Since we’re heading for the very popular Tennessee Williams Festival I thought I’d mention the once-and-only time I saw the famous playwright in New York. We were strolling up Third Avenue at 60th Street when he popped out of an Italian restaurant. No one recognized him – but I did and I was taken aback. He looked much smaller than I imagined him to be. I’ve had that reaction before: celebrities often look bigger or smaller than one pictures them. For example, Sofia Loren looked like a towering statue, well over six feet. Carlo Ponti barely came up to her shoulder – when we saw them near the Plaza.

The thing about Williams was that even though the street was crowded he seemed to be looking intently at each person who passed. It was as if he was memorizing the images passing in front of him, drinking in every detail. This was when he was at the height of his fame and fortune.

BUT IT WASN’T ALWAYS LIKE THIS

From his early twenties he worked very hard to become a celebrated playwright. At 18-years-old he enrolled at the University of Missouri, left a year later and took a job as a sales clerk for $65 per month at the International Shoe Company – which he hated. In spite of many ups and downs in his life Williams kept writing and pursuing a college degree. Finally in 1938, when he was 27-years-old, he graduated from the University of Iowa with a BA in English.

AN INSPIRATION: THE MOVE TO NOLA

Seven years later when he was 34-years-old, a play that he had been working on for a number of years called, The Glass Menagerie, opened on Broadway and was lauded by the New York critics. His life and fortunes were changed forever.

Two years later, A Streetcar Named Desire opened in 1947 with an actor named Marlon Brando giving a performance that is still celebrated 73 years later. Come to the Tennessee Williams Festival and you’ll see what I mean.

For fun, here’s my favorite Brando story. At age 23 he was asked to audition at the Nantucket house the playwright had rented for the summer. Brando was three days late and according to Williams “around dusk in the last week of August, he walked into a scene of domestic cataclysm. The kitchen floor was flooded, the light fuse had blown and the lavatories were blocked. Then, amazingly, Brando fixed the lights and unblocked the pipes. You’d think he had spent his entire life repairing drains. He was also about the best-looking young man I’d ever seen. An hour later he read the script just as he played it. After listening for only 10 minutes Margo Jones (a producer known as The Texas Tornado) bolted from her chair and shouted, ‘Get Kazan (the director) on the phone. This is the greatest reading I’ve ever heard, in or out of Texas.’” 

THE AWARDS TENNESSEE WILLIAMS WON FOR HIS WORK

The list is very impressive: four Drama Critic Circle Awards, two Pulitzer Prizes (A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) and four nominations for the Tony Award – winning once for The Rose Tattoo.

NOW LET’S TALK ABOUT THE FESTIVAL

The annual Tennessee Williams Literary Festival takes place this year from Wednesday, March 25th to Sunday, March 29th. It features talented authors, playwrights and actors for engaging and spirited literary panels – in addition to cocktail parties, book signings, movie screenings and literary walking tours. And, as I hinted earlier, don’t miss the “Stella” shouting contest à la Stanley Kowalski. Even better, CLICK HERE to see the website for this Festival. I’m sure Tennessee would love it.

(Make sure your sound is on)

MORE IN MARCH: THE LOUISIANA CRAWFISH FEST

This month ends in a blaze of glory. The Fest is from Thursday, March 26th to Sunday, March 29th. The state of Louisiana celebrates just about every crop harvested, every indigenous dish and every type of music – from blues, jazz, swamp pop and more. Crawfish festivals are held from New Orleans to Shreveport and from Lake Charles to Breaux Bridge. Come and feast!

Shaun Nelson-Henrick