Product Description

After leaping off the pages with he unforgettable debut in John Berendt's bestselling Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, the unabashed personality known as The Lady Chablis now brings her irresistible charisma to the remarkable odyssey of fabulousness that USA Today calls "sassy" and "provocative...."

Born Benjamin Edward Knox in Quincy, Florida, "The Doll" always knew she was different. At a Tallahassee club, in her teens, she found the drag mother who would set her on the path to stardom. Before long, The Lady Chablis had a headline drag act replete with trademark saucy wit, down-home wisdom, and, of course, breasts. The rest is "Miss Thang" history....

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #255709 in Books
• Published on: 1997-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

From Publishers Weekly
"Chablis is a full-time transvestite. In clinical terms, she is a preoperative transsexual," John Berendt explains in his introduction. Chablis takes it from there, presenting a sassy, tongue-in-cheek version of her life story, which she began as Benjamin Edward Knox in 1957. She recounts growing up in Florida as a self-confessed "sissy-child"; recalls being abandoned by both her mother and father and being raised by her classy grandmother; and notes the problems she and her family had coming to terms with her sexuality. She tells of her imprisonment for shoplifting; her debut on stage as a female impersonator in Atlanta in the mid-1970s; taking hormones to grow breasts; and the high cost of electrolysis. After winning the Miss Gay World Pageant, Chablis moved on to Savannah, where she changed her act to include stand-up comedy. Writing with freelancer Bouloukos, Chablis presents a good-natured biography that covers the gamut from sexual adventures with unsuspecting straight males to beauty tips and a listing of her favorite recipes. Photos.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Lady Chablis, the most unforgettable character in John Berendt's best-selling Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (LJ 1/94), stirs up the past to tell all in this witty and entertaining autobiography. Born Benjamin Knox in 1950s rural Florida, Chablis (a.k.a. Y'mama, a.k.a. the Doll) is technically a preoperative transsexual. Being no average drag queen, Chablis more than hides truth of gender by parodying femininity with a lifelong performance beyond any nightclub's. A bittersweet story filled with abuses and ambitions, Chablis's life is a mix of bawdy vaudeville and Southern gothic. The Lady also offers a chapter of homestyle recipes, a glossary of Chablisisms, and a guide to transvestite beauty and fashion. Berendt's introduction calls Chablis "a gifted comedienne whose humor is instintive...[with] a flair for the outageous, and?I trust she'll forgive me for saying so?balls." The same could be said for this book.?David Nudo, "Library Journal.-- a flair for the outageous, and?I trust she'll forgive me for saying so?balls." The same could be said for this book.?David Nudo, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Readers of John Berendt's best-seller, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1994), have already met Lady Chablis, known as Frank in that book. She is the self-styled grand empress of Savannah and, by her own admission, the most dedicated and accomplished drag queen of the New South. Combining traditional southern gentility with sharp wit and an unerring sense of style, she tells her life story, from a childhood spent in Florida, with a brief sojourn in New York, to the runway treading of her present glory days. Through her eyes, the South becomes the perfect setting for a female impersonator totally dedicated to the cause of outrageous entertainment and self-realization. Emphatically not a transsexual, the Doll (as she also calls herself) is a unique and vivacious being, possessed of her own evocative idiolect (helpfully, she provides "The Lady Chablis Lexicon" to explain her terminology of the female impersonator's world). Surely there's a place for this book on the pop culture shelf--say, between recent bios of Divine and RuPaul? Mike Tribby

Customer Reviews

a fun and frisky book about her majesty :)
I bought this book after seeing the lady chablis in Midnight and the Garden of Good and Evil. If you've seen the movie, the books reads just like she's talking to you. It follows from her beginnings, discovering herself, meeting up with her first drag queens, all the way through to the black people's ball, and hormones. If you're looking for a light, fun read, about a very interesting real-life person, this definately fits the bill. Don't expect perfect grammar, because that's not how she talks, so this is "from the horse's mouth" so to speak.

as a side note, the lady chablis actually does appear in the movie version of the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. the dynamic that she and john cusak have is incredible, and her comments about two tears in a bucket, nearly made me wet my pants from laughing so hard :) the people i went with to see the movie actually didn't even realize that she was a transgender person until half way through the movie....
if there is any one character that "makes" the movie, it's her.

A Good Read On Several Levels
This book is a plain good read on several levels.

First, The Lady Chablis herself, with the help of a co-author, has managed to convey her highly entertaining stage persona on paper--no mean feat. I suspect, though I have not listened to it, that the audio version of the book is a scream.

Second, the bare facts of her autobiography as she tells them are riveting. One has to respect the desire to be true to an authentic self that is different from the norm when it drives an African-American biological male in the South to dress as a female during adolescence. The Lady could easily have been killed on her way to stardom!

Third, as a "fish" (biological female) myself, I always learn a thing or two about the nature of Glamour-with-a-capital-G from the writings of persons whose femininity comes primarily from their minds. As Blanche DuBois said, fifty percent of a woman's charm is illusion (or something like that). The illusion The Lady creates is uniquely her own.

Finally, The Lady's discussion of why she has not had gender reassignment surgery adds a serious note that is easy to ignore. The Lady Chablis has played well the hand she was dealt in life with more complicated cards than most receive.

Enjoyed it!
I was initially introduced to The Lady in the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. I ran across this autobiography at a thrift sale and started casually reading the first few pages. Well I was hook and finished the novel in one sitting (it's a short read). The Lady's life story is interesting, informative and funny. She is quite the character living her real-life drama of struggle with flair and determination. Sassy and quick witted, the Lady tells her story with charm, humor and truth. A nice quick read.