Biography

Andrew Delaplaine (November 16, 1949 – May 1, 2023) was an American novelist, screenwriter, director, and producer. In 1987 Delaplaine moved to South Beach Miami and, with his sister Renee, opened Scratch, one of a handful of white tablecloth restaurants in what was then a slum area of Miami. Behind Scratch, he launched an Equity theater as well as a black box nightclub called Backscratch.In 1989 Delaplaine (along with his sister Renee) opened the Warsaw Ballroom, which quickly became one of the most outlandish gay nightclubs in the United States.In 1991 he launched Wire, a weekly newspaper modeled on Andy Warhol's Interview. He edited and published Wire for 10 years before selling the magazine to focus on his other writing. It is still the longest-running weekly editorial published on South Beach.In 1994, since no one else had filed to run against incumbent Mayor Seymour Gelber, thus insuring a situation where issues would never be debated, Delaplaine ran for mayor, but lost.Delaplaine died from stomach cancer on May 1, 2023, at the age of 73.