"Can I help you, ma'am." "Why, they told me to take a streetcar named Desire, and then transfer to a one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at Elysian Fields!" "Here's your car now." "thanks" "NEW ORLEANS STREET" "¡­and so when he got home she was just waitin'." "Madame, honey, you lost?" "Un-I'm looking for Elysian fields." "This here is Elysian Fields." "what number you're lookin' for?" "Six forty-two" "You need to look no further" "I'm looking for my sister, Stella Dubois." "I mean" " Mrs...." "Stanley Kowalski." "Gee!" "That's the party all right, but you sure just did miss her." "(completely bewildered) This?" "Can-this be-her home?" "She's got to the downstairs here and I got the up." "Oh, She's -out?" "You noticed that bowling alley up the street?" "Why, I'm not sure I did" "Well, that's where she's at, honey." "she's watchin' her husband bowl." "BOWLING ALLEY" "Blanche!" "Blanche, hon!" "Stella!" "Oh, Stella!" "Stella for Star!" "Oh, my darling now let me look at you," "But don't you look at me, Stella, no, no, no!" "I can't be looked at in this merciless gtare!" "Did you find my place?" "Stella, what are you doing in a place like that?" "Never, never, never in my worst dreams could I picture-only Poe!" "Only Mr.Edger Allen Poe could do justice to it." "What are you doing in that horrible place?" "Oh, What I am saying?" "I didn't mean to say that." "I meant to be nice about it and say- oh, what convenient location and such Precious Lamb!" "You haven't said a word to me." "You haven't given me a chance to, honey!" "Now you talk." "Open your pretty mouth and talk." "Come and see my Stanley first." "No, no!" "Not now." "But just say hello." "Oh, which is he?" "Which one-which one is he?" "The one that's making all the rhubarb." "Isn't he wonderful looking?" "Stella , I can't meet him now, not till I 'm bathed and dressed." "Would you like a cold drink?" "Oh, bless you!" "What a lovely inspiration!" "COCKTAIL LOUNG" "How would you like some pop?" "Pop?" "Oh, not with my nerves tonight!" "A scotch for me, please." "Oh, great!" "You haven't asked me 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 all I'd been through my nerves broke." "I was on the verge of-lunacy, almost!" "So, Mr. Graves-Mr.Grave is the high school superintendent." "Thank you" "He suggested I take a leave of absence." "I couldn't put all of those details into the wire." "Oh, this buzzes right through me and feels so good!" "Would you like another!" "If you don't mind." "You haven't say a word about my appearance." "You look fine." "God love you for a liar!" "Daylight never exposed so total a ruin!" "But you-you've put on some weight." "Yes you're just as plump as a little partridge!" "And it's so becoming to you" "Now, Blanche!" "Yes, it is-it is or I wouldn't say it." "You just have to watch around the hips a little." "I want you to look at my figure." "You know I haven't put on one ounce in ten years, Stella?" "I weight now what I weighed the summer you left Bella Reve, the summer Dad died and you left us¡­" "It's just incredible, Blanche, how well you look." "Are you sure you don't want another?" "Well, well, maybe just one little tiny nip more, sort of to put the stopper on, so to speak¡­" "Now don't get worried, you sister hasn't turned into a drunkard," "She's just all shaken up and hot and dirty and tired." "Waiter!" "Waiter!" "STELLA'S FLAT" "You want it hot?" "Scalding." "Stella!" "What is it, hon?" "there's only two rooms," "I don't see where you're going to put me?" "We're going to put you right in here." "Well, what kind of bed's this-one of those collapsible things?" "Does it feel all right?" "Oh, wonderful, honey, I don't like a bed that gives much." "But Stella!" "There's no door between the two rooms, and Stanley-will it be decent?" "Stanley is Polish, you know." "Oh, yes." "Something like Irish, isn't it?" "Well" " I brought some nice clothes to meet all your lovely friends in" "Well, I'm afraid you won't think they are lovely." "Well-anyhow-I brought nice clothes and I'll ware them." "I guess you're hoping I'll say I'll put up at a hotel, but I'm not going to put up at a hotel." "I've got to be near you, Stella." "I've got to be with you, Stella." "I can't be alone!" "Because - as you must have noticed" "I'm - not very well¡­" "You do seem a little¡­" "Will Stanley like me, or will I just be a visiting in-law?" "I couldn't stand that, Stella." "You'll get along fine together," " if you'll just try not to compare him with an officer." " He was an officer?" "He was a Master Sergeant in the Engineer's Corps." "Decorated four times!" "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¡­" "But of course there were things to adjust myself to later on." "Such as his civilian background!" "How did he take it when you said I was coming?" "Oh, he's on the road a good deal¡­ and¡­" "Oh, travels?" "Good!" "I mean- isn't it¡­" "I can hardly stand it when he is 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 is what is meant by being in love¡­" "Stella, I- haven't asked you the things you probably thought I was going to ask." "And so I'll expect you to be understanding about what I haven't to tell you." "What, Blanche?" "You're going to reproach me, Stella." "I know that you're bound to reproach me- but before you do - take into consideration- you left!" "I stay and struggled!" "You come to New Orleans and looked out for yourself." "I stayed at Belle Reve and tried to hold it together!" "Oh, 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 are the one that abandoned Belle Reve, not I!" " I stayed and fought for it, bled for it, almost died for it!" " Stop this hysterical outburst and tell me what's happened." "Oh, Stella." "I knew you would¡­ I knew you would take this attitude about it!" " About-What-?" "Please?" " The Loss" " The loss¡­" " Belle Reve?" "Lost, is it?" " Yes." "But how did it go?" "What happened?" " You're a fine to ask me how it want!" " Blanche!" " You're a fine one to stand there accusing me of it !" " Blanche!" "Blanche!" "I, I, I took the blows in 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 in time for the funerals, Stella." "And funerals are pretty compared to deaths." "How do you think all that sickness and dying was paid for?" "Death is expensive, Miss Stella!" "And I and my pitiful salary at the school." "You, accuse me!" "Stand there and stare at me." "Tinking I let the place to!" "I let the place go?" "Where were you?" "In bed with your-Polack!" " Blanche!" "You be still!" "That's enough!" " Oh, Stella, Stella, you're crying!" "Does that surprise you?" " Hey, are we going to play it out tonight?" " No, not at my house." "My mother's still sick." " All right." "You bring the beer!" " (off scene) Break it up down there!" " I made the spaghetti dish and ate it myself." " Now, now, honey, I told you and phoned you we was playing Jax beer" " What's so funny?" "You never phoned me once." " I told you at breakfast - and phoned you at lunch¡­" " Well, never mind about that." "You just get yourself home." " Now, what d'you want?" "You want it in the newspapers?" "I'm sick and tired of your tricks." " You must be Stanley, I'm Blanche." " Oh, you're Stella's sister?" " Yes" " How are yuh?" "Where's the little woman?" "In the bathroom." "Oh!" "Where you form, Blanche?" "Why, I-live in Auriol." "In Auriol, Auriol, huh?" "Oh, yes." "That's right, in Auriol." "That's not in my territory." "Liquor goes fast in the hot weather." "You want a shot?" " No, I- rarely touch it." " Well, there's some people rarely touch it, but it touches them often." " Hey, do you mind if I make myself comfortable?" "My shirt's stickin'." "Please, please do" " Be comfortable." "That's my motto up where I come from." " It's mine, too." "It's hard to stay looking fresh in hot weather." "Why, I haven't washed or even powdered and - here you are!" "You know you got to be careful sitting around in damp things, catching cold, especially when you been exercising hard like bowling is." "what're you doin'?" "You're a teacher, aren't you?" "Yes." " What do you tech?" " English." " Oh, I never was a very good English student." "How long you here for?" " I don't know yet." " You going to shack up here?" " I thought I would if it's not inconvenient for you all." " Traveling wears me out." " Well, take it easy." "One of those cats¡­ Hey, Stella!" "What are you doin'?" "Fall asleep in there?" "Huh?" "Well, I guess I'll strike you as being the unrefined type, eh?" "You know, Stella's spoke a good deal about you." " She said you were married once, weren't you?" " Yes." "When I was quite young." "The boy - the boy died." "I'm afraid I" " I'm - going to be sick!" " Looks like she's fixed to stay a while" " Yeah!" " Hey, Stan, are we playing tonight?" " Yeah!" " Well, I figure maybe we ought¡­" " Forget about maybe." "Come on just the same." " All right, I go and get the other one?" " Yes." " Thanks, Stanley." " Stella!" " Is that Stanley back with my blue trunk?" " Yes, Blanche." " Honey, will you get my blue net out for me?" " Yes, Blanche." " It was so good of Stanley to call for my trunks." " He was glad to go it." " I'll see you later." " All right." "Just don't forget." "Oh, honey, I'm takin' Blanche to Galatoire's for supper and then a show, because it's your poker night." "How about my supper?" "I'm not going to no Galatoire's tonight." "I put you a cold plate on ice." "Oh, honey I'm going to try to keep Blanche out till the party breaks up because I don't know how she's take it." " Well, isn't that just dandy!" " So you'd better give me some money." " Hey, where's she now?" " She's soaking in a hot tub to quiet her nerves." "She's terribly upset." " Over what?" " She's been through such an ordeal." "We've - lost Belle Reve!" " You mean the place in the country?" " Uh-huh." " How?" " Oh, It had to be - sacrificed or something." "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 until she gets in a quieter condition." "And try to understand her and be nice to her, honey." "She wasn't excepting to find us in such a small place." "You see I'd tried to gloss things over a little in my letters." "And admire her dress and tell her she's looking wonderful." "That's important with Blanche." "Her littler weakness!" "Okay, honey, I get the idea." "But now" " I mean- now let's skip back a little to where you said the country place was disposed of." " Oh- yes¡­" " How about- how about a few more details on that subject." "Now look, it's best not to talk much about it until she's calmed down." "Looks like that's the kind of deal." "Your sister Blanche can't be annoyed with business details right now!" "You saw how she was last night." " Uh-hum." "I saw how she was." " Now let's have a gander ant the bill of sale." " I haven't seen any." " She didn't show you no papers, no deed of sale or nothing like that?" " It seems like it wasn't sold." " Well, what in hell was it then, give away to charity?" " Shhh!" "She'll hear you." "Oh, I don't care if she hears me." "Now, let's see the paper!" "Honey, there weren't any paper, she didn't show any papers, I don't care about papers." " Wait!" "Now, listen!" "Did you ever hear of the Napoleonic code, Stella?" " No, Stanley, I haven't heard of the Napoleonic¡­" " Now, I'll go get it." "Now just let me enlighten you on a point or two." " Yes?" "Now, we've got in the state of Louisianan what's known as the Napoleonic code." "You see, according to which what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband also and vice verse." "Could you listen?" "Now like, take for instance, if I have a piece of property, or you had a piece of property" "My head is swimming!" "All right, then." "Okay, we'll wait till she's through soaking' in a hot tub and then I'll inquire if SHE is acquainted with the Napoleonic code." "Oh, Stanley, don't be so silly." "It looks to me like that you've been SWINDLED, baby, and when you get swindled, under the Napoleonic code, I get swindled too." "And I don't like to get swindled." "Oh, Stanley, you've no idea how ridiculous you're being when you suggest that my sister or I or anyone else of our family could leave perpetrated a swindle on anyone else." " Oh, come now!" "Where's the- where's the money if the place was sold?" " Not sold- lost, lost!" "Come here." "Stanley!" "Now, will you just open your eyes to this stuff here?" "Now, I mean, what she got here- out of a teacher's pay?" "Will you look at these fine feathers and furs that she come to preen herself in here?" "What is this article?" "That's a solid gold dress, I believe." "And this one here." "What is that?" "A fox-piece!" "Could anyone afford a genuine fox-piece a half a mile long!" "Where- where are you fox-furs?" "Oh, this here bushy snow-white ones, no less!" "Where are your white fox-furs?" "Those are inexpensive summer furs that Blanche has had a long time." "listen!" "I have an acquaintance who deals in this sort of merchandise and he's comin' in here and making an appraisal of this." "Don't be such an idiot, Stanley!" "Now, listen!" "I'm willing to bet you there's thousands of dollars invested in this stuff!" "Well, all right, now." "What is that?" "The treasure chest of a pirate!" "Oh, Stanley!" "Pearls!" "Ropes of them!" "What is this sister of yours, a deep-sea diver?" " Bracelets of solid gold!" "Where are your pearls and gold bracelets?" " Shhh!" "Be still, Stanley!" " And here you are!" "Diamonds!" "A crown for an empress!" " A rhinestone tiara she wore to a costume ball." " What is- what's rhinestone?" " Next door to glass." "Yeah?" "Well, I have an acquaintance who works in a jewelry store." "He's coming in here to make an appraisal of all that stuff." "Here's your plantation, or what was 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 just a different notion on this." " Indeed they have, thanks heavens" " I'm going outside." " You come out with me while Blanche is getting dressed." " Now since when are you giving me orders?" " Are you going to stay here and insult her?" " You bet you life I'm going to stay here." "Hello, Stanley!" "Here I am, all freshly bathed and scented and feeling like a brand new human being!" "That's good." " Will you, then¡­ Excuse me while I put on my pretty new dress!" "Go right ahead." "Thank you." "I understand there's to be a little card party here tonight to which we ladies are cordially not invited!" "That's right." " Where- where's Stella?" " She's out there on the porch." " I'm going to ask a favor of you in a moment." " What's that going to be, I wonder?" "Well, some buttons in back!" "You may enter!" "How do I look?" "You look okay." "Many thanks!" "Now the buttons!" " Well, I can't do mo more with them." " You mean with your big clumsy fingers." " May I have a drag of your cig?" " Have one yourself." " Why, thanks¡­ It looks like my trunk has exploded." " Me an' Stella was helping you unpack." " Well, you certainly did a fast and thorough job." " It certainly looks like you raided some stylish shops of Paris, Blanche." " Clothes are my passion!" " How much does it cost for a string of fur-piece like that?" " Why, those were a tribute from an admirer of mine!" " He mush have had a lot of - admiration!" "Oh, in my youth I excited some admiration." "But look at me now!" "Would you think it possible that I was once considered to be- attractive?" " You looks are okay." " I was fishing for a compliment, Stanley." " I don't go in for that stuff." " What- ?" "Compliments to women about their looks." "I never met a dame yet that didn't know if she was good-looking or not without being told, and some of them give themselves credit for more than they' ve got." "I once went out with a dame who told me, " I'm the glamorous type," she says, "I am the glamorous type!" I say, "So What?"" " And- what did she say then?" " She didn't say nothing." "That shut her up like a clam." " Did it end the romance?" " Well, it ended the conversation- that was all." "You know that some one, Blanche, that are took in by this Hollywood glamour stuff whereas some men just are not." " I'm sure you belong in the second category." " That's right." " I cannot imagine any which 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" "¡­ would have to lay- her cards on the table," "Well, I never did care for wishy-washy people." "That was why, when you walked in here last night, I said to myself- "My sister has married a man!"" " Of course, that was all that I could tell about you." " Now let's cut the re-bop" "Stanley!" "Stanley, you coming outside with me and left Blanche finish dressing!" " I've finished dressing, honey." " Well, you come out, then." "Your sister and I are having a little talk." "Honey, do me a favor." "Run to the drug-store and get me a lemon-coke with plenty of chipped ice in it!" "Will you do that for me, Sweetie?" "Please!" "Yes." "The poor little 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 digression." "I'm ready to answer all question." "I've nothing to hide." "What is it?" "In the state of Louisiana, we' ve got here what is known as the Napoleonic code, according to which what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband also and vice verse." "My, but you have an impressive judicial air!" "......" "All right." "Cards on the table." "I know I fib a good deal." "After all, a woman's charm is fifty percent illusion, but when a thing is important I tell the truth, and this is the truth." "I never cheated my sister, or you or anyone else on earth as long as I've lived." " New, where's the papers?" "In your trunk?" " Everything that I own is in that trunk." "What are you thinking of!" "What's in the back of that little boy's mind of yours?" "Let me do that!" "It will be faster and simpler¡­ I keep my papers mostly in this tin box." " What are those underneath?" " There are love-letters, yellowing with antiquity, all from one boy." " Give those back to me!" " I'll have a look at them first!" " The touch of your hands insults them!" " Don't put that stuff!" "Now that you've touched them I'll burn them!" "Poems a dead boy wrote." "I hurt him 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" " I- never mind about that!" "Just give them back to me!" "What do you mean by saying you'll have to burn them up?" "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  Ambler¡­ Crabtree¡­ More Ambler  Ambler." "What is Ambler  Ambler?" "A firm that made loans on the place." "Then it was lost on a mortgage?" "That must have been what happened." "There are thousands of papers, stretching back over hundreds of years, affecting Belle Reve as piece by piece our improvident grandfathers exchanged the land for there epic debauches" "Here they are." "All of them, all papers!" "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 lemon coke." " I have a lawyer acquaintance who will study them out." " Present them to him with a box of aspirin tablets." "Blanche, under the Napoleonic code- a man has got to take an interest in his wife's affairs- and I mean, especially now that she's going to have a baby." "Stella?" "Stella going to have a baby?" "I didn't know she was going to have a baby!" "Stella, Stella for a star!" "How lovely to have a baby!" "It's all right." "Everything's all right." "I felt a bit shaky, but I think I handled it nicely," "I laugh and treated it all as a joke." "I called him a little boy and flirted!" "Yes, I was flirting with your husband, Stella!" "The guest are gathering for the poker party." "I am sorry he did that to you." "Oh, I guess he's just not the type that goes for jasmine perfume, but maybe he's what we need to mix with our blood now that we've lost Belle Reve and have to go without Belle Reve to protect us." "Oh, how pretty the sky is!" "I ought to go there on a rocket that never comes down¡­ which way do we go now, Stella- this way?" "No, this way." "The blind leading the blind!" "Red-hot!" "Red-hot!" " Are you going to upstairs and tell her to cut that out?" " If I go upstairs, I won't come down." "Let's just forget it." "remember that night she poured boiling water through the cracks in the floor?" " Come on!" "What d' you say?" " No!" "I'm out, I've got to go home pretty soon." "Every time you win a big pot you all like to stop." " Well, I got a sick mother and she don't go to sleep until I get in at night¡­" " Shut up, I say." "Well¡­ I'm going to wash up." " Stella" " Ah yes, Eunice?" " You tell the guys the kettle's on the stove." " I couldn't break up the game." " How do I look?" "Wait till I powder." "I feel so hot and terrible." " Do I look done in?" " Why, you are as fresh as a daisy." " One that's been picked a few days." " Why don't somebody go to the Chinaman's and bring back a load of chop suey" " When I'm losing you want to eat!" " Well, well, well." "I see you boys are still at it!" " where you been?" "Blanche and I took in a show." "Uh, Blanche, honey, this is Mr. Gonzales and Mr. Hubbell." " How do you do?" "Please don't get up." " Nobody's getting up here." "So don't get worried." " Poker is so fascinating, Could I kibitz?" " You could not." "Why don't you women go up to Eunice's?" " How much longer is this game going to continue?" " Till we get ready to quit." " Couldn't you call it quits after one more hand?" " Hey!" "That's my coat!" "That's no fun, Stanley." "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." " Oh!" "Good evening." " Oh, hello." " Uh" " Blanche, this is Harold Mitchell." " This is my sister, Blanche Dubois." " How do you do?" " How do you do, miss Dubois." "How is your mother now, Mitch?" " Oh, she's about the same, thanks." " She appreciated your sending over that custard." "Excuse me, please¡­ excuse me!" " Stella!" "That one seems- superior to the others." " Does he?" " I thought he had a sort of sensitive look." " His mother is sick." " Is he married?" " No." " 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." "At the plant Stanley travels for." " Is that something much?" " No, Stanley's the only one in his crowd that's likely to get anywhere." " Why , Blanche!" "You're standing in the light!" " Oh, am I!" "Gracious!" " You ought to see their wives." " Oh, I can imagine." "Big, beef things, I suppose." " You know that one upstairs?" " You hens- cut out that cackle in there!" " You can't here us." "Well." "You can hear me and I told you to hush up!" "Look!" "This is my house and I'll talk as much as I want to." " Stella, don't start a row." " Oh, he's half drunk!" "I'll be out in a minute." " What d' you say, Mitch?" " Come on, Mitch, are you here?" " No, I'm out." " Who turned it on in there?" " I did." "Do you mind?" " Well, turn it off!" "Aw, come on, will you?" "Let the girls have their music!" " Now, here we are!" " I didn't hear you name it." " Didn't I name it, Mitch?" " Oh, I wasn't listenin'" " What the heck were you doing, then?" " He was looking through them drapes." " Now deal the hand over again and let's play cards or quit." " Deal me out." "This game is "spit in the ocean"" " Yes?" "Oh, hello!" " Excuse me." " Uh, the Little Boy' Room is occupied right now." " Oh, excuse me." " Have you got any cigs?" " Oh, sure." " Oh, good." "What a pretty case." "Silver?" " Yes, yes, read the inscription." "Oh, is there an inscription?" "I can't make it out." "Oh! "And if God choose, I shall but love thee better- after- death!"" "Why, that's from my favorite sonnets by Mrs. Browning!" " Oh, you know it?" " Certainly I do!" " Well, there's a story connected with this inscription." " It sounds like a romance." " No, no!" "It's a pretty sad one- the girl's dead now." " Oh!" "She knew she was dying when she gave me this." "A very strange girl, very sweet- very!" "she must have been very 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 people who have known some sorrow." " I believe you are right about that.." " I'm positive I am." " Hey, Mitch!" " Deal me out." "I'm talking to Miss" " Dubois." " Dubois?" "It's a French name." "It means "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 do." " You are Stella's sister, are you not?" " Yes, Stella is my precious little sister." " I call her little in spite of the fact she's somewhat older than I am." " Oh!" "Just slightly." "Less than a year." "Will you do something for me?" "Sure." "Yes." "What?" "I bought this adorable little paper lantern at a Chinese shop on Bourbon." "Put it over the light bulb!" "Will you, please?" "I'll glad to." "I can't stand a naked light bulb, any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action." " Well, I guess we strike you as being a pretty rough bunch." " I'm very adaptable- to circumstances." " Well, that's a good thing to be." "You're not- ?" " Married?" "No, no." "I'm an old maid schoolteacher!" " You may be a school teacher but you're certainly not an old maid." " Why, thank you, sir!" "I appreciate your gallantry!" " So you are in the teaching profession?" " Yes." "Ah, yes¡­" " Grade school or high school or " " Mitch!" "Coming." "Gracious, what lung-power!" "¡­ I teach high school." "In Auriol." " What do you teach?" "What subject?" " You guess?" "Well, I bet you teach art or music?" "Well, of course I could be wrong." "You might teach arithmetic." "Never arithmetic, sir, never arithmetic!" "I don't even know my multiplication tables!" "No!" "I have the misfortune of being an English instructor." "I attempt to instill a bunch of bobby-soxers and drug-store Romeos whit reverence for Hawthorne and Withman and Poe!" "But I bet that some of them are more interested in other things." "How very right you are!" "Their literary heritage is now what they treasure above all else. it's touching to notice them making their first discovery of love!" "As if nobody had ever known it before." " Oh, Have you finished?" " Oh, yes." "Yes." "I have." "Wait!" "Wait" " I'll turn on the radio." "turn on the light above me." " Three bullets, Moustache!" " Straight!" "I got you, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" " Stella!" " Stan!" "Stan, what are you doing?" "Drunk- drunk- your animal thing, you!" "Get out!" "Get out!" "All of you, get out!" "My sister is going to have a baby!" "Stanley!" "Stanley!" "Stanley!" "Stanley!" "You come on up to my place, Stella." "Come on!" "Lunacy, absolute lunacy!" "Stella!" "Stella!" "Honey!" "Hey, Stella!" "Honey, where are you?" "Stella!" "Hey, baby!" "You can have my bed, Stella." "Blanche and I will have Steve's place," "He ain't comin' home tonight if he knows what's good for him." "Look, look!" "She ain't comin' down and she ain't going to talk to you either." "So you might just as well not call her." "Hey, Stell-lahhhh!" " You quit that howling down there and go to bed." " Eunice, I want my girl down here!" " You shut up or you're going to get the law on you." " Hey, Stell-lahhhh!" "You can't beat on a women an' then call'er back!" "She won't come!" "And her goin' t' have a baby!" " Listen, Eunice!" " I hope they do haul you in and turn the fire hose on you , same as the last time." " Eunice, I want my girl to coma down with me." " You stinker!" "Hey, Stell-lahhhh!" " Hey, Stell-lahhhh!" "Oh, he makes me sick!" "Where have you been, baby?" "Blanche!" "Come back!" " Miss Dubois?" " Oh¡­" " All quiet along the Potomac now?" " She ran downstairs and went back in there with him." " Why, 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" " Naw, it's a shame this hand to happen when you just go here." " Violence!" "Is so" " Set down on the steps and have a cigarette with me." " Why, 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 being so kind!" "I need kindness now." " Stella!" " Hmmmh?" " Stella!" "Oh, my baby, my baby sister!" " Blanche, what is the matter with you?" " He's left?" " Stan?" "Yes." " Will he be back." " He's gone to get the car greased." "Why?" " Why!" "I've been half crazy, Stella!" " How could you come back in this place last night!" " He was as good as a lamb when I came back - and he's really very, very ashamed of himself." " And that- that makes it all right?" "..." " No!" "Eunice and you had breakfast?" "Do you suppose I wanted any breakfast?" "you're so- matter of fact about it all, Stella." "What other can I be?" "He's taken the radio to get it fixed." "It' didn't land on the pavement so only one tube was smashed." " And you are standing there smiling!" " What you are want me to do?" " Just pull yourself together and face the facts." " What are they, in your opinion?" " In my opinion?" "You're married to a mad man!" " Oh, no!" "I've got a plan for us both to get us both out of here." "I wish you'd stop talking it for granted that I am in something that I want to get out of." "I take it for granted that you still have sufficient memory of Belle Reve to find this place and these pokers impossible to live with." "Well, you're talking entirely too much for granted." " I can't believe you're in earnest." " No?" "I understand how it happened- a little, You saw him first in uniform, an officer, not there but" " I'm not sure it would have made any difference where I saw him." " What you are talking about is desire- just brutal desire, Stella." " I have told you I love him." " Then I tremble for you!" " I just- tremble for you¡­" " I can't help you trembling if you insist on trembling!" " May I- speak-plainly?" " Yes, do." "Go ahead, as plainly as you want to." " If- you'll forgive me- he's common!" " Yes, I suppose he is." "Suppose?" "Surely you can't have forgotten that much of our up-bring, Stella, that you just suppose that there's any part of a gentleman in his nature!" "Oh, you're hating me saying this, aren't you?" " Go on and say it all, Blanche." " He acts like an animal, has an animal's habits!" "There's even something- sub-human about him." "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 here- waiting for him!" "Maybe he'll strike you or maybe he'd grunt and kiss you!" "That is, if kisses have been discovered yet!" "His poker night!" "you call it- this party of apes!" "Maybe we are a long way from being made in God's image, but Stella- my sister- there have been some progress since then!" "Such things as art- as poetry and music and some kinds of people some tendered 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 toward whatever it is we're approaching¡­" "DON'T" " DON'T HANG BACK WITH THE BRUTES!" "Hey, Stella?" "Hey, Stella?" "Hi, yuh." "Is Blanche back yet?" " Yeah, she's back." " Hiyuh, Blanche" " I bet you got under the car." " That jerk mechanic at Fritz's just don't know his axle grease from third base" "Hey!" " Don't you throw that at me!" " You hit me!" "I will call the police!" "Looks like Eunice is having trouble with Steve." " Did Eunice get the police?" " Nah, she's getting' a drink at the Four Deuces." "That's much more practical!" "Blanche is making us some new slip-covers." " Hey, she here?" " Naw, she went to the Four Deuces." "That no-good rutting hunk!" " Hey, Stella, I can't find my new pair of shoes." " We cleaned in there." "I'll get them." "I can't find any of my stuff anymore." " Stanley!" "What sign were you born under?" " What sign?" "Astrological sigh." "I bet you were born under Aries." "Aries people are forceful and dynamic." "They dote on noise!" "They love to bang things around!" " Stanley was born just five minutes after Christmas." " Capricorn- the Goat!" " Say, do you happen to know somebody named Shaw?" " Why, everybody knows someone by the name of Shaw?" "Well, this somebody named Shaw is under the impression he met you in Auriol, but I figure he must have got you mixed up with same other party because this other party is somebody that he met at a hotel called the Flamingo." "Why, I'm afraid he does have me mixed up with this "other party". the hotel Flamingo is not a place that I would dare to be seen in!" " You know of that?" " I've seen it and smelled it." " You must've got pretty close if you could smell it." " The odor of cheap perfume is penetrating." "That stuff you use is expensive?" "Twelve dollars an ounce!" "I'm nearly out." "That's just a hint if you want to remember my birthday." "I figure that he must have got you mixed up but he goes in and out of Auriol all the time so he can check on it and clear up any mistake." " I'll see you at the Four Deuces!" " Hey!" "Don't I rate on one kiss?" "Not in front of your sister," "Don't cry." "I only do that with this other girl because I love you, baby." "Stella!" "Hello!" "Are you still scared of the thunder?" " What have you heard about me?" " Huh?" " 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." " Talk!" "Who cares!" "Why, .." "I haven't been so good the last two years or so, since Belle Reve started to slip through my fingers." " All of us do things we" " I never was hard or self-sufficient enough," "Soft people- soft people' ve got to court the favor of the hard ones, Stella." "They've got to shimmer and glow¡­ I don't know how much longer I could turn the trick." "It isn't enough to be soft." "You've got to be soft and attractive." "And I" " I'm fading now!" " Have you been listening to me ?" " I never listen to you when you are being morbid!" "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!"