Baby Doll Tiger Tail: A Screenplay and Play by Tennessee Williams
Page 8
[Vacarro smiles blandly.]
BABY DOLL: Sit back down, Big Shot, an’ eat your greens. Greens puts iron in the system.
AUNT ROSE: I thought that Archie Lee doted on greens! —All those likes and dislikes are hard to keep straight in your head. But Archie Lee’s easy to cook for. Jim’s a complainer, oh, my, what a complainer Jim is, and Susie’s household, they’re nothing but complainers.
ARCHIE: Take this slop off th’ table!!
AUNT ROSE [terrified]: I’ll—cook you some—eggs Birmingham! —These greens didn’ cook long enough. I played a fool trick with my stove. I forgot to light it! Ha ha! When I went to the store—I had my greens on the stove. I thought I’d left ’em boilin’. But when I got home I discovered that my stove wasn’t lighted.
ARCHIE: Why do you say “my” stove? Why is everything “my”?
BABY DOLL: Archie Lee, I believe you been drinkin’!
ARCHIE: You keep out of this! Set down, Aunt Rose.
AUNT ROSE: —Do what, Archie Lee?
ARCHIE: Set down here. I want to ask you a question.
[Aunt Rose sits down slowly and stiffly, all atremble.]
What sort of—plans have you made?
AUNT ROSE: Plans, Archie Lee? What sort of plans do you mean?
ARCHIE: Plans for the future!
BABY DOLL: I don’t think this kind of discussion is necessary in front of company.
SILVA: Mr. Meighan, when a man is feeling uncomfortable over something, it often happens that he takes out his annoyance on some completely innocent person just because he has to make somebody suffer.
ARCHIE: You keep outa this, too. I’m askin’ Aunt Rose a perfectly sensible question. Now, Aunt Rose. You been here since August and that’s a mighty long stay. Now, it’s my honest opinion that you’re in need of a rest. You been cookin’ around here and cookin’ around there for how long now? How long have you been cookin’ around people’s houses?
AUNT ROSE [barely able to speak]: I’ve helped out my—relatives, my—folks—whenever they—needed me to! I was always—invited! Sometimes—begged to come! When babies were expected or when somebody was sick, they called for Aunt Rose, and Aunt Rose was always—ready. . . . Nobody ever had to—put me—out! —If you—gentlemen will excuse me from the table—I will pack my things! If I hurry I’ll catch the nine o’clock bus to—
[She can’t think “where to.” Vacarro seizes her hand, pushing back from table.]
SILVA: Miss Rose Comfort. Wait. I’ll drive you home.
AUNT ROSE: —I don’t!—have nowhere to!—go. . . .
SILVA: Yes, you do. I need someone to cook for me at my place. I’m tired of my own cooking and I am anxious to try those eggs Birmingham you mentioned. Is it a deal?
AUNT ROSE: —Why, I—
BABY DOLL: Sure it’s a deal. Mr. Vacarro will be good to you, Aunt Rose Comfort, and he will even pay you, and maybe—well—y’never can tell about things in the future. . . .
AUNT ROSE: I’ll run pack my things!
[She resumes reedy hymn in a breathless, cracked voice as she goes upstairs.]
ARCHIE: Anything else around here you wanta take with yuh, Vacarro?
[Vacarro looks around coolly as if considering the question. Baby Doll utters a high, childish giggle.]
Well, is they? Anything else around here you wanta take away with yuh?
BABY DOLL [rising gaily]: Why, yaiss, Archie Lee. Mr. Vacarro noticed the house was overloaded with furniture and he would like us to loan him five complete sets of it to—
ARCHIE [seizing neck of whiskey bottle]: YOU SHUDDUP! I will git to you later.
BABY DOLL: If you ever git to me it sure is going to be later, ha ha, much later, ha ha!
[She crosses to kitchen sink, arranging her kiss-me-quicks in the soap-splashed mirror, also regarding the two men behind her with bland satisfaction: her childish face, beaming, is distorted by the flawed glass.
[She sings or hums “Sweet and Lovely.” Archie Lee stands by table, breathing heavy as a walrus in labor. He looks from one to the other. Silva coolly picks up a big kitchen knife and lops off a hunk of bread, then tosses kitchen knife out of Archie Lee’s reach and then he dips bread in pot of greens.]
SILVA: Colored folks call this pot liquor.
BABY DOLL: I love pot liquor.
SILVA: Me, too.
BABY DOLL [dreamily]: —Crazy ’bout pot liquor. . . .
[She turns about and rests her hips against sink. Archie Lee’s breathing is loud as a cotton gin, his face fiery. He takes swallow after swallow from bottle.
[Vacarro devours bread.]
SILVA: Mm-UMMM!
BABY DOLL: Good?
SILVA: Yes!—Good!
BABY DOLL: —That’s good. . . .
[Old Fussy makes a slow stately entrance, pushing the door open wider with her fat hips and squawking peevishly at this slight inconvenience.
[Meighan wheels about violently and hurls the empty bottle at her. She flaps and squawks back out. Her distressed outcries are taken up by her sisters, who are sensibly roosting.]
BABY DOLL [giggling]: Law! Ole Fussy mighty near made it that time! Why, that old hen was comin’ in like she’d been invited t’supper.
[Her giggly voice expires as Meighan wheels back around and bellows.
[Archie Lee explodes volcanically. His violence should give him almost a Dostoevskian stature.
[It builds steadily through the scene as a virtual lunacy possesses him with the realization of his hopeless position.]
ARCHIE: OH HO HO HO HO!
[He kicks the kitchen door shut.]
Now you all listen to me! Quit giving looks back an’ forth an’ listen to me! Y’think I’m deaf, dumb an’ blind or somethin’, do yuh? You’re mistook, Oh, brother, but you’re much, much—mistook! Ohhhh, I knooow! —I guess I look like a—I guess I look like a—
[Panting, puffing pause; he reels a little, clutching chair back.]
BABY DOLL [insolently childish lisp]: What d’you guess you look like, Archie Lee? Y’was about t’ tell us an’ then yuh quit fo’ some—
ARCHIE: Yeah, yeah, yeah! Some little innocent Baby Doll of a wife not ready fo’ marriage, oh, no, not yet ready for marriage but plenty ready t’—Oh, I see how it’s funny, I can see how it’s funny, I see the funny side of it. Oh ho ho ho ho! Yes, it sure is comic, comic as hell! But there’s one little teensy-eensy little—thing that you—overlooked! I! Got position! Yeah, yeah, I got position! Here in this county! Where I was bo’n an’ brought up! I hold a respected position, lifelong!—member of— Wait! Wait!—Baby Doll. . . .
[She had started to cross past him; he seizes her wrist. She wrenches free. Vacarro stirs and tenses slightly but doesn’t rise or change his cool smile.]
On my side ’re friends, long-standin’ bussness associates, an’ social! See what I mean? You ain’t got that advantage, have you, mister? Huh, mister? Ain’t you a dago, or something, excuse me, I mean Eyetalian or something, here in Tiger Tail County?
SILVA: Meighan, I’m not a doctor, but I was a medical corpsman in the Navy and you’ve got a very unhealthy looking flush on your face right now which is almost purple as a—
[He was going to say “baboon’s behind.”]
ARCHIE [bellowing out]: ALL I GOT TO DO IS GIT ON THAT PHONE IN THE HALL!
SILVA: And call an ambulance from the county hospital?
ARCHIE: Hell, I don’t even need t’ make a phone call! I can handle this situation m’self!—with legal protection that no one could—
SILVA [still coolly]: What situation do you mean, Meighan?
ARCHIE: Situation which I come home to find here under my roof! Oh, I’m not such a marble-missing old fool! —I couldn’t size it up! —I sized it up the moment I seen you was still on this place and her!—with that sly smile on her!
[Takes a great swallow of liquor from the fresh bottle.]
And you with yours on you! I know how to wipe off both of those sly—!
&n
bsp; [He crosses to the closet door. Baby Doll utters a gasp and signals Vacarro to watch out.
[Vacarro rises calmly.]
SILVA: Meighan?
[He speaks coolly, almost with a note of sympathy.]
You know, and I know, and I know that you know that I know!— That you set fire to my cotton gin last night. You burnt down the Syndicate Gin and I got in my pocket a signed affidavit, a paper, signed by a witness, whose testimony will even hold up in the law courts of Tiger Tail County! —That’s all I come here for and that’s all I got. . . whatever else you suspect—well!—you’re mistaken. . . . Isn’t that so, Mrs. Meighan? Isn’t your husband mistaken in thinking that I got anything out of this place but this signed affidavit which was the purpose of my all-afternoon call?
[She looks at him, angry, hurt.
[Meighan wheels about, panting.]
SILVA [continuing]: Yes, I’m foreign but I’m not revengeful, Meighan, at least not more than is rightful.
[Smiles sweetly.]
—I think we got a workable good neighbor policy between us. It might work out, anyhow I think it deserves a try. Now as to the other side of the situation, which I don’t have to mention. Well, all I can say is, a certain attraction—exists! Mutually, I believe! But nothing’s been rushed. I needed a little shut-eye after last night’s—excitement. I took a nap upstairs in the nursery crib with the slats let down to accommodate my fairly small frame, and I have faint recollection of being sung to by someone—a lullaby song that was—sweet. . .
[His voice is low, caressing.]
—and the touch of—cool fingers, but that’s all, absolutely!
ARCHIE: Y’think I’m gonna put up with this—?
SILVA: Situation? You went to a whole lot of risk an’ trouble to get my business back. Now don’t you want it? It’s up to you, Archie Lee, it’s—
ARCHIE: COOL! Yeah, cool, very cool!
SILVA: —The heat of the fire’s died down. . . .
ARCHIE: UH—HUH! YOU’VE FIXED YOUR WAGON! WITH THIS SMART TALK, YOU JUST NOW FIXED YOUR WAGON! I’M GONNA MAKE A PHONE CALL THAT’LL WIPE THE GRIN OFF YOUR GREASY WOP FACE FOR GOOD!
[He charges into hall and seizes phone.]
SILVA [crossing to Baby Doll at kitchen sink]: Is my wop face greasy, Mrs. Meighan?
[She remains at mirror but her childish smile fades: her face goes vacant and blind: she suddenly tilts her head back against the bare throat of the man standing behind her. Her eyes clenched shut. . . .
[His eyelids flutter as his body presses against all the mindless virgin softness of her abundant young flesh. We can’t see their hands, but hers are stretched behind her, his before him.]
106] HALL.
ARCHIE [bellowing like a steer]: I WANT SPOT, MIZZ HOPKINS, WHE’ IS SPOT!?
107] BABY DOLL WITH VACARRO.
BABY DOLL: I think you better go ’way. . . .
SILVA: I’m just waiting to take you girls away with me. . . .
BABY DOLL [softly as in a dream]: Yeah. I’m goin’ too. I’ll check in at the Kotton King Hotel and— Now I better go up an’— he’p Aunt Rose Comfo’t pack. . . .
[Releases herself regretfully from the embrace and crosses into hall.]
108] HALL. CLOSE SHOT OF SILVA LOOKING AFTER HER. IN THE HALL SHE UTTERS A SHARP OUTCRY AS MEIGHAN STRIKES AT HER.
BABY DOLL: YOU GONNA BE SORRY FOR EV’RY TIME YOU LAID YOUR UGLY OLE HANDS ON ME, YOU STINKER, YOU! YOU STINKING STINKER, STINKERRR!
[Her footsteps running upstairs. Vacarro chuckles almost silently and goes quietly out the back door.]
109] THE YARD.
Vacarro crosses through a yard littered with uncollected garbage, tin cans, refuse. . . .
110] HALL. MEIGHAN REMOVES SHOTGUN FROM CLOSET.
111] YARD. CUT BACK TO EXTERIOR.
Crooked moon beams fitfully through a racing mackerel sky, the air’s full of motion.
Vacarro picks his way fastidiously among the refuse, wades through the tall seeding grass, into the front yard. Clutches the lower branch of a pecan tree and swings up into it. Cracks a nut between his teeth as—
ARCHIE [shouting and blundering through the house]: HEY! WHERE YOU HIDING? WHERE YOU HIDING, WOP?!
112] HOUSE. CLOSE SHOT OF MEIGHAN WITH SHOTGUN AND LIQUOR BOTTLE, ALREADY STUMBLING DRUNK. . . .
113] YARD. EXTERIOR NIGHT. VACARRO IN TREE. VOICE OF BABY DOLL AT PHONE.
BABY DOLL: I want the Police Chief. Yes, the Chief, not just the police, the Chief. This is Baby Doll McCorkle speaking, the ex-Mrs. Meighan on Tiger Tail Road! My husband has got a shotgun and is threat’nin to—
[Her voice turns into a scream. She comes running out front door followed by Meighan. She darts around side of house. Meighan is very drunk now. He goes the opposite way around the house. Vacarro drops out of tree and gives Baby Doll a low whistle. She rushes back to front yard.]
BABY DOLL: Oh, Gah, Gah, watch out, he’s got a shotgun. He’s—crazy! I callt th’ Chief of—
[Vacarro leaps into tree again.]
SILVA: Grab my hand! Quick! Now up! Up, now Baby Doll!
[He hoists her into tree with him as the wild-eyed old bull comes charging back around house with his weapon. He blasts away at a shadow. (The yard is full of windy shadows.) He is sobbing.]
ARCHIE: BABY DOLL! BABY! BABY! BABY DOLL! MY BABY!
[He goes stumbling around back of house, great wind in the trees. Baby Doll rests in the arms of Vacarro.
[Meighan in backyard. Storm cellar door bangs open. Meighan fires through it. Then at chicken coop. Then into wheelless limousine chassis in side yard, etc., etc.
[Shot of Vacarro and Baby Doll in fork of pecan tree.]
SILVA [grinning]: We’re still playing hide-and-seek!
BABY DOLL [excitedly, almost giggling]: How long you guess we gonna be up this tree?
SILVA: I don’t care. I’m comfortable—Are you?
[Her answer is a sigh. He cracks a nut in his mouth and divides it with her. She giggles and whispers: “Shhhh!”]
ARCHIE [raving, sobbing, stumbling]: Baby, my baby, oh, Baby Doll, my baby. . . .
[Silence.]
HEY! WOP! YELLOWBELLY! WHERE ARE YUH?
[Aunt Rose Comfort comes forlornly out on the porch, weighed down by her ancient suitcase, roped together.]
AUNT ROSE [fearfully, her hair blown wild by the wind]: Baby Doll, honey? Honey? Baby Doll, honey?
ARCHIE [in back yard]: I SEE YOU! COME OUT OF THERE, YOU YELLOWBELLY WOP, YOU!
[Shotgun blasts away behind house. Aunt Rose Comfort on front porch utters a low cry and drops her suitcase. Backs against wall, hand to chest.
[Fade in police siren approaching down Tiger Tail Road.]
BABY DOLL [nestling in Vacarro’s arms in tree]: I feel sorry for poor old Aunt Rose Comfort. She doesn’t know where to go or what to do. . . .
[The moon comes briefly out and shines on their crouched figures in the fork of the tree.]
SILVA [gently]: Does anyone know where to go, or what to do?
114] THE YARD. ANOTHER ANGLE. POLICE CAR STOPPING BEFORE THE HOUSE AND MEN JUMPING OUT.
Shot of Meighan staggering and sobbing among the litter of uncollected garbage.
ARCHIE: Baby Doll, my baby! Yellow son of a—
115] THE YARD. ANOTHER ANGLE. SHOT OF AUNT ROSE COMFORT RETREATING INTO SHADOW AS POLICE COME AROUND THE HOUSE SUPPORTING ARCHIE LEE’S LIMP FIGURE. SHOT OF COUPLE IN TREE AS MOON GOES BACK OF CLOUDS.
Stillness. Dark. Aunt Rose Comfort begins to sing a hymn: “Rock of Ages.”
AUNT ROSE: “Rock of ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee!”
[Vacarro drops out of tree and stands with arms lifted for Baby Doll.]
THE END
TIGER TAIL
Copyright © 1977 by Tennessee Williams
The revised version of Tiger Tail which provides the text for this edition was produced at the Hippodrome Theatre Workshop, Inc., Gainesville, Florida, from November 2
to December 1, 1979. It was directed by Marshall New; the stage manager was Rusty Salling. Set design was by Carlos F. Asse, lighting design by Kerry McKenney, and costume design by Lisa Martin. The soundtrack was created by Peter Theoktisto; additional music for “Ruby’s Song” was by Malcolm Gets. The cast, in order of appearance, was as follows:
IDEAL PAY AS YOU GO PLAN Jerry Mason
FURNITURE CO. MOVERS Michael Stevens
Michael Stott
AUNT ROSE COMFORT McCORKLE Dana Moser
BABY DOLL MEIGHAN Jennifer Pritchett
TWO BITS Amar Long
RUBY LIGHTFOOT Joy Aaron
ARCHIE LEE MEIGHAN Michael Doyle
OLD FUSSY Rhonda
ROCK Garland Meyer
SILVA VACARRO Jon Schwartz
MILL HANDS Jerry Mason
Michael Stevens
Michael Stott
SHERIFF COGLAN Jerry Mason
DEPUTY TUFTS Michael Stevens
ACT ONE
SCENE ONE
Late summer. The action of the play takes place in and around the house of Archie Lee Meighan and his wife, Baby Doll, in Tiger Tail, Mississippi. The yard surrounding the crumbling old mansion is littered with garbage and the open-top remains of an old Pierce Arrow car. In the center of the set are a platform and frame, suggesting the porch.
As the audience enters the theatre, the men from the Ideal Pay As You Go Plan Furniture Company are removing what furniture remains in the house. By the time the audience is seated, all of the furniture is gone except for the crib in which Baby Doll sleeps. Litter surrounds the crib: a rocking horse, old movie magazines, candy wrappers, a pair of pink bedroom slippers, and a broken down old radio.