Readers' Guide to "Tales of the City" by Armistead Maupin

Armistead Maupin’s

Tales of the City

A Guide for Readers

by Allen Loibner-Waitkus

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Table of Contents Instructor’s Introduction.......................................................................................... 5 Important Characters............................................................................................... 7 Real People Metioned............................................................................................... 9 General Glossary...................................................................................................... 23 About the Author..................................................................................................... 32 Maps..........................................................................................................................34 Other Information................................................................................................... 35 “The Lotos-eaters” by Alfred Tennyson............................................................... 36 Photograph Info (and Credits)............................................................................... 41

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Instructor’s Introduction

Because Tales of the City was written in real time in the 1970s, there are numerous pop-culture references with which many readers may be unfamiliar. In an attempt to help you better understand the novel, I have created this guide.

This guide is informal (at best) and not a work of academic writing; therefore, citations are missing. I should give credit to the following sorces from which I borrowed heavily: • Armistead Maupin’s Official Website—www.armisteadmaupin.com/ • Internet Movie Database— www.imdb.com/ • Merriam Webster’s Website—www.merriam-webster.com/ • Wikipedia (GASP!)— en.wikipedia.org/ • Your Dictionary—www.yourdictionary.com I hope this guide is helpful.

I also hope the novel has the same impact it did on me and hundreds of thousands of other readers.

Best,

Allen Loibner-Waitkus

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Important Characters Bradshaw, Connie—Mary Ann Singleton’s friend from high school Mary Ann stays with her first few days in San Francisco.

Callas, Carson—a gossip columnist for Western Gentry magazine.

Day, Beauchamp—married to DeDe Day and works for her father at Halcyon Communications.

Day, DeDe—married to Beauchamp Day and daughter of Edgar and Frannie Halcyon.

Fielding, Dr. Jon—DeDe Day’s gynecologist who dates Michael Tolliver.

Gruen, Binky—a socialite Friend of DeDe Day. Halcyon, Edgar—married to Frannie Halcyon, father of DeDe Day, and owner of Halcyon Communications.

Halcyon, Frannie—married to Edgar Halcyon and mother to DeDe Day. Hawkins, Brian—a womanizing resident of 28 Barbary Lane.

Madrigal, Anna—the landlady of 28 Barbary Lane.

Ramsey, Mona—a free-spirited resident of 28 Barbary Lane.

Singleton, Mary Ann—new to San Francisco from Cleavland, Ohio, and a resident of 28 Barbary Lane.

Tolliver, Michael—a good friend of Mona Ramsey who eventually becomes a resident of 28 Barbary Lane.

Williams, Norman Neal—an awkward resident of 28 Barbary Lane.

Wilson, D’orothea—a model who moves from New York to San Francisco to be closer to Mona Ramsey.

Wong, Lionel—a delivery boy.

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Real People Mentioned Adler, Kurt—(2 April 1905–9 February 1988) an Austrian-born American conductor and opera house director.

Astaire, Fred—(10 May 1899–22 June 1987) an American dancer, singer, actor, choreographer, and television presenter. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential dancers in the history of film and television musicals.

Baez, Joan—(born 9 January 1941) an American folk singer, songwriter, musician, and activist whose contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest or social justice. Baez has performed publicly for more than fifty-nine years, releasing more than thirty albums. Fluent in Spanish and English, she has also recorded songs in at least six other languages. She is regarded as a folk singer, although her music has diversified since the counterculture days of the 1960s and now encompasses everything from folk rock and pop to country and gospel music.

Barker, Bob—(born 12 December 1923) an American former television game show host. He is known for hosting CBS’s The Price Is Right from 1972 to 2007, making it the longest-running daytime game show in North American television history, and for hosting Truth or Consequences from 1956 to 1974.

Baryshnikov, Mikhail—(born 27 January 1948), nicknamed “Misha” (Russian diminutive of the name “Mikhail”), a Soviet and American dancer, choreographer, and actor.

Berkeley, Busby—(29 November 1895–14 March 1976) an American film director and musical choreographer.

Berkeley devised elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns.

Berkeley’s works used large numbers of showgirls and props as fantasy elements in kaleidoscopic on-screen performances. <<Berenson, Marisa—(born 15 February 1947) an American actress and model. She appeared on the front covers of Vogue and Time, and won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Natalia Landauer in the 1972 film Cabaret. The role also earned her Golden Globe and BAFTA Award nominations.

Borgia, Lucrezia—(8 April 1480–24 June 1519) the daughter of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza dei Cattanei. Her brothers included Cesare Borgia, Giovanni Borgia, and Gioffre Borgia. Her family arranged several marriages for her that advanced their own political position including Giovanni Sforza (Lord of Pesaro), Alfonso of Aragon (Duke of Bisceglie), and Alfonso I d’Este (Duke of Ferrara). Tradition has it that Alfonso of Aragon was an illegitimate son of the King of Naples and that her brother Cesare may have had him murdered after his political value waned. Rumors about her and her family cast Lucrezia as a femme fatale, a role in which she has been portrayed in many artworks, novels and films. Several rumours have persisted throughout the years, primarily speculating as to the nature of the extravagant parties thrown by the Borgia family. Many of these concern allegations of incest, poisoning, and murder on her part; however, no historical basis for these rumours has ever been brought forward beyond allegations made by rival parties.

Brautigan, Richard—(30 January 1935–c. 16 September 1984) was an American novelist, poet,

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and short story writer. His work often employs black comedy, parody, and satire. He is best known for his novels Trout Fishing in America (1967) and In Watermelon Sugar (1968).

Brothers, Dr. Joyce—(20 October 1927–13 May 2013) an American psychologist, television personality, and columnist, who wrote a daily newspaper advice column from 1960 to 2013. In 1955, she became the only woman ever to win the top prize on the American game show The $64,000 Question, answering questions on the topic of boxing, which was suggested as a stunt by the show’s producers. In 1958, she presented a television show on which she dispensed psychological advice, pioneering the field. She wrote a column for Good Housekeeping for almost forty years and became, according to The Washington Post, the “face of American psychology.”

Brothers appeared in dozens of television roles, usually as herself, but from the 1970s onward she accepted roles portraying fictional characters, often self-parodies.

Cannon, Dyan—(born 4 January 1937) an American actress, director, screenwriter, producer, and editor. She has been nominated for three Academy Awards.

Captain and Tennille—American recording artists whose primary success occurred in the 1970s. The husband-and-wife duo were “Captain” Daryl Dragon (born 27 August 1942) and Cathryn Antoinette “Toni” Tennille (born 8 May 1940). They have five albums certified gold or platinum and scored numerous hits on the US singles charts, the most enduring of which included “Love Will Keep Us Together,” “Do That to Me One More Time,” and “Muskrat Love”. They hosted their own television variety series on ABC in 1976–1977.>> Carpenter, Liz—(1 September 1920–20 March 2010) a writer, feminist, former reporter, media adviser, speech writer, political humorist, and public relations expert. Carpenter was born in historic Salado in southern Bell County, Texas.

In 1936, her 24-room residence there was declared a state historic monument.

In 1967, a plaque was unveiled to indicate that Carpenter had once lived there.

At the age of seven, she moved with her family to Austin. Carpenter stood in the forefront of the Women’s Movement when it began and never wavered from her platform. Her projects and causes ranged from supporting high tech to fighting cancer. Often called the “funniest woman in politics,” she was in demand as a public speaker until her death.

Carpenters, The—an American vocal and instrumental duo of Karen (1950–1983) and Richard Carpenter (born 1946). They produced a distinct soft musical style, combining Karen’s contralto vocals with Richard’s arranging and composition skills. During their fourteen-year career, the Carpenters recorded ten albums, along with numerous singles and several television specials.

Chaplin, Charlie—(16 April 1889–25 December 1977) an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. Chaplin became a worldwide icon through his screen persona “the Tramp” and is considered one of the most important figures in the history of the film industry. His career spanned more than seventy-five years, from childhood in the Victorian era until a year before his death in 1977, and encompassed both adulation and controversy.

Coppola, Francis Ford—(born 7 April 1939) an American film director, producer, screenwriter and film composer. He was a central figure in the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking.

Coward, Noel—(16 December 1899–26 March 1973) an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called “a sense of personal style, a combination

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of cheek and chic, pose and poise.”

Crain, Jeanne—(25 May 1925–14 December 2003) an American actress whose career spanned from 1943 to 1975. She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in the 1949 film Pinky, in which she played the leading role. She was also noted for her ability in ice skating.

Crosby, Bing—(3 May 1903–14 October 1977) an American singer and actor. Crosby’s trademark warm bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of all time, having sold over one billion analog records and tapes, as well as digital compact discs and downloads around the world.

Davis, Adelle—(25 February 1904–31 May 1974) an American author and nutritionist, considered “the most famous nutritionist in the early to mid-20th century.” She was as an advocate for improved health through better nutrition. She wrote an early textbook on nutrition in 1942, followed by four best-selling books for consumers which praised the value of natural foods and criticized the diet of the average American. Her books sold more than ten million copies and helped shape America’s eating habits. Despite her popularity, she was heavily criticized by her peers for many recommendations she made that were not supported by the scientific literature, some of which were considered dangerous. <<Day, Doris—( born 3 April 1922) an American actress, singer, and animal welfare activist. After she began her career as a big band singer in 1939, her popularity increased with her first hit recording “Sentimental Journey” (1945). After leaving Les Brown & His Band of Renown to embark on a solo career, she recorded more than 650 songs from 1947 to 1967, which made her one of the most popular and acclaimed singers of the 20th century. Day’s film career began with the 1948 film Romance on the High Seas, and its success sparked her twenty-year career as a motion picture actress. She starred in a series of successful films, including musicals, comedies, and dramas. She played the title role in Calamity Jane (1953), and starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) with James Stewart. Her most successful films were the “pioneering” bedroom comedies she made co-starring Rock Hudson and James Garner, such as Pillow Talk (1959) and Move Over, Darling (1963), respectively. She also co-starred in films with such leading men as Clark Gable, Cary Grant, David Niven, and Rod Taylor. After her final film in 1968, she went on to star in the CBS sitcom The Doris Day Show (1968–1973).

Dee, Sandra—(23 April 1942–20 February 2005) an American actress. Dee began her career as a child model, working in commercials before transitioning to film in her teenage years.

Best known for her portrayal of ingénues, Dee earned a Golden Globe Award as one of the year’s most promising newcomers for her performance in Robert Wise’s Until They Sail (1958). She became a teenage star for her subsequent performances in Imitation of Life and Gidget (both 1959), which made her a household name.

By the late 1960s, her career had started to decline, and a highly publicized marriage to Bobby Darin (m. 1960– 1967) ended in divorce. She rarely acted after this time, and her final years were marred by illness. She died in 2005 at age 62 of complications from kidney disease, brought on by a lifelong struggle with anorexia nervosa.

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Deneuve, Catherine—(born 22 October 1943) a French actress, as well as an occasional singer, model, and producer. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof, mysterious beauties for various directors, including Luis Buñuel, François Truffaut, and Roman Polanski. In 1985, she succeeded Mireille Mathieu as the official face of Marianne, France’s national symbol of liberty. A 14-time César Award nominee, she won for her performances in Truffaut’s The Last Metro (1980) and Régis Wargnier’s Indochine (1992). She is also noted for her support for a variety of liberal causes. <<Denver, John—(31 December 1943–12 October 1997) an American singer-songwriter, record producer, actor, activist, and humanitarian, whose greatest commercial success was as a solo singer. After traveling and living in numerous locations while growing up in his military family, Denver began his music career with folk music groups during the late 1960s. Starting in the 1970s, he was one of the most popular acoustic artists of the decade and one of its best-selling artists. By 1974, he was firmly established as one of America’s best-selling performers, and AllMusic has described Denver as “among the most beloved entertainers of his era.” Denver recorded and released approximately 300 songs, about 200 of which he composed, with total sales of over 33 million records worldwide. He recorded and performed primarily with an acoustic guitar and sang about his joy in nature, his disdain for city life, his enthusiasm for music, and his relationship trials. Denver’s music appeared on a variety of charts, including country music, the Billboard Hot 100, and adult contemporary, in all earning him twelve gold and four platinum albums with his signature songs “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” “Annie’s Song,” “Rocky Mountain High,” “Thank God I’m a Country Boy,” and “Sunshine on My Shoulders.” Denver appeared in several films and television specials during the 1970s and 1980s. He continued to record in the 1990s, also focusing on environmental issues by lending vocal support to space exploration and testifying in front of Congress in protest against censorship in music. He lived in Aspen, Colorado, for much of his life and was known for his love of Colorado, which he sang about numerous times. In 1974 Denver was named poet laureate of the state. The Colorado state legislature also adopted “Rocky Mountain High” as one of its two state songs in 2007.

Denver, who was an avid pilot, died at the age of 53 flying his experimental Rutan Long-EZ canard aircraft in a single-fatality crash.

Doda, Carol—(29 August 1937–9 November 2015) a topless dancer in San Francisco, California, who was active from the 1960s through the 1980s. She was the first public topless dancer.

Domingo, Placido—(born 21 January 1941) a Spanish tenor, conductor and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French, German, Spanish, English, and Russian in the most prestigious opera houses in the world.

Faith, Percy—(7 April 1908–9 February 1976) a Canadian bandleader, orchestrator, composer and conductor, known for his lush arrangements of pop and Christmas standards. He is often credited with popularizing the “easy listening” or “mood music” format. Faith became a staple of American popular music in the 1950s and continued well into the 1960s. Though his professional orchestra-leading career began at the height of the swing era, Faith refined and rethought orchestration techniques, including use of large string sections, to soften and fill out the brass-dominated popular music of the 1940s.

Fariña, Mimi—(30 April 1945–18 July 2001) a singer-songwriter and activist, and the youngest of three daughters to a white mother and a Mexican-American physicist, Albert Baez. She was the younger sister of the singer and activist Joan Baez.

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Fitzgerald, Zelda—(24 July 1900–10 March 1948) an American socialite, novelist, painter and wife of author F. Scott Fitzgerald. Born in Montgomery, Alabama, she was noted for her beauty and high spirits, and was dubbed by her husband as “the first American Flapper.” She and Scott became emblems of the Jazz Age, for which they are still celebrated. The immediate success of Scott’s first novel, This Side of Paradise (1920), brought them into contact with high society, but their marriage was plagued by wild drinking, infidelity, and bitter recriminations. Ernest Hemingway, whom Zelda disliked, blamed her for Scott’s declining literary output, though her extensive diaries provided much material for his fiction. After being diagnosed with schizophrenia, she was increasingly confined to specialist clinics, and the couple were living apart when Scott died suddenly in 1940. Zelda died seven years later in a fire at the hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, in which she was a patient.

Flack, Roberta—(born 10 February 1937) an American singer. She is known for her number-one singles “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” and “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” and for “Where Is the Love” and “The Closer I Get to You,” two of her many duets with Donny Hathaway. Flack was the first, and remains the only, solo artist to win the Grammy Award for Record of the Year on two consecutive years: “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” won at the 1973 Grammys, as did “Killing Me Softly with His Song” at the 1974 Grammys.

Fleming, Rhonda—(born 10 August 1923) an American film/television actress and singer.

Garland, Judy—(10 June 1922–22 June 1969) an American singer, actress, and vaudevillian. She began performing as a child and her singing and acting abilities gained her international stardom, spanning the rest of her life as a performer in both musical and dramatic roles, and through many live concerts and acclaimed albums.

Garland began performing in vaudeville with her two older sisters and was signed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a teenager. She made more than two dozen films with MGM, including nine with Mickey Rooney. Garland had several well-remembered film appearances. At age seventeen, she played her most famous role, that of Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939). In the height of her film career, Garland was starring in three to four pictures every year for MGM, with roles in film classics including Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), The Harvey Girls (1946), Easter Parade (1948) and Summer Stock (1950). After fifteen years, she was released from her contract with the studio and made record-breaking concert appearances, had a successful recording career and her own Emmy-nominated television series. Garland had fewer film appearances in the later years of her career, but she did appear in two Academy Award-nominated performances in A Star Is Born (1954) and Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). Despite profound professional success, Garland struggled largely in her personal life from an early age. The pressures of adolescent stardom affected her physical and mental health from the time she was a teenager; her self-image was influenced and constantly criticized by film executives who believed that she was physically unattractive. Those same executives manipulated her ons-creen physical appearance. Additionally, she was a victim of Hollywood’s sexual predators. She was seduced by Spencer Tracy at the age of 14. She was plagued into her adulthood by alcohol and substance abuse as well as financial instability. She often owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes. Her lifelong addiction to drugs and alcohol ultimately led to her death in England from a barbiturate overdose at age 47.>> Guevara, Che—(14 June 1928–9 October 1967) an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and military theorist. A major figure of the Cuban Revolution, his stylized visage has become a ubiquitous countercultural symbol of rebellion and global insignia in popular culture.

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Hall, Monty—(25 August 1921–30 September 2017) a Canadian-American game show host, producer, and philanthropist. Hall was widely known as the long-running host of Let’s Make a Deal and for the puzzle named after him, the Monty Hall problem. <<Hamill, Dorothy—(born 26 July 1956) a retired American figure skater. She is the 1976 Olympic champion and 1976 World champion in ladies’ singles.

Hammett, Dahiell—(27 May 1894–10 January 1961) an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories, screenwriter, and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade (The Maltese Falcon), Nick and Nora Charles (The Thin Man), and the Continental Op (Red Harvest and The Dain Curse). Hammett is now widely regarded as one of the finest mystery writers of all time.” In his obituary in The New York Times, he was described as “the dean of the... ‘hard-boiled’ school of detective fiction.”

Time magazine included Hammett’s 1929 novel Red Harvest on its list of the 100 best English-language novels published between 1923 and 2005. His novels and stories also had a significant influence on films, including (but not limited to) the genres of private-eye/detective fiction, mystery thrillers and film-noir.

Hearst, Patty—(born 20 February 1954) the granddaughter of American publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, she became internationally known for events following her 1974 kidnapping and physical violation by a domestic American terrorist group known as the Symbionese Liberation Army. Hearst was found nineteen months after being abducted, by which time she was a fugitive wanted for serious crimes.

She was held in custody, despite speculation that her family’s resources would prevent her from spending time in jail. At her trial, the prosecution suggested that she had joined the Symbionese Liberation Army of her own volition. Hearst said she had been raped and threatened with death. She was found guilty of bank robbery.

Hearst’s sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter, and she was later pardoned by President Bill Clinton.>> Hellman, Lillian—(20 June 1905–30 June 1984) an American dramatist and screenwriter known for her success as a playwright on Broadway, as well as her left-wing sympathies and political activism. She was blacklisted after her appearance before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) at the height of

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the anti-communist campaigns of 1947–1952. Although she continued to work on Broadway in the 1950s, her blacklisting by the American film industry caused a drop in her income. Many praised Hellman for refusing to answer questions by HUAC, but others believed, despite her denial, that she had belonged to the Communist Party.

Hepburn, Audrey—(4 May 1929–20 January 1993) a British actress, model, dancer and humanitarian. Recognized as a film and fashion icon, Hepburn was active during Hollywood’s Golden Age. She was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third-greatest female screen legend in Golden Age Hollywood and was inducted into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame. Born in Ixelles, a district of Brussels, Hepburn spent her childhood between Belgium, England, and the Netherlands. In Amsterdam, she studied ballet with Sonia Gaskell before moving to London in 1948, continuing her ballet training with Marie Rambert, and then performing as a chorus girl in West End musical theatre productions. Following minor appearances in several films, Hepburn starred in the 1951 Broadway play Gigi after being spotted by French novelist Colette, on whose work the play was based. She shot to stardom for playing the lead role in Roman Holiday (1953), for which she was the first actress to win an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a BAFTA Award for a single performance.

That same year, Hepburn won a Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Play for her performance in Ondine.

She went on to star in a number of successful films, such as Sabrina (1954), The Nun’s Story (1959), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Charade (1963), My Fair Lady (1964) and Wait Until Dark (1967), for which she received Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations. Hepburn won three BAFTA Awards for Best British Actress in a Leading Role. In recognition of her film career, she was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from BAFTA, the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award and the Special Tony Award. She remains one of the 12 people who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards. Hepburn appeared in fewer films as her life went on, devoting much of her later life to UNICEF. She had contributed to the organization since 1954, then worked in some of the poorest communities of Africa, South America, and Asia between 1988 and 1992. She was awarded as the Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of her work as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in December 1992. A month later, Hepburn died of cancer at her home in Switzerland at the age of 63. <<Hunter, Tab—(11 July 1931) an American actor, pop singer, and author. He has starred in over 40 films and is probably best known as a Hollywood star of the 1950s and 1960s. After years in the closet, Hunter came out as gay in his 2005 autobiography.

Hutton, Lauren—(born 17 November 1943) an American model and actress.

Raised in the southern United States, Hutton relocated to New York City in her early adulthood to begin a modeling career. Though she was initially dismissed by agents for a signature gap in her teeth, Hutton signed a modeling contract with Revlon in 1973, which at the time was the biggest contract in the history of the modeling industry. Over her career, Hutton has worked both as a model and an actress, making her film debut in the sports drama Paper Lion in 1968, opposite Alan Alda. She also played central roles in The Gambler (1974) and American Gigolo (1980), and later appeared on television in the network series Paper Dolls and Nip/Tuck.

Kellerman, Sally—(born 2 June 1937) an American actress, activist, author, producer, singer, and voice artist.

Kirkwood, James—(22 August 1924–21 April 1989) an American playwright, author and actor. In 1976 he received the Tony Award, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the Broadway hit A Chorus Line.

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Lamour, Dorothy—(10 December 1914–22 September 1996) an American actress and singer. She is best remembered for appearing in the Road to... movies, a series of successful comedies starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.

Lawrence, Gertrude—(4 July 1898–6 September 1952) an English actress, singer, dancer and musical comedy performer known for her stage appearances in the West End of London and on Broadway in New York.

Loggins, Kenny—(born 7 January 1948) an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.

McQueen, Steve—(24 March 1930–7 November 1980) an American actor. He was called “The King of Cool.” His “anti-hero” persona developed at the height of the counterculture of the 1960s and made him a top box-office draw of the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award nomination for his role in The Sand Pebbles. His other popular films include The Cincinnati Kid, The Thomas Crown Affair, Bullitt, The Getaway, and Papillon, as well as the all-star ensemble films The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, and The Towering Inferno. In 1974, he became the highest-paid movie star in the world, although he did not act in films again for four years. McQueen was combative with directors and producers, but his popularity placed him in high demand and enabled him to command large salaries.>> Maharishi Mahesh Yogi—(12 January 1918–5 February 2008) developed the Transcendental Meditation technique and was the leader and guru of a worldwide organization that has been characterized in multiple ways including as a new religious movement and as non-religious.

Manson, Charles—(12 November 1934–19 November 2017) an American criminal and cult leader. In the late 1960s, he formed what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune in California. Manson’s followers committed a series of nine murders at four locations in July and August 1969. In 1971 he was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for the deaths of seven people, all of which were carried out at his instruction by members of the group. Manson was also convicted of first-degree murder for two other deaths.>> Mao Tse-tung—(26 December 1893–9 September 1976), commonly known as Chairman Mao, a Chinese communist revolutionary, poet, political theorist and founding father of the People’s Republic of China, which he ruled as the Chairman of the Communist Party of China from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976. His theories, military strategies, and political policies are collectively known as “Maoism.”

Merrill, Dina—(29 December 1923–22 May 2017) an American actress, heiress, socialite, businesswoman, and philanthropist.

Millay, Edna St. Vincent—(22 February 1892–19 October 1950) an American poet and playwright. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923, the third woman to win the award for poetry and was also known for her

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feminist activism. She used the pseudonym, Nancy Boyd, for her prose work. The poet Richard Wilbur asserted, “She wrote some of the best sonnets of the century.”

Moore, Mary Tyler—(29 December 1936–25 January 2017) an American actress, known for her roles in the television sitcoms The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970–1977), in which she starred as Mary Richards, a single woman working as a local news producer in Minneapolis, and The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–1966), in which she played Laura Petrie, a former dancer turned Westchester homemaker, wife and mother. Her film work includes 1967’s Thoroughly Modern Millie and 1980’s Ordinary People, in which she played a role that was very different from the television characters she had portrayed and for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.

Murray, Arthur—(4 April 1895–3 March 1991) an American ballroom dancer and businessman, whose name is most often associated with the dance studio chain that bears his name.

Newhart, Bob—(born 5 September 1929) an American stand-up comedian and actor, noted for his deadpan and slightly stammering delivery. Newhart came to prominence in 1960 when his album of comedic monologues, The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart, became a worldwide bestseller and reached number one on the Billboard pop album chart—it remains the 20th best-selling comedy album in history. The follow-up album, The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back!, was also a success, and the two albums held the Billboard number one and number two spots simultaneously. Newhart later went into acting, starring as Chicago psychologist Dr. Robert Hartley in The Bob Newhart Show during the 1970s and then as Vermont innkeeper Dick Loudon on the 1980s series Newhart. He also had two short-lived sitcoms in the 1990s titled Bob and George and Leo. Newhart also appeared in film roles such as Major Major in Catch-22 and Papa Elf in Elf. He provided the voice of Bernard in the Walt Disney animated films The Rescuers and The Rescuers Down Under. In 2004, he played the library head Judson in The Librarian, a character which continued in 2014 to the TV series The Librarians.

In 2013, Newhart made his first of five guest appearances on The Big Bang Theory as Professor Proton, for which he received his first Primetime Emmy Award on 15 September 2013. <<Newman, Paul—(26 January 1925–26 September 2008) an American actor, voice actor, film director, producer, race car driver, IndyCar owner, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and activist. He won and was nominated for numerous awards, winning an Academy Award for his performance in the 1986 film The Color of Money, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award, an Emmy Award, and many others. Newman’s other roles include the title characters in The Hustler (1961), Hud (1963), Harper (1966), and Cool Hand Luke (1967), as well as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972), The Sting (1973), and The Verdict (1982). He also voiced Doc Hudson in the first installment of Disney-Pixar’s Cars, his final acting performance, and received a posthumous credit for his voice recordings in Cars 3 (2017).

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Nin, Anaïs—(21 February 1903–14 January 1977) an American diarist, essayist, novelist, and writer of short stories and erotica. Born to Cuban parents in France, Nin was the daughter of composer Joaquín Nin and Rosa Culmell, a classically trained singer. Although Nin spent some time in Spain and Cuba, she lived most of her life in the United States, where she became an established author. <<Nixon, Tricia—(born 21 February 1946) the elder daughter of the 37th U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon, and sister to Julie Nixon Eisenhower.

Nureyev, Rudolf—(17 March 1938–6 January 1993) a Soviet ballet dancer and choreographer. He was director of the Paris Opera Ballet from 1983 to 1989 and its chief choreographer until October 1992.

Olivor, Jane—(born 18 May 1947) an American singer. After releasing five albums from the late 1970s through the early 1980s, her stage fright, anxiety over her rapid success, and her husband’s illness and death caused her to take a ten-year hiatus. In the 1990s, she released five more albums from 1995 through 2004. Since 2009, she has been retired from the public eye. <<O’Neill, Jennifer—(born 20 February 1948) a Brazilian American actress, model, author, and speaker, known for her role in the 1971 film Summer of ‘42 and modeling for CoverGirl cosmetics starting in the 1970s.

Parker, Eleanor—(26 June 1922–9 December 2013) an American actress who appeared in some 80 movies and television series.[1] An actress of notable versatility, she was called “Woman of a Thousand Faces” by Doug McClelland, author of a biography of Parker by the same title. At age 18, Parker was signed by Warner Brothers in 1941. She was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress in the 1950s, for Caged (1950), Detective Story (1951) and Interrupted Melody (1955). One of her most memorable roles was that of “the Baroness” in The Sound of Music (1965).

Parks, Bert—(30 December 1914–2 February 1992) an American actor, singer, and radio and television announcer, best known for hosting the annual Miss America telecast from 1955 to 1979.

Parrish, Maxfield—(25 July 1870–30 March 1966) an American painter and illustrator active in the first half of the 20th century. He is known for his distinctive saturated hues and idealized neoclassical imagery.

Pavarotti, Luciano—(12 October 1935–6 September 2007) an Italian operatic tenor who also crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most commercially successful tenors of all time. He made numerous recordings of complete operas and individual arias, gaining worldwide fame

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for the quality of his tone, and eventually established himself as one of the finest tenors of the 20th century.

Peale, Norman Vincent—(31 May 1898–24 December 1993) an American minister and author known for his work in popularizing the concept of positive thinking, especially through his best-selling book The Power of Positive Thinking. He served as the pastor of Marble Collegiate Church, New York, from 1932 until his death, leading a Reformed Church in America congregation. Peale was a personal friend of President Richard Nixon.

Peale’s ideas and techniques were controversial, and he received frequent criticism both from church figures and from the psychiatric profession.

Peck, Gregory—(5 April 1916–12 June 2003) an American actor who was one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s. Peck continued to play major film roles until the late 1980s. His performance as Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Peppard, George—(1 October 1928–8 May 1994) an American film and television actor. Peppard secured a major role when he starred alongside Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961) and later portrayed a character based on Howard Hughes in The Carpetbaggers (1964). On television, he played the title role of millionaire insurance investigator and sleuth Thomas Banacek in the early-1970s mystery series Banacek. He played Col. John “Hannibal” Smith, the cigar-smoking leader of a renegade commando squad, in the hit 1980s action show The A-Team.

Proust, Marcel—(10 July 1871–18 November 1922) a French novelist, critic, and essayist best known for his monumental novel À la recherche du temps perdu (In Search of Lost Time; earlier rendered as Remembrance of Things Past), published in seven parts between 1913 and 1927. He is considered by critics and writers to be one of the most influential authors of the 20th century.

Pulitzer, Lilly—(10 November 1931–7 April 2013) an American socialite and fashion designer. She founded Lilly Pulitzer, Inc., which produces clothing and other such wares featuring bright, colorful, floral prints. As the brand is popular with high society, she was called the “Queen of Prep.”

Reddy, Helen—(born 25 October 1941) an Australian singer, actress and activist. In the 1970s, she enjoyed international success, especially in the United States, where she placed fifteen singles in the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. Six made the Top 10 and three reached No. 1, including her signature hit “I Am Woman”. She is often referred to as the “Queen of ‘70s Pop.” Redford, Robert—(born 18 August 1936) an American actor, director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, and philanthropist.>> Renault, Mary—(4 September 1905–13 December 1983), an English writer best known for her historical novels set in Ancient Greece. In addition to vivid fictional portrayals of Theseus, Socrates, Plato and Alexander the Great, she wrote a non-fiction biography of Alexander.

Robertson, Dale—(14 July 1923–27 February 2013) an American actor best known for his starring roles on television. He played the roving investigator Jim Hardie in the long-running NBC/ABC hit television series Tales of Wells Fargo, and Ben Calhoun, the owner of an incomplete railroad line in ABC’s The Iron Horse. He was often presented as a deceptively thoughtful, but modest, Western hero. From 1968 to 1970, Robertson was the fourth and final host of the syndicated Death Valley Days anthology series.

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Rooney, Mickey—(23 September 1920–6 April 2014) an American actor, vaudevillian, comedian, producer, and radio personality. In a career spanning nine decades and continuing until shortly before his death, he appeared in more than three hundred films and was one of the last surviving stars of the silent film era. <<Spitz, Mark— (born 10 February 1950) an American former competitive swimmer, nine-time Olympic champion, and former world record-holder in 7 events. He won seven gold medals at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, an achievement surpassed only by Michael Phelps, who won eight golds at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Spitz set new world records in all seven events in which he competed in 1972.

Stein, Gertrude—(3 February 1874–27 July 1946) an American novelist, poet, playwright, and art collector. Born in the Allegheny West neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and raised in Oakland, California, Stein moved to Paris in 1903 and made France her home for the remainder of her life. She hosted a Paris salon, where the leading figures of modernism in literature and art, such as Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, Ezra Pound, Sherwood Anderson and Henri Matisse, would meet. In 1933, Stein published a quasi-memoir of her Paris years, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, written in the voice of her life partner Alice B. Toklas, an American-born member of the Parisian avant-garde. The book became a literary bestseller and vaulted Stein from the relative obscurity of the cult-literature scene into the limelight of mainstream attention. Two quotes from her works have become widely known: “Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose,” and, “There is no there there,” with the latter often taken to be a reference to her childhood home of Oakland, California.

Summer, Donna—(31 December 1948–17 May 2012) an American singer, songwriter, and painter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the late 1970s. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Summer was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach No. 1 on the United States Billboard 200 chart and charted four number-one singles in the U.S. within a twelve-month period. Summer has reportedly sold more than 140 million records worldwide, making her one of the world’s best-selling artists of all time. She also charted two number-one singles on the R&B charts in the U.S. and a number-one in the U.K.>> Tennyson, Alfred—(6 August 1809–6 October 1892) Poet Laureate of Great Britain and Ireland during much of Queen Victoria’s reign and remains one of the most popular British poets.

Troyanos, Tatiana—(12 September 1938–21 August 1993) an American mezzo-soprano of Greek and German descent, remembered as “one of the defining singers of her generation” (Boston Globe). Her voice, “a paradoxical voice—larger than life yet intensely human, brilliant yet warm, lyric yet dramatic”—”was the kind you recognize after one bar, and never forget,” wrote Cori Ellison in Opera News.

Ullmann, Liv—(born 16 December 1938) a Norwegian actress and film director. She is known as one of the “muses” of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman.

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von Fürstenberg, Diane—(born 31 December 1946) a Belgian-American fashion designer best known for her wrap dress.She initially rose to prominence when she married into the German princely House of Fürstenberg, as the wife of Prince Egon von Fürstenberg. Following their separation in 1973 and subsequent divorce in 1983, she has continued to use his family name. Her fashion company, Diane von Furstenberg, is available in more than 70 countries and 45 free-standing shops worldwide, with the company’s headquarters and flagship boutique located in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. She is president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, a position she has held since 2006. In 2014 she was listed as the 68th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes and in 2015 was included in the Time 100, as an icon, by Time magazine.

Wertmüller, Lina—(born 14 August 1928) an Italian screenwriter and film director. She was the first woman nominated for an Academy Award for Directing for Seven Beauties. She is also known for her films The Seduction of Mimi, Love and Anarchy, and Swept Away.

Williams, Esther—(8 August 1921–6 June 2013) an American competitive swimmer and actress.

Wixell, Ingvar—(7 May 1931–8 October 2011) a Swedish baritone who had an active international career in operas and concerts from 1955 to 2003. He mostly sang roles from the Italian repertory, and according to The New York Times “was best known for his steady-toned, riveting portrayals of the major baritone roles of Giuseppe Verdi — among them Rigoletto, Simon Boccanegra, Amonasro in Aïda, and Germont in La traviata.” <<Zodiac Killer—a serial killer who operated in Northern California from at least the late 1960s to the early 1970s. The killer’s identity remains unknown. The Zodiac murdered victims in Benicia, Vallejo, Lake Berryessa, and San Francisco between December 1968 and October 1969. Four men and three women between the ages of 16 and 29 were targeted.

The killer originated the name “Zodiac” in a series of taunting letters sent to the local Bay Area press. These letters included four cryptograms (or ciphers). Of the four cryptograms sent, only one has been definitively solved. Suspects have been named by law enforcement and amateur investigators, but no conclusive evidence has surfaced. The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) marked the case “inactive” in April 2004, but re-opened it at some point prior to March 2007. The case also remains open in the city of Vallejo, as well as in Napa County and Solano County. The California Department of Justice has maintained an open case file on the Zodiac murders since 1969.

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28

BARBARY

LANE

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General Glossary Aïda—an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. <<amyl nitrite—(a chemical compound with the formula C5H11ONO. A variety of isomers are known, but they all feature an amyl group attached to the nitrite functional group. The alkyl group is unreactive and the chemical and biological properties are mainly due to the nitrite group. Like other alkyl nitrites, amyl nitrite is bioactive in mammals, being a vasodilator, which is the basis of its use as a prescription medicine. As an inhalant, it also has a psychoactive effect, which has led to its recreational use with its smell being described as that of old socks or dirty feet. It is also referred to as banapple gas. Often called “poppers,” theyare inhaled for recreational drug purposes, typically for the “high” or “rush” that the drug can create. Poppers have also been historically used for sexual encounters among the youth, including in the gay community. Poppers were part of club culture from the mid 1970s disco scene to the 1980s, and the 1990s rave scene made their use popular again. anagram—a word or phrase made by transposing the letters of another word or phrase. Examples (including words, phrases, and names): • dormitory=dirty room • conversation=voices rant on • listen=silent • astronomer=moon starer • a gentleman=elegant man • funeral=real fun • eleven plus two=twelve plus one • George Bush=he bugs Gore • Ronald Reagan=a darn long era • Elvis=lives • Madonna Louise Ciccone=one cool dance musician Art Deco—a style of visual arts, architecture and design that first appeared in France just before World War I. Art Deco influenced the design of buildings, furniture, jewelry, fashion, cars, movie theaters, trains, ocean liners, and everyday objects, such as radios and vacuum cleaners. It took its name, short for Arts Décoratifs, from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts) held in Paris in 1925. It combined modernist styles with fine craftsmanship and rich materials. During its heyday, Art Deco represented luxury, glamour, exuberance, and faith in social and technological progress.

Art Nouveau—an international style of art, architecture and applied art, especially the decorative arts, that was most popular between 1890 and 1910. A reaction to the academic art of the 19th century, it was inspired by natural forms and structures, particularly the curved lines of plants and flowers. Art Nouveau is a total art style: It embraces a wide range of fine and decorative arts, including architecture, painting, graphic art, interior design, jewelry, furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass art, and metal work. By 1910, Art Nouveau was already out

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of style. It was replaced as the dominant European architectural and decorative style first by Art Deco and then by Modernism. <<Atlantis—a fictional island mentioned within an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato’s works Timaeus and Critias, where it represents the antagonist naval power that besieges “Ancient Athens,” the pseudo-historic embodiment of Plato’s ideal state in The Republic. In the story, Athens repels the Atlantean attack unlike any other nation of the known world,supposedly giving testament to the superiority of Plato’s concept of a state. The story concludes with Atlantis falling out of favor with the deities and submerging into the Atlantic Ocean. Despite its minor importance in Plato’s work, the Atlantis story has had a considerable impact on literature. The allegorical aspect of Atlantis was taken up in utopian works of several Renaissance writers, such as Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis and Thomas More’s Utopia. On the other hand, nineteenth-century amateur scholars misinterpreted Plato’s narrative as historical tradition, most notably in Ignatius L. Donnelly’s Atlantis: The Antediluvian World. Plato’s vague indications of the time of the events—more than nine thousand years before his time—and the alleged location of Atlantis—”beyond the Pillars of Hercules”—has led to much pseudoscientific speculation. As a consequence, Atlantis has become a byword for any and all supposed advanced prehistoric lost civilizations and continues to inspire contemporary fiction, from comic books to films. While present-day philologists and classicists agree on the story’s fictional character, there is still debate on what served as its inspiration. As for instance with the story of Gyges, Plato is known to have freely borrowed some of his allegories and metaphors from older traditions. This led a number of scholars to investigate possible inspiration of Atlantis from Egyptian records of the Thera eruption, the Sea Peoples invasion, or the Trojan War. Others have rejected this chain of tradition as implausible and insist that Plato created an entirely fictional nation as his example, drawing loose inspiration from contemporary events such as the failed Athenian invasion of Sicily in 415–413 BCE or the destruction of Helike in 373 BCE. Barney Google and Snuffy Smith—an American comic strip created by cartoonist Billy DeBeck. Since its debut on 17 June 1919, the strip has gained a large international readership, appearing in nine hundred newspapers in twenty-one countries.

Beach Blanket Babylon—the world’s longest-running musical revue. The show began its run in 1974, at the Savoy Tivoli and has since moved to the larger Club Fugazi in the North Beach district of San Francisco. >> Bhagavad Gita—often referred to as simply the Gita, a 700 verse Hindu scripture in Sanskrit that is part of the Hindu epic Mahabharata (chapters 23–40 of the 6th book of Mahabharata).

Black Like Me—first published in 1961, a nonfiction book by white journalist John Howard Griffin recounting his journey in

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the Deep South of the United States, at a time when African-Americans lived under racial segregation. Griffin was a native of Dallas, Texas, who had his skin temporarily darkened to pass as a black man. He traveled for six weeks throughout the racially segregated states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, and Georgia to explore life from the other side of the color line. Sepia Magazine financed the project in exchange for the right to print the account first as a series of articles. bourgeois—of, relating to, or characteristic of the social middle class.

Boys in the Sand—a landmark American gay pornographic film released at the very beginnings of the Golden Age of Porn. The 1971 film was directed by Wakefield Poole and stars Casey Donovan. Boys in the Sand was the first gay porn film to include credits, to achieve crossover success, to be reviewed by Variety, and one of the earliest porn films, after 1969’s Blue Movie by Andy Warhol, to gain mainstream credibility, preceding 1972’s Deep Throat by nearly a year.

Chorus Line, A—a musical with music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban and a book by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante. Centered on seventeen Broadway dancers auditioning for spots on a chorus line, the musical is set on the bare stage of a Broadway theatre during an audition for a musical. A Chorus Line provides a glimpse into the personalities of the performers and the choreographer as they describe the events that have shaped their lives and their decisions to become dancers. cloche—a woman’s close-fitting hat usually with deep rounded crown and narrow brim. crème de menthe— a sweet, mint-flavored alcoholic beverage. Its flavor primarily derives from Corsican mint or dried peppermint. It is available commercially in a colorless version (called “white”) and a green version (colored by the mint leaves, or by added coloring if made from extract instead of leaves). Both varieties have similar flavor and are interchangeable in recipes, except where color is important.

Dear Abby—an advice column founded in 1956 by Pauline Phillips under the pen name “Abigail Van Buren” and carried on today by her daughter, Jeanne Phillips, who now owns the legal rights to the pen name.

Drew, Nancy—a fictional American character in a mystery fiction series created by publisher Edward Stratemeyer as the female counterpart to his Hardy Boys series. The character first appeared in 1930. The books are ghostwritten by a number of authors and published under the collective pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Over the decades, the character evolved in response to changes in US culture and tastes. The books were extensively revised and shortened, beginning in 1959, in part to lower printing costs with arguable success. In the revision process, the heroine’s original character was changed to be less unruly and violent. In the 1980s, an older and more professional Nancy emerged in a new series, The Nancy Drew Files, that included romantic subplots for the sleuth. The original Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series started in 1930 and ended in 2004. Launched that same year, the Girl Detective series features Nancy driving a hybrid electric vehicle and using a cell phone. In 2013, the Girl Detective series ended, and a new current series called Nancy Drew Diaries was launched. Illustrations of the character evolved over time to reflect contemporary styles. The character proves continuously popular worldwide: at least 80 million copies of the books have been sold, and the books have been translated into more than 45 languages. Nancy Drew is featured in five films, two television shows, and a number of popular computer games. She also appears in a variety of merchandise sold around the world.>>

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<<dirndl—the name of a traditional feminine dress worn in Austria, South Tyrol, and Bavaria. It is based on the traditional clothing of Alps peasants. est (Erhard Seminars Training)—an organization founded by Werner Erhard in 1971, offered a two-weekend (60-hour) course known officially as “The est Standard Training.” This seminar aimed “to transform one’s ability to experience living so that the situations one had been trying to change or had been putting up with, clear up just in the process of life itself.” An est site claims that it “brought to the forefront the ideas of transformation, personal responsibility, accountability, and possibility.” Est seminars took place from late 1971 to late 1984, and spawned a number of books from 1976 to 2011. Est has featured in a number of films and television shows, including the critically acclaimed spy-series The Americans in 2013. Est is an outgrowth of the Human Potential Movement of the 1960s through to the 1970s. As est grew, so did criticism. It was accused of mind control and labeled a cult. David G. Bromley places “Erhard Seminar Training” with Lifespring and Amway in a grouping of “quasi-religious therapies and corporations”. The last est training took place in December 1984 in San Francisco. The seminars gave way to a gentler course called The Forum, which began in January 1985. fag hag—a gay slang phrase referring to a woman who either associates mostly or exclusively with gay and bisexual men. The phrase originated in gay male culture in the United States and was historically an insult.

Some women who associate with gay men object to being called fag hags while others embrace the term. The male counterpart, for men who have similar interpersonal relationships with gay and bisexual men is fag stag.

Front Runner, The—a 1974 novel by Patricia Nell Warren. A love story between a running coach and his star athlete, The Front Runner is noted for being the first contemporary gay novel to achieve mainstream commercial and critical success. girl Friday—a female assistant (as in an office) entrusted with a wide variety of tasks.

Grey Gardens—a 1975 American documentary film by Albert and David Maysles. The film depicts the everyday lives of two reclusive, formerly upper-class women, a mother and daughter both named Edith Beale, who lived in poverty at Grey Gardens, a derelict mansion at 3 West End Road in the wealthy Georgica Pond neighborhood of East Hampton, New York. In 2010 the film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” In a 2014 Sight and Sound poll, film critics voted Grey Gardens the joint ninth best documentary film of all time.

Groton School— a private Episcopal college preparatory boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts, United States. It enrolls about 370 boys and girls, from the eighth through twelfth grades. Tuition, room and board and required fees in 2014-15 amounted to $56,700 (with books extra); 38% of the students receive financial aid. The school is a member of the Independent School League. There are many famous alumni in business, government and the professions, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

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Halcyon—a name for a bird in Greek legend generally associated with the kingfisher. There was an ancient belief that the bird nested on the sea, which it calmed in order to lay its eggs on a floating nest. Two weeks of calm weather were therefore expected around the winter solstice. This myth leads to the use of halcyon as a term for peace or calmness.

Holy Grail—a vessel that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Different traditions describe it as a cup, dish, or stone with miraculous powers that provide happiness, eternal youth or sustenance in infinite abundance. The term holy grail is often used to denote an object or goal that is sought after for its great significance. lotus—a fruit eaten by the lotus-eaters and considered to cause indolence and dreamy contentment.>> McMillian & Wife—a television show (1971–1977) about a San Francisco Police Commissioner Stewart “Mac” McMillan (Rock Hudson) and his amateur detective wife (Susan Saint James) who keep their marriage unpredictable while solving the city’s most baffling crimes. macramé—a coarse lace or fringe made by knotting threads or cords in a geometrical pattern. madrigal—a medieval short lyrical poem in a strict poetic form.

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman—a deliriously demented serial television show (19761977) set in fictional Fernwood, Ohio, focused on the beleaguered heroine Mary Hartman (Louise Lasser), an average American housewife. In the first year, Mary suffered the travails of mass murder, adultery, venereal disease, homosexuality, religious cults, and UFO sightings, before she finally succumbed to a nervous breakdown on a syndicated talk show. mescaline—a naturally occurring psychedelic alkaloid of the phenethylamine class, known for its hallucinogenic effects comparable to those of LSD and psilocybin.

MDA (methylenedioxyamphetamine)—an empathogen-entactogen, psychostimulant, and psychedelic drug of the amphetamine family that is encountered mainly as a recreational drug. In terms of pharmacology, MDA acts most importantly as a serotonin-norepinephrine-dopamine releasing agent (SNDRA). Due to its euphori-

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ant and hallucinogenic effects, the drug is a controlled substance and its possession and sale are illegal in most countries.

Nicholas and Alexandra—a 1967 biography of the last royal family of Russia by historian Robert K. Massie.

On the Beach—a 1959 American post-apocalyptic science-fiction drama film from United Artists, produced and directed by Stanley Kramer that stars Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, and Anthony Perkins.

This black-and-white film is based on Nevil Shute’s 1957 novel of the same name depicting the aftermath of a nuclear war. Unlike the novel, no blame is placed on whoever started the war; it is hinted in the film that the threat of annihilation may have arisen from an accident or misjudgment.

Oui Magazine—a men’s adult pornographic magazine published in the United States and featuring explicit nude photographs of models, with full page pin-ups, centerfolds, interviews and other articles, and cartoons.

Oui ceased publication in 2007. (“Oui” is French for “yes”.)

Pan—the god (in Greek mythology) of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature of mountain wilds, rustic music and impromptus, and companion of the nymphs. He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a faun or satyr. With his homeland in rustic Arcadia, he is also recognized as the god of fields, groves, and wooded glens; because of this, Pan is connected to fertility and the season of spring. The ancient Greeks also considered Pan to be the god of theatrical criticism. The word panic ultimately derives from the god’s name.>> philistine—a person who is guided by materialism and is usually disdainful of intellectual or artistic values.

Phyllis—a spin-off (1975–1977) from Mary Tyler Moore (1970–1977) has Mary Richards’ landlady, Phyllis Lindstrom (Cloris Leachman), moving back to her hometown of San Francisco with her teenage daughter Bess following the sudden death of Phyllis’ (heard of, but never seen) husband, Lars, to make a new life for herself and her daughter by moving in with Lars’s scatterbrained mother, Audrey; and Audrey’s second husband, Judge Dexter; and getting a new job as an assistant to Julie Erskine, the CEO of a photography studio.

Porgy & Bess—an English-language opera by the American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward’s play Porgy, itself an adaptation of DuBose Heyward’s 1925 novel of the same name. psilocybin—a naturally occurring psychedelic prodrug compound produced by more than 200 species of mushrooms, collectively known as psilocybin mushrooms. Psilocybin evolved in mushrooms from its ancestor, muscarine, some 20 million years ago. pyelonephritis—inflammation of the kidney, typically due to a bacterial infection. Symptoms most often include fever and flank tenderness. Other symptoms may include nausea, burning with urination, and frequent

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urination. Complications may include pus around the kidney, sepsis, or kidney failure.

Quaalude—(brand name for methaqualone) a sedative and hypnotic medication. It is a member of the quinazolinone class. The sedative–hypnotic activity of methaqualone was first noted by researchers in the 1950s. In 1962, methaqualone was patented in the US by Wallace and Tiernan. Its use peaked in the early 1970s as a hypnotic, for the treatment of insomnia, and as a sedative and muscle relaxant. Methaqualone became increasingly popular as a recreational drug and club drug in the late 1960s and 1970s, known variously as “ludes” or “sopers” (also “soaps”) in the U.S. and “mandrakes” and “mandies” in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. queue—a braid of hair usually worn hanging at the back of the head. renal—of, relating to, involving, or located in the region of the kidneys. rue—street in French, featuring in many place names in France and elsewhere.

Shangri-La—a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. Hilton describes Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in the western end of the Kunlun Mountains. Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise and particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia (a permanently happy land, isolated from the outside world). In the novel Lost Horizon, the people who live at Shangri-La are almost immortal, living hundreds of years beyond the normal lifespan and only very slowly aging in appearance. The name also evokes the imagery of exoticism of the Orient. sickle cell anemia—a chronic inherited anemia that occurs primarily in individuals of African, Mediterranean, or southwest Asian ancestry who are homozygous for the gene controlling hemoglobin S and that is characterized especially by episodic blocking of small blood vessels by sickle cells.

Sierra Club—an environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on 28 May 1892 in San Francisco, California, by the Scottish-American preservationist John Muir, who became its first president. <<Sodom and Gomorrah— cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis and throughout the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and in the deuterocanonical books, as well as in the Quran and the hadith. According to the Torah, the kingdoms of Sodom and Gomorrah were allied with the cities of Admah, Zeboim, and Bela. These five cities, also known as the “cities of the plain” (from Genesis in the Authorized Version) were situated on the Jordan River plain in the southern region of the land of Canaan. The plain, which corresponds to the area just north of the

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modern-day Dead Sea, was compared to the Garden of Eden as being well-watered and green, suitable for grazing livestock. Divine judgment by God was passed upon Sodom and Gomorrah and two neighboring cities, which were completely consumed by fire and brimstone. Neighboring Zoar (Bela) was the only city to be spared. In Abrahamic religions, Sodom and Gomorrah have become synonymous with impenitent sin and their fall with a proverbial manifestation of divine retribution. Sodom and Gomorrah have been used historically and today as metaphors for vice and homosexuality, although a close reading of the text and other Ancient Near Eastern sources suggest that this association may be incorrect. The story has therefore given rise to words in several languages. These include the English word sodomy, which is used in sodomy laws to describe sexual “crimes against nature,” namely anal or oral sex (particularly homosexual), or bestiality.

Stanford University—a private research university in Stanford, California, in Silicon Valley, 20 miles (30 km) outside of San Jose. Because of its academic strength, wealth, and proximity to Silicon Valley, Stanford is often cited as one of the world’s most prestigious universities.

TM (Transcendental Meditation)—a specific form of silent mantra meditation called the Transcendental Meditation technique and less commonly to the organizations that constitute the Transcendental Meditation movement. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (1918–2008) introduced the TM technique and TM movement in India, in the mid-1950s. <<Transamerica Pyramid—48-story postmodern building (at 600 Montgomery Street between Clay and Washington Streets in the Financial District of San Francisco, California) and the second-tallest skyscraper in the San Francisco skyline. Its height is surpassed by Salesforce Tower, with its top floors scaffolding complete, while still under construction.

The building no longer houses the headquarters of the Transamerica Corporation, which moved its U.S. headquarters to Baltimore, Maryland, but it is still associated with the company and is depicted in the company’s logo. Designed by architect William Pereira and built by Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Company, at 853 feet (260 m), on completion in 1972, it was the eighth-tallest building in the world.

Truth or Consequences—an American game show originally hosted on NBC radio by Ralph Edwards (1940–1957) and later on television by Edwards (1950–1954), Jack Bailey (1954–1956), Bob Barker (1956–1975), Steve Dunne (1957-58), Bob Hilton (1977–1978) and Larry Anderson (1987–1988). The television show ran on CBS, NBC and also in syndication. The premise of the show was to mix the original quiz element of game shows with wacky stunts.

Up with People—an educational organization whose mission is to inspire young people to make a difference in their world. UWP works to break down cultural barriers and create global understanding through volunteer service and a musical show. The UWP current headquarters is in Denver, Colorado, United States, with satellite offices in Belgium and Mexico.

30 • Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City

Vassar College—a private, coeducational, liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the first degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. It became coeducational in 1969, and now has a gender ratio at the national average. The school is one of the historic Seven Sisters, the first elite female colleges in the U.S., and has a historic relationship with Yale University, which suggested a merger with the college before coeducation at both institutions. vitiligo—a skin disorder manifested by smooth white spots on various parts of the body.

WAC (Women’s Army Corps)—the women’s branch of the United States Army. It was created as an auxiliary unit, the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) on 15 May 1942 by Public Law 554,[1] and converted to an active duty status in the Army of the United States as the WAC on 1 July 1943. Its first director was Oveta Culp Hobby, a prominent woman in Texas society.[2][3] The WAC was disbanded in 1978, and all units were integrated with male units.

Y-Teens—designed to create future leaders out of women, ensuring that girls have opportunities beyond high school and our society has capable women leaders from all backgrounds.

Xanadu—an idyllic, exotic, or luxurious place.

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About the Author A

rmistead Maupin was born in Washington, D.C., in 1944 but grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. A graduate of the University of North Carolina, he served as a naval officer in the Mediterranean and with the River Patrol Force in Vietnam.

Maupin worked as a reporter for a newspaper in Charleston, South Carolina, before being assigned to the San Francisco bureau of the Associated Press in 1971. In 1976 he launched his groundbreaking Tales of the City serial in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Maupin is the author of eleven novels, including the six-volume Tales of the City series. Three miniseries starring Olympia Dukakis and Laura Linney were made from the first three Tales novels. The Night Listener became a feature film starring Robin Williams and Toni Collette.

Maupin lives in San Francisco with his husband, Christopher Turner.

A recent photograph of Armistead Maupin taken in San Francisco by his husband, Christopher Turner.

32 â&#x20AC;˘ Armistead Maupinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tales of the City

Tales of the City novels by Armistead Maupin: • • • • • • • • •

Tales of the City More Tales of the City Further Tales of the City Babycakes Significant Others Sure of You Michael Tolliver Lives Mary Ann in Autum The Days of Anna Madrigal

Other novels by Armistead Maupin: • •

Maybe the Moon The Night Listener

Armistead Maupin’s autobiography: •

Logical Families

The first edition cover of Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin.

Award-winning actress Laura Linney, who starred as Mary Ann Singleton in the television versions of the Tales novels, and Maupin in the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade.

Maupin working on his Tales of the City column inside the offices of the San Francisco Chronicle in the 1970s.

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Maps

34 • Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City

Other Information 1976 MONEY CONVERSIONS

MUSIC FROM TALES OF THE CITY

$1.00=$4.44

$1,748.00= $7,764.40

I created a playlist of songs by recording artists mentioned in Tales of the City. They include songs by Joan Baez; David Bowie; Captain and Tennille; The Carpenters; Cher; Bing Crosby; John Denver; Percy Faith; Roberta Flack; Mimi Farina; Judy Garland; Dorothy Lamour; Gertrude Lawrence; Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina; Luciano Pavarotti; Helen Reddy; and Donna Summer.

–ALW

$2,500.00=$11,104.68

You can listen to the playlist by visiting:

$100.00=$444.19 $175.00=$777.33 $225.00= $1,110.47

https://itunes.apple.com/us/playlist/tales-of-thecity/pl.u-RBqVFxz3xDG

A Guide for Readers by Allen Loibner-Waitkus • UA-PTC • 35

The Lotos-eaters

by Alfred Tennyson “Courage!” he said, and pointed toward the land, “This mounting wave will roll us shoreward soon.”

In the afternoon they came unto a land In which it seemed always afternoon.

All round the coast the languid air did swoon, Breathing like one that hath a weary dream.

Full-faced above the valley stood the moon; And like a downward smoke, the slender stream Along the cliff to fall and pause and fall did seem.

A land of streams! some, like a downward smoke, Slow-dropping veils of thinnest lawn, did go; And some thro’ wavering lights and shadows broke, Rolling a slumbrous sheet of foam below.

They saw the gleaming river seaward flow From the inner land: far off, three mountain-tops, Three silent pinnacles of aged snow, Stood sunset-flush’d: and, dew’d with showery drops, Up-clomb the shadowy pine above the woven copse.

The charmed sunset linger’d low adown In the red West: thro’ mountain clefts the dale Was seen far inland, and the yellow down Border’d with palm, and many a winding vale And meadow, set with slender galingale; A land where all things always seem’d the same!

And round about the keel with faces pale, Dark faces pale against that rosy flame, The mild-eyed melancholy Lotos-eaters came.

Branches they bore of that enchanted stem, Laden with flower and fruit, whereof they gave To each, but whoso did receive of them, And taste, to him the gushing of the wave Far far away did seem to mourn and rave On alien shores; and if his fellow spake, His voice was thin, as voices from the grave; And deep-asleep he seem’d, yet all awake, And music in his ears his beating heart did make.

36 • Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City

They sat them down upon the yellow sand, Between the sun and moon upon the shore; And sweet it was to dream of Fatherland, Of child, and wife, and slave; but evermore Most weary seem’d the sea, weary the oar, Weary the wandering fields of barren foam.

Then some one said, “We will return no more”; And all at once they sang, “Our island home Is far beyond the wave; we will no longer roam.”

CHORIC SONG

I There is sweet music here that softer falls Than petals from blown roses on the grass, Or night-dews on still waters between walls Of shadowy granite, in a gleaming pass; Music that gentlier on the spirit lies, Than tir’d eyelids upon tir’d eyes; Music that brings sweet sleep down from the blissful skies.

Here are cool mosses deep, And thro’ the moss the ivies creep, And in the stream the long-leaved flowers weep, And from the craggy ledge the poppy hangs in sleep.”

II Why are we weigh’d upon with heaviness, And utterly consumed with sharp distress, While all things else have rest from weariness?

All things have rest: why should we toil alone, We only toil, who are the first of things, And make perpetual moan, Still from one sorrow to another thrown: Nor ever fold our wings, And cease from wanderings, Nor steep our brows in slumber’s holy balm; Nor harken what the inner spirit sings, “There is no joy but calm!”

Why should we only toil, the roof and crown of things?

III Lo! in the middle of the wood, The folded leaf is woo’d from out the bud

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With winds upon the branch, and there Grows green and broad, and takes no care, Sun-steep’d at noon, and in the moon Nightly dew-fed; and turning yellow Falls, and floats adown the air.

Lo! sweeten’d with the summer light, The full-juiced apple, waxing over-mellow, Drops in a silent autumn night.

All its allotted length of days The flower ripens in its place, Ripens and fades, and falls, and hath no toil, Fast-rooted in the fruitful soil.

IV Hateful is the dark-blue sky, Vaulted o’er the dark-blue sea.

Death is the end of life; ah, why Should life all labour be?

Let us alone. Time driveth onward fast, And in a little while our lips are dumb.

Let us alone. What is it that will last?

All things are taken from us, and become Portions and parcels of the dreadful past.

Let us alone. What pleasure can we have To war with evil? Is there any peace In ever climbing up the climbing wave?

All things have rest, and ripen toward the grave In silence; ripen, fall and cease: Give us long rest or death, dark death, or dreamful ease.

V How sweet it were, hearing the downward stream, With half-shut eyes ever to seem Falling asleep in a half-dream!

To dream and dream, like yonder amber light, Which will not leave the myrrh-bush on the height; To hear each other’s whisper’d speech; Eating the Lotos day by day, To watch the crisping ripples on the beach, And tender curving lines of creamy spray; To lend our hearts and spirits wholly To the influence of mild-minded melancholy; To muse and brood and live again in memory, With those old faces of our infancy Heap’d over with a mound of grass, Two handfuls of white dust, shut in an urn of brass!

38 • Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City

VI Dear is the memory of our wedded lives, And dear the last embraces of our wives And their warm tears: but all hath suffer’d change: For surely now our household hearths are cold, Our sons inherit us: our looks are strange: And we should come like ghosts to trouble joy.

Or else the island princes over-bold Have eat our substance, and the minstrel sings Before them of the ten years’ war in Troy, And our great deeds, as half-forgotten things.

Is there confusion in the little isle?

Let what is broken so remain.

The Gods are hard to reconcile: ‘Tis hard to settle order once again.

There is confusion worse than death, Trouble on trouble, pain on pain, Long labour unto aged breath, Sore task to hearts worn out by many wars And eyes grown dim with gazing on the pilot-stars.

VII But, propt on beds of amaranth and moly, How sweet (while warm airs lull us, blowing lowly) With half-dropt eyelid still, Beneath a heaven dark and holy, To watch the long bright river drawing slowly His waters from the purple hill— To hear the dewy echoes calling From cave to cave thro’ the thick-twined vine— To watch the emerald-colour’d water falling Thro’ many a wov’n acanthus-wreath divine!

Only to hear and see the far-off sparkling brine, Only to hear were sweet, stretch’d out beneath the pine.

VIII The Lotos blooms below the barren peak: The Lotos blows by every winding creek: All day the wind breathes low with mellower tone: Thro’ every hollow cave and alley lone Round and round the spicy downs the yellow Lotos-dust is blown.

We have had enough of action, and of motion we, Roll’d to starboard, roll’d to larboard, when the surge was seething free, Where the wallowing monster spouted his foam-fountains in the sea.

Let us swear an oath, and keep it with an equal mind,

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In the hollow Lotos-land to live and lie reclined On the hills like Gods together, careless of mankind.

For they lie beside their nectar, and the bolts are hurl’d Far below them in the valleys, and the clouds are lightly curl’d Round their golden houses, girdled with the gleaming world: Where they smile in secret, looking over wasted lands, Blight and famine, plague and earthquake, roaring deeps and fiery sands, Clanging fights, and flaming towns, and sinking ships, and praying hands.

But they smile, they find a music centred in a doleful song Steaming up, a lamentation and an ancient tale of wrong, Like a tale of little meaning tho’ the words are strong; Chanted from an ill-used race of men that cleave the soil, Sow the seed, and reap the harvest with enduring toil, Storing yearly little dues of wheat, and wine and oil; Till they perish and they suffer—some, ‘tis whisper’d—down in hell Suffer endless anguish, others in Elysian valleys dwell, Resting weary limbs at last on beds of asphodel.

Surely, surely, slumber is more sweet than toil, the shore Than labour in the deep mid-ocean, wind and wave and oar; O, rest ye, brother mariners, we will not wander more.

40 • Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City

Photograph Info Cover—Vector image of the Golden Gate Bridge from iStock.

Page 5—Photograph of Allen Loibner-Waitkus by Brian Brantner.

Page 7—Photograph of a cable car in San Francisco by Allen Loibner-Waitkus.

Page 31—San Francisco at night from iStock.

Page 37—Photographs of the apartment complex on Macondray Lane in San Francisco, which served as Maupin’s inspiration for 28 Barbary Lane and the steps (which appear in the television adaptations of the Tales novels) leading to the apartment complex on Macondray Lane, and the view of the Transamerica Pyramid from Macondray Lane by Allen Loibner-Waitkus.

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LOIBNER-WAITKUS

42 • Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City