gather! There in the front of the cave, all grunting like him,
and swilling and gnawing and hulking! His poker night!--
you call it--this party of apes! Somebody growls--some
creature snatches at something--the fight is on! God! Maybe
we are a long way from being made in God's image,
but Stella--my sister--there has been some progress
since then! Such things as art--as poetry and music--such
kinds of new light have come into the world since then!
In some kinds of people some tenderer feelings have had
some little beginning! That we have got to make growl And cling to, and hold as our flag! In this dark march
toward whatever it is we're approaching. . . . Don't--
don't hang back with the brutes!
[Another train passes outside. Stanley hesitates, licking his
lips. Then suddenly he turns stealthily about and withdraws
through front door. The women are still unaware of
his presence. When the train has passed he calls through
the closed front door.}
stanley:
Hey! Hey, SteUal
stella [who has listened gravely to Blanche]:
Stanleyl
blanche:
Stell, I--
72
'we had this date with each other from the beginning!"
Ion Brando as Stanley, Jessica Tandy as Blanche in the original New
: production of A Streetcar Named Desire, produced by Irene Mayor
lick, directed by Elia Kazan.
SCENE POUR
Wut Stella has gone to the front door. Stanley enters
casually with his packages.]
stanley:
Hiyuh, Stella. Blanche back?
stella:
Yes, she's back.
stanley:
Hiyuh, Blanche. [He grins at her.]
stella:
You must've got under the car.
stanley:
Them dam mechanics at Fritz's don't know their ass fr'm
?Hey!
[Stella has embraced him -with both arms, fiercely, and
full in the view of Blanche. He laughs and clasps her head
to him. Over her head he grins through the curtains at
Blanche.
[As the lights fade away, with a lingering brightness on
their embrace, the music of the "blue piano" and trumpet
and drums is heard.]
73
SCENE FIVE
Blanche is seated in the bedroom fanning herself with a
palm leaf as she reads over a just completed letter. Suddenly
she bursts into a peal of laughter. Stella is dressing in the bedroom.
I-ijiy stella:
I . | What are you laughing at, honey?
't I'll blanche:
Myself, myself, for being such a liar! Fm writing a letter
to Shep. [She picks up the letter] "Darling Shep. I am
spending the summer on the wing, making flying visits here and there. And who knows, perhaps I shall take a
sudden notion to swoop down on Dallas! How would you
feel about that? Ha-ha! [She laughs nervously and brightly,
touching her throat as if actually talking to Shep] Forewarned
is forearmed, as they say!"--How does that sound?
stella:
Uh-huh...
blanche [going on nervously]:
"Most of my sister's friends go north in the summer but
some have homes on the Gulf and there has been a continued
round of entertainments, teas, cocktails, and luncheons--"
[A disturbance is heard upstairs at the Hubbells' apartment.]
stella:
Eunice seems to be having some trouble with Steve.
[Eunices voice shouts in terrible wrath.}
eunice:
I heard about you and that blonde!
steve:
That's a damn lie!
eunice:
You aint pulling the wool over my eyes! I wouldn't mind
if you'd stay down at the Four Deuces, but you always
going up.
SCENE FIVE
steve:
Who ever seen me up?
T^TTMTfE *
I seen you chasing her 'round the balcony--I'm gonna call
the vice squad!
steve:
Don't you throw that at mel
eunice [shrieking]:
You hit me! I'm gonna call the police!
[A clatter of aluminum striking a wall is heard, followed
by a man's angry roar, shouts and overturned furniture.
There is a crash; then a relative hush.}
blanche [brightly]:
Did he kill her?
[Eunice appears on the steps in daemonic disorder.]
stella:
No! She's coming downstairs.
eunice:
Call the police. I'm going to call the police! [She rushes
around the comer.]
[They laugh lightly. Stanley comes around the corner in
his green-and-scarlet silk bowling shirt. He trots up the
steps and bangs 'into the kitchen. Blanche registers his entrance
with nervous gestures.]
stanley:
What's a matter with Eun-uss?
stella:
She and Steve had a row. Has she got the police?
stanley:
Naw. She's gettin' a drink. stella:
That's much more practical!
[Steve comes down nursing a bruise on his forehead and
looks in the door.]
steve:
She here?
75
BOENE FIVE
stanley:
Naw, naw. At the Pour Deuces.
stevb:
That rutting hunki [He looks around the corner a bit
timidly, then turns with affected boldness and runs after
her.]
blanche:
I must jot that down in my notebook. Ha-ha! I'm compiling
a notebook of quaint little words and phrases I've
picked up here.
stanley:
You won't pick up nothing here you ain't heard before.
blanche:
Can I count on that?
stanley:
You can count on it up to five hundred.
blanche:
That's a mighty high number. [He jerks open the bureau
drawer, slams it shut and throws shoes in a corner. At each
noise Blanche winces slightly. Finally she speaks] What
sign were you born under?
stanley [while he is dressing]:
Sign?
blanche:
Astrological sign. I bet you were born under Aries. Aries
people are forceful and dynamic. They dote on noise!
They love to bang things around! You must have had lots
of banging around in the army and now that you're out, you make up for it by treating inanimate objects with
such a fury!
[Stella has been going in and out of closet during this
scene. Now she pops her head out of the closet.} stella:
Stanley was born just five minutes after Christmas.
blanche:
Capricorn--the Goat!
stanley:
What sign were you born under?
78
L?>
'---Tl
SCENE FIVE
blanche:
Oh, my birthday's next month, the fifteenth of September;
that's under Virgo.
stanley:
What's Virgo?
blanche:
Virgo is the Virgin.
stanley [contemptuously]:
Bah! [He advances a little as he knots his tie] Say, do you
happen to know somebody named Shaw? [He
r face expresses a faint shock. She reaches for the
cologne bottle and dampens her handkerchief as she answers
carefully.}
blanche:
Why, everybody knows somebody named Shawl
stanley:
Well, this somebody named Shaw is under the impression
he met you in Laurel, but I figure he must have got you
mixed up with some other party because this other party
is someone he met at a hotel called the Flamingo. [Blanche laughs breathlessly as she touches the cologne- dampened handkerchief to her temples.}
blanche:
I'm afraid he does have me mixed up with this "other
party." The Hotel Flamingo is not the sort of establishment
I would dare to be seen in!
stanley:
You know of it?
blanche:
Yes, I've seen it and smelled it
stanley:
You musfve got pretty close if you could smell it
blanche:
The odor of cheap perfume is penetrating.
stanley:
That stuff you use is expensive?
blanche:
Twenty-five dollars an ounce! Tm nearly out. That's just
77
--y
SCENE FIVE
a hint if you want to remember my birthday! [She speaks
lightly but her voice has a note of fear.}
stanley:
Shaw must've got you mixed up. He goes in and out of
Laurel all the time so he can check on it and dear up any
mistake.
[He turns away and crosses to the portieres. Blanche closes
her eyes as if faint. Her hand trembles as she lifts the handkerchief
again to her forehead.
[Steve and Eunice come around corner. Steve's arm fs
around Eunice's shoulder and she is sobbing luxuriously
and he is cooing love-words. There is a murmur of thunder
as they go slowly upstairs in a tight embrace.}
stanley [to Stella}:
111 wait for you at me Four Deuces! |j
stella: "gy"',
Hey! Dont I rate one kiss? %f^^
stanley:
Not in front of your sister.
[He goes out. Blanche rises from her chair. She seems
faint; looks about her with an expression of almost panic.}
blanche:
Stella! What have you heard about me?
stella:
Huh?
blanche:
What have people been telling you about me?
stella:
Telling? ^SS^* blanche:
You haven't heard any--unkind--gossip about me?
stella:
Why, no, Blanche, of course not! blanche:
Honey, there was--a good deal of talk in Laurel.
stella:
About you, Blanche?
78
SCENE FIVB
blanche:
I wasn't so good die last two years or so, after Belle Reve
had started to slip through my fingers.
stella:
All of us do things we--
blanche:
I never was hard or sell-sufficient enough. When people
are soft--soft people have got to shimmer and glow--
they've got to put on soft colors, the colors of butterfly
wings, and put a--paper lantern over the light. ... It isn't
enough to be soft. You've got to be soft and attractive. And
I--I'm fading now! I don't know how much longer I can
turn me trick.
[The afternoon has faded to dusk. Stella goes into the bedroom
and turns on the light under the paper lantern. She
holds a bottled soft drink in her hand.}
blanche:
Have you been listening to me?
stella:
I don't listen to you when you are being morbid! [She
advances with the bottled coke.}
blanche [with abrupt change to gaiety}'.
Is that coke for me?
stella:
Not for anyone else!
blanche:
Why, you precious thing, you! Is it just coke?
stella [turning}:
You mean you want a shot in iti
blanche:
Well, honey, a shot never does a coke any harm! Let mel
You mustn't wait on me!
stella:
I like to wait on you, Blanche. It makes it seem more like
home. [She goes into the kitchen, finds a glass and pours
a shot of whiskey into it.]
blanche:
I have to admit I love to be waited on...
79
SCENE FIVE
[She rushes into the bedroom. Stella goes to her with the
glass. Blanche suddenly clutches Stella's free hand with a
moaning sound and presses the hand to her lips. Stella is
embarrassed by her show of emotion. Blanche speaks in a
choked voice.]
You're?you're?so good to me! And I?
stella:
Blanche.
blanche:
I know, I won't! You hate me to talk sentimental! But
honey, believe I feel things more than I tell youl I won't
stay long! I won't, I promise I?
stella:
Blanche!
blanche [hysterically]:
I won't, I promise, I'll go! Go soon! I will really! I won't
hang around until he?throws me out...
stella:
Now will you stop talking foolish?
blanche:
Yes, honey. Watch how you pour?that fizzy stuff foams
over!
[Blanche laughs shrilly and grabs the glass, but her hand
shakes so it almost slips from her grasp. Stella pours the
coke into the glass. It foams over and spills. Blanche gives
a piercing cry.]
stella [shocked by the cry]:
Heavens!
blanche:
Right on my pretty white skirt!
STELLA:
Oh ... Use my hanky. Blot gently. ^.
blanche [slowly recovering]:
I know?gently?gently...
stella:
Did it stain?
blanche:
Not a bit. Ha-ha! Isn't that lucky? [She sits down shaking,
80
SCENE FIVE
taking a grateful drink. She holds the glass in both hands
and continues to laugh a little.}
stella:
Why did you scream like that?
blanche:
I don't know why I screamed! [continuing nervously] Mitch
--Mitch is coming at seven. I guess I am just feeling nervous
about our relations. [She begins to talk rapidly and
breathlessly] He hasn't gotten a thing but a goodnight kiss,
that's all I have given him, Stella. I want his respect. And
men don't want anything they get too easy. But on the other
hand men lose interest quickly. Especially when the girl is
over--thirty. They think a girl over thirty ought to--the
vulgar term is--"put out." . . . And I--I'm not "putting
out." Of course he--he doesn't know--I mean I haven't informed
him --of my real age!
stella:
Why are you sensitive about your age?
blanche:
Because of hard knocks my vanity's been given. What I
mean is--he thinks I'm sort of--prim and proper, you
know! [She laughs out sharply} I want to deceive him
enough to make him--want me...
stella:
Blanche, do you want him?
blanche:
I want to rest! I want to breathe quietly again! Yes--I wa
nt
Mitch ... very badly! Just think! If it happensi I can leave
here and not be anyone's problem...
[Stanley comes around the corner with a drink under Ms
belt.} stanley [bawling}:
Hey, Steve! Hey, Eunice! Hey, Stella!
[There are joyous calls from above. Trumpet and drums
are heard from around the corner.} stella [kissing Blanche impulsively}:
It will happen! blanche [doubtfully}:
It will?
81
TIKl
EK^A^aSaMi
SCENE FIVE
stella:
It will! [She goes across into the kitchen, looking back
at Blanche.} It will, honey, it will. ... But don't take another
drink! [Her voice catches as she goes out the door to
meet her husband.
[Blanche sinks faintly back in her chair -with her drink.
Eunice shrieks with laughter and runs down the steps. Steve
bounds after her -with goat-like screeches and chases her
around corner. Stanley and Stella twine arms as they follow,
laughing.
[Dusk settles deeper. The music from the Four Deuces
is slow and blue.}
blanche:
Ah, me, ah, me, ah, me ...
[Her eyes fall shut and the palm leaf fan drops from her
fingers. She slaps her hand on the chair arm a couple of
times. There is a little glimmer of lightning about the
building.
[A Young Man comes along the street and rings the bell.}
blanche:
Come in.
[The Young Man appears through the portieres. She regards
him with interest.}
blanche:
Well, well! What can I do for you?
young man:
I'm collecting for The Evening Star.
blanche:
I didn't know that stars took up collections.
young man:
It's the paper.
blanche:
I know. I was joking--feebly! Will you--have a drink?
young man:
No, ma'am. No, thank you. I can't drink on the job.
blanche:
Oh, well, now, let's see. . . . No, I don't have a dime!
83
SCENE FIVE
I'm not the lady of the house. I'm her sister from Mississippi.
I'm one of those poor relations you've heard about. young man;
That's all right 111 drop by later. [He starts to go out.
She approaches a little.}
blanche:
Hey! [He turns back shyly. She puts a cigarette in a long
holder] Could you give me a light? [She crosses toward
him. They meet at the door between the two rooms.}
young man:
Sure. [He takes out a lighter] This doesn't always work
blanche:
It's temperamental? [It flares] Ah!--thank you. [He starts
away again] Hey! [He turns again, still more uncertainly.
She goes close to him] Uh--what time is it?
young man:
Fifteen of seven, ma'am.
blanche:
So late? Don't you just love these long rainy afternoons
in New Orleans when an hour isn't just an hour--but a
little piece of eternity dropped into your hands--and who
knows what to do with it? [She touches his shoulders.] You--uh--didn't get wet in the rain?
youno man:
No, ma'am. I stepped inside.
blanche:
In a drug-store? And had a soda?
young man:
| Uh-huh.
| blanche:
Chocolate?
young man:
No, ma'am. Cherry. blanche [laughing]:
Cherry!
young man:
A cherry soda.
83
^
ffi.aa^.t . , ; . . .--...... .
-.i-^MB^S-----?-.--?----..^-. . .--------------mim------.^??iy*"?..^-
SCENE FIVE
blanche:
You make my mouth water. [She touches his cheek lightly, and smiles. Then she goes to the trunk.]
young man:
Well, I'd better be going--
blanche [stopping him]:
Young man!
[He turns. She takes a large, gossamer scarf from the trunk
and drapes it about her shoulders.
[In the ensuing pause, the "blue piano" is heard. It continues
through the rest of this scene and the opening of the next. The young man clears his throat and looks yearningly
at the door.]
Young man! Young, young, young man! Has anyone ever
told you that you look like a young Prince out of the
Arabian Nights?
[The Young Man laughs uncomfortably and stands like a
bashful kid. Blanche speaks softly to him.]
Well, you do, honey lamb! Come here. I want to kiss you, just once, softly and sweetly on your mouth! [Without waiting for him to accept, she crosses quickly
to him and presses her lips to his.] Now run along, now, quickly! It would be nice to keep
you, but I've got to be good--and keep my hands off
children.
[He stares at her a moment. She opens the door for him
and blows a kiss at him as he goes down the steps with a
dazed look. She stands there a little dreamily after he has
disappeared. Then Mitch appears around the corner with
a bunch of roses.] blanche [gaily]:
Look who's coming! My Rosenkavaliert Bow to me first
. . . now present them! Ahhh--Merciiiil
[She looks at him over them, coquettishly pressing them
to her lips. He beams at her selfconsciously.]
fly' |
?... . m
SCENE SIX
It is about two A.M. on the same evening. The outer wall
of the building is visible. Blanche and Mitch come in. The
utter exhaustion which only a neurasthenic personality can
know is evident in Blanche's voice and manner. Milch is
stolid but depressed. They have probably been out to the
amusement park on Lake Pontchartrain, for Mitch is bearing,
upside down, a plaster statuette of Mae West, the sort
of prize won at shooting-galleries and carnival games of
chance.
blanche [stopping lifelessly at the steps}:
Well--
[Milch laughs uneasily.} WeU...
mttch:
I guess it must be pretty late--and you're tired.
blanche: