Anne Bancroft's Monologue/ Introductions

Phoenix, I don't even have a clue, let alone a link.

Merry Andrew- What I remember was that she was supposed to be at a party. I think that first she introducs Abba Eban to Uta Hagen. So she says, Abba, Uta....... This goes on an on, introducing people with funny names, and sounding sillier and sillier.

I wish that I could get a transcript of it!

It's called "Yma Dream" (as in Yma Sumac), and it was written by Thomas Meehan, who co-wrote The Producers. It was originally published in The New Yorker, and it's included in a book called Fierce Pajamas: An Anthology of Humor Writing from The New Yorker. Several years ago, I had the good fortune to be present at a live performance of the piece which Christine Baranski gave as part of the Selected Shorts series at Symphony Space, a performing arts center in NYC. A tape of that performance is included on one of the Selected Shorts audiocassettes that Symphony Space sells on its website, Symphony Space

Bree- Thanks- Your link did not work exactly, but I was able to get in!


Oh, by the way, WELCOME TO ABLE2KNOW

Great link, Bree and welcome to Able2Know.

Phoenix - while on the subject of Anne Bancroft
-one of my most revered actresses of all time,
she did a TV special - at least 10 maybe even 15
years ago.... I remember her reading some poetry
and one of the pieces that she read was entitles
"Married is Better" Does this ring a bell?

At the Academy Awards broadcast a few years back, hosted by David Letterman, he did a thing like "Oprah, this is Uma, Uma...Oprah" that got him into alot of trouble with Ms. Winfrey. Is this, the Anne Bancroft party monologue, where he got that from?

eoe- I didn't see that show, but it sounds like Letterman was doing a take off on it. It seems that if I want to get the text of the monologue, I will have to buy the book. I can't seem to find it printed anywhere on the net, although there are a lot of references to the work!

bancroft monologue
i wish i did! i have been trying to get a copy of it for years! i believe it was on a "woman's" tv special with bonnie franklin years ago. she talks about having a dream that she was having a party.in the monologue everyone that enters must be introduced to everyone else by ms bancroft and they are all celebrities with oddly melodic names : oona, abba, etc. she never misses a beat and doesn't crack a smile. it was then i knew she was the perfect wife for mel brooks!

Good grief. Did you know that Ms. Bancroft passed away yesterday?

How ironic that this thread came back to life today.

I just finished reading her obituary this evening.
What a fine and truly talented actress she was.

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1384461#1384461

anne bancroft
yes...sadly, i always meant to write to her to tell her how much i admired her work and ask about the monologue.

Phoenix,

Found part of the source for Anne Bancrofts , monologues.
There was an off-Broadway review, titled "The No Frills Revue." which used the Yma, Yma Uta, Eva, Yma etc etc.
I'm sending an article that gives attribution to a Broadway bar tender. Here is the article. I hope you find it as funny as I doi

A Sardi's Tale

I told you about Bill Ayers earlier, the king of second acters. He was also a great story teller; I would encourage him. He was sort of like Toddy in Victor/Victoria. He would put on his finest British accent and do a little thing about "a dozen double damask dinner napkins" that he stole from Noel Coward. It was very funny, but he insisted that they were the only things they used in his affluent childhood home at the dinner table. "Well, until the market crashed in '29", so he said. You just never knew when he was putting you on.

He would do the english music hall song Berlington Bertie, or recite something as if he were doing Shakespeare, "there's a fair-r-ry at the foot of my garden" is all I remember.

But, at Sardi's we had a routine. John, the legendary bartender use to be at the little bar downstairs, and when we had a good crowd, I would elbow Bill and say with a wink, "so, whatcha do today, Bill?" And, off he would go!

"Why, I had Ava Gardner over for tea. We were chatting and the doorbell rang. Damn, if it wasn't Oona Chaplin! I introduced them. Ava, Oona, Oona, Ava. I poured more tea, and the doorbell rang again. My, My, aren't I the popular one? My goodness, look who's here. It's Uta Hagen. He introduced his guests. Ava, Uta, Uta, Ava, Oona, Uta, Uta, Oona. No sooner had he sat down, the bell rang again.

"I feel like a real Pearl Mesta here. Heavens! It's the sparrow herself. Yma Sumac. Come in Girl."

Yma, Ava, Ava, Yma, Yma, Oona, Oona, Yma, Yma, Uta, Uta, Yma

And another guest arrives!

Eva, Ava, Ava, Eva, Eva, Yma, Yma, Eva, Eva, Oona, Oona, Eva, Eva, Uta, Uta, Eva

This story goes on with about six more names that have the same syllables, and it becomes a riotous tongue twister, and he never, ever made a mistake, getting faster and faster, pretending he was out of breath. Finally, the doorbell rings the umpteenth time, and it's Tallulah Bankhead. Bill would turn to all at the bar, pause, a look of disbelief on his face, "Oh, it's Tallullah, what the f**k are you doing here?"

Everyone would roar, and the upside down shot glasses would pile up in front of him.

About a month after Bill died, I was in Jimmy Rays bar, and the bartender gave me a box with a rope around it. It was a dusty old box. I asked, "what the heck is this?" "Oh, they cleaned out Bill's apartment, most of it they threw away, but this had your name on it, so they brought it here."

I cut the rope and inside were a dozen double damask dinner napkins. Very old, very beautiful, and very elegant; definately from another era of elegance.

To this day, when I set a formal table, I use them. As I place them around the china place settings, I chuckle to myself, "Ava, Oona, Oona, Ava." and a guest will invariably say,

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing, just a distant memory from Sardi's."



[ © 1997 - 2005 TalkinBroadway.com, a project of www.TalkinBroadway.Org, Inc. ]

anne bancroft monologue
many thanks. that is IT. she did it just the way he did, but since she was on tv, she had to leave out the f word! hahahaha...what a great story. now i will be chuckling for days thinking about the monologue AND the napkins.

Funny how often I think of that TV special, and wish I could see it again. I remember one monologue where she's talking about her husband, and the line is something like "And when he's late for dinner, you imagine that he's either with another woman, or has been hit by a bus. And you hope he's been hit by the bus. "

The title of the show was "Annie, The Women in the Life of A Man", and it aired Feb 18, 1970. It won the Emmy Award that year for Best Variety Program.

She'll be missed

If this is her telling the story of her being a hostess at a dinner party,and as the guests arrive they all have names like Ida, Ava, Eva, Mia and so on, I heard this read on NPR. As you described, it was hilarious. I have been searching for hours with no success.

I definitely do...I believe it was a part of the Ed Sullivan Show.. I have also been searching for a copy of the monologue. She opens the monologue as a patient going to see her psychiatrist to explain this dream about a party she was having. If you have located the skit please tell me where it is.