Streetcar Named Desire

by Tennessee Williams

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: