The Istoriaphile’s Corner

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 …