On June 3rd, 2011 I wrote a post about one of my favorite book and movie combinations, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. The book and the screenplay for the movie were written by author John Berendt. The book is a true story about Savannah and the people Berendt associates with, through his own eyes. The ultimate focus of the book is on the murder of the young, gay lover of a member of Savannah society and the subsequent 4 trials of the society member, James Arthur Williams for the murders.
In his book, Berendt introduced several real “characters” from his associations in Savannah. One stood out in the book besides Mr. Williams and she, in fact, was the star of two chapters. That character was The Lady Chablis. Chablis is a pre-operative male to female transgender who maintains her female personal 24 hours a day. The chapter of Berendt’s book that included Chablis were so funny and so different from the tone of the rest of the book, that I sought out more information about her.
It turns out, The Lady Chablis (also known as The Doll) penned her own autobiography after Berendt’s book made her famous. Her 1997 smash hit book is Hiding My Candy: The Autobiography of the Grand Empress of Savannah
Her book includes her growing up, her coming to her “T” as she refers to her truth, learning to cross dress, performing, dating men, being black, being from the south and living there as a transgender, and being more of a woman than most women could ever hope to be. Also included are a full index of her phraseology – she writes like she speaks – and a nice batch of recipes that would put the Food Network’s Sandra Lee of “Semi-Homemade” to shame.
When you pick this book up, you won’t want to put it down until you finish it.
Right on!