Brando_ Songs My Mother Taught Me - Marlon Brando [42]
I was through with acting, I decided. After being fired, I wrote this letter to my parents from New Haven:
Dear Folks:
I leave ‘Eagle Rampant’ with this prayer: the next time T. Bankhead goes swimming I hope that whales shit on her. God preserve the lizards and let Tallulah die! It is almost over and so is my life. Horrors of horror … I’m going to school when I get back and take a course in piano and harmony and Katherine Dunham dance. I’m looking forward to it very much. I bought a flute and I am great on it. I’m soon going to have an upper lip not unlike a camel’s or Pop’s.
I met a little man on the train whose wife is fast becoming a drunk. I told him about A.A. and told him I would send him a book on A.A. What else should I do? When he talks to her about drinking, she gets mad and belligerent. What to do?
Love
Bud
The day I was fired, I had a bad cold and remember feeling vaguely depressed and relieved at the same time. On the train ride from Boston to New York that night, I fell asleep and somebody stole my wallet and about eight hundred dollars, all the money I had earned on the play. I arrived in New York with no money, holes in my socks and holes in my mind, not sure what I’d do next, but knowing I needed a job.
Then once again good luck came my way. A few weeks later I told my father about it:
Dear Pop:
Well, I’m all set. I start rehearsals Oct. 4th for a “Streetcar Named Desire.” I’m getting $550 [a week] and second billing. Elia Kazan is directing. The female lead—Jessica Tandy. Karl Maiden plays supporting role. It’s a strong, violent, sincere play—emotional rather than intellectual impact. Mom will write and tell you of my part.
Pop, I want the money I make to help in a large part to take the load you’ve been handling. I’m not counting my eggs, but I want it known that I would like to have my money be of use. We’ll talk more of it when you come.
Bud
17
A COUPLE OF WEEKS before I sent that letter, Edie Van Cleve had informed me that Elia Kazan was planning to direct a new play by Tennessee Williams. Originally called The Poker Night, it had been renamed A Streetcar Named Desire. Jessica Tandy had already been chosen for the female lead of Blanche DuBois, but they were having trouble casting an actor to play the male lead, Stanley Kowalski.
John Garfield was originally set for it, but he wasn’t able to come to terms with the producer, Irene Selznick, the daughter of Louis B. Mayer, the head of MGM, and the wife (though separated) of movie producer David O. Selznick. Next they offered it to Burt Lancaster, but he couldn’t get out of a studio contract in Hollywood. Harold Clurman suggested me for the part to Kazan, but Gadg (Kazan’s nickname) and Irene both said I was probably too young, and she was especially unenthusiastic about me. In the end they decided to leave it up to Tennessee Williams. Gadg suggested that I visit him on Cape Cod, where he had a vacation house, and loaned me $20 to buy a train ticket. But I was broke and spent most of it before leaving New York, so I had to hitchhike to Provincetown. It took longer than I expected and I was a day or two late for the reading. When I found Tennessee’s house, he apologized because the toilet was overflowing, so I volunteered to fix it. I read for the part, we talked for an hour or so and then he called Gadg and said he wanted me to have the role.
Years later the executor of Tennessee’s estate, Lady Maria St. Just, gave me a copy of the letter he sent his agent, Audrey Wood, after the reading, which reveals much of his vision of the play. She gave me permission to reprint the letter:
August 29, 1947
Dear Audrey:
… I can’t tell you what a relief it is that we have found such a God-sent Stanley in the