Page 10 GAY PEOPLES CHRONICLE February, 1989
BLUE NOTES
Playwright changed U.S. theatre
by J. Robinson
Thomas Lanier Williams, better known to us as playwright Tennessee Williams, was one of this country's finest writers.
Williams was born in Columbus, Mississippi, and this southern background can be seen in much of his writing. He started writing very early in his career, with homosexual overtones in many of his works. One early story describes his sister's boyfriend in rather sensual terms.
His early career was rough. He dealt with depression, family problems, school problems and financial worries. His parents never had a very good relationship, which always put a strain on his home life.
Williams came out officially in New Orleans, where he was away from his family and friends, who were in St. Louis. During his early years, he had odd jobs, including delivery boy and bouncer.
His first big artistic and financial success was The Glass Menagerie. The play was first performed in Chicago and later transferred to New York, where it also was a great success.
An artistic depression followed this success, the first of many depressions in Williams' career. Following this play, the playwright wrote in many forms, including short stories, other plays and many personal and explicit letters. The letters to Windham are especially revealing.
Williams' first major relationship was with Frank Merlo, who he met in Provincetown while working on A Streetcar Named Desire. His previous fling, Santo, was on the way out at the time, which caused much grief for Williams. Merlo was sexually compatible with Williams, and he was very good-looking.
At this time, Streetcar became successful. After this achievement, Williams went on a European free-forall, first in Paris and then in Italy, with all of the accoutrements, including lots of sex and boys. He thought this Italian venture was the best time of his life.
After returning to the States, Tennessee paired up with Merlo on a more permanent basis. This combination worked well for the author, because Merlo took care of life's little details while Williams wrote. The Rose Tattoo,
Enemy
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It is time for gays and lesbians in Cleveland to join hands with gays and lesbians throughout the nation and the world and stop bashing ourselves. We are just human. Each of us can only do so much, and even people with good intentions screw up occasionally. But we are in this struggle together and we need to take care of each other better than we have been.
We need to stop writing angry letters to the Chronicle and go talk with people at the organization we are unhappy with. We need to keep from fighting over who gets the little bit of money that the heterosexual community has made available to deal with AIDS and join together to demand more money and protection for those stricken by this abominable disease.
the writer's love play to the world, was a reflection of this relationship with Merlo. The play contains violent, ecstatic, Rabelaisian sex, but within a kind of monogamy. The sex in this play was for keeps, not just fun and games.
Williams always wrote better when dealing with topics related to the South. His next big success was Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. As usual, a great depression followed. Other works that came out at this time were Night of the Iguana and The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore.
After a relatively stable period of domesticity, trouble began brewing Merlo and Williams. Merlo wanted a stable, middle-class home life, and Williams was always running away from his middle-class roots. The two finally broke up, with Williams continuing to support Merlo financially. Williams then proceeded to go through a series of lovers.
In general, his style is one of beautiful poetry within a framework of unusual characters and passionate psychological situations. He deals with the reactions of pathetic and disturbed characters, forlorn people, tragic loves and ill-fated desires and passions. Emotional intensity is taken to its limits throughout his works. Fundamental human passion, often of the seamier sort, is a frequent trait of his works.
Williams painted the passions of humanity with a wonderful palette, reflecting his own inward emotional conflicts and turmoil. His plays and writing in general became explicitly gay as the author got older. In fact, Williams publicly announced his sexual orientation in an interview, which rather shook up his supporters.
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Williams' personality was not that of a particularly pleasant person. He often was selfish and completely absorbed in his work. He also was a hypochondriac and was always in the act of dying during the slightest physical problem. But he certainly was a great genius of the theater and a superbly poetic writer.
Tennessee Williams did much to change the approach to American theater during his career. He brought serious theater to Broadway at a time when anything serious was usually shunned, and he proved that his brand of theater could be successful, both artistically and financially. ▼
We need to stop worrying about whether men or women control an organization and focus on whether it is providing a needed service to our community. If it is, then support it either physically, by volunteering, financially, if you can afford it, or emotionally by telling people they are doing a good job and refraining from passing on rumors.
We need to remember that almost all our gay and lesbian organizations in Cleveland are based on volunteer help from people who also have jobs and family and their own personal problems to deal with and that sometimes the ball will get dropped.
And most of all, we need to remember not to give up. ▼
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