I saw Fannie Flagg when I was young.  Not as young as my husband, (who remembers her stint as the local weather girl) but in the early 1970’s, when Nixon was still president, my family got to see her on stage in a road-company performance of “Mame” with Bea Arthur supporting her as Vera Charles.  It was a night of transcendent joy.  Mame is a terrific show and Fannie took over the lead as if it had been written for her, my father forgot he hated all musicals and at the end of the performance the company got the longest storm of applause I’ve ever heard.   Seriously, we beat blisters onto our palms that night clapping for that flame-haired woman who insisted life was a banquet and most poor suckers were starving themselves to death.  That night, I decided no actress could inhabit Mame’s character well without understanding and supporting this philosophy.   Ms. Flagg’s The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion has me thinking I underestimated her years ago.  Fannie Flagg understands Everyone and Everything.

She certainly understands Sookie Poole, the central character and perpetual mother-of-the-bride in AGFSLR.  Sookie’s a member of the sandwich generation, still trying to fill the needs  (and put up with) her overwhelming mother, Lenore, while watching her own children step into their own lives.  Sookie can only define her self in terms of others (Earl’s wife, De de’s mom) and when life-shattering news arrives, Sookie is forced to  re-evaluate every part of her life, starting with the relationship with her mother.

Fannie also understands Fritzie Jurdabralinski, the pretty Polish-American girl from Wisconsin who wants a life as fast, free and fun as the guys in town.  Fritzie has the courage and drive of any boy her age and those traits come in handy during WWII, when all the adult males are called up for service.  A pilot already, Fritzie and her sisters join the WASPs,  a group of lady fliers recruited by the U. S. Army Air Force to fly planes on non-combat missions in the U. S. so the male pilots were freed for combat flights.  Fannie captures the war-time patriotism that brought out the best in so many people and the post-war backlash that forced independent women back into domestic roles. Fanny even understands Lenore and the demons that push a strong woman into a  the termagant.  Understanding, in the hands of Ms. Flagg, is the first step toward transcending the damage of childhood and enjoying a happy adulthood.

Maybe life is more than the banquet that Mame described all those years ago.  For The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion, it’s a beautiful piece of music and all the living contribute a tune, be a polka, waltz or march.  It’s clear Fannie Flagg listens to all the singers and she loves the music she hears.