Auntie Mame: A New Play (Signed Four Times)

First edition, first printing. 182pp, with photographs of original cast members on endpapers and sporadically elsewhere in text, all courtesy of Van Damm. With a foreword by Patrick Dennis. Signed on the half title by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E Lee, the co-playwrights; and by Patrick Dennis, author on the novel on which the play is best; and by Constance Bennett who, in the 1930s was Hollywood’s highest paid actress and who starred in the play in the title role, Auntie Mame, during its national tour of 1957-58. Quarter-bound in black cloth over speckled paper-covered boards (A little worn and mildly discoloured at edges, cloth rounded at spine ends, slightly cocked; upper text block edge a little dust-toned). Internally neat, clean, bright and tight with just the occasional mild sign of fingering. In its original, worn and torn dust jacket, chapped at edges, with a four closed tear on front with an interior tape repair, shelf worn and sunned over spine. Dust jacket now protected in an archival quality Mylar wrapper, fitted without the use of tape or adhesives. 8vo. Patrick Dennis’s novel, Auntie Mame, on which the play is based, was a run away success, making records on the New York Times’ best sellers list and selling more than 2 million copies during its initial publication. The first production of the play, at the Broadhurst Theatre, with Rosalind Russell and then Greer Garson in the title role, ran from October 1956 to June 1958, as well as a national tour, starring Constance Bennett, before transferring to London’s Adelphi Theatre in September 1958. Warner Brothers released a film version, with Rosalind Russell as leading lady, in 1958; Russell won a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Auntie Mame. First editions of this play are hard(ish to find); with this collection of signatures, we’d venture it may be close to a unique piece of movie and theatre history.

Patrick Dennis, Constance Bennett, Signed Books, Plays, Theatre,