Dateline SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, USA:
Dispatch From Samela Harris
They call it "The Book".
In Savannah, John Berendt's "The Garden of Good and Evil" needs no further
explanation.
A solid stream of tourists has jumped off the pages of "The Book" presenting
Savannah with a literary tourist phenomenon which makes Anne Hathaway's
Cottage look decidedly Minnie Mouse.
But one gets a feeling that the locals are referring John Berendt's
"Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" as "The Book" because, well, their
pride is mixed with a large dose of embarrassment.
Savannah is a very swanky old city with a strong veneer of conservatism.
Berendt, a New York journalist, moved to Savannah and recorded the events
in the lives of the people he met as he settled into the interesting
social life of this historic and unusual American east coast, deep south
city. His characters included a charismatic con-man, a Jewish property
conservationist, a millionaire antique dealer and Faberge collector, a
psychotic toyboy, a pianist with a prodigious memory for songs, a
glamorous singer and a black witch. The story climaxed with an
unresolvable murder and the book became one of the decade's hits - making
the author rich and famous and prompting Savannah to honor him with a
special "John Berendt Day".
But the Berendt image was not exactly how the locals had perceived their
public image. They were noted for rather liking to keep themselves to
themselves, although they had long profited from hordes of Americans who
came to explore the unusual history of the city which began as a
settlement for debtors from British gaols and grew into an elegant mecca
for the cotton industry's aristocracy.
The city is set alongside the Savannah River and built around 24 charming
squares, features Regency, Gothic revival, American Federal and Second
Empire Baroque architecture.
With ancient live oak trees draped in Spanish moss, massive old magnolia
trees, vivid crepe myrtles and handsome mimosa trees along with cobbled
streets and horse drawn carts, it is, indeed, a rare lovely place.
But, post-Berendt, these established beauties have taken back seat to "The
Book" vision of the city - and the history tourists have been usurped by
streams of literary rubber-necks who, map in hand, pilgrimage from site to
site reviewing the happenings and characters of the book. There now are
myriad organized tours of the book locations and there is even a "The
Book" bookshop.
I went one large step further than the tourists. Talk about
experiencing the ambience. I entered right "into" the book.
I stayed in The Hamilton-Turner Mansion - a museum and "ghost house" and
one of the places which featured in the book's mystery and intrigue. Few
tourists so far know that this is a possibility. Even Savannnahites seemed
surprised to hear a visitor give Hamilton Turner as a local address.
I discovered it by serendipity on the Internet and, after booking by email,
found myself not only making friends with one of the stars of the book, but
being nurtured within her lavish spirit of southern hospitality in an
environment of utterly sumptuous luxury.
It was the most extraordinary sensation - not so
much like time travel as like mind travel. I felt as if I was writing my
own pages. I had "become" the book, infiltrating the world of its
protagonists to touch and talk and share experiences.
The Hamilton-Turner Mansion is the only privately-owned museum open to the
public in Savannah - and it was created thus by the late Joe Odom, a
lively, clever and decidedly devious key character in the book.
Set on Lafeyette Square and built in the Second Empire French Baroque
Tradition in 1873, the four-storey mansion with its huge shuttered windows
and delicate cast iron balconies, is now owned and run by Odom's former
partner, Mandy - known in real life as Nancy Hillis, a singer and former
beauty queen. The mansion's lower rooms are open to the public with half
hourly tours. But upstairs, where Nancy lives with her present partner,
Don, there is private hotel accommodation - of the most deliciously
decadent Joe Odom character.
Within an hour of booking in, I heard the piano playing downstairs just as if
Odom was there - and I found myself hob-nobbing with Savannah society
at the opening of an exhibition of dolls made on the theme of the book by
a local artist called Elena. A brimming crystal punchbowl and platters of
hors d'oeuvres were set among the 24 carat gold-plated Italian candle
sticks on the dining table and the arts and tourism identities mingled
bengeath the Belgian crystal chandelier in the hallway. It was party time
again in the Hamilton-Turner Mansion - as it always was when Odom lived
here.
A few hours later when I was resting contentedly after a beautiful
summer evening walk through the old squares, peeks at book settings such
as the huge and handsome Mercer House in Monterey Square nearby followed
by an al fresco seafood dinner on the river front, there was a tap on the
almost 4 metre high arched door of my period-furnished Hamilton-Turner
apartment. And there was "Mandy". Bearing fruit, muffins, bagels - and a
bottle of South Australian wine she had purchased in my honor, she
breezed in to bring the book to life.
Warmth, good nature, energy and enthusiasm bubbled from her. She fussed
over me, gossiping not only about the day's events, but also about the
other characters in the book - and her own role therein.
She was never the delightful Joe Odom's lover, as the book reports, she
asserted. She was his friend. She was also his partner in the Sweet Georgia
Brown piano bar they created together. Berendt, while generally reporting
his experiences as they happened, made just a few changes - a name or two,
a fact or two, a time or two.
For her more public line to the tourists, Nancy says she was not sure why
Berendt chose to give her a romantic association with her friend, that
exuberant piano-playing, party-giving attorney, Odom.
More privately she hypothesises that Berendt was just swinging the gender
orientation so the book would not be dominated by gay characters and
therefore become
a "gay" book. What he has achieved is, of course, a beautifully-balanced,
cross-societal study, a superlative work of "faction" which has taken the
world by storm.
But the fact remains that dear Joe Odom was not her fiance or in any way a
sexual partner because he was gay as a flag - a very attractive gay man
with an irresistable character
and an effervescent party circle.
Nancy does not mind the literary license and, although she resisted
inclusion
in the book at first, she finally approved it and chose her sobriquet of
Mandy.
What she did resent, she says, was the suggestion that she was a malicious
person in eventually defending herself legally against Odom when he signed
52 cheques in her name. She said it was just "survival" at the time. She
feels the author Berendt is among those who has not forgiven her for not
giving
Odom time to find a way out of the legal tangle. He lost his ability to
practise law
for two years as a result, although he did bounce back in his inimitable
way - only to die tragically of AIDS.
Nancy's differences with the author remain unresolved. She was not
included in the film plans for the book and is not invited to be a part of
his literary bandwagon when he is in town - unlike the pianist Emma and
the drag queen Chablis.
But Nancy has carved her own path from the happenstance of unexpected
fame. She has continued with this historic Hamilton-Turner mansion, which
originally belonged to Odom's uncle. So besieged is she by the book's
tourist demands with busloads, horse carriage groups and walking tour
parties, not to mention the independent visitors with book in hand, that
sometimes, she has to leave the building by the fire escape - just for a
spot of
peace and quiet.
But, being a gregarious Tennessee woman who has done everything from be
doctor's wife to waitress, she thrives on the interest and interactions and
tries to sate the prodigious public curiosity by meeting with the touring
parties,
autographing copies of the book and posing for photos. She's even appeared
on Oprah.
And, she continues also her singing career, even presenting some Johnny
Mercer
songs to Australia's Telstra for its Olympic hospitality events.
Jerry, the book's ever-present party hairdresser, remains her very good
friend
and one of the regulars in the Hamilton-Turner Mansion. What a sweetie he is.
He had popped in to do Nancy's ironing and hear her run through some songs
while
I was there. With laughs of incredulity at the scale of the phenomenon,
he admits he has quite enjoyed the touch of fame engendered by the book.
He and Nancy both knew the rich antique dealer, Jim Williams, who was accused
of mudering his young toyboy, Danny. Nancy said she had only met him socially
and could not consider herself any sort of an insider. But she has been
fascinated
with the murder case and has spent hours talking with her old friend, the
local
Coroner, about details of the case. She is convinced it was a pre-meditated
murder,
because of the gunpowder on the paper on William's desk, the lie of the
body on
the other side of the desk, the brain-spatter on the mantelpiece. Danny
spun around, she says, and when he fell, Williams walked around the desk
and shot him again in the back of the neck. Nancy demonstrates just how,
spreading her legs as if straddling a body on the floor. Unlike Odom, who
was "his own worst enemy, " Williams, she says, was "spiteful". She thinks
he must have had the gun hidden under the papers ready for the inevitable
provocation by his highly-strung and aggressive young lover. The lad had
crossed
the line. Williams was beyond dealing with him.
Nancy has made a "my version" video which she sells at the Hamilton-Turner.
In this the coroner outlines all his findings in person - concluding that,
although
he thought Williams was guilty, he was a fine man who had done much for the
city
of Savannah and offered no threat to its citizens.
The huge and elegant old Mercer House wherein Williams dwelt is, of course, a
star attraction with the book tourists. However, they see a shuttered
residence
which offers no clues to its glamorous and grim history. Nancy says that
Williams'
sister inherited the house on his death - and it is up for private sale, to
anyone
with the odd few million.
Meanwhile, Nancy is expanding the hospitalty of the Hamilton-Turner
Mansion, she
said. An artist has been working on a mural of cemetery monument which is
pictured on the cover of "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil". The
statue has been removed from its location now - "because of the traffic"
of book tourists at the cemetery. They had been hanging from the girl's
outstretched arms for photos, climbing over the memorial and even chipping
pieces of stone from it as souvenirs. So Nancy thought it would be best
revived in mural form to feature in a healthy new cafe she is creating in
the mansion - "A Garden of Good - and a little Evil".
The cafe where Berendt met so many of the Savannah characters, Clary's, still
functions around the corner from the Hamilton-Turner. It has changed hands,
but
not character. The food and ambience was such that I returned again and again
for meals, either eating in the airconditioned interior on the sultry
sidewalk
watching the lemonade lads hawking beverages from their bikes or the
passing parade of languid locals.
Very many of the characters from the book now are gone from Savannah life.
Minerva, the voodoo woman, is rumored to have died recently. No one is
quite sure. She retreated from the book publicity, they say, afraid that
its glare would stir retaliative spirits from the restless dead.
Lady Chablis, the nightclub drag queen, has enjoyed her new fame while
finding
plenty to complain about, say Nancy. The American tabloids have claimed
Chablis
to be planning marriage to a woman. Nancy and, in fact, all the locals,
report that
she still has "attitude" - which means that her appearances at Club One are
unpredictable. Around midnight every night the club is packed to capacity
anyway.
I did not make the effort to try my luck in seeing her performing at the club.
Savannah is a tropically hot city - after hoofing the 24 squares, luxurious
life
in the Hamilton-Turner seemed more inviting than waiting for a glamorous
Godot.
But Chablis is writing her own story about herself and, like "Midnight in the
Garden of Good and Evil", it is planned as a film.
And, if the curiosity value generated from the book has changed the face
of this city, one can barely begin to imagine what will be generated by
the mass exposure of movies.
Hamilton-Turner Mansion cost $US150 plus tax a night. It can be found on the Internet at the above link.
Check out Samela's book and
Samela's weekly Net Adventures column in "The Advertiser"
