I saw it in her living room on a big console television, if you remember those terrible things. And I remember seeing it, I think - I grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania, and I was often at my grandmother’s house. The set changes there’s different themes she has different color hair - it’s a smorgasbord of colors for your eyes. Sayre: Well, I think with a movie like this, the first thing you are done in by is the color of it. Percy: I’d love for you to just take a couple of seconds to think about the first time you saw Auntie Mame and how old you were and where you were, and just give us an idea of what that first experience was like. Percy: So I’d love to take you back in time for a second.

Throughout his life, he’s asked himself one of the key questions at the heart of Auntie Mame: How do we remain open to each other and to ourselves? One of the biggest life lessons that Justin took from Mame was this idea of celebrating difference and being open to difference.

For him, seeing someone like Mame represented what was possible, all the things that were outside his own realm, but that he clearly saw could be possible for him in his life as a gay man. Mame’s celebration of difference was something that Justin Sayre, a comedian and writer, really took in as a kid growing up. Freedom of choice but also the freedom to be true to yourself and try whatever you want. In the movie, we watch Mame introduce Patrick to a world he’s never seen, with art, passion, and freedom. She’s a wealthy, bohemian New York socialite in the 1920s played by the actress Rosalind Russell, who adopts her conservative brother’s 9-year-old son, Patrick, after her brother dies unexpectedly. Everything about her is a celebration.Īuntie Mame tells the story of Mame. She’s so ahead of her time, and she’s celebrating difference everywhere, in her friendships, her relationships, even just the way she lives her life. And watching this movie now, I realize what an amazing figure Mame is. I think I dismissed it as a movie about a rich lady with lots of costume changes. I had seen the movie Auntie Mame before with my father who loved Turner Classic Movies and AMC and all the old Hollywood classics, but I have to admit that I didn’t really get it growing up as a kid. Don’t worry if you’ve never seen Auntie Mame - we’re gonna give you all the details you’ll need to follow along. I spoke with Justin at a live event as part of WNYC’s Werk It Festival, in partnership with NewFest, New York’s LGBT film and media arts organization. I’m Lily Percy, and I’ll be your guide this week as I talk with Justin Sayre about the movie that changed his life, Auntie Mame. Lily Percy, host: Hello, fellow movie friends.

Husky by Justin Sayre