Rating: 
Summary: A treasure trove of information for Broadway historians
Review: Richard Tyler Jordan's book is a heartfelt valentine to a character that has inspired and touched the hearts of millions. In describing Angela Lansbury's last night in the Broadway run, however, he fails to note one crucial event which took place. This was about the time that one of Lansbury's children was battling a drug problem and that night she started the lead-in to "If He Walked Into My Life," froze, seemed to blank, and then walked off the stage without singing the show's hit song. There was a long pause, the set shifted to the next scene and everyone wondered what was happening backstage. When Lansbury made her next entrance at the top of the curved stairway, a tidal wave of love traveled over the footlights toward her from the audience. You could see it almost physically knock her over. It was one of those spectacularly heart-wrenching moments in live theater -- the kind that happens once in a lifetime. It happened for one of the most talen! ted and professional musical comedy performers ever to hit the Great White Way and encapsulated an audience's great love for a great actress, for the character of Auntie Mame, and the standards set by Lansbury in the role. It was a moment of theatrical history that I will never forget -- a coming together of love and magic in the theater that made her final curtain call that night much more emotional than anyone had anticipated.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Topic, Poor Execution
Review: The story of "Auntie Mame" in her various incarnations (novel, play, musical, two movies) has great potential. The character and the actresses who have portrayed her are all fascinating. Unfortunately, despite nuggets of information that punctuate the text, this book is so amateurishly written, repetitious, and badly edited that it makes a great and compelling story seem boring. There's a great book here, but Richard Tyler Jordan did not write it.
Rating:
Summary: If "life is a banquet..." - here's the main course!
Review: Upon voraciously devouring this "amazing history" of Mame Dennis, one can see Richard Tyler Jordan has discovered a recipe for success: One treasured character, phenomenal research, generous amounts of backstage inrtigue and gossip served up with heaps of affection by a master writer. If one is a fan of entertainment on ANY level, this book is a must-have. "Life is a banquet..." - here's the main course!
Rating: 
Summary: Much information is revealed, but more would have been nice.
Review: Yes, this book does reveal many entertaining backstage anecdotes about the making of the Broadway play, movie, Broadway musical, and musical movie all based on Patrick Dennis's novel about his flamboyant, eccentric, vibrant, life-loving (and supposedly fictional) Auntie Mame. There are interviews with many of the members of the casts of these various incarnations, and you can indeed see author Richard Tyler Jordan's passion for his subject. But, as others have noted, there are a lot of typos and grammar errors, and the writing does repeat itself often. It is also very clear that Jordan is more interested in (and knows more about) the play, musical, and films than the novel and its sequel. Aside from mentioning some interesting things like the one about how Mame's "Life is a banquet and most poor SOB's are starving to death" motto did not come from the book, Jordan doesn't give much indication of having read or cared much about Dennis' literary effort, which some of us (namely myself) have not been able to get our hands on and are hungering for a nice little synopsis. Still, we do get two interesting last chapters about Marion Tanner, Dennis's aunt and the supposed inspiration for the character, and one on Dennis himself. (Real name:Edward Everett Tanner III) Not as bad as some would claim, but it does lack for some things.
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