I would make an effort to visit this if I were in town but not make special effort; what interest is there in the mechanics - a typewriter; a piece of paper? Read the biographies, and his journals but why bother seeing this?
The writing splashes light across Tennessee blues. Special thanks to the choice and arrangement of the illustrations.
Allow me to confide a sacrilege I have long harbored with regard to this most eloquent of American playwrights. Williams was a product of the American Midwest, for the desolation he captured time and again belongs as much to the landscapes of the industrialized North as much to his Southern nostalgia with its Gothic elaborations, let alone his fantasias of Mexico and African America.
But what a sublime fabulist. And relentless revisionist. Sounds like a remarkable exhibit.
3
A paean to created monologues, dialogues, and more, of experienced and expressed pains, by a fellow human being, from then, about a "them," during these very difficult and challenging times, for US, now, is beautifully written! Thank you.
6
In the early 1980s I had a PR agency in Southern California, and one of my best clients was a computer company in Fort Lauderdale. I used to have to visit there for a week every six weeks or so to stay on top of their business needs. On one trip in 1981 (if I'm recalling the year correctly), I had to stay over the weekend but my main contact person was out of town. I took the occasion to drive down to Key West for my first visit. I saw a listing that there was a local production of The Night of the Iguana, and that Mr. Williams would be there to talk about changes he had made in the ending of the play. So I went. What more could one ask for than to see, hear and meet him in person. I'm not enough of an intellectual that I could tell you what he said about those edits, but it was fascinating to listen to him. Amazing and memorable evening.
9
'Don't you just love those long rainy afternoon's in New Orleans when an hour isn't just an hour - but a little piece of eternity dropped into your hands - and who knows what to do with it?'
Tennessee Williams - America's greatest playwright.
19
I wholeheartedly agree. Williams was brilliant, even in decline. Nobody on earth was so good at titling his work, as titles are more important than most people realize. I think his work will last, far better even than O’Neill’s.
8
Oh Tennessee Williams! All these works--written with pain. Continuing, inescapable pain. The heart aches to think of it.
I read this article--fascinating! thank you--and the lines of A. E. Housman came to mind.
He represents God in one of his poems. Casting about for pillars to support the sky. Ah! but made of what? Steel--basalt--diamonds? They crumbled into nothingness when put to the test.
"What found he that the heavens stand fast?
What pillar, proven firm at last,
Bears up so light that world-seen span?"
He concludes--unforgettably:
"The heart of man--the heart of man."
Out of YOUR heart, Tennessee Williams--out of YOUR heart (haunted by sorrows though it was) you composed all these masterpieces.
And lived your life.
Thank you.
12
I lived in Mississippi, and still remember visiting the small museum there containing very similar items. It is located in Columbus, MS, in very room where the playwright was born, in his grandparents' home. Included were playbills from around the world announcing that his plays were being performed, including one from China. Remarkable what a global impact he made.
13
I'm a serious Williams devotee, and can't wait to see this exhibit SOON. Sounds amazing-and I adore the Morgan Library.
15