Three Plays by Tennessee Williams Read Free Book Online
Authors: Tennessee Williams
so I can get up an'—
[Reverend Tooker extends her his hand. She grabs it and pulls him into her lap with a shrill laugh that spans an octave in two notes.]
Ever seen a preacher in a fat lady's lap? Hey, hey, folks! Ever seen a preacher in a fat lady's lap?
[Big Mama is notorious throughout the Delta for this sort of inelegant horseplay. Margaret looks on with indulgent humor, sipping Dubonnet 'on the rocks' and watching Brick, but Mae and Gooper exchange signs of humorless anxiety over these antics, the sort of behaviour which Mae thinks may account for their failure to quite get in with the smartest young married set in Memphis, despite all. One of the Negroes, Lacy or Sookey, peeks in, cackling. They are waiting for a sign to bring in the cake and champagne. But Big Daddy's not amused. He doesn't understand why, in spite of the infinite mental relief he's received from the doctor's report, he still has these same old fox teeth in his guts. 'This spastic thing sure is something?' he says to himself, but aloud he roars at Big Mama:]
BIG DADDY : BIG MAMA, WILL YOU QUIT HORSIN'? —You're too old an' too fat fo' that sort of crazy kid stuff an' besides a woman with your blood-pressure—she had two hundred last spring!—is riskin' a stroke when you mess around like that....
BIG MAMA : Here comes Big Daddy's birthday!
[Negroes in white jackets enter with an enormous birthday cake ablaze with candles and carrying buckets of champagne with satin ribbons about the bottle necks. | Mae and Gooper strike up song, and everybody, including the Negroes and children, joins in. Only Brick remains aloof.]
EVERYONE : Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, Big Daddy— [Some sing: 'Dear, Big Daddy!'] —Happy birthday to you. [Some sing: 'How old are you!']
[Mae has come down center and is organizing her children like a chorus. She gives them a barely audible: 'One, two, three!' and they are off in the new tune.]
CHILDREN : Skinamarinka—dinka—dink Skinamarinka—do We love you. Skinamarinka—dinka—dink Skinamarinka—do.
[All together, they turn to Big Daddy.]
Big Daddy, you!
[They turn back front, like a musical comedy chorus.]
We love you in the morning; We love you in the night. We love you when we're with you. And we love you out of sight. Skinamarinka—dinka—dink Skinamarinka—do.
[Mae turns to Big Mama.]
Big Mama, too!
[Big Mama bursts into tears. The Negroes leave.]
BIG DADDY : Now Ida, what the hell is the matter with you?
MAE : She's just so happy.
BIG MAMA : I'm just so happy, Big Daddy, I have to cry or something.
[Sudden and loud in the hush:]
Brick, do you know the wonderful news that Doc Baugh got from the clinic about Big Daddy? Big Daddy's one hundred per cent!
MARGARET : Isn't that wonderful?
BIG MAMA : He's just one hundred per cent. Passed the examination with flying colors. Now that we know there's nothing wrong with Big Daddy but a spastic colon, I can tell you something. I was worried sick, half out of my mind, for fear that Big Daddy might have a thing like—
[Margaret cuts through this speech, jumping up and exclaiming shrilly:]
MARGARET : Brick, honey, aren't you going to give Big Daddy his birthday present?
[Passing by him, she snatches his liquor glass from him. She picks up a fancily wrapped package.]
Here it is, Big Daddy, this is from Brick!
BIG MAMA : This is the biggest birthday Big Daddy's ever had, a hundred presents and bushels of telegrams from—
MAE [at same time] : What is it, Brick?
GOOPER : I bet 500 to 50 that Brick don't know what it is.
BIG MAMA : The fun of presents is not knowing what they are till you open the package. Open your present, Big Daddy.
BIG DADDY : Open it you'self. I want to ask Brick somethin'! Come here, Brick.
MARGARET : Big Daddy's callin' you, Brick.
[She is opening the package.]
BRICK : Tell Big Daddy I'm
[Reverend Tooker extends her his hand. She grabs it and pulls him into her lap with a shrill laugh that spans an octave in two notes.]
Ever seen a preacher in a fat lady's lap? Hey, hey, folks! Ever seen a preacher in a fat lady's lap?
[Big Mama is notorious throughout the Delta for this sort of inelegant horseplay. Margaret looks on with indulgent humor, sipping Dubonnet 'on the rocks' and watching Brick, but Mae and Gooper exchange signs of humorless anxiety over these antics, the sort of behaviour which Mae thinks may account for their failure to quite get in with the smartest young married set in Memphis, despite all. One of the Negroes, Lacy or Sookey, peeks in, cackling. They are waiting for a sign to bring in the cake and champagne. But Big Daddy's not amused. He doesn't understand why, in spite of the infinite mental relief he's received from the doctor's report, he still has these same old fox teeth in his guts. 'This spastic thing sure is something?' he says to himself, but aloud he roars at Big Mama:]
BIG DADDY : BIG MAMA, WILL YOU QUIT HORSIN'? —You're too old an' too fat fo' that sort of crazy kid stuff an' besides a woman with your blood-pressure—she had two hundred last spring!—is riskin' a stroke when you mess around like that....
BIG MAMA : Here comes Big Daddy's birthday!
[Negroes in white jackets enter with an enormous birthday cake ablaze with candles and carrying buckets of champagne with satin ribbons about the bottle necks. | Mae and Gooper strike up song, and everybody, including the Negroes and children, joins in. Only Brick remains aloof.]
EVERYONE : Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, Big Daddy— [Some sing: 'Dear, Big Daddy!'] —Happy birthday to you. [Some sing: 'How old are you!']
[Mae has come down center and is organizing her children like a chorus. She gives them a barely audible: 'One, two, three!' and they are off in the new tune.]
CHILDREN : Skinamarinka—dinka—dink Skinamarinka—do We love you. Skinamarinka—dinka—dink Skinamarinka—do.
[All together, they turn to Big Daddy.]
Big Daddy, you!
[They turn back front, like a musical comedy chorus.]
We love you in the morning; We love you in the night. We love you when we're with you. And we love you out of sight. Skinamarinka—dinka—dink Skinamarinka—do.
[Mae turns to Big Mama.]
Big Mama, too!
[Big Mama bursts into tears. The Negroes leave.]
BIG DADDY : Now Ida, what the hell is the matter with you?
MAE : She's just so happy.
BIG MAMA : I'm just so happy, Big Daddy, I have to cry or something.
[Sudden and loud in the hush:]
Brick, do you know the wonderful news that Doc Baugh got from the clinic about Big Daddy? Big Daddy's one hundred per cent!
MARGARET : Isn't that wonderful?
BIG MAMA : He's just one hundred per cent. Passed the examination with flying colors. Now that we know there's nothing wrong with Big Daddy but a spastic colon, I can tell you something. I was worried sick, half out of my mind, for fear that Big Daddy might have a thing like—
[Margaret cuts through this speech, jumping up and exclaiming shrilly:]
MARGARET : Brick, honey, aren't you going to give Big Daddy his birthday present?
[Passing by him, she snatches his liquor glass from him. She picks up a fancily wrapped package.]
Here it is, Big Daddy, this is from Brick!
BIG MAMA : This is the biggest birthday Big Daddy's ever had, a hundred presents and bushels of telegrams from—
MAE [at same time] : What is it, Brick?
GOOPER : I bet 500 to 50 that Brick don't know what it is.
BIG MAMA : The fun of presents is not knowing what they are till you open the package. Open your present, Big Daddy.
BIG DADDY : Open it you'self. I want to ask Brick somethin'! Come here, Brick.
MARGARET : Big Daddy's callin' you, Brick.
[She is opening the package.]
BRICK : Tell Big Daddy I'm
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