All language subtitles for Official Young Vic’s A Streetcar Named Desire w_ Gillian Anderson _ Free National Theatre Live Play (anglès)

(HUM OF CONVERSATION)

(VOICES SUBSIDE)

[♪ 'Elysian Fields' by Alex Baranowski]

[♪ SULTRY BLUES]

WOMAN: She said St Barnabas would send out his dog to lick her.

And when he did she'd feel an icy cold wave all up an' down her.

Well, that night when...

MAN: You keep right on going and you'll find it.

You'll hear them tapping on the shutters.

– MAN 2: Where's the Four Deuces? – VENDOR: Red hots. Red hots.

Don't waste your money in that clip joint.

– [LAUGHING] – MAN 1: I've got a date there.

– VENDOR: Red hot. – [TRAIN RUMBLING PAST]

Don't let them sell you a Blue Moon cocktail

or you won't go out on your own feet.

– Well, what did he say? – He said he'd give us even money.

Nah. We gotta have odds.

Hey, there. Stella, baby.

Don't holler at me like that. Hi, Mitch.

– Catch. – What?

– Meat. – [SHRIEKS] Stanley. Where are you going?

– Bowling. [WHISTLES] – Can I come watch?

– Come on. – Be over soon.

– Hello, Eunice. How are you? – I'm all right.

Tell Steve to get himself a poor boy's sandwich

cos there's nothing's left here.

– What was that package he threw at her? – Hush, now.

– [LAUGHING] – Catch what?

[WOMEN CONTINUE LAUGHING]

What's the matter, honey? You lost?

They told me to take a streetcar named Desire,

and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride it six blocks

– and get off at Elysian Fields. – That's where you are now.

– At Elysian Fields? – This here is Elysian Fields.

Well, they mustn't have understood what number I wanted.

– EUNICE: What number you looking for? – 632.

Well, you don't need to look no further.

I'm looking for my sister, Stella DuBois. I mean, Mrs Stanley Kowalski.

[LAUGHS] That's the party.

– You did just miss her, though. – This? Can this be her home?

She's got the downstairs here and I got the up.

Oh. And she's out?

You noticed that bowling alley around the corner?

I'm not sure I did.

Well, that's where she's at, watching her husband bowl.

You want to leave your suitcase, go find her?

– No. – I'll go tell her you come.

– Thanks. – You're welcome.

– EUNICE: She wasn't expecting you? – No. No, not tonight.

Well, why don't you just go in and make yourself at home till they get back?

– How could I do that? – We own this place so I could let you in.

[CHUCKLES]

(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

It's sort of messed-up right now, but when it's clean it's real sweet.

– Is it? – Uh-huh. I think so.

– So, you are Stella's sister? – Yes. Thanks for letting me in.

Oh, por nada, as the Mexicans say. Por nada.

– Stella spoke of you. – Yes?

– I think she said you taught school. – Yes.

– And you're from Mississippi, huh? – Yes.

Yeah, she showed me a picture of your home-place, the plantation.

– Belle Reve? – A great big place with white columns.

Yes.

Well, a place like that must be awful hard to keep up.

If you will excuse me, I'm about to drop.

Sure, honey. Why don't you set yourself down?

What I meant was I'd like to be left alone.

Oh. Well, I'll make myself scarce, in that case.

I didn't mean to be rude.

I'll drop by the bowling alley, see if I can hustle her up.

I've got to keep hold of myself.

STELLA: Blanche? [LAUGHS]

Blanche.

– [SHRIEKS WITH LAUGHTER] – Oh, Stella, Stella. Stella for star.

Oh, now, then, let me look at you.

But don't you look at me, no, no, not till later, not till I've bathed and rested.

And turn that over-light off. Turn that off.

I won't be looked at in this merciless glare.

Oh, my baby Stella for star.

I thought you would never come back to this horrible place.

What am I saying? I didn't mean to say that.

I meant to be nice about it and say, 'Oh, what a convenient location and such.'

Oh, precious lamb, you haven't said a word to me.

– You haven't given me a chance to, honey. – Well, now you talk.

You open your pretty mouth and talk while I look around for some liquor.

I know you must have some liquor on the place. Where could it be, I wonder?

Oh, I spy, I spy.

Oh, no.

You sit down and let me pour the drinks. I don't know what we've got to mix with.

Maybe a Coke's in the icebox. Will you look and see?

No Coke, honey, not with my nerves tonight.

– Where, where, where is...? – Stanley? Bowling. He loves it.

They're having a... Oh. Found some soda. They're having a tournament

Just water, baby, to chase it.

Now don't get worried, your sister hasn't turned into a drunkard,

she's just all shaken up and hot and tired and dirty.

Now, you sit down and explain this place to me.

– What are you doing in a place like this? – Now, Blanche...

Oh, I'm not going to be hypocritical. I'm going to be honestly critical about it.

Never, never, never in my worst dreams could I picture.

Only Poe. Only Mr Edgar Allan Poe could do it justice.

Out there I suppose is the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.

No, honey, those are the L & N tracks.

No, now seriously, honey, putting joking aside. Why didn't you write me?

Why didn't you tell me, honey? Why didn't you let me know?

Tell you what, Blanche?

Why, that you had to live in these conditions.

Aren't you being a little intense about it? It's not that bad at all.

New Orleans isn't like other cities.

This has got nothing to do with New Orleans. You might as well...

Forgive me, blessed baby. The subject is closed.

Thanks. [CHUCKLES]

You're all I've got in the world, and you're not happy to see me.

– Why, Blanche, you know that's not true. – No? I'd forgotten how quiet you were.

You never did give me a chance to say much, Blanche,

so I got in the habit of being quiet around you.

A good habit to get into.

You haven't asked how I happened to get away from the school

before the spring term ended.

Well, I thought you'd volunteer that information, if you wanted to tell me.

– You thought I'd been fired? – No, I thought you might have resigned.

I was so exhausted by everything I'd been through my nerves broke.

I was on the verge of lunacy almost,

so Mr Graves – Mr Graves is the high school superintendent –

he suggested I take a leave of absence.

I couldn't put all of those details into the wire.

It buzzes right through me and feels so good.

– Won't you have another? – No, one's my limit.

You sure?

You have not said a word about my appearance.

You look just fine.

God love you for a liar. Daylight never exposed so total a ruin.

But you, you've put on some weight, yes, you have.

You're just as plump as a little partridge and it's so becoming to you.

– Now, Blanche... – It is, it is.

Or I wouldn't say it. You just have to watch around the hips a little.

– Stand up. – Oh, not now.

You heard me. I said stand up.

You messy child.

You've spilt something on your collar.

And about your hair.

You ought to have it cut in a feather bob with your dainty features.

Stella, you have a maid, don't you?

– No. With only two rooms it's... – What?

Two rooms, you say?

– Well, this one and... – The other one?

Ha.

How quiet you are. You're so peaceful.

Look at you sat there with your little hands folded like a cherub in choir.

Oh, I never had anything like your energy, Blanche.

Well, I never had your beautiful self-control.

I am going to take just one little tiny nip more,

just to put the stopper on, so to speak.

Then put the bottle away so I won't be tempted.

Now, I want you to take a look at my figure.

You know I haven't gained an ounce in over ten years, Stella?

I weigh what I weighed the summer you left Belle Reve,

the summer Dad died and you left us.

It's just incredible, Blanche, how well you're looking.

You see I still have that awful vanity about my looks,

– even now that my looks are slipping. – They haven't slipped one particle.

After everything I've been through?

You think I believe that story, blessed child?

– Only two rooms, Stella? – And a bathroom.

Oh, you do have a bathroom. First door on the right at the top of the stairs?

– I don't see where you're gonna put me. – We're going to put you in here.

What kind of bed's that, one of those collapsible things?

Does it feel all right?

Wonderful, honey. I don't like a bed that gives much.

But there's no door between the two rooms, and Stanley – will it be decent?

– Stanley is Polish, you know. – Oh, yes.

– They're like Irish, aren't they? – Well...

Only not so highbrow?

Well, I brought some nice clothes to meet all your lovely friends in.

I'm afraid you won't think they are lovely.

– No? What are they like? – They're Stanley's friends.

– Polacks? – They're a mixed lot, Blanche.

– Heterogeneous types? – Oh, yes. Yes, 'types' is right.

Well, anyhow, I brought some nice clothes and I'll wear them.

I guess you're hoping I'll say I'll put up at a hotel, but I won't put up at a hotel.

I need to be near you. I've got to be with somebody, I can't be alone.

Because, as you might have noticed, I'm not very well.

You seem a little bit nervous or overwrought or something.

Will Stanley like me, or will I just be a visiting in-law, Stella?

– I couldn't stand that. – You'll get along fine together.

Just try not to, well, compare him with men that we went out with at home.

– Is he so different? – Yes. A different species.

In what way? What's he like?

Oh, you can't describe someone you're in love with. Here's a picture of him.

An officer?

A master sergeant in the Engineers' Corps. Those are decorations.

He had those on when you met him?

I assure you I wasn't just blinded by all the brass.

That's not what I...

Of course there were things to adjust myself to later on.

Such as his civilian background?

How did he take it when you told him I was coming?

Oh, Stanley doesn't know yet.

– You haven't told him? – He's on the road a good deal.

– Oh, travels? – Yes.

Good. I mean, isn't it?

I can hardly stand it when he's away for a night.

Why, Stella?

When he's away for a week I nearly go wild.

– Gracious. – And when he comes back,

I cry on his lap like a baby.

I guess that's what's meant by being in love.

– Stella. – What?

I haven't asked you the things you probably thought I was gonna ask,

so I'll expect you to be understanding about what I have to tell you.

– What, Blanche? – I know that you're gonna reproach me.

I mean, you're bound to reproach me

but before you do take into consideration that you left.

I stayed and struggled. You came to New Orleans and looked out for yourself.

I stayed at Belle Reve and tried to hold the place together.

Now, I'm not meaning this in any reproachful way,

but all the burden descended on my shoulders.

The best I could do was make my own living, Blanche.

I know, I know. But you abandoned Belle Reve, not I.

I stayed and fought for it, bled for it, nearly died for it.

Stop this hysterical outburst and tell me what's happened.

What do you mean fought and bled?

I knew you would, Stella. I knew you would take this attitude about it.

About what? Please.

The loss.

The loss.

Belle Reve?

Lost, is it?

– No. – Yes, Stella.

But how did it go? What happened?

– You're a fine one to ask me how it went. – Blanche.

You are a fine one to stand there accusing me of it.

– Blanche. – I...

I took the blows on my face and on my body.

All of those deaths. The long parade to the graveyard.

Father, mother. Margaret, in that dreadful way.

So big with it, it wouldn't fit in a coffin, but had to be burned like rubbish.

You just came home in time for the funerals, Stella,

and funerals are pretty compared to deaths, yes.

Funerals are quiet, but deaths not always.

Sometimes their breathing is hoarse and sometimes it rattles

and sometimes they cry out to you, 'Don't let me go.'

Even the old sometimes say, 'Don't let me go.' As if you were able to stop them.

But yes, funerals are quiet with pretty flowers,

and oh, what gorgeous boxes they pack them away in.

Unless you were there at the bed when they cried out, 'Hold me.'

you would never suspect that there was a struggle for breath and bleeding.

You didn't dream, but I saw.

Saw! Saw! And now you sit there telling me with your eyes that I let the place go.

How in hell do you think all that sickness and dying was paid for?

Death is expensive, Miss Stella.

And old Cousin Jessie's right after Margaret's, hers.

Why, the Grim Reaper had put up his tent on our doorstep.

Belle Reve was his headquarters.

Honey, that is how it slipped through my fingers.

Which of them left us a fortune?

Which of them left us a cent of insurance even?

Only poor Jessie, one hundred to pay for her coffin. That was all, Stella.

And I with my pitiful salary at the school?

So you sit there thinking that I let the place go.

I let the place go? Where were you? In bed with your Polack.

– Blanche. You be still. That's enough. – Where are you going?

I'm going in the bathroom to wash my face.

– Oh, Stella, you're crying. – Does that surprise you?

STEVE: I'm telling you that's how he did it.

He hit the old weather bird for six, all on a six-numbered ticket.

Don't tell him those things. He'll believe it.

– Playing poker tomorrow night? – Yeah, at Mitch's.

No, not at my place. My mother's still sick.

STANLEY: All right, my place, but you bring beer.

EUNICE: Break it up down there. I made a spaghetti dish. I ate it myself.

I told you and phoned you we was playing.

– Jax beer. – EUNICE: You never phoned me once.

I told you at breakfast and I phoned you at lunch.

EUNICE: Well, never mind about that. You get yourself home here once in a while.

Do you want it in the papers?

BLANCHE: You must be Stanley.

I'm Blanche.

– Stella's sister? – Yes.

Hello. Where's the little woman?

– In the bathroom. – Oh. Didn't know you were coming in town.

– I, uh... – Where you from, Blanche?

Well, I'm from Laurel.

In Laurel, huh? Oh, yeah, that's right, Laurel. Not in my territory.

– Liquor goes fast in hot weather. – Mm-hm.

– Have a shot? – No, I rarely touch it.

Well, some people rarely touch it, but it touches them often.

Ha ha.

My clothes are sticking to me. Do you mind if I make myself comfortable?

No, no, please. Please do.

'Be comfortable' is my motto.

Mine, too. It's hard to stay looking fresh.

I haven't even powdered my nose and... here you are.

You know you can catch cold sitting around in damp things,

especially when you been exercising hard like bowling is.

– You're a teacher, aren't you? – Yes.

– What do you teach, Blanche? – English.

I never was a very good English student. How long you here for, Blanche?

– I don't know yet. – You going to shack up here?

I thought I might, if it's not too inconvenient for you all.

Good.

– Travelling wears me out. – Well, take it easy.

– [CAT SCREETCHES] – Oh. What was that?

– Cats. Hey, Stella. – STELLA: Yes, Stanley.

Haven't fallen in, have you?

I'm afraid I must strike you as being the unrefined type.

Stella's spoke of you a good deal. You were married once, weren't you?

– [♪ DISTANT POLKA] – Yes. When I was quite young.

– Yeah, what happened? – The boy...

The boy died.

Will you excuse me? I'm about to be sick.

[♪ ROCK GUITAR CHORDS]

[♪ ROCK GUITAR FADES]

[♪ POP ON RADIO]

– What's all this monkey doings? – Oh, Stan.

I'm taking Blanche to Galatoires' for supper and then to a show,

– because it's your poker night. – What about my supper, huh?

I'm not going to no Galatoires' for supper.

– I put you a cold plate on ice. – Well, isn't that just dandy?

I'm gonna try to keep Blanche out till the party breaks up

because I don't know how she would take it.

So we'll go to one of the little places in the Quarter afterwards.

– You'd better give me some money. – Where is she?

She's soaking in a hot tub to quiet her nerves. Terribly upset.

– Over what? – She's been through such an ordeal.

– Uh-huh. – Stan.

– Stan. – Uh-huh. [LAUGHING]

We've lost Belle Reve.

– The place in the country? – Yes.

How?

Oh, it had to be... sacrificed or something?

[BLANCHE SINGING]

[RADIO OFF]

When she comes in be sure to say something nice about her appearance.

And, oh. Don't mention the baby.

I haven't said anything yet. I'm waiting till she gets in a quieter condition.

– So? – And try and understand her.

Be nice to her, Stan.

She wasn't expecting to find us in such a small place.

You see I'd tried to gloss over things a little in my letters.

So?

Admire her dress, tell her she's looking wonderful. That's important with Blanche.

– It's her little weakness. – Yeah. I get the idea.

Now, let's skip back a little to where you said the country place was disposed of.

Oh. Yes.

How about that? Let's have a few more details on that subject.

It's best not to talk much about it until she's calmed down.

So that's the deal, huh?

Sister Blanche cannot be annoyed with business details right now?

– You saw how she was last night. – Yeah, I saw how she was.

– Let's have a gander at the bill of sale. – I haven't seen any.

She didn't show you no papers, no deed of sale, nothing like that, huh?

It seems like it wasn't sold.

What in hell was it then, given away to charity?

– Ssh. She'll hear you. – I don't care if she hears me.

– Let's see the papers. – She didn't show me any papers.

– I don't care about papers. – Have you heard of the Napoleonic code?

No, Stanley, I haven't heard of the Napoleonic code,

and if I have, I don't see what...

Let me enlighten you on a point or two, baby.

Yes?

In the state of Louisiana we have the Napoleonic code, according to which

what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband and vice versa.

For instance, if I had a piece of property or you had a piece of property...

My head is swimming.

All right. I'll wait till she's through soaking in a hot tub

then I'll inquire if she's acquainted with the Napoleonic code.

It looks to me like you've been swindled, baby.

And when you're swindled, under the Napoleonic code, I've been swindled, too.

I don't like to be swindled.

There's time to ask her questions later

but if you do now she will go to pieces again.

I don't understand what happened to Belle Reve

but you don't know how ridiculous you're being when you suggest that my sister

or I or anyone of our family could have perpetrated a swindle on anyone else.

Then where's the money if the place was sold?

Not sold – lost, lost.

– Open your eyes to this stuff. – Stanley.

You think she got this out of a teacher's pay?

Look at these feathers and furs she comes to preen herself in.

What is this here? A solid-gold dress, I believe.

What is these here? Fox pieces?

Genuine fox fur pieces, a half a mile long?

Where are your fox pieces, Stella? Bushy snow white ones, no less.

Where are your white fox pieces?

Those are inexpensive summer furs Blanche has had a long time.

I have an acquaintance who deals in this sort of merchandise.

I'll have him in here to make an appraisal of all this.

I'm willing to bet you there are thousands of dollars invested in this stuff here.

– Don't be such an idiot, Stanley. – What is this here?

– A treasure chest of a pirate? – Oh, Stanley.

Pearls. Ropes of them.

What is this sister of yours, a deep-sea diver? She brings up sunken treasure?

The champion safe-cracker of all time?

Bracelets of solid gold. Where are your pearls and gold bracelets?

– Be still, Stanley. – And diamonds. A crown for an empress.

[SCOFFS] A rhinestone tiara she wore to a costume ball.

– What's rhinestone? – Next door to glass.

Are you kidding? I have an acquaintance that works in a jewellery store.

I'm gonna have him in here to make an appraisal of this.

Here's your plantation, or what's left of it.

You have no idea how stupid and horrid you're being.

Now close that trunk before she comes out of the bathroom.

The Kowalskis and the DuBois have different notions.

Indeed they have, thank heavens.

I'm going outside.

You come out with me while Blanche is getting dressed.

– Since when do you give me orders? – Are you gonna stay here and insult her?

Damn tootin' I'm gonna stay here.

Hello, Stanley.

Here I am, all freshly bathed and scented.

I'm feeling like a brand-new human being.

That's good.

Will you excuse me while I put on my pretty new dress?

Go right ahead, Blanche.

I understand there's to be a little card party tonight

to which we ladies are cordially not invited.

Yeah?

– Where's Stella? – She's out on the porch.

In a minute, I'm gonna ask a favour of you.

– Yeah, what could that be, I wonder? – Some buttons in the back.

You may enter.

– How do I look? – You look all right.

Many thanks. Now the buttons.

I can't do nothing with them.

You men with your big clumsy fingers.

– Can I have a drag on your cig? – Have one yourself.

Why, thanks.

It looks like my trunk has exploded.

Uh... Me and Stella were helping you unpack.

Well, you certainly did a fast and thorough job of it.

It looks like you raided some stylish shops in Paris.

Yes, clothes are my passion.

How much does it cost for a string of fox pieces like this?

Why, those were a tribute from an admirer of mine.

He must have had a lot of admiration.

Oh, in my youth I excited some admiration.

But look at me now.

Would you think it possible I was once considered to be attractive?

You look OK.

– I was fishing for a compliment, Stanley. – Well, I don't go in for that stuff.

– What stuff? – Compliments to women about their looks.

I never met a woman who didn't know if she was good-looking or not

without being told,

and some of them give themselves credit for more than they got.

I once went out with a doll who said, 'I'm the glamorous type.'

'I'm the glamorous type.' I said, 'So what?'

What did she say then?

She didn't say nothing. It shut her up like a clam.

– Did it end the romance? – It ended the conversation, that's all.

Some men are took in by this Hollywood glamour stuff and some men are not.

I am sure you belong to the second category.

That's right.

I cannot imagine any witch of a woman casting a spell over you.

That's right.

You're simple, straightforward and honest.

A little bit on the primitive side, I should think.

– To interest you a woman would have to... – Lay...

..her cards on the table.

Yes. Yes, cards on the table.

Well, life is too full of evasions and ambiguities, I think.

I like an artist that paints in strong, bold colours, primary colours.

I've never liked pinks and creams, and I've never cared for wish-washy people.

That's why, when you walked in here last night, I said to myself,

'My sister has married a man.'

Of course, that was all I could tell about you.

– Now let's cut the re-bop. – STELLA: Stanley.

Come out and let Blanche finish dressing.

– I'm through dressing, honey. – Well, you come out, then.

Your sister and I are having a little talk.

Honey, do me a favour.

Run to the drugstore and fetch me a lemon Coke with plenty of chipped ice in it.

– Would you do that for me, Sweetie? – Yes.

BLANCHE: The poor thing was out there listening to us,

and I have an idea she doesn't understand you as well as I do.

All right now, Mr Kowalski, let us proceed without any more double talk.

I'm ready to answer all questions. I've nothing to hide.

What is it?

There is such a thing in this state of Louisiana as the Napoleonic code,

according to which, what belongs to my wife is also mine, and vice versa.

My, but you have an impressive judicial air.

If you weren't my wife's sister I'd get ideas about you.

– Such as what? – Don't play so dumb. You know what.

– Where are the papers? – What papers?

Papers. That stuff people write on.

Oh, papers, papers. The first anniversary gift. Ha.

All kinds of papers.

I'm talking legal papers connected with the plantation.

– There were some papers. – You mean they're no longer existing?

– Well, they probably are, somewhere. – But not in the trunk.

Everything that I own is in that trunk.

Let's have a look for them.

What in heaven's name are you thinking of?

What is in the back of that little boy's mind of yours?

That I'm absconding with something,

attempting some kind of treachery on my sister?

Let me do that.

It will be faster and simpler.

What's them underneath?

Love letters, yellowing with antiquity, all from one boy.

[♪ DISTANT PIANO PLAYING POLKA]

– Give those back to me. – I'll have a look at them first.

– The touch of your hands insults them. – Don't pull that stuff.

Now that you've touched them I'll burn them.

– What in the hell are they? – They're poems a dead boy wrote.

I hurt him in the way that you would like to hurt me, but you can't.

I'm not young and vulnerable any more, but my young husband was and I...

Never mind about that. Just give those back to me.

What do you mean by saying you'll have to burn them?

I'm sorry, I must have lost my head for a minute.

Everyone has something he doesn't want others to touch

because of their intimate nature.

Ambler & Ambler.

Crabtree.

– More Ambler & Ambler. – What's Ambler & Ambler?

– A firm that made loans on the place. – Then it was lost on a mortgage?

Yes, it must've been what happened.

I don't want no more ifs ands or buts. What's the rest of them papers?

There are thousands of papers stretching back over hundreds of years

affecting Belle Reve as, piece by piece, our improvident grandfathers and father

and uncles and brother exchanged the land for their epic fornications –

to put it plainly.

Until all that was left – and Stella can verify that – was the house itself

and about 20 acres of ground including a graveyard,

into which now all but Stella and I have retreated.

Here are all papers. Here all of them are.

I hereby endow you with them.

Take them, peruse them, commit them to memory even.

I think it's wonderfully fitting

that Belle Reve should finally be this bunch of old papers

in your big, capable hands.

I wonder if Stella's come back with my lemon Coke.

I have a lawyer acquaintance that will study these out.

Present them to him with a box of aspirin tablets.

You see, under the Napoleonic code,

a man has to take an interest in his wife's affairs.

Especially now that she's going to have a baby.

What? Stella is going to have a baby?

Well, I didn't know that Stella was going to have a baby.

Stella! Oh, Stella for star!

How wonderful to have a baby.

[LAUGHS]

It's all gonna be all right. We thrashed it out.

I feel a bit shaky, but I think I handled it nicely.

I laughed and treated it all as a joke, and flirted.

I was flirting with your husband, Stella.

Oh, the guests are arriving for the poker party.

I'm sorry he did that to you.

Oh, I guess he's not the sort that goes for jasmine perfume.

Maybe he's what we need to mix with our blood

now that we've lost Belle Reve and have to go on without Belle Reve to protect us.

Oh. How pretty the sky is!

I ought to go there in a rocket that never comes down.

VENDOR: Red hots! Red hots!

BLANCHE: Which way do we go now, Stella?

– Mitch. – VENDOR: Red hots!

BLANCHE: The blind are leading the blind.

[♪ ROCK GUITAR RIFFS]

[♪ ROCK GUITAR STOPS]

STEVE: Anything wild this deal?

– PABLO: One-eyed jacks are wild. – STEVE: Give me two cards.

– PABLO: You, Mitch? – MITCH: I'm out.

PABLO: One.

[LAUGHTER]

Bam! [ROARS WITH LAUGHTER]

– MITCH: Anybody want a shot? – STANLEY: Yeah. Me.

Why don't somebody go to the Chinaman's, bring back a load of chop suey?

When I'm losing you want to eat.

Ante up. Openers? Openers. Get your head off the table, Mitch.

Nothing belongs on a poker table but cards, chips and whiskey.

Kinda on your high horse, ain't you?

– How many? – Uh... Give me three.

Well, I'm out again.

– I oughta go home soon. – STANLEY: Shut up.

I got a sick mother. She don't go to sleep till I come in at night.

– Why don't you stay home with her, then? – She says go out so I go.

But I don't enjoy it. All the while, I keep wondering how she is.

– Go home, already. – What you got?

– Spade flush. – You all are married.

But I'll be alone when she goes. I'm going to the bathroom.

– Hurry back. We'll fix you a sugar-tit. – Oh, lay off.

STEVE: Seven-card stud.

[LAUGHING] Hey, there's this guy, he's in this hotel bar.

He bumps into this lady, accidentally nudges her breast with his elbow.

He says, 'Lady, I'm so sorry.

'But if your heart's as soft as your breast, I know you'll forgive me.'

And she says, 'To hell with that!

'If your ding-dong's as hard as your elbow, I'm in room 402.' [LAUGHS]

– STELLA: The game's still going on. – BLANCHE: How do I look?

STELLA: Lovely, Blanche.

Wait to open the door till I powder my nose.

I feel so hot and frazzled. Do I look done in?

– Why, no. You are as fresh as a daisy. – One that's been picked a few days.

Well, well, well. I see you boys are still at it.

– Where you been? – Blanche and I took in a show.

Blanche, this is Mr Gonzales and this is Mr Hubbel.

Please don't get up.

STANLEY: Don't worry. Nobody's gonna get up.

STELLA: How much longer is the game gonna continue?

– STANLEY: Till we get ready to quit. – Poker is so fascinating. Could I kibitz?

You could not. Why don't you women go up and sit with Eunice?

Because it is nearly 2:30.

Couldn't you call it quits after one more hand? Hm?

– [SLAP] – Ow. That's not fun, Stanley.

[MEN LAUGHING]

It makes me so mad when he does that in front of people.

– I think I will bathe. – Again?

My nerves are in knots. Is the bathroom occupied?

– I don't know. – [KNOCKING]

– Oh. Good evening. – Hello.

Blanche, this is Harold Mitchell. This is my sister, Blanche DuBois.

– How do you do, Miss DuBois. – How is your mother now, Mitch?

About the same, thanks. She appreciated you sending over that custard.

Excuse me, please.

– That one seems superior to the rest. – Yes, he is.

I thought he had a sort of sensitive look.

– His mother is sick. – Is he married?

– No. – Is he a wolf?

– Why, Blanche. I don't think he would be. – Well, what does he do?

He's on the precision bench in the spare parts department

at the plant Stanley travels for.

– Is that something much? – No.

Stanley's the only one of his crowd that's likely to get anywhere.

– What makes you think Stanley will? – Look at him.

– Oh, I've looked at him. – Then you should know.

I'm sorry, but I haven't noticed the stamp of genius even on Stanley's forehead.

It isn't on his forehead and it isn't genius.

Well, what is it and where? I would like to know.

It's a... drive that he has.

– You're standing in the light, Blanche. – Oh, am I?

[LAUGHING] Oh, you. You ought to see their wives.

Big, beefy things, I suspect.

– You know that one upstairs? – Oh.

[LAUGHING]

One time... [LAUGHING] ..the plaster cracked...

You hens cut out that conversation in there.

You can't hear us.

Well, you can hear me and I said to hush up.

This is my house and I will talk as much as I want to.

– Stella, don't start a row. – He's half drunk.

I'll be out in a minute. [KISSES]

[♪ RUMBA ON RADIO]

– STANLEY: All right, Mitch, you in? – MITCH: [DISTRACTED] What? Oh.

No, I'm out.

STANLEY: Who turned that radio on in there?

– I did. Do you mind? – STANLEY: Turn it off.

STEVE: Aw, let the girls have their music.

– PABLO: Sure, it's good, leave it on. – STEVE: Sounds like Xavier Cugat.

[MUSIC LOUDER]

– [RADIO OFF] – I didn't hear you name it.

– Didn't I name it, Mitch? – I wasn't listening.

– What were you doing, then? – He was looking through them drapes.

Now deal the hand over again. Let's play cards or quit.

Some people get ants when they win. Sit down.

– I'm going to the head. Deal me out. – Sure he's got ants now.

Seven $5 bills in his pants pocket folded up tight as spit balls.

Tomorrow you'll see him at the cashier's window getting them changed into quarters.

When he goes home he's gonna deposit them one by one

into the piggy bank his mother give him for Christmas.

This game's Spit in the Ocean.

BLANCHE: Oh, hello. The little boys' room is busy right now.

MITCH: We've... been drinking beer.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

– I hate beer. – It's a hot weather drink.

Oh, I don't think so. It always makes me warmer.

– Have you got any cigs? – Sure.

– What kind are they? – Luckies.

– Oh, good. What a pretty case. Silver? – Yeah, yeah. Read the inscription.

Oh, there's an inscription? I can't quite make it out.

Oh.

'And if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.'

Why, that's from my favourite sonnet by Mrs Browning.

– You know it? – Certainly I do.

There's a story connected with that inscription.

– It sounds like a romance. – A pretty sad one.

– Oh? – The girl's dead now.

Ah.

She knew she was dying when she give me this.

A very strange girl, very sweet – very.

She must have been fond of you.

Sick people have such deep, sincere attachments.

That's right, they certainly do.

– Sorrow makes for sincerity, I think. – It sure brings it out in people.

The little there is belongs to those who have experienced some sorrow.

I believe you're right about that.

I'm positive that I am.

Show me a person who hasn't known any sorrow and I will show you a shuperfic...

– Oh. – [BOTH LAUGH]

Listen to me! My tongue's a little thick.

You boys are responsible for it.

Our show let out at 11 and we couldn't come home on account of the poker game

so we had to go somewhere and drink.

I'm not accustomed to more than one drink.

Two is the limit and three? Well, tonight, I had three.

– STANLEY: Mitch. – MITCH: Deal me out.

– I'm talking with Miss.. – DuBois.

– Miss DuBois. – [LAUGHING]

It's a French name.

It means 'wood' and Blanche means 'white'.

So, the two together mean 'white wood'. Like an orchard in spring.

– You can remember it by that. – You're French?

We are French by extraction.

Our first American ancestors were French Huguenots.

You're Stella's sister, are you not?

Yes, Stella is my precious little sister.

I call her little in spite of the fact that she's somewhat older than I am.

Just slightly. Less than a year.

– Oh, do me a favour. – Sure, what?

I bought this adorable little coloured paper lantern

at a Chinese shop on Bourbon.

Put it over the light bulb, would you, please?

– Be glad to. – PABLO: Bam!

I can't stand a naked light bulb

any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action.

I guess we strike you as being a pretty rough bunch.

Oh, I'm very adaptable to circumstances.

Well, that's a good thing to be. You're visiting Stanley and Stella?

Yes. Stella hasn't been very well lately, so I came down to help her for a while.

– She's been very run down. – You're not...?

Married? No, I'm just an old maid school teacher.

You may teach school, but you're certainly not an old maid.

Why, thank you, sir. I appreciate the gallantry.

– So, you are in the teaching profession? – Ah, yes.

Grade school or high school or...?

– STANLEY: Mitch! – MITCH: Coming!

BLANCHE: Gracious, what lung power.

– I teach high school in Laurel. – What do you teach? What subject?

– Guess. – Oh, I bet you teach art or music?

– [LAUGHING] – I could be wrong.

– You might teach arithmetic. – Never arithmetic, sir. Never arithmetic.

No, I don't even know my multiplication tables.

I have the misfortune of being an English instructor.

I attempt to instil a bunch of bobby-soxers and drug-store Romeos

with a reverence for Hawthorne and Whitman and Poe.

I guess some of them are more interested in other things.

How very right you are.

Their literary heritage is not what they treasure above all else.

But they are sweet things.

And in the spring, it's touching to notice them make their first discovery of love.

As if no one had ever known it before.

Oh. Have you finished? Wait, I'll turn on the radio.

[♪ 'Myrtenbluten, Walzer']

[BLANCHE LAUGHS]

– [MUSIC STOPS] – [BLANCHE SCREAMS]

Drunk, drunk, animal thing, you.

OK, all of you, please go home, if any of you have one spark of decency in you.

– BLANCHE: Oh, Stella. – You lay your hands on me and I'll...

BLANCHE: My sister is going to have a baby.

– This is terrible. – Lunacy, absolute lunacy!

MITCH: Get him in here, men.

STELLA: I want to go away. I want to go away.

MITCH: Poker shouldn't be played in a house with women.

I'll get my sister's clothes. We'll go to that woman's upstairs.

– MITCH: Where's the clothes? – BLANCHE: I've got them.

Oh, my precious little sister. Stella, don't be afraid.

[SOBBING]

STANLEY: What's the matter? What's the matter, what's happened?

– You just blew your top, Stan. – He's OK now.

Sure, my boy's OK.

Put him on the bed. Get a wet towel.

I think coffee would do him a world of good now.

– I want water. – OK. Put him under the shower.

One, two, three, up.

– [STANLEY MOANING] – No, no, no.

Come here, buddy. It's Mitch. It's Mitch, buddy.

– Here we go. Got him? – Yeah.

OK, come on. There we go.

STEVE: Let's get quick out of here.

[STANLEY GROANING]

[CRIES OUT]

Poker should not be played in a house with women.

Stella.

My baby doll's left me.

Agh.

Eunice? Eunice.

I want my baby.

Eunice! I'm gonna keep on ringing until I talk with my baby!

[PHONE CLATTERS]

Stella.

Stella!

Oh.

Sweetheart?

Stella! Stella!

EUNICE: Quit howling down there and go back to bed.

I want my baby down here.

Stella.

Stella.

EUNICE: She ain't comin' down so you can quit or you'll get the law on you.

Stella!

EUNICE: You can't just beat a woman and then call her back. She won't come.

And her goin' to have a baby. You stinker!

You whelp of a Polack, you.

I hope they do haul you in and turn the firehose on you, same as the last time.

[CRYING] Oh, Eunice. Eunice, I just want my baby girl down here with me.

EUNICE: Huh.

[SOBBING]

Stella!

[CRYING]

[STELLA SOBBING]

BLANCHE: Where's is my little sister? Stella?

– MITCH: Miss DuBois? – Oh.

All quiet on the Potomac now?

She ran back downstairs and went right back in there with him.

– Sure she did. – I'm terrified.

There's nothing to be scared of.

– They're crazy about each other. – I'm not used to such...

It's shame it had to happen when you just got here, but don't take it serious.

– Violence is so... – Sit down on the steps.

– Have a cigarette with me. – I'm not properly dressed.

That don't make no difference in the Quarter.

Such a pretty silver case.

– I showed you the inscription, didn't I? – Yes.

There's so much... so much confusion in the world.

Thank you for your kindness. I need kindness now.

[♪ 'To Bring You My Love' by PJ Harvey]

♪ I was born in the desert

♪ I been down for years

♪ Jesus, come closer

♪ I think my time is near

♪ And I've travelled over

♪ Dry earth and floods

♪ Hell and high water

♪ To bring you my love

♪ Climbed over mountains

♪ Travelled the sea

♪ Cast down on heaven

♪ Cast down on my knees

♪ I've lain with the devil

♪ Cursed God above

♪ Forsaken heaven

♪ Bring you my love

♪ To bring you my love

♪ To bring you my love

♪ To bring you my love ♪

[MUSIC FADES]

– Stella? – Mm.

– Oh, my baby sister. – Blanche, what is the matter with you?

– Has he left? – Stan? Yes.

– Well, will he be back? – He's gone to get the car greased. Why?

Why? I've been half crazy, Stella.

When I found out you were insane enough to come back in here,

why I nearly rushed in after you.

I'm glad you didn't!

What were you thinking of? Answer me. What?

Please, Blanche. Sit down and stop yelling.

All right, Stella. I will repeat the question quietly now.

How could you come back in this place? Why, you must have slept with him.

Blanche, I'd forgotten how excitable you are.

You're making much too much fuss about this.

– Am I? – Yes, you are, Blanche.

I know how it must have seemed to you and I'm awful sorry it had to happen,

but it really wasn't anything as serious as you seem to take it.

In the first place, when men are drinking and playing poker anything can happen.

It's always a powder keg. He didn't know what he was doing.

He was as good as a lamb when I came back

and he's really very, very ashamed of himself.

And that makes it all right?

No, it doesn't make it all right for anybody to make such a terrible row,

but people do sometimes.

Stanley's always smashed things.

[LAUGHING] Why, on our wedding night, soon as we came in here,

he snatched off one of my slippers

and he rushed about the place smashing all the lightbulbs with it.

He did what?

He smashed all of the lightbulbs with the heel of my slipper.

And you let him? You didn't run, didn't scream?

I was sort of thrilled by it.

Eunice and you had breakfast?

Do you suppose I felt like any breakfast?

– There's some coffee left on the stove. – You are so matter of fact about it.

What other can I be? He's taken the radio to get it fixed.

– And you're just standing there smiling? – What do you want me to do?

Pull yourself together and face the facts.

And what are they, in your opinion?

In my opinion, you are married to a madman.

– No. – Yes, you are.

Your fix is worse than mine is, only you're not being sensible about it.

I am trying to do something, get hold of myself and make myself a new life.

– Oh, yes? – You have given in.

And that's not right. You're not old. You can still get out.

I'm not in anything I want to get out of.

What? Stella?

I said I am not in anything that I have a desire to get out of.

Look at the mess in this room.

And these empty bottles? They went through two cases last night.

He promised this morning he was gonna quit having these poker parties,

but you know how long such a promise is gonna keep.

Oh, well, it's his pleasure, like mine is movies and bridge.

People have got to tolerate each other's habits, I guess.

I don't understand you. I don't understand this indifference.

Is this a Chinese philosophy you've cultivated?

Is what what?

This mumbling about and shuffling broken radios, beer bottles, mess in the kitchen

as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Are you deliberately shaking that thing in my face?

– Oh. No. – Well, give that to me.

Give me that broom. I will not have you cleaning up for him.

Then who's going to do it? Are you?

I?

– I? – No, I didn't think so.

[STELLA CHUCKLES]

Oh, let me think. If only my mind would function.

We've got to get a-hold of some money, that is the way out.

I guess that money's always nice to get hold of.

Listen to me. I've got a plan of some kind.

Do you remember Shep Huntleigh?

Of course you remember Shep Huntleigh.

I went out with him at college and wore his pin for a while. Well...

– Well? – Well, I ran into him last Christmas.

You know I went to Miami on the Christmas holidays?

– No. – Well, I did.

I took the trip as a sort of investment,

thinking I'd meet somebody with a million dollars.

And did you?

Yes. I ran into Shep Huntleigh.

I ran into him on Biscayne Boulevard on Christmas Eve,

about dusk, getting into his car –

Cadillac convertible, must have been a block long.

I should think that would have been inconvenient in traffic.

Have you heard of oil wells?

– Yes, remotely. – Well, he has them, all over Texas.

Texas is literally spouting gold into his pockets.

– My, my. – You know how indifferent I am to money.

I think of money in terms of what it does for you, but he could do it.

– He could certainly do it. – Do what, Blanche?

– Set us up in a shop. – What kind of shop?

Oh, a shop of some kind.

He could do it with half of what his wife throws away at the races.

He's married?

Honey, would I be here if the man weren't married?

How do I get Western Union? Give me a piece of paper and a pen.

I've got to write it down, the message, I mean.

Let me see now...

'Darling Shep.

– 'Sister and I in desperate situation.' – I beg your pardon.

'Sister and I in desperate situation. Will explain details later.

'Would you be interested in...'

Would you be interested...?

Oh, you never get anywhere with direct appeals.

– Don't be so ridiculous, darling. – But I'll think of something.

– I've got to think of something. – [LAUGHING]

Don't you don't laugh at me, Stella. Please, I...

I want you to take a look at the contents of my purse.

Here is what's in it.

[COINS RATTLE]

65 measly cents in the coin of the realm.

Stanley doesn't give me a regular allowance, he likes to pay bills himself,

but this morning he gave me $100 to smooth things over.

You take half of it, Blanche, and I'll keep the rest.

Oh, no. No, Stella.

I know how much it helps your morale just having a bit of pocket money on you.

No, thank you. I will take to the streets.

Oh, talk sense.

How did you happen to get so low on funds?

Money just goes. It goes places.

Oh, at some point today I've got to get a-hold of a bromo.

– I'll fix you one now. – Oh, no, I've got to keep thinking.

I wish you'd just let things go, at least for a while.

I can't live here with him, Stella.

You can, he's your husband,

but how can I live here with him with just those curtains between us?

Blanche you saw him at his worst last night.

On the contrary, I saw him at his best.

What such a man has to offer is animal force

and he gave a wonderful exhibition of that.

But the only way to live with such a man is go to bed with him,

and that's your job, not mine.

After you've rested a little, you'll see it's gonna work out.

You don't have to worry about anything while you're here. I mean expenses.

I've got to plan for us both, to get us both out.

You take it for granted that I'm in something I want to get out of.

I take it for granted you have sufficient memory of Belle Reve

to find this place and these poker players impossible to live with.

Well, you're taking entirely too much for granted.

– I cannot believe you are in earnest. – No?

I understand a little. You saw him in uniform, not here but...

I'm not sure it would have made any difference where I saw him.

Now don't tell me it was one of those magical electrical things between people

or I will laugh in your face.

I am not gonna say anything more at all about it.

All right, then, don't.

But there are things that happen in the dark between a man and a woman

that sort of make everything else seem...

unimportant.

What you are talking about is just desire – brutal desire.

The name of that rattle-trap streetcar that bangs through the Quarter,

up one old narrow street and down another.

Haven't you ever ridden on that streetcar?

It brought me here – where I'm not wanted and where I'm ashamed to be.

Then don't you think your superior attitude is a bit out of place?

I am not being or feeling at all superior, Stella. Believe me I'm not.

It's just this is the way I look at it.

You go out with a man like that once, twice,

three times when the devil is in you, but to live with and have a child by?

– I have told you I love him. – Well, then, I tremble for you.

I just tremble for you.

I can't help your trembling if you insist on trembling.

[BANGS TABLE]

May I speak plainly?

(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

Yes, do. Go ahead. As plainly as you want to.

[TRAIN RUMBLING PAST, DROWNING OUT DIALOGUE]

If you'll forgive me, he's common.

Why, yes, yes, I suppose he is.

Suppose? Have you forgotten that much of our bringing up, Stella,

that you just suppose that any part of a gentleman is in his nature?

There is not one particle, no.

If he was just ordinary, just plain but good and wholesome.

But there is something downright bestial about him.

You're hating me saying this, aren't you?

Go on and say it all, Blanche.

He acts like an animal.

He has an animal's habits. He eats like one, he moves like one, he talks like one.

Why, there is even something sub-human about him,

something not quite to the stage of humanity yet.

Yes, something ape-like about him,

like one of those pictures I've seen in anthropological studies.

Thousands and thousands of years have passed him right by,

and there he is, Stanley Kowalski,

survivor of the Stone Age.

Bearing the raw meat home from the kill in the jungle.

And you, you there waiting for him!

Maybe he'll strike you or maybe he'll grunt and kiss you.

That is, if kisses have been discovered yet.

Night falls and the other apes gather there, in front of the cave,

all grunting like him and swilling and hulking and gnawing.

His poker night you call it, this party of apes.

Some creature growls. Another 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 grow and cling to

and hold as our flag in this dark march towards whatever it is we're approaching.

Don't. Don't hang back with the brutes.

– STANLEY: Hey! Hey, Stella! – Stella.

Stanley, I...

Hiya, Stella, Blanche back?

Yes, she's back.

Hiya, Blanche.

Oh, you must've got under the car.

Uh, the mechanics at Fritz's don't know their can from third base.

[♪ DISTORTED ELECTRIC GUITAR RIFFS]

(APPLAUSE)

(HUM OF CONVERSATIONS)

[VOICES FADE]

[♪ SULTRY JAZZ]

[LAUGHING]

What are you laughing at, honey?

Myself.

Myself, for being such a liar.

I'm writing a letter to Shep.

'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? Forewarned is forearmed, as they say.

'Most of my sister's friends go north in the summer but some have homes on the Gulf

'and there's been a continued round of entertainments,

'teas, cocktails and luncheons...'

EUNICE: I heard about you and that blonde!

– STEVE: That's a damn lie! – You can't pull the wool over my eyes!

I wouldn't mind if you'd stay down at the Four Deuces, but you always going up.

STELLA: Eunice seems to be having some trouble with Steve.

STEVE: Who ever seen me up?

EUNICE: I've seen you chasing her around the balcony.

– I'm gonna call the vice squad. – Get back here.

STEVE: Don't you throw that at me.

EUNICE: If you hit me I'm gonna call the police.

– [CRASH] – [SCREAM]

Did he kill her?

No, she's coming downstairs.

[SCREAMING] Call the police!

I am gonna call the police!

[SOBBING]

STELLA: Some of your sister's friends have stayed in the city.

– STANLEY: What's a matter with Eunice? – STELLA: She and Steve had a row.

– Has she got the police? – No, she's getting a drink.

– Oh, it's much more practical. – Is she here?

– No, at the Four Deuces. – Huh. That rotten hunk.

BLANCHE: [LAUGHS] I must jot that down in my notebook.

I'm keeping a notebook of quaint little words and phrases I've picked up here.

You won't pick up nothing here you ain't heard before.

– Can I count on that? – You can count on that up to 500.

That is a mighty high number.

[DRAWERS SLAMMING]

– What sign were you born under? – STANLEY: Sign?

Astrological sign. I bet you were born under Aries.

Aries people are forceful and dynamic. They dote on noise.

Always banging stuff around.

I bet you had a lot of banging around in the army,

and now that you're out, you treat inanimate objects with such a fury.

Stanley was born just five minutes after Christmas.

BLANCHE: Oh. Capricorn – the goat.

STANLEY: What sign were you born under?

Well, my birthday is next month, the 15th September. That's under Virgo.

What's Virgo?

Virgo is the virgin.

Hah!

Say, do you happen to know somebody named Shaw?

Why, everybody knows somebody named Shaw.

Well, this somebody named Shaw is under the impression that he met you in Laurel.

But I figure he must have you mixed up with some other party

because this other party is someone he met at a hotel called The Flamingo.

Well, I'm afraid he does have me mixed up with some other party.

The Hotel Flamingo is not the sort of establishment I would dare to be seen in.

– STANLEY: You know of it? – I have seen it and I've smelled it.

You must've gotten pretty close if you could smell it.

The odour of cheap perfume is penetrating.

That stuff you use is expensive?

$250 an ounce.

And I'm almost out. That's just a hint, if you want to remember my birthday.

STEVE: Baby, come back. We can fix this.

– [FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING] – [THUNDER RUMBLES]

STANLEY: Yeah, Shaw must have you mixed up.

He goes in and out of Laurel all the time,

so he can check on it, clear up any mistake.

– I'll wait for you at the Four Deuces. – Hey. Don't I rate one kiss?

Not in front of your sister.

– Stella, what have you heard about me? – Huh?

What have people been telling you about me?

Telling?

Haven't you heard any unkind gossip about me?

Why, of course not, Blanche.

Honey, there was a good deal of talk in Laurel.

About you, Blanche?

I wasn't so good the last two years or so,

after Belle Reve had started to slip through my fingers.

All of us do things...

I never was hard or self-sufficient enough, and when people are soft,

soft people have got to court the favours of hard ones,

have got to be seductive and wear soft colours, the colours of butterfly wings,

and glow and make a little temporary magic

just in order to pay for one night's shelter.

But I'm scared now. I'm awfully scared.

I don't know how much longer I can turn the trick.

It's not enough to be soft. You have to be soft and attractive.

– And I'm fading now. – [STELLA COUGHS]

Haven't you been listening to me?

I don't listen to you when you're being morbid.

Is that Coke for me?

It's not for anyone else.

– Is it just Coke? – You mean you want a shot in it?

Well, honey, a shot never did a Coke any harm. [LAUGHS]

You mustn't wait on me. Let me get it.

I like to wait on you, Blanche. It makes it seem more like home.

I must admit, I love to be waited on. [KISSES]

– You're so good to me. And I... – Blanche.

I know, I know, you hate me to talk sentimental,

but believe when I tell you I feel things more than I say.

I won't stay long. I won't, I promise.

– I'll go... – Blanche.

I won't stick around till he throws me out.

Now will you stop talking foolish?

Yes. Watch how you pour. That fizzy...

– Oh! My pretty dress! Oh! – Heavens.

– Blot gently. – I know, I know. Gently, gently.

Did it stain?

Not a bit. Isn't that lucky?

Why did you scream like that?

I don't know why I screamed.

Mitch.

Mitch is coming at seven.

I guess I'm just feeling nervous about our relations.

He hasn't gotten a thing but a goodnight kiss.

I mean, Stella, that's all I've given him.

I want his respect.

And men don't want something they get too easy. [GIGGLES]

But on the other hand, they lose interest quickly.

Especially when a girl's over 30.

When a girl's over 30, they think she ought to...

Well, the vulgar term is 'put out'

and I'm not putting out.

Of course, he doesn't know.

I mean, I haven't informed him of my real age.

Why are you sensitive about your age?

Because of hard knocks my vanity's been given.

What I mean is he thinks I'm sort of prim and proper, you know.

I want to deceive him long enough to make him want me.

Blanche, do you want him?

I want to rest.

I want to breathe easy again.

Yes.

– I want Mitch very badly. – [LAUGHS]

And just think, if it happens I can leave here and not be anyone's problem.

STANLEY: Hey, Steve. Hey, Eunice. Hey, Stella.

– It will happen. – It will?

It will, honey. It will.

But... don't take another drink.

Ah, me.

Oh.

[THUNDER RUMBLES]

WOMAN: Hey! Sugar.

[SHE LAUGHS]

[DOORBELL]

Come in.

Well, well. What can I do for you?

I'm collecting for the Evening Star.

I didn't know that stars took up collections.

– Oh, it's the paper. – I was joking, feebly.

– Would you like a drink? – Oh, no, ma'am.

No, thank you. I can't drink on the job.

Oh. Oh, let me see now.

Not a dime.

I'm not the lady of the house. I'm her sister visiting from Mississippi.

I'm one of those poor relations you've heard about.

– That's all right. I'll drop by later. – Hey.

Could I get a light?

Sure.

This doesn't always work.

It's temperamental?

Mm.

Thank you.

– Thank you. – Hey.

What time is it?

– 15 of seven. – It's 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 bit of eternity dropped in your hands?

And who knows what to do with it?

Yes, ma'am.

Did you get wet in the shower?

Uh, no, ma'am. I stepped inside.

– Into a drug store and had a soda? – Uh-huh.

– Chocolate? – No, ma'am. Cherry.

– Mmmm. – A cherry soda.

You make my mouth water.

– Well, I'd better be going now. – Young man.

Young, young, young, young man.

Has anyone ever told you you look like a young prince out of the Arabian Nights?

(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

No, ma'am.

Well, you do, honey lamb.

Come here.

Come on over here like I told you.

I want to kiss you just once, softly and sweetly on your mouth.

Run along now.

[HE MOANS]

It would be nice to keep you, but I have to keep my hands off children.

– Huh? – Adios.

[GIGGLING]

[HE MOANS]

Ah! Look who's coming.

My Rosenkavalier.

Bow to me first.

Now present them.

[GIGGLES] Merci.

[♪ MELANCHOLIC JAZZ]

Rrarr.

BLANCHE: Well...

Well...

I guess it's getting late and you're tired.

– How will you get home? – I'll walk to Bourbon and catch owl car.

Is that streetcar named Desire still grinding along the tracks at this hour?

I'm afraid you haven't gotten much fun out of this evening, Blanche.

– I spoiled it for you. – No, you didn't.

But I felt all the time like I wasn't giving you much entertainment.

I simply couldn't rise to the occasion.

I don't think I've ever tried so hard to be gay and made such a dismal mess of it.

I get ten points for trying. I did try.

Why did you try if you didn't feel like it, Blanche?

– I was just obeying the laws of nature. – Which law is that?

The one that says the lady must entertain the gentleman, or no dice.

See if you can locate my key in this purse.

When I'm this tired my fingers are all thumbs.

Aw.

Is this it?

No, honey, that is the key to my trunk which I must soon be packing.

– You mean you're leaving here soon? – I have outstayed my welcome.

– Is this it? – Eureka.

Honey, you open the door while I take a last look at the sky.

I'm looking for the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters.

But these girls are not out tonight.

Oh, yes they are, there they are.

God bless them.

All in a bunch coming home from their little bridge party.

Oh, did you get it open?

Good boy.

– I guess you wanna go now. – Can I, uh... kiss you goodnight?

Why do you always ask me if you may?

I don't know whether you want me to or not.

Why should you be so doubtful?

That night when we parked by the lake and I kissed you...

Honey, it wasn't the kiss I objected to. I liked the kiss very much.

It was the other familiarity I felt obliged to discourage.

I didn't resent it, not one bit in the world.

In fact, I was somewhat flattered that you even desired me.

But you know as well as I do that a single girl, a girl alone in the world

has got to keep a firm hold on her emotions or she'll be lost.

Lost?

I guess you're used to girls who like to be lost,

girls who like to be lost immediately, on the first date.

I like you to be exactly the way that you are,

because in all my experience I have never known anyone like you.

– [SHE LAUGHS] – [HE JOINS IN, NERVOUSLY]

– Are you laughing at me? – No, honey.

Come in.

The lord and lady of the house have not yet returned.

We can have a night-cap, but let's leave the lights off, shall we?

– You just do what you want to. – Go in the other room.

– It's more comfortable. – [GLASSES CLATTER]

This crashing around in the dark in my search for some liquor.

– You want a drink? – I want you to have a drink.

You've been so anxious and solemn all evening. Well, we both have.

We've both been anxious and solemn all evening,

so for these few last remaining moments of our lives together

we are going to create joie de vivre.

– I'm lighting a candle. – Ah, that's good.

We are going to be very Bohemian about this.

We are going to pretend that we are in a little artists' café

on the Left Bank of Paris.

Je suis la Dame aux Camellias.

Et vous êtes Armand. You understand French?

No, no, I don't understand it.

Voulez-vous couchez avec moi ce soir?

Vous ne comprenez pas?

Quel dommage.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

I mean it's a damned good thing. Oh. I've found some liquor.

Just enough for two shots without any dividends, honey.

– That's good. – Well, sit down.

Take off your coat and loosen your collar.

– I'd better leave it on. – No. I want you to be comfortable.

I'm ashamed of the way I perspire.

– My shirt is sticking to me. – Perspiration is healthy.

If we didn't perspire we would die in five minutes.

That's a nice coat. What kind of material is it?

– They call that stuff alpaca. – Oh. Alpaca.

– It's very lightweight alpaca. – Oh. Lightweight alpaca.

I don't like to wear a wash-coat even in summer because I sweat through it.

– Oh. – And it don't look neat on me.

A man with a heavy build has got to be careful about what he puts on him

so he don't look too clumsy.

– Oh, you're not too heavy. – You don't think I am?

Oh, you're not the delicate type.

You have a massive bone structure and a very imposing physique.

Thank you.

Last Christmas, I was given a membership to the New Orleans Athletic Club.

Oh, good.

It was the finest present I ever was given.

I work out there with the weights and I swim and I keep myself fit.

When I started there, I was getting soft in the belly, but now my belly is hard.

It is so hard now that a man can punch me in the belly and it don't hurt me.

Punch me.

Go on. See?

Oh. Gracious.

Guess how much I weigh, Blanche.

– Oh, I'd say in the vicinity of 180? – Guess again.

– Not that much? – No. More.

Well, you're a tall man

and you can carry a good deal of weight without looking awkward.

I weigh 207 pounds

and I am six feet one and a half inches tall in my bare feet without shoes on.

And that is what I weigh stripped.

Oh, my goodness me. That is awe-inspiring.

My weight is not a very interesting subject to talk about.

What's yours?

– My weight? – Yes.

– Guess. – Well, let me lift you.

Samson!

Go on, lift me. Whoa.

Well?

– You are light as a feather. – Oh.

– You might release me now. – Huh?

I said unhand me, sir.

Now, Mitch, just because Stanley and Stella are not at home

is no reason you shouldn't behave like a gentleman.

– Give me a slap if I step out of bounds. – That won't be necessary.

You are a natural gentleman, one of the very few left in the world.

I don't want you to think I'm all old maid school teacherish or anything like that.

– It's just, well... – Huh?

I guess it's just that I have old-fashioned ideals.

Where's Stanley and Stella tonight?

They went out with Mr and Mrs Hubbel upstairs.

Where'd they go?

I think they went to catch a midnight preview at Loew's State.

We should all go out together some night.

– No. That would not be a good plan. – Why not?

You're an old friend of Stanley's?

We was together in the 241st.

– Well, I guess he talks to you frankly? – Sure.

– Has he talked to you about me? – Oh, not very much.

By the way you say that, I suspect that he has.

– No, he hasn't said much. – But what he has said.

What would you say his attitude towards me was?

– Why do you want to ask me that? – Well...

– Don't you get along with him? – What do you think?

– I don't think he understands you. – That is putting it mildly.

If it weren't for Stella about to have a baby,

I wouldn't be able to endure things here.

He isn't... nice to you?

He is insufferably rude. He goes out of his way to offend me.

– In what way, Blanche? – Why, in every conceivable way.

– I'm surprised to hear that. – Are you?

Well, I don't see how anybody could be rude to you.

Surely he must have told you how much he hates me.

– I don't think he hates you. – Oh, he hates me.

Or why would he insult me?

Of course, there is such a thing as the hostility of...

I mean, maybe in some perverse kind of way...

No. To think of it makes me...

– Blanche? – Yes, honey?

– Can I ask you a question? – Yes. What?

How old are you?

Why do you want to know?

I talked to my mother about you and she said, 'How old is Blanche?'

– And I wasn't able to tell her. – You talked to your mother about me?

– Yes. – Why?

I told her how nice you were, and I liked you.

– Were you sincere about that? – You know I was.

Why did your mother want to know my age?

– Mother is sick. – Oh. Badly?

She won't live long, maybe a few months.

Oh.

She worries because I'm not settled.

Oh.

She wants to see me settled down before she...

You love her very much, don't you?

Yes.

I think you have a great capacity for devotion.

You will be lonely when she passes on, won't you?

– [CLEARS HIS THROAT] – I understand what that is.

– To be lonely? – I loved someone once.

And the person I loved I lost.

Dead?

A man?

He was a boy, just a boy, when I was a very young girl.

When I was 16, I made the discovery – love!

All at once and much, much too completely.

It was like you suddenly turned a blinding light

on something that had always been half in shadow.

That's how it struck the world for me.

But I was unlucky, deluded.

There was something different about the boy, a nervousness,

a softness, a tenderness that wasn't like a man's.

Although he wasn't the least bit effeminate-looking,

still that thing was there.

He came to me for help. I didn't know that.

I didn't find out anything till after our marriage

when we'd run away and come back

and all I knew was that I'd failed him in some mysterious way

and couldn't give the help he needed but couldn't speak of.

He was in the quicksand, clutching at me

and I wasn't holding him out, I was slipping in with him.

I didn't know that.

I didn't know anything except that I loved him unendurably,

but without being able to help him or help myself.

And then I found out in the worst of all possible ways,

by coming suddenly into a room that I thought was empty.

Which wasn't empty, but had two people in it –

the boy I had married and an older man who had been his friend for years.

[TRAIN RUMBLING PAST]

Afterwards, we pretended like nothing had been discovered.

Yes, the three of us drove out to Moon Lake Casino,

all very drunk and laughing all the way.

[♪ DISTANT MELANCHOLY POLKA]

We danced the Varsouviana.

And then suddenly, in the middle of the dance,

the boy I had married broke away from me and ran out of the casino.

A few moments later, a shot.

[MUFFLED GUNSHOT]

I ran out, all did,

all ran and gathered around the terrible thing at the edge of the lake.

I couldn't get near for the crowding.

Then somebody caught my arm and said, 'Don't go any closer.

'You don't want to see.'

See? See what?

Then I heard voices say, 'Allan! Allan, the Grey boy.'

He'd stuck a revolver into his mouth and fired,

so that the back of his head had been blown away.

It was because...

..on the dancefloor,

unable to stop myself,

I'd suddenly said, 'I know.

'I know! You disgust me!'

And then the searchlight which was turned on the world was turned off again.

And never since has there been any light that's stronger than this kitchen candle.

[♪ POLKA DISTORTING]

You need somebody.

I need somebody, too.

Could it be? You and me, Blanche?

[CRIES OUT]

[SOBBING] Sometimes, there's God so quickly.

[♪ 'Wicked Game' by Chris Isaak]

♪ The world was on fire and no one could save me but you

♪ It's strange what desire will make foolish people do

♪ I'd never dreamed that I'd meet somebody like you

♪ And I'd never dreamed that I'd lose somebody like you

♪ No, I don't want to fall in love

♪ This girl is only gonna break your heart

♪ No, I don't want to fall in love

♪ This girl is only gonna break your heart

♪ With you

♪ With you

♪ This girl is only gonna break your heart... ♪

– What's all this stuff for? – Honey, it's Blanche's birthday.

– Is she here? – In the bathroom.

– Washing out some things? – I reckon so.

– How long she been in there? – All afternoon.

– [MIMICKING]: 'Soaking in a hot tub'? – Yes.

Temperature is 100 on the nose, and she soaks herself in a hot tub.

She says it cools her off for the evening.

And you run out an' get her Cokes, I suppose?

And serve 'em to Her Majesty in the tub?

– Sit down a minute. – Stanley, I've got things to do.

Set down. I've got the dope on your big sister, Stella.

– Stanley, stop picking on Blanche. – That girl calls me common?

Lately you have been doing all you can think of to rub her the wrong way,

and Blanche is sensitive.

You've got to realise that Blanche and I grew up

under very different circumstances than you did.

So I been told. And told and told and told.

You know she's been feeding us a pack of lies here?

– No, I don't... – Well, she has, however.

But now the cat is out of the bag. I found out some things.

What things?

Things I already suspected, but now I got proof from the most reliable of sources,

which I have checked on.

– [BLANCHE SINGING] – Lower your voice.

[SINGING CONTINUES]

Some canary bird, huh?

Now, please tell me quietly what you think you've found out about my sister.

Lie number one – all this squeamishness she puts on?

You should just know the line she's been feeding to Mitch.

He thought she hadn't been more than kissed by a fellow.

But Sister Blanche is no lily. I mean, some lily she is.

What have you heard and who from?

– Our supply man down at the plant... – [LAUGHS]

..has been going through Laurel for years, he knows all about her.

Everybody else in the town of Laurel knows all about her.

In fact, she's as famous in Laurel

as if she was the President of the United States,

only she isn't respected by any party.

This supply man stops at a hotel called The Flamingo.

BLANCHE: ♪ Say, it's only a paper moon... ♪

– What about The Flamingo? – She stayed there, too.

My sister lived at Belle Reve.

This is after home-place slipped through her lilywhite fingers.

She moved to The Flamingo.

It's a second-class hotel which has the advantage

of not interfering with the private social life of the personalities there.

The Flamingo is used to all kinds of goings-on,

but even the management of The Flamingo was impressed by Dame Blanche.

They were so impressed by Dame Blanche

they requested she turn in her room key for permanently.

This happened a couple of weeks before she showed here.

– [BLANCHE CONTINUES SINGING] – What contemptible lies.

Sure, I can see how you would be upset by this.

She pulled the wool over your eyes as much as Mitch's.

It's pure invention. There's not a word of truth in it.

If I were a man and this creature had dared

to invent such things in my presence...

BLANCHE: ♪ ..Without your love

♪ It's a honky-tonk parade

– ♪ Without your love... – STANLEY: Honey, I told you,

I thoroughly checked on these stories. Now wait till I finish.

Trouble with Dame Blanche is she couldn't put on her act any more in Laurel.

They got wised up. After two or three dates they quit.

She goes on to another, the same old lines, same old act, same old hooey.

But the town, it was too small for this to go on for ever.

As time went by she became a town character,

regarded as not just different but downright loco - nuts.

For the last year or two, she's been washed up like poison.

That's why she's here this summer – visiting royalty, putting on all this act.

Because she's basically told by the mayor to get out of town.

Yes. Do you know there's an army camp near Laurel

and your sister's was one of the places called 'out of bounds'.

BLANCHE: ♪ It's only a paper moon... ♪

Well, so much for her being such a refined and particular type of girl.

– Which leads us to lie number two. – I don't want to hear any more.

She's not going back to teach school.

In fact, I'm willing to bet you she never had no idea of returning to Laurel.

She didn't retire temporarily because of her nerves. No, siree, Bob.

She didn't. They kicked her out of that high school before the spring term ended.

And I hate to tell you the reason that step was taken.

A 17-year-old boy she'd gotten mixed up with.

This is making me sick.

The boy's dad learned about it and got in touch with the high school superintendent.

Boy, oh, boy, I'd like to have been in that office

when Dame Blanche was called on the carpet.

I'd like to have seen her trying to squirm out of that one,

but they had her on the hook good and proper that time.

She knew that the jig was up.

They told her she'd better move on to some fresh territory.

It was practically a town ordinance held against her.

– BLANCHE: Stella! – [LIGHTLY] Yes, Blanche?

Could you fetch me another towel to dry my hair with? I've just washed it.

Yes, Blanche. [SNIFFING]

BLANCHE: What's the matter? You have such a strange expression on your face.

STELLA: Oh. I guess I must just feel a little tired.

Well, why don't you take a bath as soon as I'm through?

– STANLEY: How long will that be? – BLANCHE: Not so terribly long.

Possess your soul in patience.

It's not my soul I'm worried about.

STANLEY: Well, what do you think?

I don't believe all those stories,

and I think your supply man was mean and rotten to tell them.

It's possible that some of the things he said are partly true.

There are things about my sister I don't approve of,

things that caused sorrow at home.

– She was always... flighty. – Yeah, 'flighty' is some word for it.

But when she was young, very young, she married a boy who wrote poetry.

He was extremely good-looking.

I think Blanche didn't just love him but worshipped the ground he walked on,

adored him and thought him almost too fine to be human.

But then... she found out...

What?

This beautiful and talented young man was a... a degenerate.

Didn't your supply man give you that information?

No. We only discussed recent history.

That must have been a pretty long time ago.

Yes, it was – a pretty long time ago.

How many candles you putting in that cake?

I'll stop at 25.

Is company expected?

We asked Mitch to come for cake and ice cream.

[SCOFFS] I wouldn't be expecting Mitch over tonight.

– Why? – Mitch is a buddy of mine.

We were in the same outfit together, 241st Engineers.

We work in the same plant, we're on the same bowling team.

– You think I could face him...? – Stanley Kowalski, did you...?

– Did you repeat what that man...? – You're goddam right I told him.

I'd have that on my conscience the rest of my life.

I know all that stuff and let my best friend get caught?

– Is Mitch through with her? – Wouldn't you be?

I said, is Mitch through with her?

BLANCHE: ♪ But it wouldn't be make-believe If you believed in me ♪

No, not necessarily through with her, just wised up.

Stanley! She thought Mitch was gonna marry her. I was hoping so, too.

Well, he's not gonna marry her.

Maybe he was, but he's not gonna jump in a tank with a school of sharks – now.

Blanche!

Blanche. Can I please get in my bathroom?

BLANCHE: Yes, indeed, sir. Will you wait a second while I dry?

Having waited one hour, one second ought to pass in a hurry.

STELLA: And she hasn't got her job. Well, what will she do?

Well, she's not staying here after Tuesday. You know that, don't you?

Just to make sure, I bought her ticket myself – a bus ticket.

STELLA: In the first place, Blanche wouldn't go on a bus.

– Oh, she'll go on a bus and like it. – No, she won't, no, she won't, Stanley.

She'll go. Period. P.S. She'll go Tuesday.

Well, what'll she do? What on earth will she do?

– Her future is mapped out for her. – What do you mean?

– [BANGING] – Hey, canary bird.

Toots. Let me in my bathroom. Must I speak more plainly?

Oh. I feel so good after my long, hot bath. I feel so...

– ..good and cool and rested. – Oh, do you, Blanche?

Yes, so refreshed.

A long bath and a nice drink always gives me a brand new outlook on life.

Something's happened. What is it?

– Why, nothing has happened, Blanche. – You're lying. Something has.

♪ Round and around and around

♪ Round and around and around

♪ Round and around and around and around and around

♪ Oh, stop the world and let me off

♪ I'm tired of going round and round Round and around and around

♪ I played the game of love and lost

♪ So stop the world and let me off

♪ Round and around and around and around and around

♪ My heart is shattered, can't you see?

♪ You no longer care for me

♪ But someday, I'm sure you'll see

♪ Loving you did this to me

♪ My dream will tumble to the ground... ♪

Tell us a joke, Stanley. Tell us a funny story to make us all laugh.

I don't know why we're all so solemn this evening.

Is it because I've been stood up by my beau?

It's the first time in my entire experience with men –

and I have had a good deal of all sorts –

that I have ever been stood up by anybody.

I don't know how to take it.

Tell us a funny story, Stanley, something to help us out.

I didn't think you liked my stories, Blanche.

I like them when they're amusing, but not indecent.

Well, I don't know any refined enough for your taste.

– Well, then, let me tell one. – Yes, you tell one, Blanche.

You used to know lots of good stories.

Let me see, now, I must run through my repertoire.

Oh, yes. I love parrot stories. Do you all like parrot stories?

Well, this one is about the old maid and the parrot.

This old maid, she had a parrot that cursed a blue streak

and knew more vulgar expressions than Mr Kowalski.

Hah.

The only way to hush the parrot up was to put the cover back on its cage

so it would think that it was night-time and go back to sleep.

Well, one morning the old maid had just uncovered the parrot for the day

when who should she see coming up the front path but the preacher?

So, she rushes back to the parrot,

she puts the cover back on its cage and then she let in the preacher.

And the parrot was perfectly still, just as quiet as a mouse.

But just as she asked the preacher how many sugars he wanted in his coffee,

the parrot broke the silence with a loud... [WOLF WHISTLE]

And said, 'God damn, but that was a short day!'

[LAUGHS LOUDLY]

Mr Kowalski was not amused.

Mr Kowalski is too busy making a pig of himself to think of anything else.

That's right, baby.

Your face and your fingers are disgustingly greasy.

Go and wash up and then help me clear the table.

[CLATTER]

That's how I'll clear my place.

Don't ever talk to me that way.

Pig? Polack? Vulgar? Disgusting? Greasy?

Them kind of words have been on your tongue and your sister's too much here.

What do you two think you are? A pair of queens?

Remember what Huey Long said? 'Every Man is a King!'

And I am king around here, so don't you forget it.

My place is cleared. You want me to clear your places?

[CRYING]

[SOBBING]

BLANCHE: What happened while I was bathing, Stella? What did he tell you?

– Nothing. – You're lying.

He told you something about Mitch and me and you're not saying.

– I'm gonna call him. – I wouldn't call him, Blanche.

– I am, I'm gonna call him on the phone. – I wish you wouldn't.

I intend to be given some explanation from somebody!

STELLA: I hope you're pleased with your doings.

I never had so much trouble swallowing food in all my life,

looking at that girl's face and the empty chair.

BLANCHE: Oh, hello.

Mr Mitchell, please.

Oh. I'd like to leave a number, if I may.

Yes. Magnolia 9047.

Yes, and say it's important to call? Yes, very important.

Thank you.

STANLEY: Stella.

It's gonna be all right after she goes, after you've had the baby.

It's gonna be all right again between you and me, the way that it was.

You remember that way that it was? Them nights we had together, honey?

It's gonna be sweet when we can make noise in the night the way that we used to,

get the coloured lights going, nobody's sister behind the curtain to hear us.

[RAISED VOICES]

[LAUGHING] It's Steve and Eunice.

STELLA: Come on back in.

STELLA: Blanche?

[LIGHTLY] Blanche!

Oh, pretty, pretty little candles, Stella.

– Oh, you mustn't burn them. – I certainly will.

You ought to save them for baby's birthdays.

I hope candles are gonna glow in his life,

and I hope that his eyes are gonna be like candles,

like two blue candles lighted in a white cake.

STANLEY: What poetry(!)

But his auntie knows that candles aren't safe,

that candles burn out in little boys' and girls' eyes,

or the wind blows them out and electric lightbulbs go on and you see too plainly.

[VOICE BREAKING] I shouldn't have called him.

– Lots of things could have happened. – There is no excuse for it.

I will not be taken for granted. I will not be insulted.

STANLEY: Goddamn, it's hot in here with the steam from the bathroom.

I've said I was sorry three times.

I take hot baths for my nerves. Hydrotherapy, they call it.

You healthy Polack, without a nerve in your body,

doesn't know what anxiety feels like.

I'm not a Polack! People from Poland are Poles, not Polacks.

But what I am is 100 percent American,

born and raised in the greatest country on earth and proud as hell of it.

So, don't ever call me a Polack.

– [PHONE RINGS] – Oh, that's for me, I'm sure.

I'm not sure. Keep your seat.

[PHONE CONTINUES RINGING]

Hello?

Yeah.

– Hiya, Mac. – [BLANCHE SOBS]

BLANCHE: Don't touch me. What is the matter with you?

Why do you keep looking at me with that pitying look?

[YELLS] Quiet in there!

We've got a noisy woman on the place. At Riley's?

No, I don't wanna bowl at Riley's.

[CHUCKLING] I had a little trouble with Riley last week.

Well, I'm the team captain, ain't I?

So, we're gonna bowl at West Side or at Gala.

Yeah, OK, Mac. See you.

Sister Blanche, I have a little birthday remembrance for you.

You do, Stanley?

I wasn't expecting any.

What is it?

– I hope you like it. – Is that for me?

Oh.

Why...?

– Why, it's a... – STANLEY: Ticket.

Back to Laurel, on a Greyhound, Tuesday.

[♪ 'VARSOUVIANA' POLKA BEGINS TO PLAY]

[WAILING]

STELLA: You didn't need to do that!

STANLEY: No? Don't forget all I took off of her.

You needn't have been so cruel to someone alone as she is.

Little delicate piece she is(!)

She is! She was! You didn't know Blanche as a girl.

Nobody, nobody, was tender and trusting as she was.

But people like you abused her and forced her to change.

Do you...? Do you think you're going bowling now?

– Sure. – You're not going bowling now.

Why did you do this to her?

I don't know. Let go...

Yeah, you tore it.

STELLA: I want to know why.

Tell me why.

When we first met, me and you, you thought I was common.

How right you was, baby. I was common as dirt.

You showed me that snapshot of the place with the columns.

I pulled you down off them columns.

And weren't we happy together? Wasn't everything OK till she showed here?

And weren't we happy together? Wasn't everything OK till she showed here?

Hoity-toity, describing me as an ape.

[SHE GROANS]

Stella, what...?

Take me to the hospital.

[♪' VARSOUVIANA' POLKA PLAYING LOUDLY]

[♪ DISTORTING]

[♪ 'VARSOUVIANA' FADES]

[DOORBELL]

[DOORBELL]

– BLANCHE: Who is it, please? – MITCH: Me. Mitch.

Mitch. Oh, just a minute.

I really shouldn't let you in after the treatment I have received this evening.

So utterly uncavalier.

But hello, beautiful.

My, my, what a cold shoulder.

And a face like a thundercloud.

And such uncouth apparel. Why, you haven't even shaved.

But I forgive you. I forgive you cos it's such a relief to see you.

– Do we have to have that fan on? – No.

I don't like fans.

I'll turn it off, honey. I'm not partial to them.

I don't know what there is to drink. I haven't investigated.

– I don't want Stan's liquor. – It isn't Stan's.

Not everything on the premises is Stan's. Some things are actually mine.

How is your mother?

– Isn't your mother well? – Why?

Well, something is the matter this evening.

But never mind, I won't cross-examine the witness.

I'll just pretend that there's nothing different about you.

– [♪ 'VARSOUVIANA' BEGINS PLAYING] – There's the music again.

What music?

The polka tune they were playing when Allan... Wait.

[MUFFLED GUNSHOT]

– [MUSIC STOPS] – There the shot.

It always stops after that.

– Yes, there it's stopped. – Are you boxed out of your mind?

Let me see what there is in the way of...

Oh, by the way, excuse me for not being dressed, but I'd practically given you up.

Had you forgotten your invitation to supper?

– I wasn't going to see you any more. – Wait a minute.

I can't hear a word that you're saying

and you talk so little I wanna catch every syllable.

What am I looking around here for? Oh, yes, liquor. Ha-ha-ha.

There's been so much excitement here this evening that I am boxed out of my mind.

Here's something. 'Southern Comfort'. I wonder what that is.

If you don't know, it must belong to Stan.

I wonder if it ought to be mixed with something?

Ew-ee, that is sweet.

Terribly, terribly sweet.

Why I wonder if it's a liqueur.

Why, it is – it is a liqueur.

I'm afraid you won't like it, but try it, and maybe...

[YELLS] I told you already I don't want none of his liquor and I mean it!

You ought to lay off his liquor.

He says you been lapping it up all summer like a wild cat.

What a fantastic statement.

Fantastic of him to say it and fantastic of you to repeat it.

I won't descend to the level of such cheap accusations to answer it, even.

Huh.

What is in your mind?

What is behind your eyes?

– It's dark in here. – I like it dark. It's comforting to me.

I don't think I ever seen you in the light. That's a fact.

Is it? Oh.

– I've never seen you in the afternoons. – Well, whose fault is that?

You never want to go out in the afternoon.

You're at the plant in the afternoon, Mitch.

Not Sunday afternoon.

I ask you to go out with me sometimes on a Sunday

but you always make excuses.

You never want to go out till after six

and then it's always some place that's not lighted much.

I'm sure there is some obscure meaning to this, but I'm failing to catch it.

What it means is I've never got a real good look at you, Blanche.

– What are you leading up to? – Let's turn the light on here.

– Which light? What for? – This one with the paper thing on it.

Ah. What did you do that for?

So I can take a look at you good and plain.

Of course you're not meaning to be insulting.

– No, just realistic. – I don't want realism. I want magic.

– Magic? – Yes, magic.

I try to give that to people. I misrepresent things to them.

I don't tell the truth. I tell what ought to be truth.

And if that is sinful, then let me be damned for it.

But don't turn on the light.

I don't mind about you being older than what I thought.

But all the rest of it?

God! That pitch about your ideals being so old-fashioned

and all the malarkey you've been dishing out all summer.

I knew you weren't 16 any more, but I was fool enough to believe you was straight.

Who told you I wasn't straight? My loving brother-in-law? And you believed him?

I called him a liar at first and then I checked on the story.

First I asked our supply man who travels through Laurel.

And then I spoke directly over long-distance to this merchant.

– What merchant? – Kiefaber.

[SHE LAUGHS]

The merchant Kiefaber of Laurel.

I know the man. He whistled at me once so I put him in his place.

And now, for revenge, he makes up stories about me.

Three people – Kiefaber, Stanley and Shaw...

– Rub-a-dub-dub, three men in a tub. – ..swore to 'em.

And such a filthy tub.

Didn't you stay at a hotel called The Flamingo?

No. The Tarantula was the name of it.

I stayed in a hotel called The Tarantula Arms.

– Tarantula? – Yes, a big spider.

That's where I brought my victims.

Yes, I had many intimacies with strangers.

After the death of Allan,

intimacies with strangers was all I seemed able to fill my empty heart with.

I think it was panic, just panic, that drove me from one to another,

hunting for some protection here and there, in the most unlikely places.

Even, at last, in a 17-year-old boy.

But somebody called the superintendent.

'This woman is morally unfit for her position.'

[SILENT LAUGH]

'Morally unfit for her...'

True?

Yes, I suppose, unfit somehow.

And so I came here.

It was the only place I could go.

I was played out. Do you know what 'played out' means?

My youth had suddenly gone up the water-spout.

And then I met you.

And you said you needed somebody.

Well, I needed somebody, too.

I thanked God for you.

You seemed to be gentle, a cleft in the rock of the world I could hide in.

But I guess I was asking, hoping too much.

Kiefaber, Stanley and Shaw have tied an old tin can to the tail of this kite.

– You lied to me, Blanche. – Don't say I lied.

– You lied! Inside and out, all lies! – Never inside.

Not in my heart.

STREET VENDOR: Flores. Flores.

– Oh, outside. – Flores para los muertos.

Flores. Flores...

I lived in a house where dying old women remembered their dead men.

Flores para los muertos. Flores?

Crumble and fade, regrets and recriminations.

'If you'd done this, it wouldn't've cost me that.'

VENDOR: Corones para los muertos. Corones.

Legacies. Huh.

And other things such as blood-stained pillow slips.

'Her linen needs changing.'

'Yes, Mother, but couldn't we get a coloured girl to do it?'

Of course we couldn't. Everything gone but...

VENDOR: Flores.

..death.

I used to sit here and she used to sit over there

and death was just as close as you are.

Only we didn't dare even admit we'd ever heard of it.

Flores para los muertos, flores.

The opposite is desire.

So could you ever wonder?

How could you possibly wonder?

Not far from Belle Reve, before we'd lost Belle Reve,

there was a training camp for young soldiers.

On Saturday nights, they used to go into town and get drunk.

And then they'd stumble onto my lawn.

'Blanche!'

'Oh, Blanche!'

The deaf old lady remaining didn't suspect anything.

Sometimes, I would slip down and answer their calls.

Later, the paddy-wagon would pick them up like daisies the long way home.

Oh. What do you want?

What I've been missing all summer.

– Marry me, Mitch. – No.

I don't think I wanna marry you any more.

No?

You're not clean enough to bring in the house with my mother.

Get outta here, then.

Get outta here quick before I start screaming fire.

Get out of here quick before I start screaming fire.

Fire! Fire!

Fire!

[♪ 'Lunacy' by Swans]

[MUSIC FADING]

Oh, why don't we take a swim?

A moonlight swim in the old rock quarry?

That is if any of us is sober enough to drive a car.

Best way in the world to stop your head from buzzing.

You've just got to be careful to dive in the deep pool.

Cos if you hit a rock, you won't come up till tomorrow.

[LAUGHING]

[WAILING]

[WHISTLE]

[SLURRED] How's my sister?

She's doing OK.

And how is the baby?

The baby won't come before morning so they told me to go home, get a little shut-eye.

Does that mean we are to be alone in here together?

Yep. Just me and you, Blanche.

Unless you got somebody hid under the bed.

[STIFLING LAUGH] What've you got on those fine feathers for?

Oh, that's right. You left before my wire came.

– You got a wire? – Yes. From an admirer of mine.

– Oh, anything good? – I think so.

– An invitation. – What to? A fireman's ball?

An invitation on a cruise on a yacht in the Caribbean.

Well, well. What do you know?

– I've never been so surprised in my life. – I guess not.

It came like a bolt out of the blue.

– Who did you say it was from? – An old beau of mine.

The one who give you the white fox pieces?

Yeah, yeah. Mr Shep Huntleigh of Dallas! That's right.

I wore his ATO pin at college. I hadn't seen him until last Christmas.

And then, just now, this wire came inviting me on a cruise of the Caribbean.

The problem is clothes.

I tore into my trunk to see what I had that was suitable for the tropics.

And come up with that gorgeous diamond tiara?

This old relic? This isn't diamonds. This is rhinestones.

Ha-ha-ha. I thought it was Tiffany diamonds(!)

Well, anyhow, I shall be entertained in style.

Uh-huh. Well, it goes to show you, you never know what is coming.

Just when I thought my luck had begun to fail me.

Into the picture pops this Miami millionaire.

This man is not from Miami. This man is from Dallas.

Whoa, this man is from Dallas?

This man is from Dallas where gold spouts out of the ground.

Well, just so he's from somewhere.

Close the curtains before you undress any further.

I'm not gonna undress right now.

You seen a bottle opener?

I used to have a cousin who could open a beer bottle with his teeth.

That was all he could do, his only accomplishment.

He was 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 to sneak out of the house any time company came.

Rain from heaven.

What do you say, Blanche? Shall we bury this hatchet, make it a loving cup?

– Huh? – No, thank you.

Well, it's a red-letter night for us both.

You having an oil-millionaire and me having a baby.

What are you doing in here? Agh.

Here's something I always break out on special occasions like this.

The silk pyjamas I wore on my wedding night.

Oh.

When the telephone rings and they say, 'You've got a son.'

I'm gonna tear this off and I'm gonna wave it like a flag.

When I think of how divine it is going to be

to have such a thing as privacy once more, I could weep with joy.

Well, millionaire isn't gonna interfere with your privacy any?

It won't be the sort of thing you have in mind.

This man is a gentleman and he respects me.

He wants my companionship.

Sometimes, having great wealth makes people lonely.

Well, I wouldn't know about that.

A cultivated woman, a woman of intelligence and breeding,

can enrich a man's life immeasurably.

And I have all of those things to offer.

And this doesn't take them away.

Physical beauty is passing, it is 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 they increase with the years.

How strange that I should be considered a destitute woman

when I have all of these treasures locked in my heart.

I think of myself as a very, very rich woman.

But I have been foolish, casting my pearls before swine.

– Swine, huh? – Yeah, swine! Swine!

And I'm thinking not just of you but of your friend, Mr Mitchell.

He dared to come here tonight,

he dared to come here in his work clothes and to repeat slander to me,

vicious stories that he'd gotten from you.

– I gave him his walking papers. – You did, huh?

Yes.

But then he came back.

He came back and he begged my forgiveness.

He came back with a big box of roses and he implored my forgiveness.

And I said to him, 'There are some things that are not forgivable.

'Deliberate cruelty is not forgivable.

'It is the one unforgivable thing

'and the one thing that I have never, never been guilty of.'

And so I said to him,

'I have been foolish 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.

'But let's be realistic about such things.

'Farewell, my friend, and let there be no hard feelings.'

Was this before or after the wire came in from the Texas oil millionaire?

What wire?

No. No, after! After! As a matter of fact...

As a matter of fact, there wasn't no wire at all.

There isn't no millionaire

and Mitch didn't come back with roses cos I know where he is.

– [SOBBING] – It's nothing but imagination.

And lies and conceit and tricks.

And look at yourself.

Take a look at yourself in that worn-out Mardi Gras outfit,

rented for 50 cents from some rag-picker.

And the crazy crown on.

– What queen do you think you are? – [WAILING] Oh, God.

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, you sprinkle the place with powder,

you spray your perfume, you cover the lightbulb with a paper lantern.

Lo and behold the place has turned into Egypt

and you're the Queen of the Nile.

Sitting on your throne and swilling down my liquor.

I say, 'Ha! Ha!'

– Do you hear me? I say, 'Ha! Ha! Ha!' – [WAILING]

Don't you come near me.

[DOOR SLAMS]

Operator, operator. I want you to get me long-distance.

Yes.

I want you to put me in touch with Mr Shep Huntleigh of Dallas.

Yes, well, he's so well-known he doesn't need an address.

Just ask anybody.

No, I couldn't find it right now.

Please understand.

Oh. Hold on.

There's somebody outside.

Never mind. It's nothing.

Western Union.

Western! Western Union.

Is this Western Union? Yes.

I want you to take down a message for me.

Yes. 'In desperate, desperate circumstances.

'Help me. Caught in a trap.' Yes.

'Caught...'

Oh. Oh.

[CRYING]

[BLANCHE SOBBING]

You left the phone off the hook.

[SOBBING]

Let me... Let me get by you.

– Get by me? Sure. Go ahead. – Stay over there.

I need to get air, some air!

You got plenty of room to walk past me now.

– Not with you there. – You think I'd interfere with you?

Ha!

Come to think of it, maybe you wouldn't be so bad to interfere with.

– You take another step towards me I'll... – What?

Something terrible will happen! It will!

I warn you. I'm in danger.

[SMASH]

[LAUGHING] What did you do that for?

So I could twist the broken end in your face.

– I bet you would do that. – I would. I will.

Oh. You want some rough-house? Come on, let's have some rough-house.

Tiger. Tiger. Drop the bottle-top.

Drop it.

We've had this date with each other from the beginning.

[♪ SLOW JAZZ]

[♪ JAZZ FADES]

STANLEY: Drew to an inside straight and made it, by God!

Maldita sea tu suerte.

– Put it in English, greaseball. – I am cursing your goddam luck.

STANLEY: You know what luck is? Luck is believing you're lucky.

Take at Salerno. I believed I was lucky.

I figured four out of five would not come through and I would and I did

and I put that down as a rule.

To hold front position in this rat race, you've got to believe you are lucky.

You! You! You! Brag! Brag! Bull!

STANLEY: What's the matter with him?

EUNICE: I always did say men are callous things with no feelings,

but this does beat anything.

– Making pigs of yourselves. – STANLEY: What's the matter with her?

– How's my baby? – Sleeping like an angel.

Brought you some grapes. Blanche?

– Bathing. – How is she?

She wouldn't eat anything, but she asked for a drink.

What did you tell her?

I just told her that...

we'd made some arrangements for her to rest in the country.

She got it mixed up in her mind with Shep Huntleigh and...

– BLANCHE: Stella. – Yes, Blanche?

If anyone calls while I'm bathing, tell them I'll call right back.

Stella, that cool yellow silk with the bouclé, see if it's crushed.

If it's not too crushed I'll wear it,

and on the lapel I'll put that silver and turquoise pin in the shape of a seahorse.

You'll find them in the heart-shaped box I keep my accessories in.

Oh, and Stella,

if you could locate a bunch of artificial violets in that box as well,

I'll put them on the lapel of the jacket with the seahorse.

– I don't know if I did the right thing. – What else could you do?

I couldn't believe her story and go on living with Stanley...

Don't ever believe it.

Life has got to go on. No matter what happens, you have got to keep on going.

– BLANCHE: Is the coast clear? – Yes, Blanche.

Oh, just tell her how well she's looking.

– Close the curtains before I come out. – They're closed.

– STANLEY: How many? – PABLO: Two.

– STEVE: Three. – BLANCHE: I just washed my hair.

– Oh, did you? – I'm not sure if I got all the soap out.

– Such fine hair. – Mm, it's a problem.

– Didn't I get a call? – Who from, Blanche?

– From Shep Huntleigh. – STELLA: Why, not yet, honey.

– That's strange. – STANLEY: Hey, Mitch, come to.

What's happening here?

[HYSTERICALLY] Oh. I want an explanation of what's happened here.

– Hush, hush, please, Blanche. – Why are you looking at me like that?

– Is there something wrong with me? – You look wonderful, Blanche.

– Doesn't she look wonderful? – Yes.

I understand you're going on a little trip.

Yes, Blanche is. She's going on vacation.

– I'm green with envy. – Help me, help me get dressed.

– Is this what you... – Yes, it will do.

I'm anxious to get out of here. This place is a trap.

– What a pretty blue jacket. – It's lilac coloured.

You are both mistaken. It is Della Robbia blue.

The blue of the robe in the old Madonna pictures.

– Are these grapes washed? – Huh?

– Are they washed? Are they washed? – They're from the French market.

That doesn't mean they've been washed.

[CHURCH BELLS CHIMING]

Those cathedral bells, they're the cleanest things in the Quarter.

Well, I'm going now.

I'm ready to go.

– She's gonna leave before they get here. – Wait, Blanche.

I don't want to pass in front of those men.

– Wail till the game breaks up. – Sit down and...

I can smell the sea air.

All the rest of my time I'm gonna spend by the sea.

And when I die, I'm gonna die by the sea.

And you know what I shall die of?

I shall die of eating an unwashed grape one day out on the ocean.

I shall die with my hand in the hand of some nice looking ship's doctor,

a very young one with a small blond moustache and a big silver watch.

'Poor lady,' they will say.

'The quinine did her no good.

'That unwashed grape has transported her soul to heaven.'

[CATHEDRAL BELLS CONTINUE CHIMING]

And I shall be buried at sea...

..sewn up in a clean white sack

and dropped overboard at noon in the blaze of summer.

Into an ocean as blue as my first lover's eyes.

[DOORBELL]

– EUNICE: That must be them. – BLANCHE: What is it?

EUNICE: Excuse me while I see who's at the door.

– STELLA: Yes. – BLANCHE: Oh, I wonder if it's for me.

[NOT AUDIBLE]

[LIGHTLY] Someone is calling for Blanche.

Oh, then it is! It is for me!

Is it a gentleman I was expecting from Dallas?

I think it is, Blanche.

[♪ 'VARSOUVIANA' POLKA BEGINS TO PLAY]

– I'm not ready yet. – Ask him to wait outside.

– Is everything packed? – My silver toilet articles are still out.

They're waiting in front of the house.

They? Who's they?

There's a lady with him.

I cannot imagine who this lady might be. How is she dressed?

EUNICE: Just... Just a sort of a plain tailored outfit.

– Oh, I guess she might... – STELLA: Shall we go, Blanche?

Must I pass by those men?

I will go with you.

How do I look?

– Lovely. – Lovely.

BLANCHE: Please don't get up. I'm only passing through.

How do you do?

Why, you're not the gentleman I was expecting.

That man isn't Shep Huntleigh.

[♪ 'VARSOUVIANA' POLKA PLAYING SOFTLY]

– STANLEY: Did you forget something? – BLANCHE: [VOICE BREAKING] Yes.

Yes, I forgot something.

– STANLEY: Hey, Doc, you better go in. – DOCTOR: Nurse, bring her out.

[KNOCKING]

NURSE: Hello, Blanche. [DISTORTS INTO ECHOES]

– STANLEY: She said she forgot something. – NURSE: That's all right.

– STANLEY: What did you forget, Blanche? – BLANCHE: I... I...

It don't matter. We can pick it up later.

Sure. We can send it along with the trunk.

I don't know you. I don't know you. Please, I want to be left alone.

Now, Blanche. [VOICE DISTORTING AND ECHOING]

STANLEY: You left nothing here but spilt talcum powder

and old empty bottles of perfume.

Unless it's the paper lantern you want to take. You want the paper lantern?

[SCREAMS]

STELLA: Oh, my God, Eunice, help me.

Don't let them do that to her, don't let them hurt her.

Please God, don't hurt her. What are you doing? What are you doing?

– Doc, you better come in. – Too bad.

Too bad. I always like to avoid it.

No, honey, no, no, honey. Stay here.

Don't go back inside. Stay with me and don't look.

What have I done to my sister? Oh, God, what have I done to my sister?

You done the right thing, the only thing you could do. She couldn't stay here.

There wasn't no place for her to go.

PABLO: This is a very bad thing.

STEVE: This is no way to do it. She should've been told.

PABLO: Madre de Dios. Cosa mala, muy, muy mala.

MITCH: You! You done this, with your goddamn interfering with things.

– Quit your blubber. – I'll kill you.

– Hold this bone-headed cry-baby. – Take it easy.

[BLANCHE MOANING]

NURSE: These fingernails have to be trimmed.

– Jacket, Doctor? – DOCTOR: Not unless necessary.

[RASPING BREATHS]

Miss DuBois.

DOCTOR: It won't be necessary.

Ask her to let go of me.

DOCTOR: Let go.

Whoever you are,

I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.

[STELLA CRYING]

STELLA: Blanche.

Blanche?

[SCREAMS] Blanche!

[SOBBING]

[SOBBING UNCONTROLLABLY] Blanche!

STANLEY: Stella?

[STELLA SOBBING]

[SINGSONG] Now, honey.

Now, love.

Now, now, love.

Now, now, love.

Now, love.

STEVE: This game is seven-card stud.

[♪ 'Troubled Waters' by Cat Power]

♪ I must be one of the devil's daughters

♪ They look at me with scorn

♪ I'll never hear their horn

♪ Sometimes

♪ It's like chains

♪ Sometimes I hang my head in shame

♪ When people see me

♪ They scandalise my name

♪ I'm going down

♪ It's way beyond control

♪ I must be one

♪ I must be one

♪ I must be ♪

(APPLAUSE)

(CHEERS, APPLAUSE)

(CHEERING)

(HUGE CHEER, WHISTLES)