døsig" (sleepy, drowsy), and Norwegian also has "disig" (hazy), Swedish "dåsig" (drowsy). I could not find a form in Icelandic.

^ An altered form gave German the noun "Tor," which means "fool," and "Torheit," which means "stupidity."