Robert Karr to Release Memoir AT SEA WITH PATRICK DENNIS in May

On May 18, 2023, Patrick Dennis - the creator of Auntie Mame - would have celebrated his 102nd birthday. What better way to mark this auspicious occasion than with the release of Robert Karr's new book At Sea with Patrick Dennis: My Madcap Mexican Adventure with the Author of Auntie Mame. The book is now available for preorder. After Karr passed away in 2017, the unpublished manuscript languished in a box destined for the unknown. However, fate intervened when Karr's friend, Los Angeles hair designer Bernie Ardia, recognized its importance and knew it had to be published.

"The story behind the memoir's manuscript is as intriguing as the adventures of dear Robert Karr and the great author Patrick Dennis himself," said Ardia, currently working on the production of Hairspray opening at Hollywood's Dolby Theatre May 2 - 21. It marks the return of the Tony Award-winning musical comedy sensation for the first time in 17 years. "My days have been filled with being back in the '60s with Edna Turnblad and Auntie Mame literally colliding in my head. It has been quite a journey with two of the greatest fabled characters of our time."

At Sea with Patrick Dennis: My Madcap Mexican Adventure with the Author of Auntie Mame sheds new information on the author Patrick Dennis's life when he disappeared into Mexico. It features an introduction by the acclaimed James Magruder, who adapted the original book of Head Over Heels for the Broadway stage. Patrick Dennis had two books adapted for Broadway, the novel Auntie Mame for the play by the same name, and the hit musical Mame, by Jerry Herman, and the musical Little Me, with book by Neil Simon and music by Cy Coleman. This memoir is a quick-witted tour de force, revealing that Patrick Dennis's escapades were as outlandish as the world's favorite aunt, Mame.

Taking place aboard ship in the mid-1960s, At Sea with Patrick Dennis: My Madcap Mexican Adventure with the Author of Auntie Mame chronicles what was supposed to be a simple cruise that turned into a full-blown adventure when friends Patrick Dennis, Walter Healy and Robert Karr jumped ship. After the trio disappeared into Mexico, they later needed rescuing in a high camp tale involving wealthy widows, art connoisseurs, masked midget wrestlers, ladies of the night, and hunting rats in their comical escapades.

"Robert Karr's delightfully madcap memoir of his time spent with the fascinating Patrick Dennis is a wonderful addition to the growing literature of this important and elusive cultural figure," said famed actor and playwright Charles Busch.

"Don your best jewelry, fix yourself a cocktail, and prepare to laugh as you come on a madcap Mexican adventure," adds Ardia. "As Dennis's most famous character, Mame, said, 'Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving.' This book is piled high with a literary feast from the banquet of life."