Baby Doll Tiger Tail: A Screenplay and Play by Tennessee Williams

by Tennessee Williams

  BABY DOLL: Off in the Chevy—

  [Instantly he seizes her wrist again. She shrieks. The romance is over.]

  ARCHIE: Where I been since supper?

  BABY DOLL: Upstairs. . . .

  ARCHIE: Doing what?

  BABY DOLL: With your bottle. Archie, leggo. . . .

  ARCHIE: And what else. . . .

  BABY DOLL: Asleep. Leggo. . . .

  ARCHIE [letting go]: Now you know where I been and what I been doing since supper. In case anybody asks.

  BABY DOLL: Yeah.

  ARCHIE: Now go to sleep. . . .

  [He seizes her suitcases and goes off into the house. Baby Doll follows, and Aunt Rose follows her, asleep on her feet. As they go in, Archie Lee comes out and looks around. Then he listens.]

  ARCHIE: Nice quiet night. Real nice and quiet.

  [The gin can no longer be heard.]

  CUT TO:

  32] BRITE SPOT CAFE. EXTERIOR. NIGHT.

  It’s not quiet here at all. The area in front of the entrance is crowded with cars. A holiday mood prevails. It’s as if the fire has satisfied some profound and basic hunger and left the people of that community exhilarated.

  The pickup truck of Silva Vacarro drives up, shoots into a vacant spot. He leaps from the driver’s cab. He has not yet washed, his shirt is torn and blackened and he has a crude bandage around the arm that holds the whip. He stands for a few moments beside his truck, looking around at the cars, trying to find the car of the Marshal, which would indicate that that county official is inside. Then he sees what he’s looking for. He walks over to the car which has the official seal on its side, and not finding the Marshal there, turns and strides into the. . .

  33] INTERIOR. BRITE SPOT. (A JUKE JOINT.)

  Everybody is talking about the fire. The juke box is a loud one. There are some dancing couples.

  Silva Vacarro passes by a little knot of men. He is followed by Rock, holding the kerosene can. The camera stays with them. They smile.

  A MAN: That ole boy is really burning!

  [One of the men detaches himself and moves in the direction that Vacarro took. Then another follows.]

  34] GROUP OF MEN AROUND THE MARSHAL.

  MARSHAL: What makes you think your gin was set fire to?

  SILVA: Look around you. Did you ever see such a crowd of happy faces, looks like a rich man’s funeral with all his relations attending.

  MARSHAL: I’d hate to have to prove it.

  SILVA: I’d hate to have to depend on you to prove it.

  [The man from the other group walks up.]

  MAN: What are you going to do about ginning out your cotton?

  SILVA: I’ll truck it over to Sunset. Collins’ll gin it out for me.

  MAN: Collins got cotton of his own to gin.

  SILVA: Then I’ll truck it across the river. Ain’t nobody around here’s gonna gin it.

  MAN: I’m all set up to do it for you.

  SILVA: I wouldn’t give you the satisfaction.

  [The men drift back a few steps.]

  MARSHAL [speaking a little for the benefit of the men in the room]: I honestly can’t imagine if it was a case of arson who could of done it since every man jack that you put out of business was standing right there next to the platform when the fire broke out.

  ROCK: One wasn’t. I know one that wasn’t.

  MARSHAL [wheeling on bar stool to face him, sharply]: Looky here, boy! Naming names is risky, just on suspicion.

  ROCK: I didn’t name his name. I just said I know it. And the initials are stamped on this here can.

  MARSHAL [quickly]: Let’s break it up, break it up, not the time or the place to make accusations, I’ll take charge of this can. I’ll examine it carefully to see if there’s any basis for thinking it was used to start a fire with.

  SILVA [cutting in]: I run through fire to git that can, and I mean to keep it. [Then to Rock:] Lock it up in the pickup truck.

  [Rock leaves. Unobtrusively some men follow him.]

  MARSHAL: Vacarro. Come over here. I want to have a word with you in one of these booths. . . .

  35] ROCK.

  He enters the men’s room. As he approaches the urinal, the light is switched out and the door is thrown open at the same moment. Hoarse muffled shouts and sounds of struggle and a metallic clatter. Then the light goes on and Rock is lying on the filthy cement floor, dazed. Vacarro enters. He goes to Rock.

  ROCK: They got the can, boss.

  SILVA: Whose initials was on it? Huh? You said you seen some initials on the can.

  ROCK: Naw. It just said—Sears and Roebuck.

  [The Marshal has come in and now reaches down and helps Rock to regain his feet. . . .]

  MARSHAL: Sears and Roebuck! That does it! Hahaha. Boy, git up and git some black coffee in yuh.

  [They pass through the door.]

  36] THE MAIN ROOM.

  MARSHAL: Ruby, Ruby! Give this boy some black coffee. He had a bad fall in the outhouse. Hawhawhaw. . . .

  [But Silva has steered Rock out the front door and they are gone. The Marshal follows. . .]

  37] OUTSIDE.

  Silva and Rock head towards the pickup. The Marshal appears in the doorway.

  MARSHAL: Vacarro!

  [Silva and Rock are at the truck. They wait for the Marshal, who is walking towards them.]

  MARSHAL [soberly, plainly]: You take the advice of an old man who knows this county like the back of his hand. It’s true you made a lot of enemies here. You happen to be a man with foreign blood. That’s a disadvantage in this county. A disadvantage at least to begin with. But you added stubbornness and suspicion and resentment.

  [Vacarro makes an indescribable sound.]

  MARSHAL: I still say, a warm, friendly attitude on your part could have overcome that quickly. Instead, you stood off from people, refused to fraternize with them. Why not drop that attitude now? If some one set fire to your gin—I say that’s not impossible. Also, I say we’ll find him. But I don’t have to tell you that if you now take your cotton across the river, or into another county, it will give rise to a lot of unfriendly speculation. No one would like it. No one.

  [Abruptly he turns and goes.

  [Rock and Silva are left alone. Men watch them from the surrounding cars. . . from the doorway.]

  SILVA: Did you ever see so many happy faces? Which one did it, Rock, you said you knew. . .?

  ROCK: Well, they’re all here. . . all here except one. The one that ain’t here, I figure he did it. . . .

  [They’re getting into the pickup.]

  SILVA: Well, he’s the one that’s gonna gin out my cotton. . . .

  [The motor starts. . . the car goes into gear. . . and moves.]

  DISSOLVE.

  38] THE ROAD BEFORE THE MEIGHAN HOUSE. THE NEXT MORNING.

  Silva’s pickup truck is leading a long line of cotton wagons—full of cotton.

  39] CLOSER SHOT. THE PICKUP.

  It stops.

  40] CLOSE ANGLE. SILVA AND ROCK.

  ROCK: Maybe it figures. But it sure puzzles me why you want to bring your cotton to the guy that burned down your gin. . . .

  SILVA: You don’t know the Christian proverb about how you turn the other cheek when one has been slapped. . . .

  ROCK: When both cheeks has been kicked, what are you gonna turn then?

  SILVA: You just got to turn and keep turning. Stop the wagons! I’m gonna drive up to his house.

  [Rock hops out of the pickup truck.]

  41] OUTSIDE MEIGHAN HOUSE.

  At an upstairs window we can just see Archie’s face. He is watching the wagons. Suddenly, he withdraws his head.

  42] UPSTAIRS. MEIGHAN HOUSE.

  He goes into a crazy, but silent Indian war dance. Then suddenly he can no longer contain himself and runs into. . .

  43] THE NURSERY.

  Enter Archie Lee.

  Baby Doll is asleep in the crib. Her thumb is in her mouth. Like a child, she’s trying to hold on to her sleep. Archie Lee just wh
oops and hollers. “Baby Doll! Baby Doll!”, etc. “Get up. . .” etc.

  She can hardly believe her eyes. . . .

  From downstairs the pickup’s horn sounds urgently.

  Aunt Rose Comfort rushes in breathlessly. . . .

  AUNT ROSE: Archie Lee, honesy. . . .

  ARCHIE [very big shot]: Get her up! Get her up, get her washed and dressed and looking decent. Then bring her down. The furniture is coming back today. . . .

  [He exits. . . .]

  44]–65] FRONT YARD.

  Silva and Rock are sitting there in the pickup truck. They sit a little formally and stiffly and wait for Meighan, who comes barreling out of the house, and up to the pickup.

  ARCHIE: Don’t say a word. A little bird already told me that you’d be bringing those twenty-seven wagons full of cotton straight to my door, and I want you to know that you’re a very lucky fellow.

  ROCK [dryly]: How come?

  ARCHIE: I mean that I am in a position to hold back other orders and give you a priority. Well! Come on out of that truck and have some coffee.

  SILVA: What’s your price?

  ARCHIE: You remember my price. It hasn’t changed.

  [Silence. The sense that Silva is inspecting him.]

  ARCHIE: Hey, now looka here. Like you take shirts to a laundry. You take them Friday and you want them Saturday. That’s special. You got to pay special.

  SILVA: How about your equipment? Hasn’t changed either?

  ARCHIE: A-1 shape! Always was! You ought to remember.

  SILVA: I remember you needed a new saw-cylinder. You got one?

  ARCHIE: Can’t find one on the market to equal the old one yet. Come on down and have a cup of coffee. We’re all ready for you.

  SILVA: I guess when you saw my gin burning down last night you must’ve suspected that you might get a good deal of business thrown your way in the morning.

  ARCHIE: You want to know something?

  SILVA: I’m always glad to know something when there’s something to know.

  [Rock laughs wildly.]

  ARCHIE: I never seen that fire of yours last night! Now come on over to my house and have some coffee.

  [The men get out of the truck. Archie speaks to Rock.]

  ARCHIE: You come too, if you want to. . . . No, sir, I never seen that fire of yours last night. We hit the sack right after supper and didn’t know until breakfast time this morning that your cotton gin had burned down.

  [They go up on the porch.]

  Yes sir, it’s providential. That’s the only word for it. Hey, Baby Doll! It’s downright providential. Baby Doll! Come out here, Baby Doll!

  [Enter Baby Doll.]

  You come right over here and meet Mr. Vacarro from the Syndicate Plantation.

  BABY DOLL: Oh hello. Has something gone wrong, Archie Lee?

  ARCHIE: What do you mean, Baby Doll?

  BABY DOLL: I just thought that maybe something went—

  ARCHIE: What is your first name, Vacarro?

  SILVA: Silva.

  ARCHIE: How do you spell it?

  [Silva spells it. “Capital S-I-L-V-A.” Meantime, his eyes are on Baby Doll.]

  ARCHIE: Oh. Like a silver lining? Every cloud has got a silver lining.

  BABY DOLL: What is that from? The Bible?

  SILVA: No, the Mother Goose book.

  BABY DOLL: That name sounds foreign.

  SILVA: It is, Mrs. Meighan. I’m known as the wop that runs the Syndicate Plantation.

  [Archie Lee claps him heartily on the back. Silva stiffly withdraws from the contact.]

  ARCHIE: Don’t call yourself names. Let other folks call you names! Well, you’re a lucky little fellow, silver, gold, or even nickel-plated, you sure are lucky that I can take a job of this size right now. It means some cancellations, but you’re my closest neighbor. I believe in the good neighbor policy, Mr. Vacarro. You do me a good turn and I’ll do you a good turn. Tit for tat. Tat for tit is the policy we live on. Aunt Rose Comfort! Baby Doll, git your daddy’s ole maid sister to break out a fresh pot of coffee for Mr. Vacarro.

  BABY DOLL: You get her.

  ARCHIE: And honey, I want you to entertain this gentleman. Ha! Ha! Look at her blush. Haha! This is my baby. This is my little girl, every precious ounce of her is mine, all mine.

  [He exits—crazily elated, calling “Aunt Rose.”

  [CUT BACK to Baby Doll. She emits an enormous yawn.]

  BABY DOLL: Excuse my yawn. We went to bed kinda late last night.

  [CUT TO SILVA. He notices the discrepancy. He looks at Rock, who also noticed.

  [As if she were talking of a title of great distinction.]

  So. You’re a wop?

  SILVA [with ironic politeness]: I’m a Sicilian, Mrs. Meighan. A very ancient people. . . .

  BABY DOLL [trying out the word]: Sish! Sish!

  SILVA: No Ma’am. Siss! Sicilian.

  BABY DOLL: Oh, how unusual.

  [Archie Lee bursts back out on the porch.]

  ARCHIE: And honey, at noon, take Mr. Vacarro in town to the Kotton King Hotel for a chicken dinner. Sign my name! It’s only when bad luck hits you, Mr. Vacarro, that you find out who your friends are. I mean to prove it. All right. Let’s get GOING! Baby, knock me a kiss!

  BABY DOLL: What’s the matter with you? Have you got drunk before breakfast?

  ARCHIE: Hahaha.

  BABY DOLL: Somebody say something funny?

  ARCHIE: Offer this young fellow here to a cup of coffee. I got to get busy ginning that cotton.

  [He extends his great sweaty hand to Vacarro.]

  Glad to be able to help you out of this bad situation. It’s the good neighbor policy.

  SILVA: What is?

  ARCHIE: You do me a good turn and I’ll do you a good turn sometime in the future.

  SILVA: I see.

  ARCHIE: Tit for tat, tat for tit, as they say. Hahaha! Well, make yourself at home here. Baby Doll, I want you to make this gentleman comfortable in the house.

  BABY DOLL: You can’t make anyone comfortable in this house. Lucky if you can find a chair to sit in.

  [But Meighan is gone, calling out: “Move those wagons,” etc., etc.]

  BABY DOLL [after a slight pause]: Want some coffee?

  SILVA: No. Just a cool drink of water, thank you ma’am.

  BABY DOLL: The kitchen water runs warm, but if you got the energy to handle an old-fashioned pump, you can get you a real cool drink from that there cistern at the side of the house. . . .

  SILVA: I got energy to burn.

  [Vacarro strides through the tall seeding grass to an old cistern with a hand pump, deep in the side yard. Rock follows. Old Fussy goes “Squawk, Squawk,” and Aunt Rose Comfort is singing “Rock of Ages” in the kitchen.]

  SILVA [looking about contemptuously as he crosses to the cistern]: Dump their garbage in the yard, phew! Ignorance and indulgence and stink!

  ROCK: I thought that young Mizz Meighan smelt pretty good.

  SILVA: You keep your nose with the cotton. And hold that dipper, I’ll pump.

  AUNT ROSE: Sometimes water comes and sometimes it don’t.

  [The water comes pouring from the rusty spout.]

  SILVA: This time it did. . . .

  BABY DOLL: Bring me a dipper of that nice cool well water, please.

  [Rock crosses immediately with the filled dipper.]

  SILVA: Hey!

  OLD FUSSY: Squawk, squawk!!

  AUNT ROSE: I don’t have the strength anymore in my arm that I used to, to draw water out of that pump.

  [She approaches, smoothing her ancient apron. Vacarro is touched by her aged grace.]

  SILVA: Would you care for a drink?

  AUNT ROSE: How do you do? I’m Aunt Rose Comfort McCorkle. My brother was Baby Doll’s daddy, Mr. T. C. McCorkle. I’ve been visiting here since. . . since. . . .

  [She knits her ancient brow, unable to recall precisely when the long visit started.]

  SILVA: I hope you don’t mind drinking out of a go
urd.

  [He hands her the gourd of well water. Rock returns, saying aloud. . .]

  ROCK: I could think of worse ways to spend a hot afternoon than delivering cool well water to Mrs. Meighan.

  AUNT ROSE: SCUSE ME PLEASE! That ole hen, Fussy, has just gone back in my kitchen!

  [She runs crazily to the house. Baby Doll has wandered back to the cistern as if unconsciously drawn by the magnetism of the two young males.]

  BABY DOLL: They’s such a difference in water! You wouldn’t think so, but there certainly is.

  SILVA [to Rock]: Hold the dipper, I’ll pump!

  [He brings up more water; then strips off his shirt and empties the brimming dipper over his head and at the same time he says to Rock. . .]

  SILVA: Go stay with the cotton. Go on! Stay with the cotton.

  [Rock goes.]

  BABY DOLL: I wouldn’t dare to expose myself like that. I take such terrible sunburn.

  SILVA: I like the feel of a hot sun on my body.

  BABY DOLL: That’s not sunburn though. You’re natcherally dark.

  SILVA: Yes. Don’t you have garbage collectors on Tiger Tail Road?

  BABY DOLL: It cost a little bit extra to get them to come out here and Archie Lee Meighan claimed it was highway robbery! Refused to pay! Now the place is swarming with flies an’ mosquitoes and—oh, I don’t know, I almost give up sometimes.

  SILVA: And did I understand you to say that you’ve got a bunch of unfurnished rooms in the house?

  BABY DOLL: Five complete sets of furniture hauled away! By the Ideal Pay As You Go Plan Furniture Company.