Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 3, 1994 TAG: 9411260007
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETH MACY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In bookstores across the country, it's known as the best-selling cross between a murder mystery and a travel memoir. Writer John Berendt says he's seen his book stocked in some stores' American studies, current events - even gardening - sections.
It's been said that Berendt's "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" is the only murder mystery that makes people want to phone their travel agent and have an extended stay at the scene of the crime.
On the New York Times nonfiction best-seller list for 34 weeks now, the book is making Savannah the place to visit:
Tourism is up 46 percent. "Midnight" tours are replacing the stuffier historic carriage rides. And costume parties are being thrown in which guests come as their favorite character from the book.
"You meet someone, and they tell you what page they appear on - even if they weren't portrayed that flatteringly," describes novelist Rosemary Daniell, a Savannahian who knows both the writer and many of the book's characters.
All this amuses Berendt, 54, the former Esquire columnist and New York magazine editor who spent eight years in Savannah eliciting the best stories from the city's best eccentrics.
A voodoo priestess; a cross-dressing, hormone-injecting dancer; a good-ole boy defense attorney who raises the University of Georgia's bulldog mascots - all serve as grace notes to the story of Jim Williams, an antiques dealer accused of shooting his homosexual lover, Danny Hansford, described in the book as "a walking streak of sex."
In a telephone interview from his Manhattan apartment, Berendt talked about how he happened upon the story - or rather, how the story happened upon him. Basically, he took a cheap flight to Charleston, S.C., for a fun weekend getaway, drove a rental car to Savannah and became enamored by the steep ratio of eccentrics per capita that roam the city's moss-lined squares.
When he learned of the murder that set Savannah society abuzz, he realized he could wrap a helluva story around it - and its ensuing four murder trials - as well as deliver juicy insights into the city itself.
"People got so used to me writing in my notebook, they began to forget I was writing a book," he recalls. "They thought, 'He's one of us; he's even eccentric. His eccentricity is he's supposedly writing a book.' "
Berendt became friends with the drag queen Chablis, the book's most popular character. In fact, Chablis was such a big hit with readers that "Simon and Schuster called her up and gave her a $100,000 advance - and a [ghost] writer - to pen her memoirs. That's more than I got!"
The Lady Chablis is also being given the chance to screen-test for her role in the upcoming "Midnight" film, the details of which are still being negotiated. "I would hate to be the person responsible for telling her she's not right for the part," Berendt deadpans.
Berendt ate breakfast regularly at Clary's drug store, where he met Luther Driggers (not his real name), the man who invented the flea collar and the no-pest strip - and who brags about the vial of liquid he owns that could poison the entire city's water supply.
Berendt also partied with Wanda Brooks, the woman who wears a rhinestone pin - that spells out her phone number. "That was the only thing the publisher worried about," Berendt recalls.
"They made me confirm Wanda Brooks' drunken behavior. So I called her up and said, 'Honey, here's what I said about you. ... When's the last time you got drug home from a bar?'
" 'Last Friday night,' she said. And then she signed a statement saying that was true. She only made me change one thing. She said, 'I was a drum majorette in junior high school, not high school.' And that was that."
A chapter about civic preservationist Lee Adler - called "It Ain't Braggin' If Y'Really Done It" - shone the spotlight on Savannah's snippiest side, putting an especially dark shadow on Adler's wife, Emma. "In the book people backstab her; she's really the most unfavorably portrayed person," Berendt says.
Emma Adler's reaction? "Lee said, 'Emma thinks you committed a literary drive-by shooting against her.' "
Still, Berendt, who is touring the country giving readings and book-signings, is a big draw in Savannah - and not just among the tourists his book attracts. Last weekend he was flying South for one of those "Midnight" Halloween parties, where the locals were expected to dress like such characters Lady Chablis, the Adlers, the crazy guy with the poison, or the man who walks the invisible dog.
And Berendt? "I'm going as myself of course! I'm even going to dress the part."
John Berendt will read from his book tonight at Washington & Lee University, 8 p.m. in Lee Chapel (on the front campus, facing the colonnade). The free talk will be followed by a reception and book-signing in the university's Fairfax Lounge. 463-8460.
by CNB