The kid who played Patrick in "Auntie Mame" became a very successful attorney

Anyone know where the plantation scenes were filmed in Auntie Mame? Looks kinda like the same place they filmed Little House on the Prairie.

[quote]Although he projected both charm and talent as the young "Patrick Dennis" in the stage and film versions of "Auntie Mame,"

As opposed to Kirby Furlong, the young boy who played the same role in the film version of the musical of Mame and projected neither.

Might have been fine onstage, but was unbearably mannered onscreen. Makes me wince every time I see part of that movie.

R3, Roz Russell says in her autobiography that the young Patrick had a grown a shade too old, mannered and knowing by the time they got the performance on film. She says he was perfection the night they opened on Broadway. But there's a huge difference between a nine-year-old boy and one newly turned eleven. Patty McCormack had the same problem in The Bad Seed. Her performance grew more canny as she played it for months on Broadway then on film.

Russell makes no mention of the fact that she herself is a bit too old to pass for Mame-under-forty when the tale begins. Luckily the years pass and Russell appears the correct age from Mame's widowhood onward.

I've never understood why many people dislike his performance so much. It's often commented on, usually not in a complimentary way.

Children rarely are great actors in movies, and he was no worse that dozens of others. A little blinky, maybe, but not awful. I didn't mind him at all.

He couldn't compete with savvy or power with Roz or Coral Browne, so he worked the quirk and blinked a lot.

Worked great.

Liked him in the movie and am happy for his current success.

Russell, on the other hand, overacts like she's still playing to the last row in the balcony. She's almost unbearable in that movie.

SSssssssacrilege, R7!

[quote]As opposed to Kirby Furlong, the young boy who played the same role in the film version of the musical of Mame and projected neither.

I have no idea what ever happened to Kirby Furlong, but I'm pretty sure he turned out better than Edward Furlong.

Roz is fabulous, I love her in this.

The boy who plays Patrick in the movie of "Auntie Mame" is quite homely, but he's very sweet and likeable. He's quite moving when Mame tells him she's in love with Beau--he doesn't say anything, but you can tell he's afraid he's going to be shunted aside. Which to some degree, he is--indeed, one of the interesting subtexts of "Auntie Mame" is that Mame basically neglects Patrick from ages 12 to 20 once she marries Beau, which is why he in effect gets back at her (at least subconsciously) by joining forces with Gloria, the Upsons, and Dwight Babcock.

Gloria Upson was too good for Patrick.

I enjoy the kid very much. Also like the southern kid who declared, "Hot damn! My sister's gonna bust a gut!" The actress who played his sister was also very good.

They couldn't film the book as it was written, because it was too adult for 1958 moviegoers. But it has some laugh-out-loud moments, such as the description of Mame's visit to the south, and the dowager's physical "problems". It was a top-selling book of 1955, spending week after week at #1 on the NY Times chart.

Mame may neglect Patrick to some extent but he was sentenced to a series of conservative private schools for boys by Mr. Babcock, starting the same day Mame loses her fortune, which is before Beauregarde enters the story.

Patrick was taken away from her by Babcock and stuck in the old Bony Face school because of her free-thinking attitude towards his education. I doubt she ignored him while she was married to Beau. Didn't they take Patrick to Paris?

Patrick really loved me, Bunny!

Actually, Patrick was servicing me in the maid's quarters on a regular basis.

If Patrick was servicing anyone, it was Acacius Page.

When they say "specializes in white collar crime," it means he defends white collar criminals and helps them get away with crimes against the public. That's not a "successful career," that's a morally bankrupt sellout.

RE #1 - The plantation scenes were shot at the Warner Bros. studio ranch, then located in Woodland Hills, CA - about a 30 mile drive west from the studio lot, in Burbank. Other famous films shot there include Adventures Of Robin Hood, Dark Victory, Casablanca, and King Kong.The land was sold off in the mid-60's,and it is now a huge housing community, called Calabasas Park.

The movie "Mame"'s platantation scenes were shot at the Disney studio ranch,Golden Oaks, in Newhall,CA. - about a 30 minute drive north of Disney's lot (which is only a few blocks from Warner's).

A sidenote - the plantation mansion is the same house used in TV'S "The Big Valley", changed slightly, and painted.

Mr Babcock had the power over Patrick's education, so he would have been away at school whether Mame was married or not. So it was great luck for her that Beau came on the scene.

Patrick got long letters and gifts from abroad, and spent his vacations with the pair wherever they happened to be.

A sidenote - the plantation mansion is the same house used in TV'S "The Big Valley", changed slightly, and painted.

R20, someone told me that the Big Valley mansion is located in Sacramento, Ca?

Is Auntie Mame based on a true story? I have heard someone say that it was? Any info on that comment?

[quote]Is Auntie Mame based on a true story? I have heard someone say that it was? Any info on that comment?

No, it was not based on a true story. One of Dennis' aunts claimed it was based on her life but it was totally wishful thinking on her part.

Patrick Dennis lead an interesting life. His biography, "Uncle Mame" revealed that in the 1970s when his campy writing had become unfashionable, having drunk most of his money, the author used his pen name to write a letter of recommendation for a job as butler for McDonald's founder Ray Kroc.

What other Dennis books are worth reading? I liked the Mame sequel, loved Little Me, but couldn't get past the first few pages of The Joyous Season because of the very affected kid-speak.

The article says Handzlik eventually dropped out of acting, yeah, as in he only had one other credit. An episode of Twilight Zone, The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street. I don't think he was that good in the movie either, but it didn't matter because the character, as a child, was pretty one dimensional anyway. It was Russell's show.

R24 "First Lady" is quite funny as well, and in the same vein as "Little Me." (Fauxtobiography with photos.) Peggy Cass plays the title role in the pictures.

r23 said "One of Dennis's aunts claimed it was based on her life, but it was totally wishful thinking on her part."

Patrick said his aunt Marion Tanner (who lived at 72 Bank Street) was the inspiration for the character. She died in the Village Nursing Home in 1985 at 94.

I just saw an old Johnny Carson show from 1973 and Lucy ball said the young man was definitely unique

He had gay voice for days.

Very wooden acting.

This is him now