Streetcar Named Desire

vulnerable any more. But my young husband was and I

  --never mind about that! Just give them back to me!

  stanley:

  What do you mean by saying you'll have to bum them?

  blanche:

  I'm sorry, I must have lost my head for a moment. Everyone

  has something he wont let others touch because of

  their--intimate nature...

  [She now seems faint with exhaustion and she sits down

  with the strong box and puts on a pair of glasses and goes

  methodically through a large stack of papers.}

  Ambler & Ambler. Hmmmmm. . . . Crabtree. . . . More

  Ambler & Ambler.

  stanley:

  What is Ambler & Ambler?

  blanche:

  A firm that made loans on the place.

  stanley:

  Then it was lost on a mortgage?

  blanche [touching her forehead]:

  That must've been what happened.

  43

  _b.__b

  SCENE TWO

  stanley:

  I don't want no ifs, ands or buts! What's all the rest of them

  papers?

  [She hands him the entire box. He carries it to the table

  and starts to examine the papers.]

  blanche [picking up a large envelope containing mare papers]:

  There are thousands of papers, stretching back over hundreds

  of years, affecting Belle Reve as, piece by piece, our

  improvident grandfathers and father and uncles and brothers

  exchanged the land for their epic fornications--to

  put it plainly! [She removes her glasses with an exhausted

  laugh] The four-letter word deprived us of our plantation, till finally all that was left--and Stella can verify that!--

  was the house itself and about twenty acres of ground, including

  a graveyard, to which now all but Stella and I have

  retreated. [She pours the contents of the envelope on the

  table] Here all of them are, all papers! I hereby endow you

  with them! Take them, peruse them--commit them to

  memory, even! I think it's wonderfully fitting that Belle

  Reve should finally be this bunch of old papers in your big, capable hands! ... I wonder if Stella's come back with

  my lemon-coke . . . [She leans back and closes her eyes.]

  stanley:

  I have a lawyer acquaintance who will study these out

  blanche:

  Present them to him with a box of aspirin tablets.

  stanley [becoming somewhat sheepish]:

  You see, under the Napoleonic code--a man has to take

  an interest in his wife's affairs--especially now that she's

  going to have a baby.

  [Blanche opens her eyes. The "blue piano" sounds louder.]

  blanche:

  Stella? Stella going to have a baby? [dreamily] I didn't know

  she was going to have a baby!

  [She gets up and crosses to the outside door. Stella appears

  around the corner with a carton from the drugstore.

  [Stanley goes into the bedroom with the envelope and the

  box.

  48

  SCENE TVTO

  [The inner rooms fade to darkness and the outside wall of

  the house is visible. Blanche meets Stella at the foot of the

  steps to the sidewalk.]

  blanche:

  Stella, Stella for star! How lovely to have a baby! It's all

  right. Everything's all right.

  stella:

  I'm sorry he did that to you.

  blanche:

  Oh, I guess he's just not the type that goes for jasmine

  perfume, but maybe he's what we need to mix with our

  blood now that we've lost Belle Reve. We thrashed it out. I

  feel a bit shaky, but I think I handled it nicely, I laughed

  and treated it all as a joke. [Steve and Pablo appear, carrying

  a case of beer.} I called him a little boy and laughed and

  flirted. Yes, I was flirting with your husband! [as the men

  approach] The guests are gathering for the poker party. [The two men pass between them, and enter the house.} Which way do we go now, Stella--this way?

  stella:

  No, this way. [She leads Blanche away.}

  blanche [laughing}:

  The blind are leading the blind! [A tamale Vendor is heard calling.}

  vendor's voice:

  Red-hot!

  44

  .SCENE THREE 9

  THE POKER NIGHT

  There is a picture of Van Gogh's of a billiard-parlor at

  night. The kitchen now suggests that sort of lurid nocturnal

  brilliance, the raw colors of childhood's spectrum. Over the

  yellow linoleum of the kitchen table hangs an electric bulb

  with a vivid green glass shade. The poker players--Stanley,

  Steve, Mitch and Pablo--wear colored shirts, solid blues, a

  purple, a red-and-white check, a light green, and they are

  men at the peak of their physical manhood, as coarse and

  direct and powerful as the primary colors. There are vivid

  slices of watermelon on the table, whiskey bottles and

  glasses. The bedroom is relatively dim with only the light

  that spills between the portieres and through the wide window

  on the street.

  For a moment, there is absorbed silence as a hand is dealt.

  | steve:

  | Anything wild this deal?

  ; pablo:

  One-eyed jacks are wild.

  steve:

  Give me two cards.

  pablo:

  You, Mitch?

  mitch:

  I'm out

  pablo:

  One.

  mitch:

  Anyone want a shot?

  stanley:

  Yeah. Me.

  pablo:

  Why don't somebody go to the Chinaman's and bring back

  a load of chop suey?

  stanley:

  When I'm losing you want to eati Ante up! Openers?

  is

  SCENE THREE

  Openers! Get y'r ass off the table, Mitch. Nothing belongs

  on a poker table but cards, chips and whiskey. [He lurches up and tosses some watermelon rinds to the

  floor.} mitch:

  Kind of on your high horse, ain't you?

  stanley: if ^--. - ^ , A

  How many? ?,' r ." wy"" ,??'T

  steve: ' "~ '-;? r,^

  Give me three.

  stanley: ^

  One. mitch:

  I'm out again. I oughta go home pretty soon.

  stanley: ?

  Shut up.

  mitch:

  I gotta sick mother. She don't go to sleep until I come in

  at night stanley:

  Then why don't you stay home with her?

  mitch:

  She says to go out, so I go, but I don't enjoy it All the

  while I keep wondering how she is.

  stanley:

  Aw, for the sake of Jesus, go home, then! pablo:

  Whafve you got? stanley:

  Spade flush. mitch:

  You all are married. But 111 be alone when she goes.--

  I'm going to the bathroom. stanley:

  Hurry back and well fix you a sugar-tit.

  mitch:

  Aw, go rut. [He crosses through the bedroom into the

  bathroom.]

  46

  SOBNB THREE

  steve [dealing a hand):

  Seven-card stud. [Telling his joke as he deals] This ole

  fanner is out in back of his house sittin' down th'owing

  corn to the chickens when all at once he hears a loud

  cackle and this young hen comes lickety split around the

&
nbsp; side of the house with the rooster right behind her and

  gaining on her fast.

  stanley [impatient with the story]:

  Deal!

  steve:

  But when the rooster catches sight of the farmer th'owing

  tile corn he puts on the brakes and lets the hen get away

  and starts pecking corn. And the old fanner says, "Lord

  God, I hopes I never gits that hongry!"

  [Steve and Pablo laugh. The sisters appear around the

  corner of the building^

  stella:

  The game is still going on.

  blanche:

  How do I look?

  stella:

  Lovely, Blanche.

  blanche:

  I feel so hot and frazzled. Wait till I powder before you

  open the door. Do I look done in?

  stella:

  Why no. You are as fresh as a daisy.

  blanche:

  One thafs been picked a few days.

  - [Stella opens the door and they enter.]

  stella:

  Well, well, well. I see you boys are still at it!

  stanley:

  Where you been?

  stella:

  Blanche and I took in a show. Blanche, fhis is Mr. Gonzales

  and Mr. HubbelL

  47

  SCENE THREE

  blanche:

  Please don't get up.

  stanley:

  Nobody's going to get up, so don't be worried.

  stella:

  How much longer is this game going to continue?

  {I11 stanley:

  Till we get ready to quit

  blanche:

  Poker is so fascinating. Could I kibitz?

  stanley:

  You could not. Why don't you women go up and sit with

  Eunice?

  stella;

  Because it is nearly two-thirty. [Blanche crosses into the

  bedroom and partially closes the portieres} Couldn't you

  call it quits after one more hand?

  [A chair scrapes. Stanley gives a loud whack of his hand

  on her thigh.]

  stella [sharply}:

  That's not fun, Stanley.

  [The men laugh. Stella goes into the bedroom.}

  stella:

  It makes me so mad when he does that in front of people.

  blanche:

  I think I will bathe.

  stella:

  Again?

  blanche: tf^

  My nerves are in knots. Is the bathroom occupied? % ^

  stella: ? "***.

  I don't know.

  [Blanche knocks. Mitch opens the door and comes out, still

  wiping his hands on a towel.}

  blanche:

  Oh!?good evening.

  48

  N ?

  i^

  II

  ? U JH; a Hi T M K. 13 IS

  ttch:

  Hello. [He stares at her.}

  ^stella:

  Blanche, this is Harold Mitchell. My sister, Blanche DuBois.

  mttch [with awkward courtesy}:

  How do you do. Miss DuBois.

  stella:

  How is your mother now, Mitch?

  IrMrrcH:

  About the same, thanks. She appreciated your sending over

  that custard.?Excuse me, please.

  [He crosses slowly back into the kitchen, glancing back

  at Blanche and coughing a little shyly. He realizes he still

  has the towel in his hands and with an embarrassed laugh

  hands it to Stella. Blanche looks after him with a certain

  interest.}

  eblanche:

  That one seems?superior to the others.

  stella:

  Yes, he is.

  jBLANCHE:

  I thought he had a sort of sensitive look.

  stella:

  His mother is sick.

  'blanche:

  Is he married?

  stella:

  No.

  blanche:

  Is he a wolf?

  stella:

  Why, Blanchel [Blanche laughs.} I dont think he would be.

  blanche:

  What does?what does he do?

  [She is unbuttoning her blouse.}

  stella:

  He's on the precision bench in the spare parts department

  At the plant Stanley travels for.

  49

  SCENE THREE

  blanche;

  Is that something much?

  stella:

  No. Stanley's the only one of his crowd that's likel :?.

  anywhere.

  blanche:

  What makes you think Stanley will? '

  stella:

  Look at him.

  blanche: j

  I've looked at him. >

  stella:

  Then you should know. , blanche: I

  Fm sorry, but I havent noticed (he stamp of genius even |

  on Stanley's forehead.

  [She takes off the blouse and stands in her pink silk brassiere

  and white skirt in the light through the portleres. The game

  has continued in undertones.] stella:

  It isn't on his forehead and it isnt genius. blanche:

  Oh. Well, what is it, and where? I would like to know.

  stella:

  It's a drive that he has. You're standing in the light, Blanche!

  blanche:

  Oh, am I!

  [She moves out of the yellow streak of light. Stella has removed

  her dress and put on a tight blue satin kimono.] i

  stella [with girlish laughter]: j

  You ought to see their wives. ;

  blanche [laughingly]:

  I can imagine. Big, beefy things, I suppose.

  stella:

  You know that one upstairs? [More laughter] One time I [laughing] the plaster--[laughing] cracked--

  stanley:

  You hens cut out that conversation in therel

  SCENE THREE

  stella:

  You can't hear us.

  stanley:

  Well, you can hear me and I said to hush up!

  stblla:

  This is my house and I'll talk as much as I want to!

  blanche:

  Stella, don't start a row.

  stella:

  He's half drunk!?I'll be out in a minute.

  [She goes into the bathroom. Blanche rises and crosses

  leisurely to a small white radio and turns it on.]

  stanley:

  Awright, Mitch, you in?

  mitch:

  What? Oh!?No, I'm out!

  [Blanche moves back into the streak of light. She raises her

  arms and stretches, as she moves indolently back to the

  chair.

  [Rhumba music comes over the radio. Mitch rises at the

  table.}

  stanley:

  Who tamed that on in there?

  blanche:

  I did. Do you mind?

  stanley:

  Turn it off I

  steve:

  Aw, let the girls have their music.

  pablo:

  Sure, that's good, leave it on!

  steve:

  Sounds like Xavier Cugat!

  [Stanley jumps up and, crossing to the radio, turns it off.

  He stops short at the sight of Blanche in the chair. She

  returns his look without flinching. Then he sits again at the

  poker table.

  i& 51

  FR1;|

  [Tw steve Idi(

  I? pablo

  Did;

  SCENE! THBEE

  mitch:

  It's--a hot weather drink.

  blanche:

  Oh, I don't think so; it always makes me wanner. Have

  you got any cigs? [She has slipped on the dark red satin

  wrapper.} br />
  mitch:

  Sure.

  blanche:

  What kind are they?

  mitch:

  Luckies.

  blanche:

  Oh, good. What a pretty case. Silver?

  MrrcH:

  Yes. Yes; read the inscription.

  blanche:

  Oh, is there an inscription? I can't make it out. [Be strikes

  a match and moves closer} Oh! {reading with feigned difficulty}:

  "And if God choose,

  I shall but love thee better--after--death!"

  Why, that's from my favorite sonnet by Mrs. Browning!

  mitch:

  You know it?

  blanche:

  Certainly I dol

  mitch:

  There's a story connected with that inscription.

  blanche:

  It sounds like a romance. Mrrca:

  A pretty sad one.

  blanche:

  Oh?

  Mrrca:

  The girl's dead now.

  53

  SCENE THREE

  blanchb pn a tone of deep sympathy}:

  Oh!

  MrrcH:

  She knew she was dying when she give me this. A v?ry

  strange girl, very sweet?very!

  blanche:

  She must have been fond of you. Sick people have s "h

  deep, sincere attachments.

  mitch:

  That's right, they certainly do.

  blanche:

  Sorrow makes for sincerity, I think.

  mitch:

  It sure brings it out in people.

  blanche:

  The little there is belongs to people who have experienced

  some sorrow.

  mitch: 1

  I believe you are right about that.

  blanche:

  I'm positive that I am. Show me a person who hasn't known

  any sorrow and I'll show you a shuperficial?Listen to me!

  My tongue is a little?thickl You boys are responsible for

  it. The show let out at eleven and we couldn't come home

  on account of the poker game so we had to go somewhere

  and drink. I'm not accustomed to having more than one

  drink. Two is the limit?and three! [She laughs} Tonight I

  had three.

  stanley;

  Mitchi

  mitch:

  Deal me out I'm talking to Miss?

  blanche:

  DuBois.

  mitch:

  Miss DuBois?

  blanche:

  It's a French name. It means woods and Blanche raeans

  SCENE THREE

  white, so (he two together mean white woods. Like an orchard

  in spring! You can remember it by that.

  mitch:

  You're French?

  blanche:

  We are French by extraction. Our first American ancestors

  were French Huguenots.

  mitch: ' You are Stella's sister, are you not?

  blanche:

  Yes, Stella is my precious little sister. I call her little in spite

  of the fact she's somewhat older than I. Just slightly. Less

  than a year. Will you do something for me?

  mitch:

  Sure. What?

  blanche:

  I bought this adorable little colored paper lantern at a

  Chinese shop on Bourbon. Put it over the light bulb! Will

  you, please?

  mitch:

  Be glad to.

  blanche:

  I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude

  remark or a vulgar action.

  mitch [adjusting the lantern]:

  I guess we strike you as being a pretty rough bunch. blanche:

  I'm very adaptable--to circumstances.

  MrrcH:

  Well, that's a good thing to be. You are visiting Stanley and

  Stella?

  blanche:

  Stella hasn't been so weB lately, and I came down to help

  her for a while. She's very run down. mitch:

  You're not--? blanche:

  Married? No, no. Fm an old maid schoolteacheri

  SB

  SCENE THREE

  mitch;

  You may teach school but you're certainly not an old r ?id

  blanche:

  Thank you, sir! I appreciate your gallantryl

  MrrcH:

  So you are in the teaching profession?

  blanche:

  Yes. Ah, yes...

  mitch:

  Grade school or high school or--

  stanley [bellowing]:

  Mitchi

  MrrcH:

  Coming!

  blanche:

  Gracious, what lung-power! ... I teach high scho;;. In

  Laurel.

  mitch:

  What do you teach? What subject?

  blanche:

  Guess!

  mitch:

  I bet you teach art or music? [Blanche laughs delicately] Of

  course I could be wrong. You might teach arithmetic.

  blanche:

  Never arithmetic, sir, never arithmetic! [with a laugh] I

  don't even know my multiplication tables! No, I have the

  misfortune of being an English instructor. I attempt to instill

  a bunch of bobby-soxers and drug-store Romeos with

  reverence for Hawthorne and Whitman and Poe!

  mitch:

  I guess that some of them are more interested in oth?r

  things.

  blanche:

  How very right you are! Their literary heritage is not what

  most of them treasure above all else! But they're sweet

  things! And in the spring, it's touching to notice them

  SCENE THREE

  making their first discovery of lovel As if nobody had ever

  known it before!

  [The bathroom door opens and Stella comes out. Blanche

  continues talking to Mitch.]

  Oh! Have you finished? Wait--I'll turn on the radio. [She turns the knobs on the radio and it begins to play

  "Wien, Wien, nur du allein." Blanche -waltzes to the music

  with romantic gestures. Mitch is delighted and moves in

  awkward imitation tike a dancing bear.

  [Stanley stalks fiercely through the portieres into the bedroom.

  He crosses to the small white radio and snatches it off

  the table. With a shouted oath, he tosses the instrument out

  the window.]

  stella:

  Drunk--drunk--animal thing, you! [She rushes through to

  the poker table] All of you--please go home! If any of you

  have one spark of decency in you--

  blanche [wildly]:

  Stella, watch out, he's-- [Stanley charges after Stella.]

  men [feebly]:

  Take it easy, Stanley. Easy, fellow.--Let's all--

  stella:

  You lay your hands on me and 111--

  [She backs out of sight. He advances and disappears. There

  is the sound of a blow. Stella cries out. Blanche screams and

  runs into the kitchen. The men rush forward and there is

  grappling and cursing. Something is overturned With a

  crash.]