More Tales of the City

Hard to believe, but it’s been 25 years since Armistead Maupin launched his engaging “Tales of the City” column in the San Francisco Chronicle. Alas, there will be no further tales--at least, not for a while.

Maupin recently was asked by Chronicle executive editor Phil Bronstein to write a column again for the paper. It’s not going to happen, Maupin said. “I’ve become such a perfectionist now, I don’t think I could go back to writing 800 words a day.”

These days, Maupin is focusing on novels and screenplays. His most recent novel, “The Night Listener,” hit the Los Angeles Times bestseller list late last year.

“Tales of the City” focused on the lives of an eclectic group of characters connected to a funky wood-frame apartment building in San Francisco’s Russian Hill district. It spawned half a dozen books, a trio of television miniseries and more than its share of controversy. After PBS ran the first “Tales of the City” series in 1993, the religious right objected to the gay themes. Funding dried up. Enter Showtime.

We caught up with Maupin at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Wednesday night at the screening of “Further Tales of the City.” The four-parter airs on Showtime beginning May 6. The series picks up where the PBS original and a previous Showtime special left off and again features Olympia Dukakis as mystical landlady Anna Madrigal and Laura Linney as the ambitious Mary Ann Singleton. Indie film actor Henry Czerny does a creepy turn as Luke, a hobo who lives in a shack in Golden Gate park, takes up with a ditzy society writer, and may or may not be the Rev. Jim Jones.

Red Carpet Manners

OK. We know that Tara Reid is a hot little starlet who’s got a new movie out and just postponed her wedding to MTV’s Carson Daly. But, girl, what’s with the attitude?

Daly, who plays an evil version of himself in “Josie and the Pussycats,” was happy to talk to us at the premiere the other night. He told us how he proposed to Reid in New York. He said it was very romantic.

Reid, meanwhile, seemed to be playing an evil version of herself on the red carpet.

“Wedding?” she snapped. “I’m not talking about the wedding. I’m here to talk about the movie.” Then she stomped off. Later, at the after-party at the Knitting Factory, we said we were all ears for some movie talk. “Nah, I really don’t want to,” she sniffed, with an imperious flick of the wrist.

Alex Martin, on the other hand, is real Hollywood royalty and was sweet as can be. He’s the son of Olivia Hussey and the late Dean Paul Martin and grandson of legendary crooner Dean Martin. Alex, who plays a musician in “Josie,” shared some of his grandfather’s show-biz advice: “Don’t take it too seriously. Have a good time. And if there’s a chair, sit!”

Advice Column

Speaking of sage advice, we recently sought counsel from veteran chroniclers of the fame game. Here’s what they had to say:

Talk Media czarina Tina Brown: “The best gossip columns, I’ve most often found, tell lies about me and the truth about everyone else.”

The Washington Post’s Reliable Source, Lloyd Grove: “Use plenty of moisturizer, but develop a thick skin.”

The New York Daily News’ Mitchell Fink: “There is a give-and-take with sources. The more information they give you, the more you’re likely to help them, which makes the gossip beat no different than any other beat.”

US Weekly’s Hot Stuff, Marc S. Malkin: “Have fun and don’t take it all too seriously. Remember, you’re not solving world hunger.”

Syndicated columnist Marilyn Beck: “Don’t make a mistake that so many celebrity columnists have made and think that you’re a friend of the stars. Boy, that leads to hurt.”

USA Today’s Jeannie Williams: “Get some comfortable shoes. You’re going to spend a lot of time standing around.”

Star Pluckers

The battling Beverly Hills brow pluckers are at it again. This time they’re fighting over Lara Flynn Boyle.

Boyle’s publicist insists that it was brow queen Anastasia and not rival Damone Roberts who tweezed “The Practice” star’s brows for the round of Oscar parties. Roberts maintains that he did “touch up” the slender actress. “I stand by my story,” Roberts declared.

We tried to get to the bottom of this, but Anastasia and Boyle aren’t talking, and everybody else is spinning. And, in the course of human events, what does it really matter? The woman has beautiful eyes. Jack Nicholson could tweeze her brows and she’d still be stunning.

Sightings

Britney Spears, dancing in her sunglasses at Blue in Hollywood, surrounded by security guards. Tobey Maguire, dancing away from Britney at Blue. Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, getting a massage at the Bungalow Day Spa in Bel-Air. Ben Affleck, drinking white chocolate martinis at L’Hermitage Hotel in Beverly Hills. Bill Maher, dining with a leggy friend at the Derby in Los Feliz. Brooke Shields, standing in line at the Derby with a posse of friends and paying the cover charge like regular folks.

Could it have been a bachelorette party in disguise? Shields and beau Chris Henchy were married April 4 on Catalina Island. She wore a Vera Wang wedding gown, we hear. It’s the second marriage for Shields, whose divorce from tennis star Andre Agassi became final in April 1999.

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Times staff writers Louise Roug and Gina Piccalo contributed to this report. City of Angles runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. E-mail: angles@latimes.com.