This is a town of a million tales but none transfixes nor transforms like The Book.
On the bestseller list for 172 weeks, “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” by John Berendt tells a sordid story of wealth, sex and murder against a blueblood backdrop. It has supercharged the tourism industry of this sultry jewel of the South.
Since publication of The Book (that’s how it’s referred to locally; no one uses the title) caught on, tourism has roughly doubled. Tourist traffic is so heavy around the Mercer House, a red brick mansion and scene of the murder, that police write tickets if they catch two tour buses on the square at the same time.
And Savannah is counting on a second wave from the story: The Book has spawned The Movie, directed by Clint Eastwood, which opened Nov. 21.
“It’s going to bring in more people than we can handle,” says Angela Williams, who makes three circuits of this city a day in her tour bus, showing eager visitors the spots mentioned by Berendt.
“They all want to know about The Book. The ones who don’t know about it get off the bus and ask, `Where can I buy it?’ “
The Book is spun around the socially ambitious Jim Williams, who made a fortune in real estate and antiques but couldn’t break into the blueblood circles he coveted. At Mercer House, he killed a volatile young punk named Danny Hansford with whom he had a sexual relationship. It took four trials to get Williams acquitted.
The Movie stars Eastwood’s daughter, Alison, as Mandy, Kevin Spacey as Jim Williams, John Cusack as the reporter covering the story, Jude Law as Hansford and The Lady Chablis — a flamboyant Florida-born female impersonator — as herself.
Savannah’s many charms have been in the Hollywood lens before, not always for the best. The filming of “Midnight” was relatively low-key and the cast warmly received in Savannah, unlike the filming of “Forrest Gump,” which brought tension and turmoil.
For Tom Hanks’ “Gump,” streets and squares were blocked for hours at a time, businesses wilted because of the traffic disruption and the cast was regarded, by Savannah standards, as aloof and distant.
Julia Roberts came to town, too, to film her tale of marital betrayal, “Something to Talk About.” The scene in which she confronts the town’s women about sleeping with her husband was shot across the square from Mercer House.
Every book tour in town features Mercer House. Clint Eastwood talked Williams’ sister into letting him film inside, but others drawn by the old mansion’s notoriety are not welcome. The closed gate at the street holds a sign reminding pilgrims it’s a private residence.
Take a bus tour about The Book and you’ll drive by:
– Mercer House, where Jim Williams was said to park his Jaguar on a Persian rug in the carriage house.
– Clary’s Cafe, where the author’s breakfasts often featured a character capable of poisoning the city’s water supply.
– Chatham County Courthouse, where three of Jim Williams’ trials were held until a change of venue was finally granted.
– The Chatham County Jail, where Jim Williams ran his international antique business from a cell.
– Sweet Georgia Brown’s, a bar.
– Joe Odom’s many homes (he’d invite himself in when the owners were out of town and set up housekeeping, often for months at a time).
– The apartment of The Lady Chablis, the flamboyant transvestite.
– Bonaventure Cemetery, site of the X-rated picnic and the onetime home of the statue of the “Bird Girl” birdbath on the book’s cover. It has been removed from the cemetery for fear of theft and is on loan to Savannah’s Telfair Academy of Arts and Sciences, the oldest public arts museum in the South.
– The Harrison-Turner House, known to readers as the Odom party house. At the close of the 19th Century, it was a focal point of Savannah’s social life.
Tours of the house are $5 and showcase the mansion’s elegance, rather than the unmade beds that were often a staple of Odom’s tours.
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For more information, contact the Savannah Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, 222 West Oglethorpe Ave., Savannah, Ga. 31402; 800-444-2427.
