"Can I help you?" "They told me to take a streetcar named Desire then transfer to one called Cemeteries ride 6 blocks and get off at Elysian Fields." "There's your car." "Thanks." "When he got home, she was waiting." "You never heard nothing..." "What's wrong?" "You lost?" "I'm looking for Elysian Fields." "This is Elysian Fields." "What number?" "642." "Don't need to look no further." "I'm looking for my sister, Stella DuBois, I mean, Mrs. Stanley Kowalski." "That's the party, all right." "You just did miss her, though." "This..." "Can this be her home?" "She lives downstairs, I live up." "She's out?" "You notice the bowling alley?" " I'm not sure I did." " That's where she's at." "She's watching Stanley bowl." "Blanche!" "Stella!" "Oh, Stella for a star!" "My darling." "Now, then, let me look at you." "But don't look at me." "I won't be looked at in this glare." " Did you find our place?" " What're you doing in a place like that?" "Never, never in my worst dreams did I picture..." "Only Poe, Mr. Edgar Allan Poe, could do justice to it!" "What are you doing in that horrible place?" "I didn't mean to say that." "I meant to be nice and say, "What a convenient location!"" " You haven't said a word to me." " I haven't had a chance." "Now open your pretty mouth and talk." " Come say hello to Stanley first." " No, not now." "Just say hello." "Which is he?" "Which one is he?" "Is he the one..." "The one making all the rhubarb!" "Isn't he wonderful-Iooking?" "I can't meet him now." "Not till I've bathed and rested." " Would you like a cold drink?" " Bless that lovely inspiration." "Oh, baby." "Would you like some pop?" "Honey!" "Pop!" "Not with my nerves tonight." "A scotch please." "Grape." "You haven't asked me how I happened to get away from school before the term ended." "Thought you'd tell me if you wanted to." "You thought I'd been fired?" "No!" "I thought you might have resigned." "I was so exhausted by all I'd been through, my nerves broke." "I was on the verge of lunacy, almost." "So Mr. Graves..." "He's the high school superintendent..." "Thank you." "He suggested I take a leave of absence." "I couldn't put all those details into the wire." "This feels so good." "Like another?" "One's my limit." "You haven't said a word about my appearance." "You look fine." "God love you for a liar." "Daylight never exposed so total a ruin." "But you've put on some weight." "You're as plump as a partridge." "It's so becoming to you." "Yes, it is!" "Or I wouldn't say it!" "You just have to watch around the hips a little." "I wanted you to look at my figure." "I haven't put on one ounce in 10 years." "I weigh now 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 look." "Sure you don't want another?" "Maybe I will take just one tiny nip more to put the stopper on." "Don't worry, your sister's not a drunk." "She's just all shaken up and hot and dirty and tired." "Waiter!" "Waiter!" "You want it hot?" "Scalding." "What is it?" "There's only two rooms." "Where will you put me?" "We'll put you right here." "What kind of a bed's this?" "One of those collapsible things?" "You all right?" "Wonderful, honey." "I don't like a bed that gives much." "There's no door between the two rooms." "Will it be decent?" "Stanley's Polish, you know." "Something like Irish, isn't it?" "Well..." "I bought some nice clothes to meet all your lovely friends in." "Well, I'm afraid you won't think they're lovely." "I bought nice clothes and I'll wear them." "I guess you're hoping I'll say I'll put up at a hotel." "But I'm not going to." "I must be near you." "I must be with people." "I can't be alone because, as you must have noticed I'm not very well." "You do seem..." "Will Stanley like me or will I just be a visiting in-law?" "I couldn't stand that." "You'll get along fine." "Try not to compare him..." "He was an officer?" "He was a master sergeant, decorated 4 times." " He had those on when you met him?" " I wasn't just blinded by the brass." "I wasn't..." "There were things to adjust myself to later on." "Such as his... civilian background?" "How'd he take the news I was coming?" " He's on the road a good deal." " Oh, he travels?" "Good." "I mean, isn't it?" "I can hardly stand it when he's away for a night." " Lf he's away for a week, I go wild." " Gracious!" "When he comes back, cry on his lap like a baby." "I guess that's what's meant by being in love." "I haven't asked the things you probably thought I would so I expect you to be understanding about what I have to tell you." "What?" "You're going to reproach me." "I know you're bound to, but before you do consider the fact that you left." "I stayed and struggled." "You came to New Orleans." "I stayed at Belle Reve trying to hold it together." "I'm not meaning to reproach you but all the burden descended on me!" "It was best I came here." "But you abandoned Belle Reve, not I. I stayed and almost died for it!" " Tell me what happened!" " I knew you'd take this attitude!" "About what?" "Please!" "The loss." "The loss." "Belle Reve?" "Lost, is it?" "Yes." "But how did it go?" "What happened?" "You're a fine one to ask me how it went!" "To stand there accusing me of it!" "I won't stand it!" "I!" "I took the blows on my face and my body!" "All of those deaths!" "The long parade to the graveyard." "Father, Mother Margaret, that dreadful way." "You just came home for the funerals." "And funerals are pretty compared to deaths." "How'd you think all that dying was paid for?" "Death is expensive, Miss Stella." "And I, from my pitiful salary at the school." "Yes, accuse me." "Stare at me, thinking I let the place go!" "I let the place go!" "Where were you?" "In there with your Polack!" "That's enough!" "Oh, Stella, Stella, you're crying!" "Does that surprise you?" "We playing at your house?" "No, my mother's still sick." " You bring the beer." " Break it up down there." " I made spaghetti and ate it myself!" " Now, honey told you we were playing." "You never phoned me once." " I told you at breakfast." " Why don't you just get in here." "Do you want it in the newspapers?" "You must be Stanley." "I'm Blanche." "You're Stel's sister." "Yes." "Hi ya." "Where's the little woman?" "In the bathroom." "Where you from, Blanche?" "I live in Auriol." "Auriol." "Oh, yeah, that's right." "Auriol, that's not my territory." "Liquor goes fast in the hot weather." "Want a shot?" "No, I rarely touch it." "There's some people that rarely touch it, but it touches them often." "You mind if I make myself comfortable?" "Please do." "" Be comfortable," that's my motto." "Mine too." "It's hard to stay looking fresh in hot weather." "I haven't washed or even powdered and here you are." "You must be careful sitting in damp things." "Catch cold." "Especially when you been exercising hard, like bowling." "What do you do?" "You're a teacher?" "Yes." "What subject?" "English." "I never was a very good English student." " How long you here for?" " I don't know yet." "Shacking up here?" "I will if it's not inconvenient for you." "Good." "Traveling wears me out." "Take it easy." "What's that?" "Those cats." "What'd you do, fall asleep in there?" "I guess I'll strike you as being the unrefined type." "Stella's spoke a good deal about you." "She said you were married once." "Said you were married once." "Said you were married once." "Yes." "When I was quite young." "What happened?" "What happened?" "The boy..." "The boy died." "I'm afraid I'm going to be sick." "Fresh fish!" "Fish!" "Fresh fish!" "Looks like she's fixing to stay awhile." "So, we playing tonight?" "Maybe we ought to..." "Don't figure no maybes." " Put it down." " Right." "Shall I get the other one?" "Thanks, darling." "Is Stanley back with my trunk?" "Yes." "Honey?" "Will you get my blue net for me?" "All right." "It was good of Stanley to get my trunk." "He was glad to do it." " I'll see you later." " Just don't forget." "I'm taking Blanche to Galatoire's for supper, then to a show because it's poker night." "How about my supper?" "I'm not going to Galatoire's." "I put you a cold plate on ice." "We'll be back after the party's over as I'm not sure how'll she'll take it." "Isn't that just dandy." "You better give me some money." "Where is she?" "She's soaking in a hot tub to quiet her nerves." "She's terribly upset." "Over what?" "She's been through an ordeal." "We lost Belle Reve." "What, the place in the country?" "How?" "It had to be sacrificed." "When she comes in, say something nice about her appearance." "And don't mention the baby." "I haven't told her." "I'm waiting till she calms down." "And try to understand her and be nice to her, honey." "She wasn't expecting such a place." "I tried to gloss things over a little in my letters." "Admire her dress." "Tell her she looks wonderful." "It's important to Blanche, her little weakness." "Okay, I get the idea, but let's just skip back to where you said the place was disposed of." "How about a few more details on that subject." "It's best not to talk about it until she's calmed down." "Is that the deal?" "Blanche can't be annoyed with details right now?" "You saw how she was last night." "I saw how she was." "Now, let's see the bill of sale." "I haven't seen any." "She didn't show you no papers, no deed nor nothing?" "It seemed like it wasn't sold." "Was it given away to charity?" " She'll hear you." " I don't care." "Let's see the papers." "There weren't any." "She didn't show any papers." "I don't care about papers." "Wait, listen." "Have you heard of the Napoleonic code?" "No, I haven't heard of the Napoleonic code." "Let me enlighten you on a point or two." "We got here in Louisiana what's known as the Napoleonic Code:" "That what belongs to the wife, belongs to the husband, and vice versa." "Will you listen?" "For example, if I had that property..." "My head is swimming." "Well, all right, then." "When she's done soaking in the tub I'll inquire if she is acquainted with it." "Stanley!" "Don't be so silly!" "It looks like you were swindled." "And, under the Napoleonic Code, I got swindled too." "I don't like that." "You've no idea how ridiculous you're being when you suggest my sister, or anyone else of our family, could have swindled anyone..." "Come on, where's the money if the place was sold?" "Not sold!" "Lost!" "Lost!" "Come here." "Open your eyes to this stuff here?" "She got this out of a teacher's pay?" "Oh, hush!" "Look at these fine feathers and furs that she preens herself in." "What is this article?" "A solid-gold dress!" "And this one here." "And what is that, a fox-piece?" "A genuine fur-fox, a half a mile long!" "Where are your fox-pieces?" "Bushy, snow-white ones, no less!" "Where are your white fox furs?" "Those are inexpensive furs Blanche has had a long time." "An acquaintance deals in these items and he's going to appraise this." "Don't be an idiot!" "I'll bet you there's $1000 invested in this stuff." "Now, is that the treasure chest of a pirate?" "That's pearls." "Ropes of them." "Is your sister a deep-sea diver?" "Where're your pearls and gold bracelets?" "Be still." "A diamond crown for an empress." "A rhinestone tiara she wore to a costume ball." "What is rhinestone?" "Next door to glass." "An acquaintance works in a jewelry store." "He'll come to make an appraisal." "Here's your plantation." "You're being stupid and horrid!" "You stay away from these things before she comes out!" "The Kowalskis and DuBois got a different notion on this." "Indeed they have, thank heavens." "I'm going outside." "Go ahead." "Come out with me while Blanche is getting dressed." "Since when are you giving me orders?" "Are you going to stay here and insult her?" "You bet your life I'm staying." "Hello, Stanley." "Here I am, freshly bathed and scented and feeling like a new person." "That's good." "Will you excuse me while I put on my pretty new dress?" "Go ahead." "I understand there's to be a card party here tonight to which we ladies are cordially not invited." "That's right." "Where is Stella?" "She's out on the porch." "I'm going to ask a favor of you soon." "What's that going to be, I wonder?" "Some buttons in back." "You may enter." "How do I look?" "You look okay." "Many thanks." "Now, the buttons." "I can't do no more with them." "You men with your big, clumsy fingers." "May I have a drag?" " Have one for yourself." " Thank you." "It looks like my trunk has exploded." "Me and Stella helped you unpack." "You did a fast and thorough job of it." "It looks like you've raided some stylish shops in Paris." "Clothes are my passion." "How much do furs like that cost?" "These were a tribute from an admirer." "He had a lot of admiration." "In my youth I excited some admiration, but look at me now." "Will you think it's possible that I was once considered attractive?" "Your looks are okay." " I was fishing for a compliment." " I don't go in for that." " What?" " Compliments to women on their looks." "Every dame knows if she's good looking without being told." "Some give themselves credit for more than they've got." "I once went out with a dame who said, "I'm the glamorous type."" "She says, "I'm the glamorous type." I says, "So what?"" "What did she say then?" "Nothing." "It shut her up." "Did it end the romance?" "It ended the conversation." "That was all." "Some men are took in by this Hollywood glamour stuff, and some men just aren't." " And you're in the 2nd category." " That's right." " I can't imagine a woman bewitching you." " That's right." "You're simple, straightforward and honest." "A bit on the primitive side." "To interest you a woman would have to..." "She must lay the cards on the table." "I never did care for wishy-washy people." "When I saw you last night I said to myself:" ""My sister has married a man." That was all I could tell..." "How about cutting the re-bop?" "!" "Come with me while Blanche dresses." " I'm done." " Come out." " Your sister and I are chatting." " Do me a favor." "Go to the store and get me a lemon coke with chipped ice." "Will you do that for me, sweetie?" "Please?" "All right." "The poor thing was listening to us." "I have an idea she doesn't understand you as well as I do." "All right, let us proceed without any more digression." "I'm ready to answer all questions." "I've nothing to hide." "What is it?" "In the state of Louisiana we've got what's known as the Napoleonic Code." "According to which that what belongs to the wife belongs to her husband." "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." "All right." "Cards on the table." "I know I fib a good deal." "But a woman's charm is 50º% º illusion." "But when a thing is important, I tell the truth." "This is the truth:" "I never cheated my sister or you, or anyone else on earth as long as I lived!" "Where are the papers?" "Everything I own is in that trunk." "What are you thinking?" "What's in that little boy's mind of yours?" "I'll do it, it'll be faster and simpler." "I keep my papers in this tin box." "What are those underneath?" "Some love letters yellowing with antiquity." " All from one boy." "Give them to me!" " I'll just look." " Your touch insults them." " Don't pull that stuff!" "Now that you've touched them, I'll burn them!" "What are they?" "Poems... the dead boy wrote." "I hurt him the way that you would like to hurt me, but you can't." "I'm no longer young and vulnerable." "My young husband was and I..." "Never mind about that." "Give them back to me." "What'd you mean, you have to burn them?" "I'm sorry." "I must have lost my head for a moment." "Everyone has something they won't let others touch because of their intimate nature." "Ambler and Ambler!" "Crabtree!" "Ambler and Ambler!" " What's Ambler and Ambler?" " A firm that made loans on the place." " It was lost on a mortgage?" " It must have been." "I don't want no ifs, ands, or buts!" "Where's the rest?" "Thousands of papers, stretching back over centuries, affect Belle Reve." "As piece by piece our improvident grandfathers exchanged the land for their epic debauches, to put it mildly." "Finally all that was left, and Stella can verify it was the house itself, and 20 acres of ground including a graveyard to which now all but Stella and I have retreated." "Here they are, all of them." "All papers." "I hereby endow you with them." "Peruse them, commit them to memory." "It's wonderfully fitting that Belle Reve should be this bunch of papers in big, capable hands." "I wonder if Stella's back with my coke?" "I got a lawyer acquaintance, we'll straighten this out." "Present them to him with a box of aspirin tablets." "Under the Napoleonic Code a man has to take an interest in his wife's affairs." "Especially now that she's having a baby." "Stella's having a baby?" "I didn't know she was having a baby." "Oh, Stella for a star!" "How lovely to have a baby!" "Everything's all right." "We thrashed it out." "I feel shaky, but I handled it nicely." "I treated it as a joke." "Laughed, called him a boy and flirted." "Yes, I was flirting with your husband." "The guests are arriving for the party." "I'm sorry he did that to you." "I guess he's just not the type that goes for jasmine perfume." "Maybe he's what we need to mix with our blood since we've lost Belle Reve and have to go on without Belle Reve to protect us." "How pretty the sky is!" "I ought to go there on a rocket that never comes down." "Which way do we go now?" "This way?" "No, honey, this way." "The blind are leading the blind." "Red hots!" "Go upstairs and tell her to stop that." "If I go up, I won't come down." "Forget it." "Remember when she poured boiling water through the floor cracks?" " I gotta go home soon." " What do you say?" " No, I'm out." " Every time you win a pot you're out!" "My mother doesn't sleep until I come home." "What do you say?" "I'm going to wash up." "You tell them guys the kettle's on the stove!" "I'm going to break up the game." "Wait." "Let me powder." "I feel hot and frazzled." "Do I look done-in?" "You look fresh as a daisy." "One that's been picked a few days." "Why don't somebody go to the Chinaman's and bring back chop suey?" " When I'm losing, you want to eat." " I see you are still at it." " Where've you been?" " We went to a show." "This is Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Hubbell." "Hello." "Please, don't get up." "No one's getting up, don't worry." "Poker's fascinating." "Could I kibitz?" "You could not!" "Why don't you go up to Eunice's?" " How long will you play?" " Till we're ready to quit!" " Wish you'd quit after the next hand." "Hey, that's my coat!" "That's not fun, Stanley." "Makes me mad when he does that in front of people." " I think I will bathe." " Again?" "My nerves are in knots." "Is it occupied?" "I don't know." "Good evening." "Hello." "This is Harold Mitchell." "This is my sister, Blanche DuBois." " How do you do?" " How do you do, Miss DuBois?" "How's your mother?" "She's about the same, thanks." "She appreciated that custard." "Excuse me, please." "Excuse me." " That one seems superior to the others." " Does he?" "He had a sort of sensitive look." "His mother's sick." "Is he married?" "Is he a wolf?" "Why, Blanche!" " No, I don't think he would be." " What does he do?" "He's on the precision bench in the spare parts department the plant Stanley travels for." "Is that something much?" "Stanley's the only one likely to get anywhere." "Flush, win!" "Blanche, you're standing in the light!" "Am I?" "Gracious!" "You should see their wives!" "I can imagine." "Big, beefy things, I suppose." "You know that one upstairs?" "Hey, you hens!" "Cut out that cackling in there!" "You can't hear us!" "You can hear me and I said, hush up!" "This is my house and I'll talk as much as I want to!" "Don't start a row." "He's half-drunk." "I'll be out in a minute." "50 cents." "All right." "See you." "Well, Steve?" "I'm out." "Two bucks." "What do you say?" "Come on, are you in?" "I'm out!" "Who turned that on in there?" "I did." "Do you mind?" " Turn it off!" " Let the girls have music." "Sounds good." "There you are!" " I didn't hear you name it!" " Didn't I name it?" " I wasn't listening." " What were you doing?" " Looking through the drapes." " I wasn't." "We're dealing this hand over again." "Play cards, or quit." "Deal me out!" "This game'll be Spit in the Ocean." "Hello." "Excuse me." "The little boy's room is occupied right now." "Excuse me." "Have you got any cigs?" "Sure." "What a pretty case." "Silver?" " Yes." "Read the inscription." " There is an inscription." "Why, I can't make it out." ""And if God choose I shall but love thee better after death."" "That's from my favorite sonnet by Mrs. Browning." " You know it!" " Certainly." "There's a story connected with this inscription." "A romance?" "A sad one." "The girl's dead now." "She knew she was dying when she give me this." "Strange, sweet girl." "She must have been very fond of you." "Sick people have deep, sincere attachments." "They do." " Sorrow makes for sincerity, I think." " It brings it out." "The little there is belongs to people who have known sorrow." " I believe you're right." " I'm positive." "Deal me out." "I'm talking to Miss..." "DuBois." "It's a French name, meaning, "woods."" "And Blanche means "white." So the two together mean, "white woods."" "Like an orchard in spring." "You can remember it by that if you care to." "You are Stella's sister, are you not?" "Stella's my precious little sister." "I call her "little" though she's older than I am." "Just slightly." "Less than a year." " Will you do something for me?" " Yes." "What?" "I bought this adorable paper lantern at a Chinese shop." "Put it over the light bulb, will you?" "I'd be glad to." "I can't stand a naked light bulb anymore than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action." "I guess we strike you as being a pretty rough bunch." "I'm very adaptable to circumstances." " That's a good way to be." " You're not..." " Married?" "Oh, no, no!" "I'm an old-maid teacher." "You may be a teacher, but you're certainly not an old maid." "Why, thank you, sir." "I appreciate your gallantry." "So you're in the teaching profession?" "Grade school or high school?" "Coming!" "Gracious, what lung power!" "I teach high school in Auriol." "What subject do you teach?" "Guess." "I bet you teach art or music." "Of course, I could be wrong." "You might teach math." "Never math, sir." "Never math." "I have the misfortune of being an English instructor." "I try to instill a bunch of bobby- soxers and drugstore Romeos with a reverence for Hawthorne and Whitman and Poe." "I bet they are more interested in other things." "How very right you are." "Their literary heritage is not what they treasure above all." "But they're sweet things." "In spring, it's touching to see them making their first discovery of love." "As if nobody had ever known it before." "Sorry." "Excuse me!" "Have you finished?" "Oh, yes." " I have." " Wait." "I'll turn on the radio." "Turn on the light now." "Oh, look!" "We've made enchantment." "3 bullets, moustache!" "Straight!" "I got you!" " What are you doing?" " Let me alone!" "Drunk!" "You animal thing!" "Get out!" "Get out!" " What're you doing?" " Get out." "My sister's going to have a baby!" "Lunacy!" "Complete lunacy!" "You come up to my place." "Did he hurt you?" " Make him go away!" " Poker shouldn't be played around women." "Take it easy, will you?" "Get him in that shower!" "Come on." "Get his feet, will you?" "Grab his feet." "Come on." "Come on, get under there." "Stay." "Get under there." "Get him a little higher, that's right." " How you feel?" " There you are." "Wake up." "We should remove his clothes." "What're you doing?" "!" "Poker should not be played around women!" "Where's Steve?" "Take it easy!" "Honey?" "Where are you?" "Hey, baby!" "You can sleep over here." "Blanche can have Steve's place." "He ain't coming home if he knows what's good for him." "Look!" "She ain't coming down and she ain't going to talk to you neither." "Stop hollering and go to bed." "I want my girl." "Shut up, or you'll get the law on you." "You can't beat up a woman then call her back." "She ain't coming." " They'll haul you in like last time!" " I want my girl down here." "You stinker!" "I wouldn't mix in this!" "Please, don't ever leave me, baby." "Come back!" "Miss DuBois?" "All quiet along the Potomac now?" "She ran down and went back in with him." " Sure, she did." " I'm terrified." "Don't be." "They're crazy about each other." " Shame it happened your first day." " Violence is so..." "Sit down and have a cigarette with me." "Why, I'm not properly dressed." "That doesn't matter here." "Such a pretty silver case." "I showed you the inscription, didn't I?" "There's so much so much confusion in the world." "Thank you for being so kind." "I need kindness now." "Bananas!" "Bananas!" "Oh, my baby." "My baby sister!" " What's the matter with you?" " He's left?" " Will he be back?" " He's getting the car greased." "I've been half-crazy." "How could you come back last night?" "Please, he was as good as a lamb when I came back." "He's really very ashamed of himself." "And that makes it all right?" "Stanley's always smashed things." "On our wedding night, as soon as we came in here he snatched off my slipper and rushed around smashing light bulbs." "He did what?" "He smashed all the light bulbs with the heel of my slipper." "And you let him, didn't run?" "I was sort of thrilled by it." "Eunice and you had breakfast?" "Do you suppose I wanted any breakfast?" "You're so matter of fact about it all, Stella." "Well, what other can I be?" "He took the radio to get it fixed." "It didn't land on the pavement so only one tube smashed." " And you stand there smiling?" " What should I do?" " Face the facts." " What are they, in your opinion?" "You're married to a madman." "I have a plan for us both to get out of here." "Stop taking it for granted that I want to get out." "I take for granted you have sufficient memory of Belle Reve to find it impossible to live here." " You take too much for granted." "I can't believe you." "I understand how it happened." "You saw him first in uniform, an officer, not here..." "That doesn't make any difference." "We're talking about his desire." "His brutal desire." "The name of that streetcar that bangs through the quarter." "Up one narrow street and down another." "Have you ever ridden on that streetcar?" "It brought me here where I'm not wanted." "Where I'm ashamed to be." "Isn't your superior attitude a little out of place?" " A man like that." " I love him!" "I tremble for you." "I can't help your trembling if you insist on trembling." "May I speak plainly?" "Yes, do." "Go ahead." "As plainly as you want." "If you'll forgive me he's common." "Yes, I suppose he is." "Suppose?" "You can't have forgotten that much of our upbringing that you suppose there's any part of a gentleman in his nature." "You're hating me saying this, aren't you?" "Go on." "Say it all, Blanche." "He's like an animal." "He has an animal's habits." "There's something subhuman about him." "Thousands of years have passed him by and there he is Stanley Kowalski, survivor of the Stone Age bearing the raw meat home from the kill in the jungle." "You wait." "Maybe he'll strike you... or grunt, kiss you if kisses have been discovered." "His poker night, you call it." "His party of apes?" "Maybe we are a long way from being made in God's image but, Stella, my sister there's been progress since then." "Such things as art, as poetry, as music." "In some kinds of people, some tenderer feelings have had a little beginning that we must make grow and cling to and hold as our flag in this march toward whatever it is we're approaching." "Don't, don't hang back with the brutes!" "Hi ya." "Is Blanche back yet?" "Yeah, she's back." "Oh, hi there, Blanche." "Looks like you got under the car." "That jerk mechanic down at Fritz's doesn't know grease from 3rd base." "Don't throw that thing at me!" "I can fix things." " Just what I gave your brother." " I'll call the police." "He hit me." "I'm calling the police." "You saw!" "Your sister's friends have stayed in the city awhile." "Did Eunice get the police?" " No, she's getting a drink." " That's much more practical." "Blanche is making us new slipcovers." "Is she here?" "She went to the Four Deuces." "That no-good, rotten..." "I can't find my other pair of shoes." "We cleaned in there." "I'll get them." "I can't find nothing around this dump anymore." "What sign were you born under?" "What sign?" "Astrological sign." "I bet you were born under Aries." "Aries people are forceful, dynamic." "They dote on noise." "They love to bang things around." "Stanley was born five minutes after Christmas." "Capricorn." "The goat!" "Say do you know somebody named Shaw?" "Everybody knows someone by the name of Shaw." "This somebody named Shaw believes he met you in Auriol." "But I figure he must of mixed you up with someone else because this party he met at a hotel called The Flamingo." "I guess he does have me mixed up with this other party." "The Hotel Flamingo is not a place I'd dare to be seen in." "You know it then?" "I've seen it and smelled it." "You must've got close to smell it." "The odor of cheap perfume is penetrating." "You use expensive stuff?" "$12 an ounce." "I'm nearly out if you want to remember..." "I figure that he must of got you mixed up." "But he goes in and out of Auriol all the time so he can check and clear up any mistake." "See you at the Four Deuces." "Don't I rate a kiss?" "Not in front of your sister." "Don't cry." "I only do that with other girls because I love you, baby." "It's a fact." "You still scared of thunder?" "What've you heard about me?" "What have people been telling you about me?" "Telling?" "You haven't heard any unkind gossip about me?" "Why, no, Blanche." "Of course not." "Honey there was quite a lot of talk in Auriol." "People talk, who cares?" "I haven't been so good the last year or so since Belle Reve began slipping away." " We all do things." " I was never hard enough." "Soft people have got to court the favor of hard ones." "They must shimmer and glow." "How much longer I can turn the trick?" "It isn't enough to be soft." "You must be soft and attractive." "And I..." "I'm fading now." "Have you been listening to me?" "I never listen when you're being morbid." "Is that for me?" " Not for anyone else." " You precious lamb." "Is it just a coke?" " You want a shot in it?" " A shot never did a coke any harm." "Let me." " You mustn't wait on me." " I like to wait on you." "Makes it seem more like home." "I have to admit I love to be waited on." " Honey, what is it?" " You're so good to me and I..." "I know you hate me to talk sentimental but believe me, I feel more than I say." " I won't stay long." "I promise." " Now, Blanche." "I'll go." "I'll go soon." "I won't hang around till he throws me out!" " Now will you stop talking foolish?" " Watch how you pour it." "Heavens." "Right on my pretty pink skirt." "Use my hankie." "Blot gently." "I know." "Gently." "Gently." "Gently." "Did it stain?" "No, not a bit." "Isn't that lucky?" "Honey, why did you scream like that?" "Why?" "I don't know why." "Mitch is coming at seven." "I'm nervous about our relations." "He hasn't gotten anything more than a good-night kiss." "I want his respect." "Men don't want things they get easily." "Men lose interest quickly, especially when a girl is over 30." "When I mentioned marriage they even forgot where I lived..." "So, you see, I haven't informed him of my real age." "Honey, why are you so 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 just enough to make him want me." "Darling do you want him?" "I want to rest." "I want to breathe quietly again." "Yes, I want Mitch very badly." "Just think, if it happens I can go away from here and not be anyone's problem." "Blanche, it will happen." "It will?" "It will, honey, it will!" "Only don't take another drink." "Get away!" "Get away!" "Put me down!" "Hi, fatty!" "Don't!" "Oh, me." "Come in." "Evening, ma'am." "Oh, well." "What can I do for you?" "I'm collecting for the Evening Star." "I didn't know stars took up collections." "It's a paper, ma'am." "I know." "I was joking, feebly." "Will you have a drink?" "No, ma'am." "No, thank you." "I can't drink on the job." "(end of part 1)" "Well, now, let me see." "No, I don't have a dime." "I'm not the lady of the house, I'm her sister." "I'm one of those poor relations you've heard tell about." "That's all right, I'll come back later." "Have you got a light?" "Sure." "This doesn't always work." "It's temperamental." "Why, thanks." "Thank you." "What time is it?" "Fifteen of seven." "So late?" "Don't you love these long rainy afternoons in New Orleans when an hour isn't an hour but a piece of eternity dropped in our hands?" "And who knows what to do with it?" "You didn't get caught in the rain?" "No, ma'am." "I stepped inside." "In a drugstore and had a soda." "Chocolate?" "Cherry." "You're going to make my mouth water." "I guess I..." "Young man!" "Young young young man." "Did anyone ever tell you you look like a prince out of the Arabian Nights?" "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 away now, quickly." "I'd like to keep you, but I must be good and keep my hands off children." "Look who's here!" "My Rosenkavalier!" "Oh, bow to me first." "Now, present them." "Hi ya, Mitch." "You haven't had much fun out of this evening." "I spoiled it for you." "No, you didn't." "I couldn't rise to the occasion, that was all." "I've never tried so hard to be gay and made such a dismal mess of it." "I get 10 points for trying." "I did try." "Hello, moon." "I'm looking for the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters but these girls aren't out tonight." "Yes, they are." "There they are, God bless them." "All in a bunch going home from their little bridge party." "May I kiss you?" "Why do you always ask me if you may?" "I don't know if you want me to." " Why so doubtful?" " When we kissed at the lake..." "It wasn't the kiss I objected to." "I liked the kiss." "It was the other familiarity I felt obliged to discourage." "Not that I resented it, not a bit." "I was flattered that you desired me." "But, you and I know that a single girl has got to keep a firm hold on her emotions or she'll be lost." "Lost?" "I guess you're used to the type of girl that likes to be lost." "I like you to be exactly the way that you are." "In all my experience I have never known anyone like you." "Are you laughing at me?" "No, honey." "I'm not laughing at you." "Come on, let's finish our nightcap." "You've been so anxious and solemn all evening, we both have." "For these last remaining moments of our lives together I want to create joie de vivre!" "I'm lighting this candle." "That's good." "I'm going to be very bohemian." "We are going to pretend we're sitting in a little artists' cafe in Paris." "Understand?" "No, I don't understand French." "Sit down." "Take off your coat." " Loosen your collar." " No, I better leave it on." "Be comfortable." "I'm ashamed of the way I perspire." "My shirt's sticking to me." "Perspiration is healthy." "If people didn't perspire they'd die." "This is a nice coat." "What material is it?" "They call this stuff alpaca." "It's very lightweight, alpaca." "Oh, lightweight alpaca." "I don't like to wear a wash-coat because I sweat right through it." "A man with a heavy build has to be careful of what he puts on him." "You're not too heavy." "You think so?" "You're not delicate." "You have a massive bone structure and a very imposing physique." "I thank you." "Last Christmas I was given a membership to the Sports Club." " Good." " It was the finest present I ever got." "I lift weights there." "I swim." "I keep myself fit." "When I started, I was soft in the belly, but now it's hard." "It's so hard a man can punch me and it don't hurt." "Punch me." "Go ahead." "Punch." "Come on." "Gracious." "See?" "Guess my weight." "I'd say in the vicinity of one hundred and eighty pounds." " Guess again." " Not so much?" "No, more!" "I weight 207 pounds." "I'm six feet," "Oh, my goodness, it's awe-inspiring." "My weight's not a very interesting subject." "What's yours?" "My weight?" "Guess." "Let me lift you." "Samson!" "Go on, lift me!" " You're light as a feather!" " You may release me now." "I said, unhand me, sir." "We're in public." "You must behave like a gentleman." "Slap me if I get out of bounds." "It won't be necessary." "You're a natural gentleman." "One of the few in the world." "I don't want you to think that I'm severe or old-maid-ish." "It's just, well, I guess I have old-fashioned ideals." "Where's Stanley and Stella?" "They were planning to take in a midnight preview." "We should all go out together." "That's not a good plan." "Why not?" "You are an old friend of Stanley's?" "We was together in the 241st." "I guess he talks to you frankly." "Has he talked about me?" " Not much." " The way you say that, I suspect he has." "Not much." "What would you say his attitude toward me was?" "Why ask that?" " Well?" " Don't you get along with him?" "What do you think?" "I think he don't understand you." "That's putting it mildly." "Surely, he must've told you how much he hates me!" "He doesn't hate you." "He hates me!" "Or why would he insult me?" "Of course there is such a thing as the hostility of..." "Perhaps, in some strange kind of way he..." "To think of it makes me..." "Yes, honey?" " Can I ask you a question?" " Yes." "What?" "How old are you?" "What do you want to know that for?" "I talked to my mother about you and she said, "How old is Blanche?"" "You talked to your mother about me?" "Yes." "Why?" "Because 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?" "She's sick and..." "I'm sorry to hear it." "Badly?" "She won't live long." "Maybe just a few months." "She worries because I'm not settled." "She wants me to settle down before she..." "You love her very much, don't you?" "You'll be lonely when she passes on, won't you?" "I know what that means." "To be lonely?" "I loved someone once and the person I loved, I lost." "Dead?" "He was a boy just a boy when I was a very young girl." "When I was sixteen 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 been half in shadow." "That's how it struck the world for me." "But I was unlucky deluded." "There was something about him a nervousness... a tenderness an uncertainty." "And I didn't understand." "I didn't understand why this boy who wrote poetry didn't seem able to do anything else." "Lost every job." "He came to me for help." "I didn't know that." "I didn't know anything except that I loved him unendurably." "At night, I pretended to sleep." "I heard him crying." "Crying." "Crying the way a lost child cries." "I don't understand." "No, neither did I!" "That is why I killed him!" "You?" "One night we drove out to a place called Moon Lake Casino." "We danced the Varsouviana." "In the middle of the dance floor the boy I had married broke away from me and ran out of the casino." "Minutes later a shot!" "I ran." "All did." "All ran and gathered about the terrible thing at the edge of the lake." "He'd stuck a revolver into his mouth and fired." "It was because on the dance floor unable to stop myself, I'd said:" ""You're weak." "I've lost respect for you." "I despise you."" "And then the searchlight which had been turned on the world was turned off again and never for one moment since has there been any light stronger than than this yellow lantern." "You need somebody." "And I need somebody too." "Could it be you and me, Blanche?" "Sometimes there's God so quickly." "If you want to mess with me, come on!" " I'll kill you!" " Cut him loose." " You don't know when you get wised up." " Cut it out!" " You don't have to wise me up!" "Come on!" "Get to work." "We gotta get going." "We got some bucks to make." "Go ahead and marry her, but hurry up because she's been at my house 5 months." "It's only a paper moon" "Sailing over a cardboard sea" "But it wouldn't be make-believe" "If you believed in me" "It's a Barnum and Bailey world Just as phony as it..." "Hello, Stanley!" "But it wouldn't be make-believe" "If you believed in me" "Some canary bird." "All right." "Tell me quietly just what you think you found out about my sister." "You know your sister is no lily, right?" "What have you heard and who from?" "You should know the line that she's has been feeding Mitch." "Our supply man's gone through Auriol for years and he knows all about her." "And everybody in the town of Auriol knows all about her." "She's as famous in Auriol as if she was the United States President." "Only she's not respected by any party." "So she moved to the hotel called Flamingo which is a second-class hotel and has the advantages of not interfering with the private and 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, they requested she turn in her room key permanently." "And this happened a couple of weeks before she showed here." "Honey, I know how this is gonna upset you." "She pulled the wool over your eyes just as much as Mitch's." "Pure invention." "Not a word of truth." "I checked on every story." "The trouble was she couldn't put on her act anymore." "They wised up and in a few days, they'd quit and she'd go get another one." "The same old line, the same old act and the same old hooey." "She became the town character regarded not just as different, but downright nuts!" "Which brings us to lie #2." "Now, listen." "She didn't resign because of her nerves." "She was kicked out before the spring term ended." "I hate to tell you the reason that step was taken." "A 17-year-old kid she got mixed up with." "The boy's dad learned about it and he got in touch with the superintendent." "There was practically a town ordinance passed against her." "Yes." "Could I have a towel for my hair?" "I just washed it." "Yes, honey." "What's the matter?" "Why?" "You have a strange expression on your face." "I guess I'm a little tired." "Why don't you take a hot bath as soon as I get out?" "How soon will that be?" "Not so long." "Possess your soul in patience." "It's not my soul I'm worried about." "Well..." "How many candles are there?" "I'm going to stop at 25." "You got company expected?" "We asked Mitch to come over." "Don't expect Mitch over here tonight." "Why?" "Mitch is a buddy of mine." "We was together in the 241st Engineers." "We work in the same plant!" "We're on the same bowling team!" "Stanley Kowalski, did you repeat..." "You bet I did." "I'd have it on my conscience if I knew that stuff and let him get caught!" " Is Mitch through with her?" "I don't know, but he's wised up." "He was going to marry her!" "He's not going to now!" "He's not going to jump into a tank of sharks!" "But what on earth will she do?" "Her future is mapped out for her." "What do you mean?" "Hey, toots!" "Canary bird!" "Will you get out of the bathroom?" "!" "I feel so good after a long hot bath." "I feel so good and cool and rested." "Do you?" "Yes, I do." "So refreshed." "A hot bath and a long, cold drink always gives me a brand-new outlook on life." "What's wrong?" "Something's happened." "What is it?" "Nothing's happened." "You're lying." "Something has." "Tell us a joke." "Tell us a funny story and make us laugh." "We're all so solemn." "Is it because I've been stood up by my beau?" "It's the first time in my experience with men that I've been stood up." "I don't know how to take it." "Tell us a funny story." "Something to help us out." "I didn't think you liked my stories." "I like them when they're amusing, but not indecent." "I don't know any refined enough for you." "Then, let me tell one." "Yes." "You used to know a lot of good stories." "Let me see." "I have to run through my repertoire." "I love parrot stories." "Do you?" "This is about an old maid." "She had a parrot that cursed." "And knew more vulgar expressions than Mr. Kowalski." "The only way to hush the parrot up was to put the cover..." "It must be upstairs." "The only way to hush the parrot up was..." "Go on, Blanche." "I don't think he will be amused." "He's too busy making a pig of himself to think of anything else." "Your face and fingers are disgustingly greasy." "Wash, then help me clear the table." "That's how I'm going to clear the table." "Don't you ever talk that way to me." ""Pig, Polack, disgusting, vulgar, greasy!"" "Those kind of words have been on your and your sister's tongue too much." "Who do you think you are, queens?" "Huey Long said every man's a king and I'm the king around here." "Don't forget it." "My place is all cleared." "Want me to clear yours?" "What happened while I bathed?" " What did he tell you?" " Nothing, nothing." "He told you something about Mitch and me." "You know why Mitch didn't come tonight, but you won't tell me." "I'll call him." " Don't call him." " Yes." "I'll call him on the phone." "I wouldn't." "I intend to be given an explanation." "I hope you're pleased with your doings." "I never had so much trouble swallowing food in my life looking at that girl's face and that empty chair." "Hello!" "I want to talk to Mr. Mitchell." "I'd like to leave a number." "Glen 4-947." "And say it's important to call." "Honey, it's going to be all right after she goes and you have the baby." "It'll be all right between you and me, the way it was." "Remember how it was?" "It'll be so sweet when we can get them colored lights going with nobody's sister to hear us." "Steve and Eunice." "Come on back in." "Come on, hon." "What pretty, pretty candles." "Don't burn them, Stella." "I certainly will." "Save them for baby's birthdays." "I hope candles will glow in his life." "I hope his eyes will be like candles like two blue candles lighted in a white cake." "What poetry." "I shouldn't have called him." "You know it's hot in there with the steam from that bathroom?" "I said I was sorry three times!" "I take hot baths for my nerves." "Hydrotherapy, they call it." "You healthy, nerveless Polack how can you possibly know what anxiety feels like?" "I am not a Polack!" "People from Poland are Poles." "They are not Polacks." "But what I am is 100º% º American." "I'm born in the greatest country on earth and I'm proud of it!" "Don't ever call me a Polack!" " That's for me, I'm sure!" " Keep your seat." "I'm not so sure." "Yeah, Mac." "Keep your hands off me, Stella." "Why do you look at me so pityingly?" "Will you shut up!" "We got a noisy woman in the place." "I told you, I don't want to bowl at Riley's." "I had trouble with him." "I'm the team captain, ain't I?" "We're not bowling at Riley's." "We'll bowl at the Gala." "I'll see you." "Sister Blanche I got a little birthday remembrance for you." "I hope you like it." "It's a..." "A ticket back to Auriol on the bus." "Tuesday." "You didn't need to do that." "Don't forget all I took off of her." "You didn't need to be so cruel to someone so alone." " She's delicate." " She is." "She was." "You didn't know Blanche as a girl." "Nobody was as tender and as trusting." "Till people like you abused her." "Oh, come on." "Do you think you're going bowling?" "Yes." "You're not." "Why did you do this to her?" " Let go of me!" " I want to know why?" "!" "You tore it!" "Listen, when we first met, you and me, you thought I was common." "You were right." "I was common as dirt." "I saw a photo of a place with columns." "I pulled you off them and you loved it." "Having colored lights going." "Wasn't we happy?" "Wasn't it okay till she showed?" "Wasn't we happy together?" "Wasn't it all okay till she showed?" "Hoity-toity and describing me like a ape?" "What's wrong with you?" "What's the matter with you?" "Did I hurt you?" "Baby, what is it?" "Take me to the hospital." "Who is it, please." "It's me." "Me, Mitch!" "Just a minute, please." "Coming." "Coming." "Hello." "I shouldn't let you in after the treatment I received." "So utterly uncavalier." "But, hello, beautiful." "Oh, what a cold shoulder." "What uncouth apparel." "You haven't shaved!" "I forgive you because it's such a relief to see you." "You've stopped that polka tune in my head." "Has that happened to you?" "No, you'd never get anything awful caught in your head." "Must that be on?" "I don't like fans." "Let's turn it off." "I'm not partial to them." "I don't know what there is to drink." " I don't want Stan's liquor." " It isn't Stan's!" "Some things on the premises are actually mine." "How's your mother?" " Is your mother well?" " Why?" "Something's wrong with you, but never mind." "I won't cross-examine you." "I'll pretend I didn't notice anything." "That music again." "What music?" "The polka they were playing when Allan..." "Wait!" "There!" "The shot!" "It always stops after that." "Now it's stopped." "Are you boxed out of your mind?" "I'll see what I can find in the way..." "Forgive me not being dressed." "I'd practically given you up." "Had you forgotten the dinner?" " I wasn't going to see you again." " I can't hear what you're saying." "You talk so seldom, when you do say anything I want to hear it." "What am I looking for?" "Oh, yes, liquor." "We've had so much excitement I am boxed out of my mind." "Here's something." ""Southern Cheer."" "What can that be, I wonder." "Take your foot off the bed." "The cover's clean." "Men don't notice that." " I've done so much to this place." " Aren't you leaving soon?" "Should this be mixed with something?" "It's sweet." "Terribly sweet." "I believe it's liqueur." "I don't think you'll like it, but try it and maybe you will." "I told you I don't want any of his liquor and I mean it." "He says you've been lapping it up." "I don't descend to the level of such cheap accusations." "What's on your mind?" "I see something in your eyes." " It's dark in here." " I like the dark, it's comforting to me." "I've never seen you in the light." " Is it?" " I've never seen you in the afternoon." "You're at the plant in the afternoon." "Not on Sunday afternoon!" "You never want to go out till after 6, and then to a dark place." "There's an obscure meaning here." "It means I've never had a good look at you." "Let's turn on the light." " Which light?" "What for?" " This one with the paper thing on it." "Why did you do that?" "So I can get a good look at you." " You don't mean to be insulting." " No." "Just realistic!" "I don't want realism." "I want magic!" "Yes, yes, magic." "I try to give that to people." "I do misrepresent things!" "I tell what ought to be truth." "If that is sinful, punish me." "Don't turn the light on!" "I don't mind you being older than what I thought but..." "But all the rest of it!" "Why that pitch about your ideals being so old-fashioned and all the malarkey you've dished out all summer." "I knew you weren't 16 but I was fool enough to believe you were straight." "Who said I wasn't straight?" "My loving brother-in-law?" "You believed him?" "No, I called him a liar at first, then I checked on the story." "I talked to a merchant in Auriol!" "What merchant?" "Kiefaber." "The merchant Kiefaber." "I know him." "He whistled at me." "I put him in his place." "He's taking revenge." "Did you stay at the Flamingo?" "Flamingo?" "No!" "Tarantula was the name of it." "I stayed at a hotel called the Tarantula Arms!" "Yes, a big spider, that's where I brought my victims." "I have had many meetings with strangers." "After the death of Allan meetings with strangers was all I seemed able to fill my empty heart with." "I think it was panic that drove me from one to another, searching for protection here, there, and then in the most unlikely places." "Even, at last, in a seventeen-year-old boy." "Someone wrote the superintendent." ""This woman is morally unfit for her position."" "True?" "Yes." "Unfit somehow, anyway." "So I came here." "There was nowhere else I could go." "I was played out." "Do you know what played out is?" "My youth was gone!" "And I met you." "You said you needed someone." "Well, I needed someone too." "I thanked God for you." "You seemed gentle a cleft in the rock of the world that I could hide in." "I suppose I was asking hoping too much." "Kiefaber Harris and Shaw have tied an old tin can to the tail of the kite!" "I thought you were straight." "Straight?" "What's straight?" "A line can be straight or a street." "But the heart of a human being?" " You lied to me." " Don't say I lied to you." "Lies, inside and out!" "All lies!" "Never inside!" "I never lied in my heart." "Woman outside." "Flowers!" "Flowers for the dead." "Not now!" "I've lived in a house where dying old women remembered their dead men." "Crumble and fade." "Regrets!" "Recriminations!" ""If you'd done this, it wouldn't have cost me that!"" "Legacies and other things, such as blood-stained pillowslips." "I used to sit here and she sat there." "And death was as close as you are." "Death:" "The opposite of desire." "How could you wonder?" "How could you possibly wonder?" "Not far from Belle Reve before we had lost Belle Reve, was a camp where they trained young soldiers." "On Saturday nights, they would go into town and get drunk and on the way back, they would stagger onto my lawn and call:" "" Blanche!"" "" Blanche!"" "What do you want?" "Marry me, Mitch!" "I don't think I want to marry you anymore." "No?" "No." "You're not clean enough to bring in the house with my..." "Go away then!" "Get out of here." "Quick, before I start screaming." "Get out, before I start screaming!" "Screaming!" "Screaming!" "Are you all right?" "What's the matter?" "What's the matter?" " Somebody better get a policeman." " There's one." "What happened?" "It's the police." "Open up." "Open up in there!" "It's a police officer." "Go away." "What's wrong, are you hurt?" "Yes, go away!" " I'll be good." " Are you all right?" " Are you all right?" " I'll be good." "That's all." "Break it up." "I'll be good." "I'll be good." "I'll be good." "Gracious, what a thing." "How about taking a swim?" "A moonlight swim at the old rock quarry?" "If anyone is sober enough to drive." "The best way to stop your head buzzing." "Only you have to be careful to dive where the deep pool is." "If you hit a rock, you won't come up till tomorrow." "My goodness!" "They're playing, "Good Night, Ladies."" "May I rest my weary head on your shoulder?" "It's so..." "Hi, Blanche." "How's my sister?" "She's doing okay." "How's the baby?" "The baby won't come until tomorrow, so they told me to come home." "That means we are to be alone in here?" "Yes, just you and me, Blanche." "Why've you got those fine feathers on?" "That's right." "You left before my wire came." "Did you get a wire?" "I received a telegram from an old admirer of mine." "Anything good?" "I think so." "An invitation." "What to?" "A cruise of the Caribbean on a yacht." "What d' you know!" "I was never so surprised in my life." "It was a bolt from the blue." "Who'd you say sent it?" "An old beau of mine." "The one that give you the fox fur?" "Shep Huntleigh." "I wore his pin in college." "Haven't seen him for awhile and now this wire inviting me on a cruise!" "The problem is clothes." "I tore into my trunk to see what I had to wear." "And you come up with a diamond tiara?" "This relic?" "It's rhinestones." "I thought it was Tiffany's diamonds." "Well, anyhow, I shall be entertained in style." "It goes to show you never know what's coming." "Just when I thought luck was failing me." "Into the picture pops this Miami millionaire." "He's not from Miami." "He's from Dallas." "Just so he's from somewhere." "Close the curtains before you undress any further." "This is all I'll undress right now." "You seen the bottle opener?" "I used to have a cousin who could open a beer bottle with his teeth." "That was all he could do." "He was just a human bottle-opener." "And then one time, at a wedding party, he broke his front teeth off." "And then, after that, he was so ashamed of himself that he used to sneak out of the house when company came." "Rain from heaven!" "You want to bury the hatchet and make it a loving cup?" "No, thank you." " Why don't you get with it?" " What are you doing in here?" "Wait, I want to show you something." "I break this out on special occasions." "Silk pajamas I wore on my wedding night." "When they call and say, "It's a boy!" I'm going to rip them off and wave them like a flag." "We're entitled to put on the dog." "You have a millionaire and I have a baby." "Think of how divine it'll be to have privacy again." "I could weep with joy." "The millionaire won't interfere with your privacy?" "It won't be like what you have in mind." "This gentleman respects me." "He wants my companionship." "Great wealth sometimes makes people lonely." "A woman of breeding and intelligence can enrich a man's life." "I can offer those things." "And time doesn't take them away." "Physical beauty is passing a transitory possession." "But beauty of the mind, richness of the spirit tenderness of the heart..." "I have all those things don't go away, but grow!" "Increase with the years!" "How strange that I should be called a destitute woman when I have all 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!" "I'm thinking of you, and Mr. Mitchell." "He came tonight in his work clothes to repeat vicious stories he'd got from you!" "I gave him his papers." "Then he returned with a box of roses to beg my forgiveness." "He implored my forgiveness." "Some things are not forgivable." "Deliberate cruelty is not forgivable." "...it is the one unforgivable thing, in my opinion and the one thing of which I have never, never been guilty." "So I said to him, "Thank you but I was foolish to think that we could adapt to one another." "Our lives are too different." "Our backgrounds are incompatible." "So, farewell, my friend and let there be no hard feelings."" "Was this before or after you got the telegram?" "Telegram?" "Telegram?" "Actually..." "Actually, there wasn't no wire at all!" "There isn't no millionaire!" "And Mitch didn't come with roses because I know where he is!" "There isn't a thing but imagination and lies and deceit and tricks!" "Look at yourself!" "Look at yourself in an old Mardi Gras outfit rented for 50 cents from some rag picker!" "What kind of queen do you think you are?" "I've been onto you from the start." "And not once did you pull the wool over my eyes." "You come in here and sprinkle the place with powder and perfume put a lantern over the bulb and the place has turned into Egypt and you are the queen of the Nile sitting on the throne, drinking my liquor." "I say:" "You hear me?" "Flowers!" "Not now!" "Operator." "I want long distance." "Never mind, get me Western Union." "Western Union?" "Hear me?" "Take down this message:" ""Desperate, desperate circumstances." "Caught in a trap, help me!" "Caught in a trap!"" "Hello." "Operator." "I can give you Western Union now." "Western Union." "Hello, Western Union." "Hello, Western Union." "This is Western Union." "You left the phone off the hook." "This is Western Union." "Let me..." "Let me get by you." "If you want to get by me, go ahead." "You stand over there." "You got plenty room to get by me now." "I must get out somehow." "Think I'll interfere with you?" "Or maybe you wouldn't be bad to interfere with." "Stay back!" "Come any closer and I'Il..." " You'll what?" " Something awful will happen!" "It will!" "What're you putting on?" "I warn you!" "Don't!" "I'm in danger!" "Why'd you do that?" "So I could twist the broken end in your face." "I bet you'd do that." "I would." "I will if you..." "You want to rough house?" "Let's have a little rough house." "Tiger!" "Tiger!" "Drop that bottle top!" "Drop it!" "Drew to an inside straight and made it." "Speak English!" "I'm cussing your luck!" "You know what luck is?" "Luck is believing you're lucky." "I believed I was lucky." "I figured that 4 out of 5 isn't going to get through but I would and did." "To hold a front position in this rat race, you gotta believe you're lucky!" "You... you... you... brag... brag!" "Bulls!" " What's wrong?" " Bull!" "Men are callous things, but this does beat anything." "Sitting there, making pigs of yourselves!" "What's wrong with her?" "Come on, deal." "Bathing." "How's my baby?" "Sleeping like a little angel." "Brought you some grapes." "How is she?" "She wouldn't eat." "I said we arranged for her to rest in the country but she's got it mixed up in her mind about a cruise to the islands with an old beau." "If anyone calls while I'm bathing, tell them I'll call them right back." "And, Stella!" "That cool, yellow silk, the bouclè, see if it's crushed." "If it's not too crushed, I'll wear it." "And on the lapel that silver and turquoise pin shaped like a seahorse." "It's in the heart-shaped box I keep my accessories in." "And Stella see if you can locate a bunch of artificial violets in that box." "I'll wear it with the seahorse, on the lapel." " 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 you never believe it." "We gotta keep on going." "No matter what happens, we all gotta keep on going." "Is the coast clear?" "Yes, honey." "Close the curtains first." "Tell her she looks well." "They're closed." "I washed my hair." "Did you?" " I'm not sure all the soap's out." " It's such fine hair." "It's a problem." "Did I get a call?" "Who from?" "Shep Huntleigh." " No, honey." "Not yet." " That's strange." "Come on, Mitch." " I want an explanation of what happened!" " Hush, please, Blanche!" "Why are you two looking at me like that?" "Is there something wrong with me?" "You look wonderful." "Doesn't she?" "I understand you're taking a trip." "She's going on vacation." "Oh, I'm green with envy." "Help me, you two." "Help me get dressed." "Is this what you want?" "Yes, that'll do." "I'm anxious to go." "This place is a trap." "It's a pretty lavender jacket." " It's lilac-colored." " You're both wrong." "It's Della Robbia blue." "Are these grapes washed?" " Washed!" "Are they washed?" " From the French market." "That doesn't mean they're washed." "The cathedral chimes." "They're the only clean thing in the Quarter." "I'm going now." "I'm ready." " She'll leave before they get here." " Wait!" "Must we pass in front of those men?" " Wait here until the game breaks up." " Yes, sit down." "Tell them to wait outside." "Will you mind waiting outside just a couple seconds?" "Someone is calling for Blanche." "It is for me, then." "Is it the gentleman I was expecting from Dallas?" "Yes." "Yes, honey, I believe it is." "Why..." "I'm not quite ready yet." "Ask him to wait outside." "Everything packed?" "She'll be out soon." " They're waiting outside the house." " They?" "Who "they?"" "There's a lady with him." "I can't imagine who this lady can be." "How is she dressed?" "Just a plain, tailored outfit." "Possibly, she..." "Shall we go now, Blanche?" "Must we go through that room?" "I'll go with you." "How do I look?" "Lovely." "Lovely." "Please, don't get up." "I'm only passing through." "You are not the gentleman I was expecting." "This man isn't Shep Huntleigh." "Did you forget something?" "Did you forget something?" "Did you forget something?" "Yes, I forgot something." "What will they do to her?" " Don't let them hurt her." "What will they do to her?" "Hello, Blanche!" "Hello, Blanche!" "Hello, Blanche!" "She says she forgot something." "That's all right." "What'd you forget, Blanche?" " We can pick it up later." " We'll send it with your trunk." "I don't know you." "I don't know you." " I want to be left alone!" "Please!" " Now, Blanche!" "You left nothing here but split talcum and old perfume bottles." "Unless you want the paper lantern." "You want the lantern?" "You done this to her!" " Come on!" " Stop!" " Stop that!" " He did this to her." "He did this to her." "He must be nuts!" "What're you looking at?" "I never once touched her." "These fingernails must be trimmed." "Jacket, Doctor?" "Not unless necessary." "Miss DuBois?" "Please." "It won't be necessary." "Ask her to let go of me." "Let go." "Whoever you are I've always depended on the kindness of strangers!" "Come on, honey!" "Don't you touch me!" "Don't you ever touch me again!" "Come on, Stella!" "I'm not going back in there again." "Not this time." "I'm never going back." "Never!"