I Remember Mama

I Remember Mama (1944), a comedy by John van Druten. [Music Box Theatre, 714 perf.] The writer Katrin ( Joan Tetzel) reads from her memoirs of growing up in turn‐of‐the‐century San Francisco, recalling how her Mama ( Mady Christians) was forever putting away pennies in a home “bank‐account” for a rainy day. She also remembers cantankerous Uncle Chris ( Oscar Homolka), who promises to leave his money to the family, and her mother defending Aunt Trina ( Adrienne Gessner) when other aunts objected to Trina's marriage. Uncle Chris finally dies, and the family discovers that through the years he had given his money away to help crippled children. Moreover, Mama is forced to confess that there is no bank account. She had lied because “It is not good for little ones to be afraid.” So, though Mama urges Katrin to write about all the other members of the family, Katrin concludes, “First and foremost, I remember Mama.” Based on Kathryn Forbes's Mama's Bank Account, the Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein production appeared during the height of World War II and was welcomed by Burns Mantle as “a pleasantly undisturbing evening in the theatre.” The play was turned into a long‐running television series but failed when made into a Broadway musical in 1979 starring Liv Ullmann as Mama. Thomas Meehan wrote the book, Martin Charnin the lyrics, and Rodgers the music; it was his last Broadway show.