Tales of The City

[nrgbeat]

Armisted Maupin's "Tales From The City" is frequently mentioned on this board and I wanted to give a brief of synopsis of it so everyone will know what's being talked about.

In a nutshell, it's the story of a young lady named Mary Ann Singleton who moves to San Francisco in 1976. She moves into an apartment owned by the quirky, pot smoking Anna Madrigal (Don't call her Andy) and several interesting inhabitants.

There's the hippyish, coke snorting Mona, the gay but lovable Michael (a.k.a Mouse) and the hunky, hetero sex starved Brian. There's a whole host of other characters who weave in and out of there lives, most notably Mother Mucca (another dick deflator), but that's enough detail for now.

Olympia Dukakis portrays Anna Madrigal and I thought she was wonderful in the role.

[DanceMan]

Thanks for the memories, Nrg.

I agree about Mrs. Madrigal and how wonderful she was in the part and throughout the entire series, for that matter....I felt that she was the one thread that kept the show alive and interesting.....

I give the first series (with the better Mona and Mouse) 5 Stars...it all goes downhill from there.

Tales 2 - with too much emphasis on Mother Mucka and the whole house of ill-repute stuff and the cruise ship was too drawn out and really unnecessary to resolve any of the plot lines...

Tales 3 was almost a snore and I have no intention of any repeat watchings....

The first one I have seen several times with a different audience of friends and everyone raves about how great it was and how it truly defined the 70s era.

[keefelc]

Funny how most people agree the actor that played Michael in the first series was the best. The second Michael just didn't come across as sweet as you would think the character would be. In fact, he seemed a little too smug.

Now if only the first series would finally be released on DVD!

[nrgbeat]

I didn't mind Tales 2, but like most mini series it did have it's draggy moments and I didn't like the actress who played Mona.

I read that most of part 2 was filmed in Montreal and not in S.F.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: nrgbeat on 2002-10-09 21:46 ]</font>

[markydefad]

Well, having clipped each installment of "Tales" from the SF Chronicle and saved them for all these years (YES!!! Marky is a packrat!!!) :razz:....I have lotsa stuff to dish about "Tales".

First off, when I moved to SF it was with 3 other people with whom I attended college in Wisconsin--Bob, Marie & Lynn. Yes, two biological females were in tow.

A year or so later, "Tales" appeared one morning in the paper. I loved it from day one...it was perfection....especially when Michael was introduced. (Remember, Mary Ann tries to flirt with Michael's soon-to-be ex- boyfriend in the Marina Safeway). EVERYONE in SF and subsequently around the world thought THEY were Michael--I was no exception. I also identified with the naive sweetness of midwestern Mary Ann attemping to be cool with the weird, wild and not-always too wholesome situations she was encountering in SF. Just as Maupin has revealed that he saw Michael & Mary Ann as different sides of his own personality--I did too.

I always thought (in the late '70's) that the ideal casting for "Tales" was:

Mrs. Madrigal = Colleen Dewhurst (remember that deep, husky voice and the Earth Mother persona)
Mary Ann = Shelley Long (this was BEFORE I burned out on her)
Brian = Michael Ontkean (the studly but cool straight womanizer)
Mona = Swoosie Kurtz (the hippie-dippy, coke-snorting fag-hag later to turn Lesbianic)
D'Or = Shari Belafonte (remember her "Black Like Me" plot line)
Frannie = Frances Bergen (Candy's mom- a tipsy Dina Merrill-coiffed SF socialite)
Pru Giroux = Sally Kellerman ( pretentious socialite turned part-time round table social crusader)
And there were more....I'll have to look back at the books...BUT I could never find the perfect Michael...I once saw a guy's (I think he was a chef) photo in the SF paper who seemed to have the dark hair, mustache (EVERYONE HAD ONE) and sorta heavy-lidded sexy eyes as Michael was described.

When they finally produced the project years later--the original was beautifully cast by John Lyons from NY; Olympia Dukakis was wonderful as Madrigal (Dewhurst had died by this time); Laura Linney was perfect as Mary Ann; Chloe Webb was a dynamite Mona; Brian was played by a guy who's name was Paul and his last name escapes me at the moment; Nina Foch was a hilarious Frannie....Barbara Garrick was a terrific Deedee ...on down the line...EXCEPT the black actress who played D'Or--Cynda Williams..who was very weak. The most amazing surprise was the casting choice for Michael--a British actor named Marcus D'Amico who was delightfully PERFECT...adorable, cute, warm, cuddly, and not TOO gorgeous--the only thing missing was THE MUSTACHE!!!!

Later, it was revealed that D'Amico had pretended or led the producers and Maupin to believe that he was actually GAY and they were none too pleased to find out that wasn't true. Hence, he was replaced by a more generic actor who looked the part...BUT TOTALLY LACKED THE CHARM!!!.

Lotsa other excellent actors were also recast--either because they were not available, wouldn't work for the money...OR because filming totally in Canada required the producers to hire mostly Canadian actors for a certain large percentage of the parts. (Think "Queer As Folk" which uses almost entirely Canadian actors for their supporting roles--NOT AS GOOD as U.S. actors, IMHO--AND IT SHOWS, I think) Thus, the casting of the new actors did damage to the almost-perfect original ensemble and the writing also was weaker. The original adapter of the first series, Richard Kramer, is a gay writer, living here in LA, who I used to see at the Sports Connection all the time. He was also involved with writing and producing chores on "Thirty-something" and, most recently, Jeff's & my fave series "Once & Again". In fact, he even played a psychiatrist on the latter show in the last season.

Ok, enough for now....I'll think of more "behind the scenes" stuff....


_________________
Make My Feet Wanna Dance!

Markydefad

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: markydefad on 2002-10-09 23:27 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: markydefad on 2002-10-09 23:37 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: markydefad on 2002-10-09 23:44 ]</font>

[markydefad]

Oh, I just remembered the last name of the actor who played Brian originally--Paul Gross. Whatever happened to him???

Also, I forgot to mention Thomas Gibson (Greg on "Dharma &" as the sinister but handsome bastard-- Beauchamp Day who's married to heiress Deedee, flirting with naive Mary Ann, and sneaking out to the GAY baths with the hilariously pretentious Pacific Heights A-Gays (Ian McKellan, designer Bob Mackie, Paul Bartel ("Eating Raoul"), and Vanity Fair writer Kevin Sessums were some of them).

Beauchamp (pronounced "bee-cham"--there's another one of those weird English pronunciations)...meets his Waterloo in the Broadway tunnel we drove through Friday night to get to "Beach Blanket Bingo". Bob aptly called that one as we drove through.

Also, Billy Campbell of "Once & Again" was very good as Jon Fielding, Michael's gynecologist boyfriend. In the book, Jon was a blonde...BUT Campbell was charming and brave...remember those BUTT shots at the baths???? And I don't think that was a butt double, either, WAS IT?????!!!! :lol:

Armistead must have been very persuasive...cause all the guys were seen in various stages of undress. :roll:

Now I'm getting nostalgic to see this first series again. Luckily I DID tape it from PBS. Too bad PBS was so chickenshit and succombed to the complaints from the religious right zealots who protested the "filth" that was being broadcast into their wholesome living rooms via their Christian pledge dollars. Yeah, AS IF the HOMOS of America don't pledge THEIR TAINTED GAY dollars to that fucking PBS!!!! PBS does show "In The Life", however--BUT they schedule it on Sunday nights usually AFTER 11:30PM!!!! So now we get Charlotte Church, John Tesh at Red Rocks, and Yanni concerts!!!! :razz:

[JussiK]

While the participants lounged on a beach "More More More" was heard thumping from a radio. The dj played Dr. Buzzard's "Cherchez la Femme" during a dance contest scene - now that choice not only displayed a sense of style but also all too rare true awareness of the period in question.

[markydefad]

Jussi,

How interersting you should mention "Cherchez La Femme"!!!!

I actually first heard about the Dr. Buzzard song "Cherchez La Femme" from reading about it in Maupin's column!!!! He actually quoted several lines--I think someone was dancing at Oil Can Harry's which was a few blocks from where I lived. I made it a point to hear that song...cause it was being touted in my daily Bible!!!! I LOVED it, of course!!!!

Maupin was very current with his column...sometimes things that actually happened in the real world the day before were mentioned in passing in the column...sometimes causing plot lines to be held in suspended animation while these new things were dealt with...BUT eventually everything was resolved.

HOWEVER, the plot lines were usually the LEAST interesting thing about the columns...it was the characters and the releationships and the dialogue that was brilliant --NOT the convoluted plots which sometimes were hurriedly wrapped up in a week after months of exposition just to get em over with. Maybe that's why the subsequent books didn't really translate as well to the TV format....BUT reading the columns on a daily basis was sheer bliss.

[dhwm]

The first installment of "Tales Of The City" is supposed to be released for the U.S. on November 5, 2002. I read this at http://www.literarybent.com. The article said Acorn Media is working on the set for the U.S. and should be ready by that time. FYI

[dhwm]

Oh well, I just read where Acorn Media has delayed "Tales of The City" DVD for the U.S. until January, 2003. It's worth the wait

[keefelc]

On 2002-10-10 10:33, dhwm wrote:
Oh well, I just read where Acorn Media has delayed "Tales of The City" DVD for the U.S. until January, 2003. It's worth the wait

Wow! That's great news and, your right, it is worth the wait. Thanks for the link!

[JussiK]

On 2002-10-10 10:28, markydefad wrote:
Jussi,

How interersting you should mention "Cherchez La Femme"!!!!

Getting away from the Tales...topic a bit but in Europe there were few tracks that caused a sensation as huge as Cherchez la Femme when it was unleashed on dancers. I wasn't doing deejaying then yet and so rushed across the floor along with several other people, excited and needing to know immediately what this unbelievable piece of music was and whether it would already be available in stores. Of course us punters had to wait for another 2 weeks or so before we could carry the album home. The next thing as radically new, different and immediately catching must have been Santa Esmeralda's Don'T Let Me Be Misunderstood - the commotion on floors when that one started was incredible - crazed with flamenco fever people ran to the bar to snatch boxes of matches to use as castanets. Okay - back to Maupin you all go.

[discohunter]

I agree that the first series was the best. Am suprised it isn't on DVD in the US yet. I've seen it advertised in Blaze (local gay paper) as being available on DVD here in Australia.

discohunter