Armistead Maupin thinks of himself as a crusader who pitches his messages in an entertaining way. ”Sure, I address serious social issues in my books, but I don`t believe every subject has to be done in an angst-ridden way,”
says the author of the popular and glib ”Tales of the City” series set in the Bay Area.
”For instance, I think it`s foolish to talk about a gay subculture, as if gay people lived apart drearily from the mainstream. The whole point of my `Tales` was that gays and straights and all those in-between shared their lives together. I hope I have changed people`s minds.”
Maupin has been a trailblazer in print for almost two decades. That is duly noted in an affectionate film portrayal titled ”Armistead Maupin Is a Man I Dreamt Up,” to be shown Tuesday at the Music Box Theatre, as part of the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
The hourlong documentary produced by England`s Kristiene Clarke and narrated by actor Ian McKellen recounts the genesis of Maupin`s groundbreaking columns in the San Francisco Chronicle, and, in the process, traces his transformation ”from an Ollie North type to a flamboyant gay blade to a very concerned citizen.”
Maupin`s roots are Southern. ”I grew up in Raleigh, N.C., in an archconservative, bigoted household,” he recalls. I joined the Navy to please father. I was stationed in Vietnam in the `70s.”
In the film, a fresh-faced Maupin criticizes the anti-war movement. ”I was very naive back then,” he says. ”I knew I was gay when I was 13 but I didn`t want to deal with it. So I was all bluster, patriotic to a fault.”
After Vietnam, Maupin settled down in San Francisco and worked as an Associated Press correspondent.
”It`s a city of dreams, tolerant and accepting of newcomers. I had my first sexual experience there. And I `came out` shortly after that-when a local magazine wanted to include me in a piece on the city`s 10 sexiest men. I told them that was fine as long as they mentioned I was not available.”
By then, Maupin was already a minor celebrity. His daily column in the Chronicle, ”Tales of the City,” was the talk of the town; the crisscrossed lives of its colorful cast of characters were avidly followed by legions of fans.
”I was intrigued by the single men and women who went to neighborhood Safeways (supermarkets) in search of Mr. Right. So I wrote vignettes for a local weekly. By the time the column moved over to the Chronicle in `76, I had run out of phenomena. That was when I began appropriating other people`s lives and also focusing on the characters who were aspects of myself.”
In the docu-biography, friends and colleagues fondly reminisce about their relationships with Maupin, and they gleefully guess who might have served as models for his fictional menagerie.
”Only a few were specifically based on people I knew,” Maupin says.
”The TV priest Father Miles Riley, for example, was the prototype for campy Father Paddy Starr.
The ”Tales” were collected into a book in the late `70s. Since then, five more installments have been published, the most recent one two years ago. ”I`m finished with the series, even though readers want more,” Maupin says. ”I don`t want to be pidgeonholed.” For the fans of ”Tales,” there is consolation in store. The first two books will be adapted into a 12-part TV series next year by a British production team.
”The books are phenomenally successful in England. And I trust the British producers to remain faithful to my books,” he says. ”In fact, I will retain creative control.”
Hollywood is skewered with relish in ”Maybe the Moon,” Maupin`s latest novel, which he describes as ”a kinder, gentler `Myra Breckenridge` (by Gore Vidal).” The protagonist, a dwarf actress based on a friend of Maupin`s
(Tamara De Treaux, who played E.T. in the movie), is subjected to the hypocracies and callous ambitions rife in the movie industry.
”Despite her uniqueness, she is forced to be invisible, just like gays and other minorities,” Maupin says. ”A lot of people may not find the message all that pleasant, but I have to be true to my own instincts, to explain life as I see it.”
