A Streetcar Named Desire

Can I help you, ma'am?

Well, they told me to take a streetcar named Desire...

and then transfer to one called Cemeteries...

and ride six blocks and get off at Elysian Fields.

There's your car now.

Thank you.

When he got home, she was waiting.

Boy, you never heard nothing like that.

What's the matter, honey? You lost?

I'm looking for Elysian Fields.

This is Elysian Fields. What number you looking for?

Six forty-two.

You don't need to look no further.

I'm looking for my sister, Stella DuBois. I mean, Mrs. Stanley Kowalski.

Yeah, that's the party, all right. You just did miss her, though.

This?

- Can this be her home? - She got the downstairs. I got the up.

Oh, she's out?

You notice that bowling alley up the street?

- I'm not sure I did. - Well, that's where she's at, honey.

She's watching her husband bowl.

Blanche!

Blanche, honey!

- Stella. Oh, Stella for star! - Blanche!

Oh, my darling. Now, let me look at you. But don't you look at me, Stella. No, no!

- I won't be seen in this merciless glare. - Did you find our place?

What are you doing in a place like that?

Never, never, never in my worst dreams did I picture...

Only Poe. Only Mr. Edgar Allan Poe could do justice to it.

What are you doing in that horrible place?

Oh, what am I saying? I didn't mean to say that.

I meant to be nice and say, "What a convenient location," and such.

- You haven't said a word to me. - You haven't given me a chance to.

- Open your pretty mouth and talk. - Come say hello to Stanley first.

- No, not now. Not now. - Just say hello.

Oh, which is he? Which one is he?

- Is he the one that's...? - The one that's making all the rhubarb.

Isn't he wonderful-looking?

Stella, I can't meet him now. Not till I've bathed and rested.

Would you like a cold drink?

Oh, bless you for that lovely inspiration.

Oh, my baby, my baby.

Would you like some pop?

Honey. Pop?

Not with my nerves tonight. Scotch for me, please.

Grape.

You haven't asked me how I got away from school before the spring term ended.

I thought you'd volunteer that information if you want to tell me.

You thought I'd been fired?

No. I thought you might have resigned.

Oh, 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. Graves is the high school superintendent.

Thank you. He suggested I...

I take a leave of absence.

I couldn't put all those details into the wire.

This buzzes right through me and feels so good.

- Would you like another? - Uh-uh. One's my limit.

You haven't said a word about my appearance.

- You look just fine. - God love you for a liar.

Daylight never exposed so total a ruin.

But you... You put on some weight. Yes.

You're just as plump as a little partridge. It's so becoming to you too.

- Oh, Blanche. - Yes, 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 10 years, Stella.

I weigh now what I weighed the summer you left Belle Reve.

The summer Dad died... ...and you left us.

It's just incredible, Blanche, how well you look.

- Sure you wouldn't like another? - Well...

Well, maybe I will just take one tiny nip more.

Just to put the stopper on, so to speak. Now, don't get worried.

Your sister hasn't turned into a drunkard. She's just all shaken up...

and hot and dirty and tired.

Waiter.

- You want it hot? - Scalding.

- Stella. - What is it, hon?

There's only two rooms. I don't see where you're gonna put me.

We'll put you right here.

What kind of a bed's this? One of those collapsible beds?

- Feel all right? - Wonderful, honey.

I don't like a bed that gives much.

Stella, there's no door between the two rooms, and Stanley...

- Will it be decent? - Oh, Stanley's Polish, you know.

Oh, yeah. Something like Irish, isn't it?

Well...

I bought some nice clothes to meet all your lovely friends in.

Well...

I'm afraid you won't think they're lovely.

Well, anyway, I bought nice clothes and I'll wear them.

I guess you're hoping I'll say I'll put up at a hotel.

I'm not going to put up at a hotel. I've got to be near you, Stella.

I've got to be with people. I can't be alone because...

Because as you must have noticed, I...

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 just try not to compare him...

- Oh, he was an officer? - He was master sergeant...

in the Engineers Corps, decorated four times.

He had those on when you met him?

I assure you I wasn't just blinded by all the brass.

- Oh, that's not what I... - Of course, there...

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. - Oh, he travels?

- Mm-hm. - Good. I mean, isn't it?

I can hardly stand it when he's away for a night.

Oh, Stella.

When he's away for a week, I nearly go wild.

- Gracious. - When he comes back...

I cry in his lap like a baby.

I guess that's what's meant by being in love.

Stella.

I haven't asked you the things you probably thought I was going to ask...

so I'll expect you to be understanding about what I have to tell you.

What, Blanche?

You'll reproach me. I know you're bound to reproach me, but before you do...

take into consideration you left. I stayed and struggled.

You came 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 the burden fell on my shoulders. - Best I could do was make my own living.

But you were the one that abandoned Belle Reve, not I.

I fought for it, bled for it, almost died for it.

Stop this outburst. Tell me what happened.

- I knew you'd take this attitude about it. - About what? Please!

The loss.

Belle Reve? Lost, is it?

Yes, Stella.

But how did it go? What happened?

- You're a fine one to ask me how it went. - Blanche.

You're a fine one to stand there accusing me of it.

- I won't stay in this house. - Blanche!

- Blanche. - I... I... I took the blows...

on 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 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, with my pitiful salary at the school...

Yes, accuse me.

Stand there and stare at me, thinking I let the place go.

I let the place go? Where were you?

- In there with your Polack. - Blanche, be still. That's enough.

- Stella. Stella, you're crying? - Does that surprise you?

Mitch, we gonna play at your house tomorrow?

No, not at my house. My mother's still sick.

- All right, you bring the beer. - Break it up down there.

- I made that spaghetti and ate it myself. - Now, honey, I told you...

and told you we were playing Jack's beer.

What's so funny? You never phoned me once.

I told you at breakfast. I phoned you at lunch.

Why don't you get yourself in here!

Do you want it in the newspapers?

I'm sick and tired of chasing you.

You must be Stanley.

I'm Blanche.

Oh, you're Stella's sister.

Yes.

Oh, hiya.

Yeah, where's the little woman?

- In the bathroom. - Oh.

- Well, where you from, Blanche? - Why, I...

I live in Auriol.

In Auriol. Auriol, huh?

Oh, yeah, that's right. Auriol. That's not my territory.

Man, liquor goes fast in the hot weather.

- You want a shot? - No, I rarely touch it.

Well, there's some people that rarely touch it, but it touches them often.

Mind if I make myself comfortable? My shirt is sticking...

Please. Please do.

"Be comfortable." That's my motto, 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 gotta be careful. You sitting around in a damp thing, you catch a cold.

Especially when you been exercising hard, like bowling is.

- Well, you're the teacher, aren't you? - Yes.

- What do you teach? - English.

Well, I never was a very good English student.

- How long you here for? - Why, I don't know yet.

You gonna shack up here?

I thought I would, if it's not inconvenient for you all.

Good.

Traveling wears me out.

Well, take it easy.

What was that?

Oh, those cats.

Hey, Stella. What did you do, fall asleep in there?

Huh?

Well, I guess I'm gonna strike you as being the unrefined type, huh?

You know, Stella spoke a good deal about you.

She said you were married once, weren't you?