Uncle Mame: The Life of Patrick Dennis.

Uncle Mame: The Life of Patrick Dennis * By Eric Myers * St. Martin's Press * $24.95

Eric Myers's new biography of American author Patrick Dennis, born Edward Everett Tanner Ill (1921-1976), is exciting news, only because it rescues from oblivion one of the great comic writers of the century (I would rate him right up there with Noel Coward) but also because it has an amazing story to tell. Tanner led a life worthy of his famous fictional Auntie Mame--money, fame, style, glamour. But in his case, when the comedy turned to tragedy, he managed to reverse it with the most comedic turn of all.

The quintessential witty gay man, "Pat" Tanner was tall, bearded, good-looking, and famous for his twinkling blue eyes. He dressed impeccably and was adored by all his friends, many of them the celebrities of the day. He was also married--to a woman he loved--and the affectionate father of two children.

Conflicts over his situation plus the stress of success (Auntie Mame was the sensation of the mid 1950s, the epitome of sophistication--and it made him millions) brought out a drinking problem. When in midlife he fell in love with a man, it took an extended stay in a sanatorium-including shock therapy--to reconcile Tanner to the fact that he would have to leave his marriage and follow the gay side of his heart.

By the early '70s, worn out by a flamboyant, peripatetic lifestyle, he began to self-destruct. He was always ending up naked in fountains. Then, at rock bottom, he picked himself up, dried himself out, and became ... a butler.

And not just any butler. Calling himself Edwards, Tanner ran the household of Ray and Joan Kroc, owners of McDonald's. Rich as the situation was--the celebrated wit, toting drinks for the hamburger barons--Tanner loved the job. He found himself. He was redeemed by butlerhood.

Tanner's life and work strike so many gay themes, it's hard to know where to begin. If you grew up gay in the '50s and '60s, chances are that you loved Patrick Dennis. You felt he was talking to you, clueing you in on a secret world where fabulous people said witty things and had adventures both ridiculous and hilarious. I remember Auntie Mame as having the first jockstrap joke I ever encountered. This is perhaps Tanner's most lasting accomplishment: He introduced gay sensibility to popular American taste.

Myers sees Tanner as a me0or writer who needs resuscitation. I see him a little differently--as the author of one of the top five comic novels of the past century. And, no, I don't mean Auntie Mame; I'm talking about Little Me. This parody of an aging movie star's tell-all memoirs, illustrated with 150 faux photos of her career and personal life (actually posed by Tanner and a platoon of pals), is laugh-out-loud funny. But it has none of the kindhearted sentiment that surrounds Mame Burnside and her extended family; Belle Poitrine is mean. That hard edge in her voice is pure Joan Crawford: ruthless, acquisitive, two-faced. But she tells her lies in such a way that the truth becomes blindingly clear. Little Me is certainly one of literature's great parodies as well as one of its few truly successful illustrated novels.

In Uncle Mame's introduction Paul Rudnick compares Patrick Dennis, rather sheepishly, to Moliere. But he's right on target. The careful and merciless dissection of human nature was the aim of both writers. Auntie Mame contains the comforting version; Little Me has the mean streak of greatness. Let's hope Myers's book helps to introduce both of Tanner's immortal creations to the new fans they so richly deserve.

Find more on Uncle Mame and links to related Internet sites at www.advocate.com

Plunket is the author of My Search for Warren Harding and Love Junkie.