“Has it ever struck you that life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quick you hardly catch it going?”― Tennessee Williams.....
Guitarist, songwriter, poet and performer ("Classical Gas") once wrote a poem call the Present. It goes like this: "Here it Was" I always thought that was the best description of being unable to capture this ephemeral moment.
Nicely done. I started reading him as a young teenager to learn about sex ( since no one talked about it but everyone obviously wanted it!). Instead what I learned about was love’s many faces: some pretty, some quite nasty. I also learned about loyalty, grief, broken families like my own and tenacity, the sheer will to live despite all of that grief. Survival. Here’s to you: Mr. Tenacity Williams. We hardly knew you.
Am I the only one who found it touching that his brother choked up when he talked about him at the end? They may have had their differences, as most siblings do, but that sibling bond persists forever.
To have such a great brother to look up too.... a consolation for having survived the family. He 's alienated by his bother's alcoholism and abandoned by his suicide. That is a tragedy too. Go for it play wrights.
Tennessee was not only a genius, he was a genius with intense compassion for people.....those 2 things together are what made magic, magic that will last until Earths last spin.The world will never forget you , Tenn,
@@nolabooth2904 I recommend his first 2 major plays in order, Glass Menagerie and A streetcar named desire, though ideally you catch a decent performance of them, they're better than just reading them and there are some good performances of both plays here on youtube (though if you can get the 51 version of Streetcar even better)
I love all of his work, but am particularly partial to "The Long Hot Summer"-- even before that fabulous and perfectly cast movie. Must edit that this was an aggregate of Faulkner, not Williams. My favorite Tennessee work is “A Streetcar Named Desire.” But “Cat on a Hit Tin Roof” is a close second.
How did “Suddenly Last Summer” not get mentioned? I finally watched it (on RU-vid, no less), and was stunned by the writing, the acting, just everything. Now I want to go back and watch as many of his plays/movies as I can.
I agree wholeheartedly with you! I have seen that movie so many times and never get tired of it. I feel exactly the same; I would love to go back and watch ALL the movies right now! I watched BABY DOLL last week, but I need more after this video.
Tennessee Williams could never have been a "has been". Maybe his genius came at a price which was his childhood,and ultimately his sanity. But his great works lives on.
I will never understand how people with none of his talent get license to break this great genius down because they get older and decide to do less work.
One of my former students was waiting tables in Collinsville, IL, where she served Dakin Williams (whom she knew relatively well) and an older gentleman he introduced as Tom. She said, "You're Tennessee Williams." He said yes, and she proceeded to ask him some questions about his works. He said, "It seems you have had a very good teacher." (Alas, it wasn't me who taught her his works but my dear friend, who also introduced me to his plays.) He was legendary and gave us great gifts.
Does it really matter that his later plays were not as highly respected? Williams is revered in both theatrical and literary circles as one of the most brilliant artists America has ever produced. He wrote at least four plays that are part of the literary canon of Western culture. His works will live along side those of Euripides, Voltaire, and Shakespeare, and his art will touch minds and hearts for endless generations.
Agree. Ahead of his time, Tennessee had a hard childhood and youth. Some of the Tennessee works will remain among the best American and worldwide playwrights. Sweet Bird of Youth, Suddenly Last Summer, A Street Car Named Desire, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone and Cat On a Hot Tin Roof are milestones of Theater. Read also his Short Stories and liked them though some were tough ones. Remember partially his well known about Fontana Bella and the terrible one about the black coloured man and the worker. A shocking interracial affair. There's also a moving lover's monologue while the rain keeps falling. TW could be very poetic and touching. Tennessee was a tortured gay whose sister drama was a matter that made him suffer. Read his Memoirs and found them revealing in several aspects. With Eugene O'Neil, Arthur Miller and Edward Albee, the Fathers of American Theater. An excellent author, no doubt. 🤗💎🆗❤️👍🙏
A lifetime ago we sat out in the yard and on the porch of the family home in Columbus with a picnic and other refreshments. I picked mint for tea. There was so much mint all over that yard that just strolling around bruised it, sending the aroma wafting everywhere through that early summer afternoon. It was almost like giving myself a little foot spa treatment at the same time. So cool there, beneath the trees that were lush with new summer green leaves. It had been a lovely late afternoon and evening. I remember it well, and fondly. One day I’ll drive over there again one day maybe, I think. See how the mint is doing.
As Philip Larkin wrote, "They fuck you up, your mum and dad / They may not mean to, but they do / They fill you with the faults they had / And add some extra just for you."
Williams faifthfully wrote 4-5 hours every morning--very early--no matter what he was 'on' or hung over from-- when the rest of us are basically shaving or putting on lipstick. he was writing immortal plays! may we all leave such a legacy--'wounded' or not!! His writing was his savior. and he stuck to it till his death.
Life is a pyramid shape for each one of us. We find our direction, build our career/life , reach a peak…then we decline & ultimately go back to our spiritual home Tennessee Williams reached heights that many aspire to but never achieve A truly remarkable man & writer
Baby Doll was the first exposure I had to T.W.'s work, I was completely enthralled and fell in love with Eli Wallach as well. I have watched every piece of T.W.'s work I can find. Thank you for this bio, it is so tragic what truly artistic people must go through for their gifts.
In the summer of 1971, then high school student, I attended a performance of Tennessee Williams' "Out Cry" at the Ivanhoe Theater in Chicago where it premiered, and while it may not have been a great play, it was rather daring, experimental, fascinating to watch, and perhaps ahead of its time. I give Tennessee credit for breaking out in new directions and taking chances late in life rather than trying to reprise his greatest hits.
Those later experimental plays, where Williams was going in new directions, are now being recognised as important works. He chose the artist's prerogative to try new things, and it was the critics who were unable to accept change and development and innovation.
We have a Tenn festival each year here in Clarksdale. People come from all over the globe for this and our Blues festivals. He continued to visit his uncle here for years after their move to St Louis. His uncle was here and the homes still.
I have loved Tennessee Williams all my life, even when I didn't know it. As a child, I'd seen "Streetcar" and "The Glass Menagerie" on TV and was enthralled. As an adult, I'd realized that this Tennessee Williams person was the amazing man who wrote these fabulous plays and I've been a die-hard fan ever since. He was a true genius. No one else could bring out the bittersweet truths of human nature, all the ugliness and all the beauty. Thank you for this terrific upload. Enjoyed it very much.
i was born in mississippi like william.southern fathers were suppressed and threw thier rage at thier children.my "father"from arkansas never held me or care for me.abanded me.he did drink lived fantasys with my mad "mother" and left me turned to religion showed no emotion.supressed with his face mask.never went after me to give and see i was safe.thank god that generation is gone 4 ever.healing is the new generation.
Tennessee Williams stirred my heart and soul as a young actress. I adored his plays. He had an exquisite sensitivity that was able to penetrate into human fragility and express it with such poetic words. And in contrast they portray man's ugliness and often bullying nature. They soared to another level where human nature was raw with all it's beauty and ugliness. His characters live on etched in our souls and will never die. He is one of the truly greats and it was an honour to play his characters. I choked watching his brother in full recognition, choke up. Knowing what I know now, it wouldn't surprise me if he was murdered.
To me, the greatest writers were from the south: Mitchell, Capote, Harper Lee, Maya Angelou, Faulkner, and Tennessee Williams was the greatest of the greats! America’s William Shakespeare.
this was really heartbreaking. While this man was doing well everyone praised him....gave him awards. When he needed them they turn their backs on him. The entertainment industry's is a vile, wicked, heartless and greedy conglomerate of vipers. If they make you be careful...They will break you fast and furious.
@@nhmooytis7058 Not just stars, everyday people. "Oh, they're fine, just look at their Facebook post!" When truly they're friendless and faking it.. We are a sick society that doesn't give a damn about humanity.
@@kittenfuud most FB posts fall into 3 categories: the narcissistic “look how wonderful my life is” stuff; the virtue signaling garbage; and the vapid platitudes. I have a cousin who posts every sad lost dog story she can find , and an ex-friend who finds the sappiest saccharine crapola imaginable. None if these things show any intelligence, creativity or real insight into human experience. Pathetic.
I adored him, his plays, absolutely worshipped him. And when he died in NY I went, I had to go to Frank Campbell Funeral Home for Broadway stars. I was so moved, I went to a corner and openly cried, the people there obviously friends of him looked at me like who is she? I was nobody, just his greatest fan. May God keep you, Tennessee
He was a good friend. I met him and Marion accidentally. I was a telephone lineman at the time. While driving by they stopped to talk with me. They invited me to meet them later. That friendship grew over the years. He once asked me to read his draft for Sweet Bird of Youth. I read it and realized he had written me into the draft. I was surprised. At that time I was later working for DeSoto at the Fountainbleu Hotel. I was an artist working for DeSoto creating portraits for celebrities and movie stars. He was crazy about my mother and often would come over and play cards. Those were great days and great memories. I later moved back to New York. Many years later he invited me for lunch. He was staying at the Elyse Hotel in New York. That was a sad day as he accidentally fell and died in his room. I miss him so.
I knew him in Coconut Grove. He used to hang out at the Candle-lite inn and held court with George Black and. Marianne Vercaro if I recall. He encourage me in my desire to be a writer -- my dear, you must let me buy you a drink. But he treated the regulars to a round or two. Old, aging and out of fashion he was still a perfect southern gentleman and we all knew he pick up rough trade along Dixie Highway and felt terrible about it but we could do nothing
people like Tennessee Williams are once in a Lifetime, maybe 3 or3 lifetimes. He was One of a Kind. The critics who trashed him knew Nothing of his Genius. I pray they may never be forgiven.🙏✌️💔💙
On that cold February night, I was driving past the Elysse Hotel at about 2:30 am, coming home from a music gig. My partner remarked that the greatest living play write lived in that hotel. We gave him his eulogy as his soul lifted.
The opposite is true as well. People in the grip of alcohol and drug addiction push their friends and loved ones away and can be unpleasant and difficult to be near.
I'm always puzzled by how so many great artists and creative people lose touch with themselves and become so depressed and beat down as their self esteem diminishes. I learned long ago that anything more than surviving is a bonus and not to depend on the opinions of others to gauge my outlook on life. Well understood humility is the most critical virtue for the weather we must endure if we are to smile for our last moment.
i think it is important to add that the play "Suddenly Last Summer" took a lot of painful elements of his life, such as, his controling mother, his sister's lobotomy, attempts to silence a traumatized victim. in his memoirs, Williams claimed that his mother had Rose lobotomized to keep her from telling everybody about her father molesting her. Whether that was true, it is impossible to know. Rose would hardly have been a credible source. But we can say, at least, that Williams tended to believe it and put the story- in a fictionalized version- on the stage.
He never said that....that it was to keep quiet about her dad molesting her. I read his Memoires. All he said that it was mainly her mother that made the decision, nothing about his dad molesting her. Don't make shit up, 'kay?
On the bright side, he had an ok life. He did what he loved - wrote, drank, drugged, relations. He had money, friends. Life turned around for him but that's normal for the strivers. Careful how high you go, it's a long way down.
Thank you Tennessee Williams for living the true American tale, popping it's cherry, and ushering in the Beat poets and other disallusioned beatnixs and the later the Hippie scene and all of it's poetry, plays, and music. You, like all great American celebrities, paid the price for being ahead of your time
This is absolutely beautiful, stunning and moving. Such an inspirational and great man. Makes me even more pleased to be studying A Streetcar Named Desire for my literature exam.
Renee Kelley--Agreed. Eli Wallach, actor and friend of Williams, said, "Having the critics praise you is like having the hangman say you've got a pretty neck."
So critics should only sing the praises of those they review. I think critics rightly keep playwrights directors actors etc on their toes so they don t try to get by on just being famous. all the great artists probably don t pay that much attention to critics anyway. I suspect if you re drinking two bottles a day to create your. Art. Most of it s not going to be worth seeing anyway. Everyone peaks then tails off. Some artistes have only four. Movies paintings plays albums. In them. The secret is to quit when you re still relevant and leave em wanting more
@@mo1240 Government-run public schools ARE jails/prison!! Especially when you are gifted, as he _was._ You are sentenced to over 13 years in the government-run institution, told what to think and how to think, force-fed bullshit, denied adequate exercise (made to sit all day at a desk) and then released into society all brainwashed!
Hmmm. Was 'Suddenly Last Summer' mentioned? In spite of key elements being omitted, and even though he disliked the movie adaptation, it was a haunting and beautiful gem. And so eminently quotable! 🙄 Thank you for uploading.
Mothers have always been considered sacrosanct. Which is absolutely Bull Shit. Each year in the US, the Federal Health and Human Service releases a report on Child Maltreatment. Read It and weep: On every indicator of child abuse and neglect, mommy-dearest far outranks the father’s. And by default, mommy gets physical custody 96% of the time.
Fathers leave or abuse? Not always most love and sacrifice for their families only a ass abuses only a dog leaves ! A real man can Love and teach his children without being a girlly man and he can be a man without being a thug! Some of us manage it every day!
I had the honor of meeting Mr. Williams at a cast party for one of his plays done in San Francisco 1977. He seemed almost humble when I told him how much I liked the play and his work in general. He was very much the gentleman and smiled throughout the evening. I’ll never forget shaking his hand. Genius!
when they showed the streetcar with Desire on the front, I burst into tears. I think that is because I view it as a "sign". We all get them in our lives, its what we do with them that matters. After all, thousands of people saw that streetcar. Only TW knew what to do with it.
No wonder he lost his mind. My parents drank bourbon by the tumbler full after he retired, both went totally nuts. Alcohol is a terrible drug...yet it's legal.
It all comes down to personal responsibility, words that have become worse than swear words today. Yes, alcohol is legal, but nobody forces it down your throat. I was not an alcoholic but drank too much, acknowledged it finally and gave up I enjoy marvellous good health coming up to 70, due at least in part to no alcohol and no cigarettes and DEFINITELY no drugs. Alcohol is directly responsible for at least 25% of all common cancers but people still indulge. Personal responsibility!
@@jillgarlick2122 I defined alcoholic as drinking too much and so considered myself, so I got sober in 1988 and at 68 3/ 4 am also in great health. Losing 110 pounds since 2015 helped too.
@@nhmooytis7058 great, a kindred spirit. Feels so good to be alcohol free for nearly 13 years and cigarette free for 32 years. I have list some weight too and it makes do much difference. We need to look after ourselves.
@@jillgarlick2122 never did smoke, quit drinking because my parents were both alcoholics and I saw where it ends.,l I porked up BIGLY after mentalpause. Finally couldn’t stand myself any more, so I started losing weight.
I’m surprised how his career went downhill in his last 20 years. I’m shocked. I hope his later work will eventually get the posthumous acclaim they probably deserve
I'm impressed by the video and I'm sad to see - again - what parents can do wrong. Not only fathers, mothers too. It is great to be remembered about one of the best writers ever. Thanks for uploading Odlaveg Semog.
TW did a great deed for humanity. He exposed the horrors of the dysfunctional family in America. He let the cat out of the bag, and much progress has been made since his loving contributuon to humanity.
Tennessee would have been satisfied with this documentary. It showed him Warts and all. One thing he would not be happy about is his not being buried at sea. He expressed this endlessly in writings and to reporters. He would NOT have wanted to be buried with his family. He loved and took care of Rose.. but his mom and dad and brother he would have been appalled. His brother would not recognize or accept his homosexuality and was not included in his will. Yes putting him in the hospital to dry out did save his life, but there was a long term grudge between them before that happened. Sibling rivalry was quite apparent. Tennessee. Those who love your work know that you suffered throughout your life. The one person you gave your love to was Rose. She diagnosed as schizophrenic. I can't imagine how you felt after she had her lobotomy. Tragic circumstances. Being mentally ill haunted you your lifetime. May you RIP and know that those who love you know that you were tormented. It wounds US to know how haunted you were by your demons. RIP.
It just amazes me that they have to say, "Genius is without a doubt a word that has to be applied to Tennessee Williams." Really? There are actually geniuses around you now. Our society makes no effort to understand and, therefore, respect such sensitive people. We want stars, not geniuses. If a genius isn't both, he's sunk. And the genius is optional.
I’m surprised this video didn’t mention how much he hated the Cat On a Hot Tin Roof movie for censoring the homosexuality. Williams was furious by this movie and actually stood outside theaters and told people not to buy tickets because it “set Hollywood back fifty years.”
What? He was an incredible writer, he lived a very trying and harrowing life, but he was not one of the first casualties of alcoholism and drug addiction. Many authors and creative people through the centuries have suffered and died from alcoholism and addiction. He is one of a large community of creative people lost to addiction.
