Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh
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306 “BIG DADDY: You musta said”: LOA1, p. 951.
306 “worried sick”: Elia Kazan to Williams, Feb. 11, 1955, WUCA.
306 “Brick all thru!”: Ibid.
306 “We see here”: Ibid.
307 “It’s only fair to put you on notice”: Elia Kazan to Williams, Feb. 3, 1955, WUCA.
307 forgo the estate: Elia Kazan to Williams, Feb. 5, 1955, WUCA: “Mightn’t this be a good spot for him to say to Gooper and Mae that they can have the fucking plantation . . . thus making Maggie’s job harder?”
307 “Can we make him funny”: Elia Kazan to Williams, Feb. 11, 1955, WUCA.
308 “Truth is something desperate”: LOA1, p. 1004.
308 “a meaningless piece of chi-chi”: N, Mar. 2, 1955, p. 667.
308 “acted like a stuffed turkey”: Ibid., Feb. 26, 1955, p. 665.
308 “inadequate”: Ibid., Feb. 22, 1955, p. 665.
308 “Already making plans”: Ibid., Feb. 26, 1955, p. 665.
308 “I am being utterly sincere”: Williams to Elia Kazan, Mar. 1, 1955, L2, p. 567.
308 “I didn’t write, plan, or edit”: KAL, p. 544.
308 Kazan had winkled out of Williams: Ibid., p. 546: “In my wish to make them ‘mine,’ I did overpower these two plays [Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Sweet Bird of Youth]. A sort of distortion was going on. I remember I’d felt an irritable impatience as I’d worked on those plays and, with it, a need to speak for myself at last. Here was born, I must suppose, the resolve to stop forcing myself into another person’s skin but rather to look for my own subjects and find, however inferior it must be to Tennessee’s, my own voice.”
308 “I told a lie to Big Daddy”: LOA1, p. 1005.
308 “I’d phone ahead”: Ibid.
310 “What do you say?”: Ibid., p. 976.
310 “that he has it still in his power”: Brian Parker, “Swinging a Cat,” in Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (New York: New Directions, 2004), p. 181.
310 he was agitated: FOA, p. 108.
310 “The New York opening of Cat”: M, p. 169.
310 “was in such a state of anger”: RBAW, p. 169.
311 “a failure, a distortion”: M, p. 169.
311 one person he trusted: Williams to Audrey Wood, Aug. 9, 1955, L2, p. 592: “You’re the only person that I trust in this world.”
311 she had ruined his play: FOA, p. 108.
311 “The wait for the morning notices”: Williams to Brooks Atkinson, Mar. 25, 1955, L2, p. 569.
311 Toffenetti’s: The Italian restaurant occupied the corner where NASDAQ now stands.
311 “ ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ is Mr. Williams’ finest drama”: Brooks Atkinson, “Tennessee Williams’ ‘Cat,’ ” New York Times, Mar. 25, 1955.
311 “Mr. Williams is the man of our time”: Walter Kerr, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” New York Herald Tribune, Mar. 25, 1955.
311 “enormous theatrical power”: Richard Watts Jr., “The Impact of Tennessee Williams,” New York Post, Mar. 25, 1955.
311 “He studiously refused to permit”: RBAW, pp. 169–70.
311 “the shocking duality”: Williams to Elia Kazan, Nov. 3, 1954, L2, p. 552.
311 “Now that you’ve written your lovely notice”: Williams to Brooks Atkinson, Mar. 25, 1955, ibid., p. 569.
311 “invidious resentment of [William] Inge’s great success”: Inge interviewed Williams in 1944 for the St. Louis Star-Times; they became friends and briefly lovers. Williams introduced Inge to Wood and to Margo Jones, who produced Inge’s first play, Farther Off from Heaven (1947).
312 “I wanted Kazan to direct the play”: LOA1, p. 978.
312 “gave people generally the idea”: Elia Kazan to Williams, Apr. 22, 1960, KOD, p. 136.
312 “a success when I had given up thought”: Williams to Elia Kazan, Aug. 1955, L2, p. 588.
312 half a million dollars: The fee was the equivalent in today’s purchasing power of four million dollars.
312 “Figures stagger imagination”: Williams to Audrey Wood, July 2, 1955, L2, p. 576.
312 “You and I have come to know how difficult”: Audrey Wood to Williams, Aug. 3, 1955, HRC.
313 “I think he [Kazan] cheapened”: Williams to Audrey Wood, July 28, 1955, L2, p. 586.
313 “I was terribly distressed”: CWTW, p. 72.
313 “You never stated that in your preface”: Elia Kazan to Williams, Apr. 22, 1960, KOD, pp. 136–37.
313 “One’s enemy is always part of oneself”: Williams to Maria Britneva, Jan. 10, 1956, FOA, p. 131.
313 “A failure reaches fewer people”: LOA1, p. 978.
314 “a sort of a lunar personality”: N, June 24, 1955, p. 675.
314 “I am running away from something”: Williams to Audrey Wood, July 11, 1955, L2, p. 574.
314 died, at ninety-seven: The Reverend Walter Dakin died February 14, 1955. “Your presence in the city [New York] would be a great joy and comfort as well as bringing good luck.” (Williams to Rev. Walter Dakin, Sept. 13, 1950, HRC.) “Why is luck so resolutely against me. Did it die with grandfather?” (N, Mar. 2, 1955, p. 667.)
314 praise the quality of the dialogue and the atmosphere: Dan Isaac, ed., “Introduction,” in Tennessee Williams, Spring Storm (New York: New Directions, 1999), p. xv.
314 “The reaper is not only grim”: Williams to Audrey Wood, Aug. 1955, L2, p. 591.
314 “the drugged state of semi-oblivion”: Williams to Audrey Wood, July 21, 1956, ibid., p. 620.
315 “an examination of what is really corrupt”: Spoto, Kindness, p. 206.
315 “I believe very strongly in the existence”: New York Herald Tribune, 1957.
315 “Oh, Lady, wrap me”: First draft of “The Enemy: Time,” HRC.
315 “It is hard for me to like any playwright”: Williams to Audrey Wood, Sept. 1955, L2, p. 592.
315 “It’s much easier to give money than love”: Williams to Maria Britneva, Apr. 27, 1955, FOA, p. 113.
315 “Magnani is outspokenly puzzled”: Williams to Audrey Wood, July 11, 1955, L2, p. 574.
315 “I am determined to express just me”: Williams to Audrey Wood, Nov. 18, 1955, ibid., p. 594.
317 “Have to finish the film-script”: Williams to Maria Britneva, June 20, 1955, FOA, p. 117.
317 “Insert Somewhere”: KAL, p. 562.
317 Williams took full screen credit: Williams to Audrey Wood, June 1955, L2, p. 574. Williams had suggested co-billing: “Screenplay by me. Adaptation by Elia Kazan.”
317 “Those people chased me”: Spoto, Kindness, p. 204.
317 “God damn it”: Ibid.
317 “under the supervision of Tennessee Williams”: Sandy Campbell, B: Twenty-Nine Letters from Coconut Grove (Campagnola di Zevio, Italy: Stamperia Valdonega, 1974), p. 47.
317 “Now I was without an author”: KAL, p. 562.
318 “There is one small element here”: Elia Kazan to Williams, Dec. 18, 1955, WUCA.
319 “both tragic and funny”: Elia Kazan to Williams, Dec. 18, 1955, WUCA.
319 “I simply can’t believe”: Williams to Elia Kazan, Jan. 1956, L2, p. 597.
319 “Not false to the country”: Williams to Elia Kazan, Jan. 1959, ibid., p. 597.
320 “No one showboats anymore”: R. Barton Palmer and Williams Robert Bray, Hollywood’s Tennessee: The Williams Films and Postwar America (Austin: University of Texas, 2009), p. 130.
320 “a very cute movie”: Richard Schickel, Elia Kazan: A Biography (New York: HarperCollins, 2005), p. 332.
320 “took to the pulpit of St. Patrick’s Cathedral”: This was only the third time that Spellman had taken to the pulpit; the other two were to attack Communism and the imprisonment of Cardinal Joseph Mindszenty by the Hungarian Communists.
320 “I exhort Catholic people to refrain”: Schickel, Elia Kazan, p. 333.
320 pay the Church twenty-five dollars: Knoxville Sentinel, Mar. 31, 1956.
320 “ ‘BABY DOLL’ IN NEW ROW”: New York Post, Dec. 17, 1956.
/> 320 “a harrowing experience”: Williams to Maria Britneva, Jan. 3, 1957, FOA, p. 141.
320 “I cannot believe that an ancient and august branch”: New York Post, Dec. 17, 1956.
320 “I am outraged by the charge”: Ibid.
320 “This is the greatest idea”: Palmer and Bray, Hollywood’s Tennessee, p. 130.
321 made news and money: Variety, May 29, 1957: “According to Kazan, ‘Baby Doll,’ which cost $1,200,000, will have a worldwide gross of $5,000,000, of which $3,000,000 is already in the till. Kazan’s own company, Newtown Productions, will make more than $1,000,000 on the picture, he stated.”
321 “The Crass Menagerie”: Palmer and Bray, Hollywood’s Tennessee, p. 147.
321 “Just possibly the dirtiest”: Ibid., p. 148.
321 “the high priest of merde”: Robert E. Fitch, “The Mystique of Merde,” New Republic, Sept. 3, 1956, pp. 17–18.
321 another half-million dollars for his new play: Williams to Audrey Wood, July 21, 1956, L2, p. 620.
322 “She is the bitch of all time”: Williams to Audrey Wood, Jan. 1, 1956, HRC.
322 “From the moment Miss Bankhead saw Maria”: Campbell, B, p. 10.
322 “Tenn is licking his lips”: Ibid.
322 “Tallulah this is the way”: Ibid., p. 32.
322 “in a voice all nearby”: Ibid., p. 35.
323 “Batten the hatches!”: Williams to Paul Bigelow, undated postcard, 1956, LLC.
323 “probably the most heroic accomplishment”: New York Times, Mar. 4, 1956.
324 “Mr. Williams’ talents as a playwright”: Campbell, B, p. 58.
324 “Tenn, you and I”: Paul Taylor, “Tennessee Williams: A Tormented Playwright Who Unzipped His Heart,” Independent, Dec. 13, 2013.
324 “Let’s face it”: Campbell, B, p. 40.
324 “a regular stop”: Williams to Edwina Williams, Mar. 18, 1956, L2, p. 608.
324 “the worst I can remember”: Williams to Lady St. Just, Jan. 3, 1957, FOA, pp. 139–41.
324 “lost decency”: N, Aug. 6, 1956, p. 691.
324 “Living on Miltowns”: Williams to Christopher Isherwood and Don Bachardy, May 12, 1956, L2, p. 613.
324 “an almost unbroken decline”: N, July 28, 1956, p. 689.
324 “I didn’t feel the presence of God”: Ibid., Sept. 27, 1956, p. 693.
325 “perhaps the most charming man”: Françoise Sagan, With Fondest Regards (New York: Dutton, 1985), pp. 46, 49.
325 “She did not even laugh”: Ibid., pp. 52–53.
325 “The Horse gave me a very bad time”: Williams to Maria Britneva, Sept. 4, 1955, FOA, p. 126.
325 “I don’t think my company”: Williams to Audrey Wood, July 28, 1955, L2, p. 586.
326 “He would be a trial”: RMTT, p. 152.
326 “To know me is not to love me”: M, p. 131.
326 “He is haunted continually”: Williams to Audrey Wood, July 28, 1955, L2, p. 586.
326 “We don’t have to worry”: Williams to Frank Merlo, July 22, 1955, ibid., pp. 581–82.
326 “This is the first time in years”: Williams to Audrey Wood, Mar. 16, 1956, ibid., p. 605.
327 “ ‘Attention must be paid to this man’ ”: Williams to Audrey Wood, July 28, 1955, ibid., p. 587.
327 “They were having troubles”: Spoto, Kindness, p. 205.
327 “For the first time since I’ve known him”: Williams to Maria Britneva, Apr. 20, 1956, FOA, p. 133.
328 “How Can I Tell You?”: N, p. 690.
328 “He has changed a great deal”: Williams to Lady St. Just, Aug. 27, 1957, FOA, p. 149.
328 “another big row with F.”: N, Aug. 6, 1956, p. 691.
328 “bad, nearly disastrous, quarrel”: Ibid., Feb. 19, 1957, p. 701.
329 “streak of savagery”: Brooks Atkinson, “Early Williams,” New York Times, Nov. 22, 1956.
329 “If something is wrong at the top”: “Stairs to the Roof” story, HRC.
329 “that to desire a thing”: NSE, p. 94.
329 “a boy who hungered for something”: Williams to Audrey Wood, Dec. 1939, L1, p. 220.
329 “fighting his own descent”: Miami Herald, Jan. 22, 1956.
329 “trapeze of the flesh”: Hart Crane, “The Bridge” (1930).
329 “we persist, like the cactus”: N, Sept. 27, 1956, p. 693.
330 “Unfortunately in 1940”: Williams to Audrey Wood, Oct. 14, 1953, L2, p. 502. William Liebling was equally unimpressed with Orpheus Descending; as late as 1956, he insulted Williams by suggesting that he liquidate the play as a financial asset by selling it to the movies. “I worked, God, what a long, long time on that script as a play. As a PLAY! It stung me terribly to have it proposed that I send it to the glue-factory,” Williams wrote him. (Williams to William Liebling, July 21, 1956, HRC.)
330 “For the first time I think I may stay away”: Williams to Lady St. Just, Jan. 3, 1957, FOA, p. 141.
330 “recapture some of my earlier warmth”: Williams to Elia Kazan, Apr. 3, 1957, L2, p. 646.
330 “He is still trapped in his corruption”: CWTW, p. 209.
330 “I felt like my whole life”: The Fugitive Kind (1959), screenplay by Tennessee Williams and Meade Roberts, directed by Sidney Lumet. Essentially a monologue, played directly to the camera, the opening scene, with Marlon Brando as Val, makes it clear that he has survived by selling sex, not songs. These first five minutes represent one of Brando’s finest, and least-known, screen moments.
331 “streaked with moisture and cobwebbed”: LOA2, p. 9.
331 “shadowy and poetic”: Ibid.
331 “she’s not a Dago for nothin’!”: LOA1, p. 701.
331 “coarsened, even brutalized”: Williams to Audrey Wood, Oct. 14, 1953, L2, p. 501.
331 “Corruption—rots men’s hearts”: LOA2, p. 58.
331 “from seats down front”: Ibid., p. 59.
331 “Heavy drinking and smoking the weed”: Ibid., p. 24.
331 “I’m not young any more “: Ibid.
331 “a Wop bootlegger”: Ibid., p. 34.
332 “He bought her”: Ibid., p. 11.
332 “He is death’s self”: Ibid., p. 95.
332 “How come the shoe department’s”: Ibid., p. 25.
332 “Tomorrow I’ll get me some niggers”: Ibid., p. 26.
332 “You do whatever you want to”: Ibid.
332 “I wanted death after that”: Ibid., p. 54.
332 “What else can you do?”: Ibid., p. 34.
332 “in sudden friendly laughter”: Ibid., p. 37.
332 “I’m through with the life”: Ibid., p. 34.
333 “My feet took a walk in heavenly grass”: CP, “Heavenly Grass,” p. 63.
333 “disgusted”: LOA2, p. 38.
333 “off-stage guitar music fades in”: Tennessee Williams, Orpheus Descending (New York: Dramatists Play Service, 1959), p. 29.
333 “VAL: You know they’s a kind of bird”: LOA2, p. 39.
334 “Ask me how it felt to be coupled”: Ibid., p. 91.
334 “Everything Death’s scraped”: Ibid.
334 “Electric moon”: Ibid., p. 83.
334 “To—be not defeated!”: Ibid., p. 87.
335 “Didn’t I marry a live one”: Ibid., p. 74.
335 “Lady, you been a lunatic”: Ibid., p. 90.
335 “I was made to commit a murder”: Ibid., p. 87.
335 “You can’t open a night-place”: Ibid.
335 “LADY: You bet your sweet life I’m going to!”: Ibid.
335 “a true love”: Ibid., p. 89.
335 “Oh, don’t talk about love”: Ibid.
335 “You’ve given me life”: Ibid., p. 94.
336 “in a sort of delirium”: Ibid., p. 95.
336 “Oh, God, what did I do?”: Williams, Orpheus Descending, p. 77. In LOA2, p. 95, Lady moans, “Oh, God, oh—God.”
336 “The show is over”: LOA2, p. 96.
336 “the Tigress of the Tiber”: Tennessee Williams, �
��Anna Magnani: Tigress of the Tiber,” New York Herald Tribune, Dec. 11, 1955.
336 “a woman who met with emotional disaster”: LOA2, p. 24.
336 “The only important thing in life”: Anna Magnani to Martin Juro, Sept. 11, 1955, LLC.
336 “She was beyond convention”: M, p. 165.
336 “the intermediary between my reserve”: Ibid., p. 163.
337 “Forget that bit about her being nervous”: Williams to Elia Kazan, undated, WUCA.
337 “incomparable sense of truth”: Williams, “Anna Magnani.”
337 “like a mackerel sky”: Ibid.
337 “surpasses mine but is more excusable”: Williams to Audrey Wood, June 29, 1956, L2, p. 616.
337 “Ciao, Tenn. What is the program”: M, pp. 163–64.
337 “I know how to write for that boy”: Williams to Audrey Wood, June 1955, L2, p. 573.
337 ghostwriting mash notes: TWIB, p. 227.
337 “She has a genius”: Williams to Maria Britneva, Sept. 29, 1954, FOA, p. 104.
337 “This news gave me a great joy”: Anna Magnani to Audrey Wood, undated, HRC.
337 “I know that Brando is very much interested”: Anna Magnani to Audrey Wood, November 3, 1955, HRC. About Brando, Magnani goes on to say, “As far as I am concerned I am not interested in him as a person, he only remains the perfect actor for the role of Val. That’s about all. For the rest I don’t give a damn.”
339 “You wrote your funky ass off”: Marlon Brando to Williams, undated, Columbia.
339 “When you play with her”: Quotation from undated letter from Marlon Brando reproduced by permission of Brando Enterprises, L.P.
340 “The money wasn’t nearly as much a problem”: JLI with Sidney Lumet, 2011, JLC.
340 “After we had some meetings”: Marlon Brando with Robert Lindsey, Brando: Songs My Mother Taught Me (New York: Random House, 1994), p. 262.
341 “The essence of Anna?”: JLI with Sidney Lumet, 2011, JLC.
341 “It completely ruined my staging”: Ibid.
341 “sputters more often”: Review of The Fugitive Kind, Variety, Dec. 31, 1959.
341 “throbbing and feeling staggered”: Bosley Crowther, “2 Theatres Show Film from Williams Play,” New York Times, Apr. 5, 1960.
341 “the first time I saw the rushes”: JLI with Sidney Lumet, 2011, JLC.
342 offered to mount one of Williams’s one-act plays: Williams to Audrey Wood, Feb. 7, 1940, L1, p. 230: “Clurman took long play [Battle of Angels] to Boston with him. . . . Clurman says he may do 1-acts if Odets play is successful—this spring—Afraid the ‘if’ clause is a big one.”