mother.
blanche:
Go away, then. [He stares at her] Get out of here quick before
I start screaming fire! [Her throat is tightening with
hysteria] Get out of here quick before I start screaming fire. [He still remains staring. She suddenly rushes to the big window
with its pale blue square of the soft summer light and
cries wildly.]
Fire! Fire! Fire!
[With a startled, gasp, Mitch turns and goes out the outer
door, clatters awkwardly down the steps and around the
corner of the building, Blanche staggers back from the window
and falls to her knees. The distant piano is slow and
blue.]
K'te.
121
SCENE TEN
It is a few hows later that night.
Blanche has been drinking fairly steadily since Mitch left.
She has dragged her wardrobe trunk into the center of the
bedroom. It hangs open with flowery dresses thrown across it. As the drinking and packing went on, a mood of hysterical
exhilaration came into her and she has decked herself
out in a somewhat soiled and crumpled white satin
evening gown and a pair of scuffed silver slippers with
brilliants set in their heels.
Now she is placing the rhinestone tiara on her head before
the mirror of the dressing-table and murmuring excitedly as
if to a 'group of spectral admirers.
blanche:
How about taking a swim, a moonlight swim at the old rockquarry?
If anyone's sober enough to drive a car! Ha-ha! Best
way in the world to stop your head buzzing! Only you've
got to be careful to dive where the deep pool is--if you hit
a rock you don't come up till tomorrow... [Tremblingly she lifts the hand mirror for a closer inspection.
She catches her breath and slams the mirror face down
with such violence that the glass cracks. She moans a little
and attempts to rise.
[Stanley appears around the corner of the building. He still
has on the vivid green silk bowling shirt. As he rounds the
corner the honky-tonk music is heard. It continues softly
throughout the scene.
[He enters the kitchen, slamming the door. As he peers In
at Blanche, he gives a low whistle. He has had a few drinks
on the way and has brought some quart beer bottles home
with him.]
blanche:
How is my sister? ^.. ;l.^"!^M^iA/w,
stanley: ."..^! .'/^^^''::%^:?&;f'" She is doing okay. .i^:}'''. ';'':;!^"";^.A:,l'A..
blanche: './^ ^;,;.;^.^i::''^':;4;^B^.
And how is the baby?
122
c^
8CENB TEN
stanley [grinning amiably]:
The baby won't come before morning so they told me to go
home and get a little shuteye.
blanche:
Does that mean we are to be alone in here?
stanley:
Yep. Just me and you, Blanche. Unless you got somebody
hid under the bed. What've you got on those fine feathers
for?
blanche:
Oh, that's right. You left before my wire came.
stanley:
You got a wire?
blanche:
I received a telegram from an old admirer of mine.
stanley:
Anything good?
blanche:
I think so. An invitation.
stanley:
What to? A fireman's ball?
blanche [throwing back her head]:
A cruise of the Caribbean on a yacht!
stanley:
Well, well. What do you know?
blanche:
I have never been so surprised in my life.
stanley:
I guess not.
blanche:
It came like a bolt from the bluet
stanley:
Who did you say it was from?
blanche:
An old beau of mine.
stanley:
The one that give you the white fox-pieces?
133
U..MI
SCENE TEN
blanche:
Mr. Shep Hmrtleigh. I wore his ATO pin my last year at
college. I hadn't seen him again until last Christmas. I ran
into him on Biscayne Boulevard. Then--just now--this
wire--inviting me on a cruise of the Caribbean! The problem
is clothes. I tore into my trunk to see what I have that's
suitable for the tropics!
stanley:
And come up with that--gorgeous--diamond--tiara?
blanche:
This old relic? Ha-ha! It's only rhinestones.
stanley:
Gosh. I thought it was Tiffany diamonds. [He unbuttons his
shirt.}
blanche:
Well, anyhow, I shall be entertained in style.
stanley:
Uh-huh. It goes to show, you never know what is coming.
blanche:
Just when I thought my luck had begun to fail me--
stanley:
Into the picture pops this Miami millionaire.
blanche:
This man is not from Miami. This man is from Dallas.
stanley:
This man is from Dallas?
blanche:
Yes, this man is from Dallas where gold spouts out of the
ground!
stanley:
Well, just so he's from somewhere! [Be starts removing his
shirt.}
blanche:
Close the curtains before you undress any further.
stanley [amiably]:
This is all I'm going to undress right now. [He rips the sack
off a quart beer bottle] Seen a botde^pener?
ia*
SCENE TEN
[She moves slowly toward the dresser, where she stands with
her hands knotted together.}
I used to have a cousin who could open a beer bottle with
his teeth. [Pounding the bottle cap on the corner of table] That was his only accomplishment, all he could do--he was
just a human bottle-opener. And then one time, at a wedding
party, he broke his front teeth off! After that he was
so ashamed of himself he used t' sneak out of the house
when company came...
[The bottle cap pops off and a geyser of foam shoots up.
Stanley laughs happily, holding up the bottle over his head.] Ha-ha! Rain from heaven! [He extends the bottle toward
her] Shall we bury the hatchet and make it a loving-cup?
Huh?
blanche:
No, thank you.
stanley:
Well, it's a red letter night for us both. You having an oil
millionaire and me having a baby.
[He goes to the bureau in the bedroom and crouches to remove
something from the bottom drawer.]
blanche [drawing back]:
What are you doing in here?
stanley:
Here's something I always break out on special occasions
like this. The silk pyjamas I wore on my wedding night!
blanche:
Oh.
stanley:
When the telephone rings and they say, "You've got a son!"
Ill tear this off and wave it like a flag! [He shakes out a
brilliant pyjama coat] I guess we are both entitled to put on
the dog. [He goes back to the kitchen with the coat over his
arm.]
blanche:
When I think of how divine it is going to be to have such
a thing as privacy on
ce more--I could weep with joy!
125
SCENE TEN
stanley:
This millionaire from Dallas is not going to interfere with
your privacy any?
blanche:
It won't be the sort of tiling you have in mind. This man is
a gentleman and he respects me. [Improvising feverishly] What he wants is my companionship. Having great wealth
sometimes makes people lonely! A cultivated woman, a
woman of intelligence and breeding, can enrich a man's life
--immeasurably! I have those things to offer, and this
doesn't take them away. Physical beauty is passing. A transitory
possession. But beauty of the mind and richness of the
spirit and tenderness of the heart--and I have all of those things--aren't taken away, but grow! Increase with the
years! How strange that I should be called a destitute woman!
When I have all of these treasures locked in my heart. [A choked sob comes from her] I think of myself as a very,
very rich woman! But I have been foolish--casting my
pearls before swinel
stanley:
Swine, huh?
blanche:
Yes, swinel Swinel And I'm thinking not only of you but of
your friend, Mr. Mitehell. He came to see me tonight. He
dared to come here in his work-clothes! And to repeat slander
to me, vicious stories that he had gotten from you! I
gave him his walking papers...
stanley:
You did, huh?
blanche:
But then he came back. He returned with a box of roses to
beg my forgiveness! He implored my forgiveness. But some
things are not forgivable. Deliberate cruelty is not forgivable.
It is the one unforgivable thing in my opinion and
it is the one thing of which I have never, never been guilty.
And so I told him, I said to him, "Thank you," but it was
foolish of me to think that we could ever adapt ourselves
to each other. Our ways of life are too different. Our attitudes
and our backgrounds are incompatible. We have to
126
SCENE TEIT
be realistic about such things. So farewell, my friend! And
let there be no hard feelings...
stanley;
Was this before or after the telegram came from die Texas
oil millionaire?
blanche:
What telegrami No! No, after! As a matter of fact, the wire
came just as--
stanley:
As a matter of fact there wasn*t no wire at all!
blanche:
Oh, oh!
stanley;
There isnt no millionaire! And Mitch didn't come back;
with roses 'cause I know where he is--
blanche:
Ohi
stanley:
There isn*t a goddam thing but imagination!
blanche:
Oh!
stanley:
And lies and conceit and tricks!
blanche;
Oh!
stanley:
And look at yourself! Take a look at yourself in that wornout
Mardi Gras outfit, rented for fifty cents from some ragpicker!
And with the crazy crown on! What queen do you
think you are?
blanche;
Oh--God...
stanley:
I've been on to you from the start! Not once did you pull
any wool over this boy's eyes! You come in here and
sprinkle the place with powder and spray perfume and cover
the light bulb with a paper lantern, and lo and behold the
place has turned into Egypt and you are the Queen of the
iar
SCENE TEN
Nile! Sitting on your throne and swilling down my liquor!
I say--Hal--Ha! Do you hear me? Ha--ha--ha! [He walks
into the bedroom.]
blanche:
Don't come in here!
[Lurid reflections appear on the wall around Blanche. The
shadows are of a grotesque and menacing form. She catches
her breath, crosses to the phone and jiggles the hook. Stan- ley goes into the bathroom and closes the door.]
Operator, operator! Give me long-distance, please. ... I
want to get in touch with Mr. Shep Huntleigh of Dallas.
He's so well-known he doesn't require any address. Just ask
anybody who--Wait!!--No, I couldn't find it right now....
Please understand, I--No! No, wait! . . . One moment!
Someone is--Nothing! Hold on, please!
[She sets the phone down and crosses warily into the kitchen.
The night is filled with inhuman voices like cries in a
jungle.
[The shadows and lurid reflections move sinously as flames
along the wall spaces.
[Through the back wall of the rooms, which have become
transparent, can be seen the sidewalk. A prostitute has
rolled a drunkard. He pursues her along the walk, overtakes
her and there is a struggle. A policeman's whistle breaks it
up. The figures disappear.
[Some moments later the Negro Woman appears around the
corner with a sequined bag which the prostitute had
dropped on the walk. She is rooting excitedly through it.
[Blanche presses her knuckles to her lips and returns slowly
to the phone. She speaks in a hoarse whisper.}
blanche:
Operator! Operator! Never mind long-distance. Get Western
Union. There isn't time to be--Western--Western Union! [She waits anxiously.}
Western Union? Yes! I--want to--Take down this message! "In desperate, desperate circumstances! Help me! Caught in a trap. Caught in--" Oh!
128
80ENB TEN
[The bathroom door is thrown open and Stanley comes out
in the brilliant silk pyjamas. He grins at her as he knots the
tasseled sash about his waist. She gasps and backs away
from the phone. He stares at her for a count of ten. Then
a clicking becomes audible from the telephone, steady and
rasping.}
stanley:
You left th' phone off th' hook.
[He crosses to it deliberately and sets it back on the hook.
After he has replaced it, he stares at her again, his mouth
slowly curving into a grin, as he weaves between 'Blanche
and the outer door.
[The barely audible "blue piano" begins to drum up louder.
The sound of it turns into the roar of an approaching locomotive.
Blanche crouches, pressing her fists to her ears until it has gone by.]
blanche Vinally straightening}:
Let me--let me get by youl
stanley:
Get by me! Sure. Go ahead. [He moves back a pace in the
doorway.]
blanche:
You--you stand over there! [She indicates a further position.]
stanley [grinning]:
You got plenty of room to walk by me now.
blanche:
Not with you there! But I've got to get out somehow!
stanley:
You think IT1 interfere with you? Ha-hal
[The "blue piano" goes softly. She turns confusedly and
makes a faint gesture. The inhuman jungle voices rise up.
He takes a step toward her, biting his tongue which protrudes between his lips.]
stanley [softly]:
Come to think of it--maybe you wouldn't be bad to--interfere
with...
129
SCENE TEN
[Blanche moves b
ackward through the door into the bedroom.]
blanche:
Stay back! Don't you come toward me another step or IT1--
stanley:
What?
blanche:
Some awful thing will happen! It will! stanley:
What are you putting on now?
[They are now both inside the bedroom.} blanche:
I warn you, don't, I'm in danger!
[He takes another step. She smashes a bottle on the table
and faces him, clutching the broken top.] stanley:
What did you do that for?
blanche:
So I could twist the broken end in your face!
stanley:
I bet you would do that! blanche:
I would! I will if you--
stanley:
Oh! So you want some rough-house! All right, let's have
some roughhouse!
[Be springs toward her, overturning the table. She cries
out and strikes at him with the bottle top but he catches
her wrist.]
Tiger--tiger! Drop the bottle top! Drop it! We've had this
date with each other from the beginning!
[She moans. The bottle top falls. She sinks to her knees.
He picks up her inert figure and carries her to the bed.
The hot trumpet and drums from the Four Deuces sound
loudly.]
130
SCENE ELEVEN
It is some weeks letter. Stella is packing Blanche's things.
Sounds of water can be heard running in the bathroom.
The portieres are partly open on the poker players--
Stanley, Steve, Mitch and Pablo--who sit around the table
In the kitchen. The atmosphere of the kitchen is now the
same raw, lurid one of the disastrous poker night.
The building is framed by the sky of turquoise. Stella has
been crying as she arranges the ftowery dresses in the open
trunk.
Eunice comes down the steps from her flat above and
enters the kitchen. There is an outburst from the poker
table.
stanley:
Drew to an inside straight and made it, by God.
pablo:
Maldita sea to suertel
stanley:
Put it in English, greasebalL
pablo:
I am cursing your rutting luck.
stanley [prodigiously elated]:
You know what luck is? Luck is believing you're lucky.
Take at Salerno. I believed I was lucky. I figured that 4
out of 5 would not come through but I would ... and I
did. I put that down as a rule. To hold front position in
this rat-race you've got to believe you are lucky.
mitch:
You ... you ... you ... Brag. ... brag ... bull ... bun.
[Steua goes into the bedroom and starts folding a dress.}
stanley:
What's the matter with him?
eunice [walking past the table]:
I always did say that men are callous things with no feelings,
but this does beat anything. Making pigs of yourselves.
[She comes through the portieres into the bedroom.}
131
SCENE ELEVEN
stanley:
What's the matter with her?
stella:
How is my baby?
eunice:
Sleeping like a little angel. Brought you some grapes. [She
puts them on a stool and towers her voice.} Blanche?
stella:
Bathing.
eunice:
How is she?
stella:
She wouldn't eat anything but asked for a drink.
eunice:
What did you tell her?
stella:
I?just told her that?we'd made arrangements for her
to rest in the country. She's got it mixed in her mind with
Shep Hunfleigh.
[Blanche opens the bathroom door slightly.}
blanche:
Stella.
stella:
Yes, Blanche?
blanche:
If anyone calls while I'm bathing take the number and
tell them I'll call right back.
stella:
Yes.
blanche:
That cool yellow silk?the boucle. See if it's crushed. If
it's not too crushed I'll wear it and on the lapel that silver
and turquoise pin in the shape of a seahorse. You will
find them in the heart-shaped box I keep my accessories
in. And Stella . . . Try and locate a bunch of artificial
violets in that box, too, to pin with the seahorse on the
lapel of the jacket.
[She closes the door. Stella turns to Eunice.}
SCENE BIiEVEW
stella:
I don't know if I did the right thing.
eunice:
What else could you do?
stella:
I couldn't believe her story and go on living with Stanley.
eunicb:
Don't ever believe it. Life has got to go on. No matter
what happens, you've got to keep on going.
[The bathroom door opens a little.}
blanche [looking out}:
Is the coast clear?
stella:
Yes, Blanche. [To Eunice} Tell her how well she's looking.
blanche;
Please close the curtains before I come out.
stella:
They're closed. stanley:
--How many for you?
pablo:
--Two.
steve:
--Three.
[Blanche appears in the amber tight of the door. She has
a tragic radiance in her red satin robe following the sculptural
lines of her body. The "Varsouviana' rises audibly
as Blanche enters the bedroom.}
blanche [with faintly hysterical vivacity}:
I have just washed my hair.
stella:
Did you?
blanche:
I'm not sure I got the soap out.
eunice:
Such fine hairl
183
SCENE ELEVEN
blanche [accepting the compliment}:
It's a problem. Didn't I get a call?
v-miwsy. '' :^i&W
stella:
Who from, Blanche?
blanche:
Shep Huntleigh...
stella:
Why, not yet, honeyl
blanche:
How strangel I--