100 Jaar Tennessee Williams
De Amerikaanse schrijver Tennessee Williams (eigenlijk Thomas Lanier Williams) werd geboren in Columbus (Mississippi op 26 maart 1911. Dat is vandaag precies 100 jaar geleden. Zie ook mijn blog van 26 maart 2007 en ook mijn blog van 26 maart 2008 en ook mijn blog van 26 maart 2009 en ook mijn blog van 26 maart 2010.
Uit: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
„BRICK: Why d’ya call Gooper’s kiddies no-neck monsters?
MARGARET: Because they’ve got no necks! Isn’t that a good enough reason?
BRICK: Don’t they have any necks?
MARGARET: None visible. Their fat little heads are set on their fat little bodies without a bit of connection.
BRICK: That’s too bad.
MARGARET: Yes, it’s too bad because you can’t wring their necks if they’ve got no necks to wring! Isn’t that right, honey?
[She steps out of her dress, stands in a slip of ivory satin and lace.]
Yep, they’re no-neck monsters, all no-neck people are monsters …
[Children shriek downstairs.]
Hear them? Hear them screaming? I don’t know where their voice boxes are located since they don’t have necks. I tell you I got so nervous at that table tonight I thought I would throw back my head and utter a scream you could hear across the Arkansas border an’ parts of Louisiana an’ Tennessee. I said to your charming sister-in-law, Mae, honey, couldn’t you feed those precious little things at a separate table with an oilcloth cover? They make such a mess an’ the lace cloth looks so pretty! She made enormous eyes at me and said, “Ohhh, noooooo! On Big Daddy’s birthday? Why, he would never forgive me!” Well, I want you to know, Big Daddy hadn’t been at the table two minutes with those five no-neck monsters slobbering and drooling over their food before he threw down his fork an’ shouted, “Fo’ God’s sake, Gooper, why don’t you put them pigs at a trough in th’ kitchen?”-Well, I swear, I simply could have di-ieed!
Paul Newman en Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958).
Think of it, Brick, they’ve got five of them and number six is coming. They’ve brought the whole bunch down here like animals to display at a county fair. Why, they have those children doin’ tricks all the time! “Junior, show Big Daddy how you do this, show Big Daddy how you do that, say your little piece fo’ Big Daddy, Sister. Show your dimples, Sugar. Brother, show Big Daddy how you stand on your head!”-It goes on all the time, along with constant little remarks and innuendos about the fact that you and I have not produced any children, are totally childless and therefore totally useless! -Of course it’s comical but it’s also disgusting since it’s so obvious what they’re up to!
BRICK [without interest]: What are they up to, Maggie?“
Tennessee Williams (26 maart 1911 – 25 februari 1983)
