AMERICAN PLAYHOUSE: ARMISTEAD MAUPIN'S "TALES OF THE CITY" {EPISODE 2} {TV)
Summary
One in this dramatic anthology series. The second episode of this three-part miniseries about the personal lives and relationships of a group of people living in San Francisco in 1976, set partly at an apartment complex run by an eccentric landlady, Anna Madrigal. DeDe personally returns Mary Ann's scarf, which she found in her husband's car, and Mary Ann confesses that she spent a weekend with Beauchamp. Both women learn that Beauchamp has been leading DeDe to believe that he has been secretly dating Mary Ann more often than he really has. When DeDe returns home, Beauchamp criticizes her weight and she decides to go to a weight-loss spa. At the spa, she begins to suspect that she's pregnant as a result of her one-night stand with Lionel, the delivery man. When she returns home, she and Beauchamp try to improve their relationship, but for different reasons -- Beauchamp wants to be sure that he will be chosen to replace Edgar in the family business. Edgar, meanwhile, tells Mrs. Madrigal that he is fatally ill, and the two spend their first night together and proclaim their love for each other. Michael attends a dinner party with Jon and finds that their taste in friends is different. Jon doesn't seem to care, until he sees Michael competing in a dance contest at the Endup Club and walks out. Mary Ann starts working at the Bay Area Crisis Center hotline with the emotionally unstable Vincent, and meets a new, strange neighbor, Norman Neal Miller. Mrs. Madrigal and Mona celebrate the three-year anniversary of their friendship, and Mona's former girlfriend, D'orothea, returns to town.
Mona decides that she needs more stability in her life and moves out of Barbary Lane to live with her former lover, D'orothea. But she leaves without saying goodbye to Mrs. Madrigal, who is distressed by the loss of her favorite tenant. Michael is not convinced that Mona made the right decision, considering she is unsure of whether she's a lesbian. Edgar visits Mrs. Madrigal at Barbary Lane, where the bizarre Norman spies on them through an open window blind. Mrs. Madrigal shares with Edgar the myth that all San Franciscans were residents of Atlantis in another life. Mary Ann's hotline partner Vincent commits suicide and she is so upset that she smokes her first joint with Brian. DeDe goes to the doctor -- Michael's lover, Jon -- and learns that she is, indeed, pregnant. When she discusses the option of abortion with a friend at an art opening, a sleazy gossip columnist overhears and threatens her with blackmail. Also, Norman and Mary Ann begin dating; and when Michael's parents visit him in San Francisco, he is worried that they will discover his gay lifestyle. Includes a promotion for the book "Tales of the City" in which the series' writer, director, and cast comment on the story. Commercials deleted.
Acquisition and cataloging of this program was made possible by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: January 11, 1994 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:54:32
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:31161
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama; Gays - Drama; LGBT Collection
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1982-
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Michael Schwartz … Executive Producer
- Lindsay Law … Executive Producer
- Sigurjon Sighvatsson … Executive Producer
- Tim Bevan … Executive Producer
- Richard Kramer … Executive Producer, Writer
- Armistead Maupin … Executive Producer, Based on the novel by
- Matt Loze … Co-Executive Producer
- Antony Root … Supervising Producer
- Alan Poul … Producer
- Alastair Reid … Director
- John E. Keane … Music by
- Olympia Dukakis … Cast, Anna Madrigal
- Donald Moffat … Cast, Edgar Halcyon
- Chloe Webb … Cast, Mona Ramsey
- Laura Linney … Cast, Mary Ann Singleton
- Marcus D'Amico … Cast, Michael Tolliver
- William Campbell … Cast, Dr. Jon Fielding
- Thomas Gibson … Cast, Beauchamp Day
- Paul Gross … Cast, Brian Hawkins
- Barbara Garrick … Cast, DeDe Halcyon Day
- Nina Foch … Cast, Frannie Halcyon
- Edie Adams … Cast, Ruby Miller
- Robert Downey Sr. … Cast, Edgar's Doctor
- Meagen Fay … Cast, Binky Gruen
- Lou Liberatore … Cast, Chuck
- Country Joe McDonald … Cast, Joaquin
- Mary Kay Place … Cast, Prue Giroux
- Parker Posey … Cast, Connie Bradshaw
- Kevin Sessums … Cast, Peter Cipriani
- McLean Stevenson … Cast, Hunter Manigault
- Syd Straw … Cast, Laurel
- David Brisbin … Cast, Lemon Candles
- Vicki Preston Brown … Cast, The Opera Singer
- Lou Cutell … Cast, Herb Siegel
- Darin Heames … Cast, Skate Guy
- Carolyn Lowery … Cast, Hillary
- Phillip Moon … Cast, Lionel Wong
- Tom Alan Robbins … Cast, The Supermarket Creep
- Amy Ruder … Cast, Frieda
- Hank Stratton … Cast, Robert
- Cynda Williams … Cast, D'orothea Wilson
- Paul Dooley … Cast, Herb Tolliver
- Michael McFall … Cast, Michael's Friend
- Karen Black … Cast, Herself
- John Fleck … Cast, Vincent
- Amanda Fuller … Cast, Lexy
- Michael Jeter … Cast, Carson Callas
- Belita Moreno … Cast, Alice Tolliver
- Paul Bartel … Cast, Charles Hillary Lord
- Lance Loud … Cast, William Devereaux Hill
- Bob Mackie … Cast, Richard Evan Hampton
- Ian McKellen … Cast, Archiband Anson Gidde
- Dave Alvin … Cast, The Chauffeur
- Michael Bailey … Cast, The Nun on Skates
- Lucille Bliss … Cast, The Cable Car Lady
- Vaginal Davis … Cast, The Endup Emcee
- Kevin Hunter … Cast, The Cop
- Lisa Moncure … Cast, The Spa Attendant
- Elise Neal … Cast, The Spa Instructress
- Marissa Ribisi … Cast, The Receptionist
- Arsenio "Sonny" Trinidad … Cast, The Chinese Waiter