Rochelle Slovin, Director of The
Museum of the Moving Image at the
Times Center presented “Tennessee
Williams on Screen and Stage”
Charles Schwartz, its chief curator,
spoke then called Anne Jackson to
the stage.
The
event began. Charles Isherwood
theatre critic for The New York
Times moderated conversation by
legendary actors Eli Wallach, Elaine
Stritch, Ellen Burstyn, with Jodi
Markell and Bryce Dallas Howard.
Their
stories and reverence for the
greatest American playwright of his
time, interspersed with film scenes
from A Streetcar Named Desire
(Marlon Brando, Vivienne Leigh,}
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Paul
Newman, Elizabeth Taylor) Baby
Doll (Eli Wallach, Carol Baker,
based on 27 Wagons Full of
Cotton) and The Loss of a
Teardrop Diamond an original
rediscovered screenplay directed by
Jodie Markell starring Bryce Dallas
Howard and Ellen Burstyn.
Tennessee, (born Thomas Lanier
Williams) a short man with a
southern drawl and inside giggle
loved actors. He’d come backstage
after a performance: “You were the
greatest Eloi, The greatest
Eunice, etc. No matter how
small the part the actor was
acknowledged.
Elaine
Stritch said in 1947 when in
Philadelphia in Angel in the
Wings and friendly (for ten
minutes) with Marlon Brando, there
pre -Broadway in ” A Streetcar
Named Desire found they
had different matinee times
She went to his theatre. Sold
Out, its sign read. A
man talking to the box office came
over. ”Are you an actress?” “Yes.”
The man took her by the hand to the
company manager. “Put a seat in the
aisle today. She is the new
understudy for Stella.” That man was
Tennessee Williams and they remained
friends for years.
Wonderful anecdotes continued. Eli
Wallach (turned 94 last week) added
“Cardinal Spellman and the Catholic
Church banned the film Baby Doll
directed by Elia Kazan (as
“Revolting, deplorable, morally
repellant, and offensive to
Christian standards of decency”) It
sold out for months.”
Remembrances continued by Tony and
Academy Award winner Ellen Burstyn.
Effects of his artistry on their
lives by Jodie Markell and Bryce
Dallas Howard delighted all.
Even by
the teaspoon Tennessee Williams is a
feast. His poetic language shimmers
in the text of his great body of
work: plays, poems, a memoir, short
stories, films and a novel. He wrote
“Because I found life
unsatisfactory.” And”I can’t expose
a human weakness unless I know it
through having it myself.” His
talked like his writing; his text
universal; sensitive to character
and known desperation.
He was
awarded four Drama Critic Circle
Awards, two Pulitzer Prizes, Tony
Award and the Presidential Medal of
Freedom. His legacy remains a
presence around the world.
Here,
at the Brooklyn Academy of Music,
the Sydney Theatre Company’s A
Streetcar Named Desire with Cate
Blanchett, reigns. It’s the U.S.
directorial debut of Liv Ullmann.
The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond
film will be released by Mark Urman
of Paladin. etc.
Thank
you, Tennessee. “Flora has to be
funny and never yell as a landlady.”
I’ll remember. How right you were:
“Sometimes, there’s God so quickly.”