WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.540 So picture this. It is 1955. OK. We are standing 00:00:05.540 --> 00:00:07.679 on the largest cotton plantation in the Mississippi 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:11.400 Delta. I mean, we're talking 28 ,000 acres of 00:00:11.400 --> 00:00:14.480 just the richest, blackest soil in the valley. 00:00:14.500 --> 00:00:18.100 Oh, wow. And the air is thick. It's humid. It 00:00:18.100 --> 00:00:20.100 smells like, you know, expensive bourbon and 00:00:20.100 --> 00:00:22.699 dying flowers. That is quite the image. Right. 00:00:22.980 --> 00:00:25.609 And the sun has gone down. But the heat hasn't 00:00:25.609 --> 00:00:27.829 broken at all. It's just hanging there, really 00:00:27.829 --> 00:00:30.510 heavy and suffocating. And inside the main house, 00:00:30.570 --> 00:00:32.829 there's a birthday party underway. But it's not 00:00:32.829 --> 00:00:35.390 really a celebration, is it? No. No, it is not. 00:00:35.469 --> 00:00:37.950 It is a death watch. Yeah, that's exactly the 00:00:37.950 --> 00:00:39.929 setting Tennessee Williams described. He called 00:00:39.929 --> 00:00:42.250 it a crisis in the life of a family. A crisis 00:00:42.250 --> 00:00:44.210 is putting it mildly. Honestly, it's more like 00:00:44.210 --> 00:00:47.009 a cage match. You've got a dying patriarch, a 00:00:47.009 --> 00:00:49.409 desperate wife, a really greedy brother, and 00:00:49.409 --> 00:00:51.750 a completely broken son. And they're all trapped 00:00:51.750 --> 00:00:54.670 under the same hot tin roof. Welcome back to 00:00:54.670 --> 00:00:57.530 our deep dive, everyone. Today we are unpacking 00:00:57.530 --> 00:01:00.810 Tennessee Williams' absolute masterpiece, Cat 00:01:00.810 --> 00:01:03.149 on a Hot Tin Roof. It is such a phenomenal piece 00:01:03.149 --> 00:01:05.629 of work. It really is. And we have a massive 00:01:05.629 --> 00:01:07.489 stack of source material to go through for you 00:01:07.489 --> 00:01:10.109 today. We've got biographies of the legendary 00:01:10.109 --> 00:01:13.810 cast, people like Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor. 00:01:14.069 --> 00:01:16.790 Iconic. Truly. We also have the production notes 00:01:16.790 --> 00:01:19.010 from the original Broadway run and some really 00:01:19.010 --> 00:01:21.489 deep literary analysis of the Southern Gothic 00:01:21.489 --> 00:01:23.879 genre. which is gonna be great to get into. Yeah, 00:01:24.180 --> 00:01:27.120 but most importantly, I think, we have the records 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:29.640 of the war that happened behind the scenes. The 00:01:29.640 --> 00:01:32.120 war between the playwright, the director, Ilya 00:01:32.120 --> 00:01:35.890 Kazan, and the census of the 1950s. Because that 00:01:35.890 --> 00:01:39.010 behind -the -scenes war is honestly just as vicious 00:01:39.010 --> 00:01:41.189 as what's happening on stage. Exactly. The whole 00:01:41.189 --> 00:01:44.030 story is about mendacity, right? The lies that 00:01:44.030 --> 00:01:47.150 we tell to survive. But the text itself actually 00:01:47.150 --> 00:01:49.409 became a victim of mendacity. That's a really 00:01:49.409 --> 00:01:51.769 good point. I mean, the play was rewritten just 00:01:51.769 --> 00:01:54.549 to please a director, and then the movie was 00:01:54.549 --> 00:01:56.930 censored to please the Hays Code. So our mission 00:01:56.930 --> 00:01:59.250 for this deep dive is to sort of strip all of 00:01:59.250 --> 00:02:01.909 that away and find the truth that Williams originally 00:02:01.909 --> 00:02:04.670 wanted you to hear. I love that. And it's really 00:02:04.670 --> 00:02:07.489 interesting you mention that war behind the scenes, 00:02:07.629 --> 00:02:10.550 because Williams didn't just conjure this nightmare 00:02:10.550 --> 00:02:13.870 out of thin air in 1955. No, it has a very specific 00:02:13.870 --> 00:02:16.009 lineage. Right. It wasn't a lightning bolt. It 00:02:16.009 --> 00:02:19.310 was more like a slow accumulation of storm clouds. 00:02:19.590 --> 00:02:21.250 Let's talk about the source code for a second, 00:02:21.250 --> 00:02:23.669 because there's a specific short story that kicked 00:02:23.669 --> 00:02:28.090 this all off. Yes. In 1952, Williams wrote a 00:02:28.090 --> 00:02:30.409 short story called Three Players of a Summer 00:02:30.409 --> 00:02:32.930 Game. Three Players of a Summer Game. Yeah. And 00:02:32.930 --> 00:02:35.669 it's a really fascinating text. If you want to 00:02:35.669 --> 00:02:38.550 understand Cat on a hot tin roof, because it's 00:02:38.550 --> 00:02:41.090 a much quieter piece, it's a bit more polite. 00:02:41.250 --> 00:02:43.310 But the DNA of the Paulette family is in there. 00:02:43.669 --> 00:02:45.590 Exactly. You actually have a character named 00:02:45.590 --> 00:02:47.810 Brick Paulette in that story, but the dynamic 00:02:47.810 --> 00:02:50.189 is slightly different. It deals with a croquet 00:02:50.189 --> 00:02:52.710 game, of all things. A croquet game. Yeah, a 00:02:52.710 --> 00:02:55.710 summer game. And the story focuses on Brick's 00:02:55.710 --> 00:02:58.409 decline, his alcoholism, and his relationship 00:02:58.409 --> 00:03:01.189 with a woman named Margaret. Okay, so Brick and 00:03:01.189 --> 00:03:03.870 Margaret are there. They are, but it completely 00:03:03.870 --> 00:03:06.729 lacks that explosive claustrophobic intensity 00:03:06.729 --> 00:03:09.530 of the play. It's more just a sketch of his decay. 00:03:09.849 --> 00:03:11.710 So he took that sketch and really built on it. 00:03:11.830 --> 00:03:15.430 He did. Williams spent three years, from 1953 00:03:15.430 --> 00:03:19.110 to 1955, expanding that seed into the play we 00:03:19.110 --> 00:03:22.009 know today. He essentially took the decay out 00:03:22.009 --> 00:03:24.930 of the open air of the croquet lawn and shoved 00:03:24.930 --> 00:03:27.729 it right into a sweltering bedroom on a plantation. 00:03:28.169 --> 00:03:30.629 Which changes everything. It does. And I think 00:03:30.629 --> 00:03:32.909 it's worth noting that despite the massive fame 00:03:32.909 --> 00:03:36.110 of A Streetcar Named Desire or The Glass Menagerie, 00:03:36.310 --> 00:03:39.250 Williams explicitly stated that Cat was his personal 00:03:39.250 --> 00:03:41.909 favorite work. Which is such a telling admission, 00:03:42.009 --> 00:03:44.050 don't you think? How so? Well, because The Glass 00:03:44.050 --> 00:03:46.789 Menagerie is usually cited as his most autobiographical 00:03:46.789 --> 00:03:49.289 work, right? Because of the mother -sister dynamic 00:03:49.289 --> 00:03:53.189 mirroring his own family tragedy. Right. Cat 00:03:53.189 --> 00:03:56.090 feels autobiographical in a completely different, 00:03:56.189 --> 00:03:58.449 maybe even more painful way. It really captures 00:03:58.449 --> 00:04:01.229 this specific toxicity of the father -son dynamic. 00:04:01.509 --> 00:04:03.569 That is so true. And he constructs it with this 00:04:03.569 --> 00:04:05.330 incredible level of discipline that he didn't 00:04:05.330 --> 00:04:08.129 always use. What do you mean by that? Well, Cat 00:04:08.129 --> 00:04:11.270 on a hot tin roof adheres strictly to the Aristotelian 00:04:11.270 --> 00:04:14.650 unities. Time, place, and action. Exactly. It 00:04:14.650 --> 00:04:17.670 all happens in real time, in one room, on one 00:04:17.670 --> 00:04:20.129 single night. So there's no escape for the characters? 00:04:20.490 --> 00:04:23.300 None at all. That structure forces the pressure 00:04:23.300 --> 00:04:26.199 to build without any release. There are no scene 00:04:26.199 --> 00:04:28.680 changes where the characters can go off and cool 00:04:28.680 --> 00:04:31.139 down. They are completely stuck. And that creates 00:04:31.139 --> 00:04:33.600 that very specific atmosphere that we call Southern 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:36.379 Gothic. Yes. And I think we really need to define 00:04:36.379 --> 00:04:39.160 that term carefully for anyone listening who... 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:41.800 might be an advanced literary student because 00:04:41.800 --> 00:04:44.040 pop culture has sort of hijacked the term. Oh, 00:04:44.120 --> 00:04:46.879 absolutely. It's drifted toward vampires in New 00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:50.360 Orleans or, you know, spooky mansions with ghosts 00:04:50.360 --> 00:04:53.379 rattling chains. Right. But in the literary tradition 00:04:53.379 --> 00:04:55.879 of William Faulkner or Flannery O 'Connor and 00:04:55.879 --> 00:04:58.300 certainly Tennessee Williams, it is not about 00:04:58.300 --> 00:05:00.680 the supernatural at all. Not even a little bit. 00:05:00.810 --> 00:05:03.490 For the literary student, Southern Gothic is 00:05:03.490 --> 00:05:05.709 really about the grotesque within the realistic. 00:05:06.009 --> 00:05:07.790 The grotesque within the realistic. I like that. 00:05:07.910 --> 00:05:10.069 It's about taking that romanticized myth of the 00:05:10.069 --> 00:05:13.050 old South. His chivalry. The manor. Yeah, the 00:05:13.050 --> 00:05:15.949 plantations, the mint juleps. Taking all of that 00:05:15.949 --> 00:05:18.550 and peeling back the wallpaper to show the rot 00:05:18.550 --> 00:05:21.250 underneath. The monsters aren't ghosts. No, the 00:05:21.250 --> 00:05:24.629 monsters are alcoholism, greed, repressed sexuality, 00:05:25.209 --> 00:05:28.269 racism, and physical decay. And the decay is 00:05:28.269 --> 00:05:31.790 so key here. In Kath, you have this massive estate, 00:05:32.170 --> 00:05:35.550 which is this huge symbol of power and agricultural 00:05:35.550 --> 00:05:39.129 wealth. 28 ,000 acres. Right. But the man running 00:05:39.129 --> 00:05:41.819 it is dying of cancer. and the heir apparent 00:05:41.819 --> 00:05:45.339 is a drunk who can barely stand up. The entire 00:05:45.339 --> 00:05:47.839 structure is crumbling around them, even as they 00:05:47.839 --> 00:05:51.399 sing Happy Birthday. And Williams uses the environment 00:05:51.399 --> 00:05:54.620 to hammer this home, the heat. The heat is practically 00:05:54.620 --> 00:05:57.379 a character. It really is. It's not just a meteorological 00:05:57.379 --> 00:06:00.000 fact in the text. It's a dramatic device. It 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:02.519 represents the oppressive weight of the lies 00:06:02.519 --> 00:06:04.079 that they're all telling. So they're constantly 00:06:04.079 --> 00:06:07.120 sweating? Sweating, changing clothes, seeking 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:09.759 a breeze that just never comes. They are physically 00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:12.060 uncomfortable, which mirrors their psychological 00:06:12.060 --> 00:06:14.120 state perfectly. When you watch a really good 00:06:14.120 --> 00:06:16.480 production of this, you should feel sticky. You 00:06:16.480 --> 00:06:18.759 should feel the need to take a shower afterward. 00:06:19.180 --> 00:06:21.500 Let's actually look at the inhabitants of this 00:06:21.500 --> 00:06:24.410 pressure cooker. because these characters have 00:06:24.410 --> 00:06:27.290 become archetypes. They're almost cliches in 00:06:27.290 --> 00:06:29.509 the hands of lesser writers, so we really need 00:06:29.509 --> 00:06:31.589 to recover their original power for you today. 00:06:31.930 --> 00:06:33.930 Let's start with the center of the storm. Or 00:06:33.930 --> 00:06:36.569 maybe the eye of the storm. Since he's so incredibly 00:06:36.569 --> 00:06:39.329 still, let's talk about Brick Paulet. Brick is 00:06:39.329 --> 00:06:41.930 such a fascinating subversion of the American 00:06:41.930 --> 00:06:44.889 male hero. Especially for the 1950s. Oh, definitely. 00:06:45.170 --> 00:06:48.810 Think about that era. This is the time of the 00:06:48.810 --> 00:06:52.720 strong, silent type. Brick is an ex football 00:06:52.720 --> 00:06:56.120 star, sports announcer, the favorite son. In 00:06:56.120 --> 00:06:58.600 any other story, he is the protagonist who swoops 00:06:58.600 --> 00:07:01.709 in and saves the day. But here... He is in a 00:07:01.709 --> 00:07:05.110 state of total paralysis. He is literally hobbled. 00:07:05.410 --> 00:07:07.610 That image of Paul Newman on the crutch in the 00:07:07.610 --> 00:07:10.089 film adaptation is so iconic. It is. But the 00:07:10.089 --> 00:07:12.170 backstory of why he's on the crutch in the first 00:07:12.170 --> 00:07:14.829 place is incredibly pathetic. And I mean that 00:07:14.829 --> 00:07:16.410 in the tragic sense of the word. Yeah, he didn't 00:07:16.410 --> 00:07:18.930 get injured in a war. No. He didn't get injured 00:07:18.930 --> 00:07:20.870 winning some big championship game either. So 00:07:20.870 --> 00:07:22.589 how did it happen for those who don't remember? 00:07:22.870 --> 00:07:25.410 He broke his ankle jumping hurdles on a high 00:07:25.410 --> 00:07:27.750 school track at three in the morning. Alone. 00:07:28.399 --> 00:07:31.680 Alone, just trying to relive his glory days while 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:34.300 he was drunk. It's a completely humiliating injury. 00:07:34.459 --> 00:07:38.019 It really is. It symbolizes his absolute refusal 00:07:38.019 --> 00:07:41.060 to grow up, his refusal to move forward in time. 00:07:41.220 --> 00:07:43.459 He broke himself trying to do something he used 00:07:43.459 --> 00:07:44.879 to be able to do when he was young and pure. 00:07:45.740 --> 00:07:48.600 Yes. Brick is what we might call a passive protagonist. 00:07:49.060 --> 00:07:51.259 He doesn't want to act. He just wants to be left 00:07:51.259 --> 00:07:53.699 alone. He's checked out. Completely. He's checked 00:07:53.699 --> 00:07:55.399 out of his marriage, checked out of the family 00:07:55.399 --> 00:07:57.939 business, and checked out of life. And his primary 00:07:57.939 --> 00:08:00.560 activity, his full -time job at this point, is 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:03.500 drinking. But he's not just drinking to get drunk 00:08:03.500 --> 00:08:06.300 and party. He's drinking for a very specific 00:08:06.300 --> 00:08:08.819 physiological result. Right. He calls it the 00:08:08.819 --> 00:08:11.779 click. The click. It is honestly one of the most 00:08:11.779 --> 00:08:14.199 chilling descriptions of addiction in all of 00:08:14.199 --> 00:08:15.939 literature. I think anyone who has struggled 00:08:15.939 --> 00:08:19.160 with substance abuse recognizes it immediately. 00:08:19.639 --> 00:08:21.990 How does he describe it in the text? Brick says 00:08:21.990 --> 00:08:24.730 he drinks until he hears a literal mechanical 00:08:24.730 --> 00:08:28.209 sound in his head, a click. And that signifies 00:08:28.209 --> 00:08:31.250 the exact moment the noise stops. The noise being 00:08:31.250 --> 00:08:34.870 his memories, his guilt. The noise of being alive, 00:08:34.990 --> 00:08:37.990 the noise of mendacity, which is his word for 00:08:37.990 --> 00:08:40.210 the lying world all around him. So the click 00:08:40.210 --> 00:08:43.259 is peace. It's the moment of indifference. He 00:08:43.259 --> 00:08:45.860 is trying to anesthetize himself against the 00:08:45.860 --> 00:08:48.480 reality of his life and specifically the reality 00:08:48.480 --> 00:08:51.399 of his friend Skipper's death. He isn't drinking 00:08:51.399 --> 00:08:53.799 for pleasure at all. He is drinking for oblivion. 00:08:54.779 --> 00:08:56.299 Exactly. Well, we are going to get to Skipper 00:08:56.299 --> 00:08:58.460 in a bit because that is really the radioactive 00:08:58.460 --> 00:09:01.379 core of the play that radiates out and poisons 00:09:01.379 --> 00:09:04.240 everything else. But first, we have to look at 00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:06.759 the force trying to pull brick back from the 00:09:06.759 --> 00:09:10.250 edge. Maggie. Maggie the cat. If Brick is death 00:09:10.250 --> 00:09:13.389 and stasis, Maggie is life and motion, she is 00:09:13.389 --> 00:09:16.350 vibrant, she is frantic, and she is utterly terrified. 00:09:16.490 --> 00:09:18.350 Her motivation is often simplified, I think. 00:09:18.429 --> 00:09:20.230 People just say it's greed, that she just wants 00:09:20.230 --> 00:09:22.230 the inheritance money. Right, but looking closely 00:09:22.230 --> 00:09:24.090 at the text, it supports something much more 00:09:24.090 --> 00:09:26.309 primal than that. Because she comes from genteel 00:09:26.309 --> 00:09:29.110 poverty. She does. She has seen what happens 00:09:29.110 --> 00:09:31.330 when you have the old family name, but you don't 00:09:31.330 --> 00:09:33.289 have the money to actually support it. She's 00:09:33.289 --> 00:09:34.950 the one who had to wear the hand -me -down dresses. 00:09:35.259 --> 00:09:38.340 She is a survivor above all else. She married 00:09:38.340 --> 00:09:41.200 into the Pallet Millions to escape that specific 00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:45.159 fate. And now? Because brick? completely refuses 00:09:45.159 --> 00:09:47.759 to sleep with her and give her a child. She's 00:09:47.759 --> 00:09:50.500 facing expulsion from the family. Gooper and 00:09:50.500 --> 00:09:52.860 May, those are Brick's productive siblings with 00:09:52.860 --> 00:09:55.740 their huge litter of what Maggie calls no -neck 00:09:55.740 --> 00:09:58.120 monsters. They are circling. They smell blood 00:09:58.120 --> 00:10:00.759 in the water. They really do. So Maggie is fighting 00:10:00.759 --> 00:10:03.419 for her economic life. She knows that without 00:10:03.419 --> 00:10:06.220 an heir, she is going to be completely destitute. 00:10:06.500 --> 00:10:08.980 Which perfectly explains the title. A cat on 00:10:08.980 --> 00:10:12.159 a hot tin roof. It's such a masterful image. 00:10:12.460 --> 00:10:14.860 You're in pain. your feet are burning, but you 00:10:14.860 --> 00:10:17.360 cannot jump off because the fall will kill you. 00:10:17.480 --> 00:10:19.360 So you just keep dancing? You just keep dancing. 00:10:19.539 --> 00:10:21.779 And the real tragedy is that she loves brick. 00:10:22.019 --> 00:10:25.259 Yes. It's not just about the money. If it were 00:10:25.259 --> 00:10:27.720 just the money, she could manipulate him completely 00:10:27.720 --> 00:10:30.759 differently. But she actually desires him. And 00:10:30.759 --> 00:10:33.629 his indifference is destroying her. It's destroying 00:10:33.629 --> 00:10:36.889 her confidence as a woman. She is sexually frustrated, 00:10:37.450 --> 00:10:40.769 she's socially besieged, and she's just emotionally 00:10:40.769 --> 00:10:43.129 starved. She talks a mile a minute throughout 00:10:43.129 --> 00:10:45.690 the play because silence is dangerous for her. 00:10:45.990 --> 00:10:48.669 Exactly. If she stops talking, she has to actually 00:10:48.669 --> 00:10:51.269 face the dead silence coming from Brick. And 00:10:51.269 --> 00:10:53.629 looming over both of them is the architect of 00:10:53.629 --> 00:10:56.929 all this misery. Big Daddy. The Titan. The largest 00:10:56.929 --> 00:11:00.009 cotton planter in the Delta. Big Daddy is an 00:11:00.009 --> 00:11:03.070 absolute force of nature. He's crude. Very crude. 00:11:03.610 --> 00:11:06.669 He's racist, misogynistic, and brutally honest. 00:11:07.110 --> 00:11:09.370 He represents the Old South's power because he 00:11:09.370 --> 00:11:11.990 built this empire from absolutely nothing. But 00:11:11.990 --> 00:11:14.850 he also represents its mortality. Yes. He towers 00:11:14.850 --> 00:11:17.070 over the play even though he's absent for large 00:11:17.070 --> 00:11:19.190 chumps of it. And the central irony of the play, 00:11:19.370 --> 00:11:22.370 the main mendacity that Brick hates so much revolves 00:11:22.370 --> 00:11:25.129 around Big Daddy's health. It's a massive conspiracy. 00:11:25.269 --> 00:11:27.230 It really is. So let's lay out the central lie 00:11:27.230 --> 00:11:30.350 of the plot for everyone. Big Daddy has terminal 00:11:30.350 --> 00:11:33.649 cancer. Yes. The doctors know it. Gooper and 00:11:33.649 --> 00:11:35.909 May know it. Maggie knows it. But they have told 00:11:35.909 --> 00:11:39.149 Big Daddy and his wife Big Mama that it's just 00:11:39.149 --> 00:11:42.000 a spastic colon. A clean bill of health, essentially. 00:11:42.179 --> 00:11:44.919 And they're throwing him this massive 65th birthday 00:11:44.919 --> 00:11:47.779 party to celebrate a life that is effectively 00:11:47.779 --> 00:11:52.120 over. It's wild. Let's dig into the why of this 00:11:52.120 --> 00:11:55.639 lie. Why maintain this charade? Because from 00:11:55.639 --> 00:11:58.320 the outside, it seems incredibly cruel to let 00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:00.720 a man die without knowing it. It is cruel, but 00:12:00.720 --> 00:12:03.580 it's also highly complex. For Gooper and May, 00:12:03.799 --> 00:12:06.299 the motivation is purely tactical. They need 00:12:06.299 --> 00:12:09.100 time. They need time to secure the estate and 00:12:09.100 --> 00:12:11.500 the will before the chaotic realization of death 00:12:11.500 --> 00:12:14.679 sets in. Because if Big Daddy knows he's dying, 00:12:15.220 --> 00:12:17.860 he might do something rash. Exactly. He might 00:12:17.860 --> 00:12:20.419 liquidate the assets, or leave it all to a charity, 00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:23.320 or worse of all for them, leave it all to Brick. 00:12:23.559 --> 00:12:25.759 So they need to keep him perfectly calm while 00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:27.600 they maneuver behind the scenes. But for Big 00:12:27.600 --> 00:12:29.539 Mama, it's completely different. For her, it's 00:12:29.539 --> 00:12:31.820 just pure denial. She refuses to believe the 00:12:31.820 --> 00:12:34.980 truth. She loves him. Obsessively, pathetically, 00:12:35.220 --> 00:12:37.860 despite all of his abuse toward her. She refuses 00:12:37.860 --> 00:12:40.759 to believe he is dying because her entire identity 00:12:40.759 --> 00:12:42.960 is wrapped up in being Mrs. Big Daddy. Right. 00:12:43.279 --> 00:12:46.659 If he dies... she ceases to exist. So she clings 00:12:46.659 --> 00:12:49.259 to the lie of the spastic colon like it's a life 00:12:49.259 --> 00:12:51.860 raft. But then there's brick. Brick is the only 00:12:51.860 --> 00:12:54.240 one who refuses to play along, and yet he won't 00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:56.259 expose it either. He just watches everyone from 00:12:56.259 --> 00:12:58.700 the sidelines completely disgusted. He watches 00:12:58.700 --> 00:13:01.440 it as confirmation of his worldview. To Brick, 00:13:01.720 --> 00:13:03.799 the fact that his family can stand around and 00:13:03.799 --> 00:13:06.620 sing happy birthday to a dying man proves that 00:13:06.620 --> 00:13:09.460 the entire world is totally fake. Mendacity. 00:13:09.779 --> 00:13:13.279 Mendacity. It's a systemic web of lies. Yeah. 00:13:13.279 --> 00:13:15.600 And he drinks to tolerate the fakeness of it 00:13:15.600 --> 00:13:18.120 all. This brings us to that concept of mendacity. 00:13:18.679 --> 00:13:22.039 It's a word Brick uses like a weapon. He says, 00:13:22.259 --> 00:13:24.100 there is nothing to live with but mendacity. 00:13:24.799 --> 00:13:26.879 But as we peel back the layers, we realize the 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:29.220 mendacity isn't actually just about the cancer 00:13:29.220 --> 00:13:31.279 diagnosis. No, the cancer is just the symptom. 00:13:31.620 --> 00:13:34.539 The real disease is the lie regarding Brick's 00:13:34.539 --> 00:13:36.799 own life. And this is the critical pivot point. 00:13:36.899 --> 00:13:38.779 This is where we really need to focus our deep 00:13:38.779 --> 00:13:41.259 dive. Definitely. Because if you read the original 00:13:41.259 --> 00:13:43.639 stage play, the real source of Brick's disgust 00:13:43.639 --> 00:13:46.360 and the real reason he hates Maggie is not just 00:13:46.360 --> 00:13:49.639 some general existential angst. It is specifically 00:13:49.639 --> 00:13:52.059 rooted in his relationship with his dead friend, 00:13:52.379 --> 00:13:55.620 Skipper. Yes. We really need to tread carefully 00:13:55.620 --> 00:13:57.840 here to distinguish between the different versions 00:13:57.840 --> 00:14:00.519 of the story, because this is where history and 00:14:00.519 --> 00:14:03.220 censorship collide head on. They really do. So 00:14:03.220 --> 00:14:05.600 let's clarify the original source version first, 00:14:05.740 --> 00:14:08.120 the play that Williams actually wrote. What is 00:14:08.120 --> 00:14:11.240 the truth about Brick and Skipper? Well, in the 00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:14.379 play, the subtext is barely subtext. It is practically 00:14:14.379 --> 00:14:16.909 text. Brick and Skipper were football teammates. 00:14:17.169 --> 00:14:19.870 They were inseparable. They had a bond that was 00:14:19.870 --> 00:14:22.269 pure and noble in Brick's eyes. They were the 00:14:22.269 --> 00:14:25.049 perfect pair. But Maggie, being the perceptive 00:14:25.049 --> 00:14:27.669 cat that she is, saw something else entirely. 00:14:27.970 --> 00:14:30.590 She suspected that on Skipper's side, and perhaps 00:14:30.590 --> 00:14:33.509 deeply repressed on Brick's side, there was actual 00:14:33.509 --> 00:14:35.490 romantic love. And she confronts Skipper about 00:14:35.490 --> 00:14:38.144 this. She challenges him directly. She essentially... 00:14:38.139 --> 00:14:41.000 tell Skipper, you are in love with my husband. 00:14:41.220 --> 00:14:43.679 Which is a huge accusation for that time. Huge. 00:14:44.039 --> 00:14:45.960 And to prove her wrong, to prove he's a real 00:14:45.960 --> 00:14:48.000 man, according to the standards of the time, 00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:50.799 Skipper tries to sleep with Maggie. He tries 00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:53.860 to perform heterosexuality. And he fails. He 00:14:53.860 --> 00:14:56.700 fails completely. He cannot perform. And that 00:14:56.700 --> 00:14:59.720 failure absolutely breaks him because it confirms 00:14:59.720 --> 00:15:02.539 Maggie's accusation. He finally realizes the 00:15:02.539 --> 00:15:04.580 truth about himself. And then comes the phone 00:15:04.580 --> 00:15:07.519 call. Yes. This is the moment that haunts Brick. 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:10.580 for the rest of his life. A drunken late night 00:15:10.580 --> 00:15:14.220 phone call from Skipper to Brick. Skipper confesses 00:15:14.220 --> 00:15:17.039 his feelings. He essentially comes out to his 00:15:17.039 --> 00:15:19.279 best friend. He tells Brick he loves him. And 00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:22.039 Brick, who is the southern football hero raised 00:15:22.039 --> 00:15:26.139 in a culture of very rigid masculinity, he panics. 00:15:26.200 --> 00:15:28.480 He's disgusted. He tells Skipper you're squealing 00:15:28.480 --> 00:15:30.950 like a stuck pig. And then he hangs up the phone. 00:15:31.029 --> 00:15:33.350 He hangs up. He abandons his friend in his moment 00:15:33.350 --> 00:15:35.490 of greatest vulnerability. And Skipper drinks 00:15:35.490 --> 00:15:38.149 himself to death shortly after. So Brick's guilt 00:15:38.149 --> 00:15:40.590 is not just that his friend died. No, his guilt 00:15:40.590 --> 00:15:42.950 is, I killed my friend because I couldn't handle 00:15:42.950 --> 00:15:45.990 the truth of who he was. And deeper still, Brick 00:15:45.990 --> 00:15:49.029 is terrified that he might actually reciprocate 00:15:49.029 --> 00:15:51.490 those feelings. Exactly. He hates himself for 00:15:51.490 --> 00:15:54.370 his own intolerance, or maybe for his own repressed 00:15:54.370 --> 00:15:57.870 desire. And he projects all of that self -hatred 00:15:57.870 --> 00:16:01.110 directly onto Maggie. He blames her for naming 00:16:01.110 --> 00:16:03.649 it. So when he talks about mendacity, he's really 00:16:03.649 --> 00:16:06.309 talking about the lie of his own heterosexuality, 00:16:06.669 --> 00:16:10.330 the lie of his supposedly pure friendship. The 00:16:10.330 --> 00:16:12.990 cancer lie is just a mirror for the skipper lie. 00:16:13.029 --> 00:16:15.509 That is exactly it. Now, I want you to take all 00:16:15.509 --> 00:16:19.210 of that complex trauma and transpose it to 1958 00:16:19.210 --> 00:16:22.750 Hollywood. Oh, boy. We have Paul Newman, basically 00:16:22.750 --> 00:16:24.870 the most beautiful man in the world playing brick, 00:16:25.429 --> 00:16:27.570 and Elizabeth Taylor, the biggest star in the 00:16:27.570 --> 00:16:29.889 world. playing Maggie. But we also have the Hays 00:16:29.889 --> 00:16:32.009 Code. The Hays Code. Let's talk about the impact 00:16:32.009 --> 00:16:34.350 of that. The Hays Code was the film industry's 00:16:34.350 --> 00:16:36.750 self -censorship guidelines, and it was incredibly 00:16:36.750 --> 00:16:39.809 strict. It explicitly forbade any depiction of 00:16:39.809 --> 00:16:42.389 what they called sexual perversion. Which included 00:16:42.389 --> 00:16:44.190 any reference to homosexuality. You couldn't 00:16:44.190 --> 00:16:47.629 even imply it. So MGM buys the rights to this 00:16:47.629 --> 00:16:50.590 Pulitzer Prize winning play, but they are legally 00:16:50.590 --> 00:16:53.629 barred from filming the central conflict of the 00:16:53.629 --> 00:16:55.809 story. It's like buying Hamlet and being told 00:16:55.809 --> 00:16:57.850 you can't mention the ghost. That's a great comparison. 00:16:58.169 --> 00:17:00.409 So the director, Richard Brooks, who was also 00:17:00.409 --> 00:17:04.170 the writer for the film, he has to completely 00:17:04.170 --> 00:17:06.970 rewrite the engine of the movie. What does he 00:17:06.970 --> 00:17:10.069 replace the skipper story with? He replaces the 00:17:10.069 --> 00:17:12.230 struggle over sexuality with a vague struggle 00:17:12.230 --> 00:17:15.940 over maturity. Maturity. Yeah. In the film, the 00:17:15.940 --> 00:17:18.339 story becomes that Skipper died simply because 00:17:18.339 --> 00:17:20.579 he was a washed -up athlete who couldn't handle 00:17:20.579 --> 00:17:23.599 his fading lorry. A hazy hero worship. Right. 00:17:24.019 --> 00:17:26.200 And Brick is depressed because he thinks Maggie 00:17:26.200 --> 00:17:28.680 actually cheated on him with Skipper. That is 00:17:28.680 --> 00:17:31.579 a massive downgrading complexity. It really banalizes 00:17:31.579 --> 00:17:34.099 the trauma. It turns a tragedy about identity 00:17:34.099 --> 00:17:37.759 and societal repression into a daytime soap opera 00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:41.250 about infidelity. In the film, Brick rejects 00:17:41.250 --> 00:17:43.710 Maggie not because of his own internal confusion, 00:17:43.789 --> 00:17:46.089 but because he thinks she's a, well, a slut. 00:17:46.589 --> 00:17:48.670 He thinks she betrayed him and ruined the purity 00:17:48.670 --> 00:17:50.809 of his friendship with Skipper. It fundamentally 00:17:50.809 --> 00:17:53.170 alters Brick's character arc. He goes from being 00:17:53.170 --> 00:17:56.589 this tortured, complex soul to just a sulking, 00:17:56.809 --> 00:17:59.210 immature husband who's mad his wife might have 00:17:59.210 --> 00:18:01.670 strayed. And this is exactly why Tennessee Williams 00:18:01.670 --> 00:18:03.750 was telling people waiting in line at the cinema 00:18:03.750 --> 00:18:06.650 to go home. He literally went to the theaters 00:18:06.650 --> 00:18:10.180 to tell people that. He was furious. He hated 00:18:10.180 --> 00:18:13.240 the script. He told the crowds, this movie will 00:18:13.240 --> 00:18:16.319 set the industry back 50 years. Go home. Wow. 00:18:16.859 --> 00:18:18.980 He felt that by removing the homosexual element, 00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:21.799 they created a massive hole right in the center 00:18:21.799 --> 00:18:24.779 of the film. Because Brick's intense misery seems 00:18:24.779 --> 00:18:27.319 totally unmotivated without it. Right. Why is 00:18:27.319 --> 00:18:29.079 he this destroyed just because his friend died 00:18:29.079 --> 00:18:31.480 of alcoholism? It doesn't add up without the 00:18:31.480 --> 00:18:34.460 betrayal element. The censorship forced the film 00:18:34.460 --> 00:18:37.750 to substitute sexual repression. with this vague 00:18:37.750 --> 00:18:40.609 sense of immaturity. And yet, despite all of 00:18:40.609 --> 00:18:43.849 that, the movie actually works. It really does. 00:18:43.930 --> 00:18:46.190 It was a massive hit at the box office, and it's 00:18:46.190 --> 00:18:48.569 still considered a classic today. And I think 00:18:48.569 --> 00:18:51.069 that's largely due to the performances. Even 00:18:51.069 --> 00:18:53.009 with this laundered script, Paul Newman does 00:18:53.009 --> 00:18:55.470 something extraordinary. He really does. Director 00:18:55.470 --> 00:18:57.609 Richard Brooks said he cast Newman specifically 00:18:57.609 --> 00:18:59.789 because he could project thought without speaking. 00:19:00.009 --> 00:19:01.690 Project thought without speaking. And Newman 00:19:01.690 --> 00:19:04.470 uses that. He uses the illusion of the first 00:19:04.470 --> 00:19:07.430 time acting technique. He plays Brick as this 00:19:07.430 --> 00:19:10.549 tightly coiled spring. Because even though the 00:19:10.549 --> 00:19:14.089 script removes the specific homosexual context, 00:19:15.509 --> 00:19:18.269 Newman plays the repression perfectly. You absolutely 00:19:18.269 --> 00:19:20.569 believe he is hiding something, even if the movie 00:19:20.569 --> 00:19:22.789 won't let him tell you exactly what it is. The 00:19:22.789 --> 00:19:24.910 audience feels the weight of the secret, even 00:19:24.910 --> 00:19:26.910 if the secret has been erased from the dialogue. 00:19:27.250 --> 00:19:29.680 It's a real testament to Newman. that he could 00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:31.980 play the subtext of the play even while speaking 00:19:31.980 --> 00:19:34.500 the text of the censored movie. He was actually 00:19:34.500 --> 00:19:36.579 pretty disappointed himself that the themes were 00:19:36.579 --> 00:19:38.980 laundered. Now, speaking of changing the story, 00:19:39.400 --> 00:19:41.839 the movie wasn't the only time the script got 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:44.160 completely overhauled. No, it wasn't. There's 00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:46.559 a whole saga involving the original Broadway 00:19:46.559 --> 00:19:50.079 run in 1955 and the legendary director, Aliyah 00:19:50.079 --> 00:19:52.559 Kazan. We call this the third act problem. This 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:55.180 was a real clash of titans. Aliya Kazan was the 00:19:55.180 --> 00:19:56.819 director of the original Broadway production, 00:19:57.140 --> 00:19:59.500 and he was arguably the most powerful director 00:19:59.500 --> 00:20:01.940 of his era. He made a streetcar named Desire 00:20:01.940 --> 00:20:04.819 a hit. He made Death of a Salesman. He was the 00:20:04.819 --> 00:20:07.480 kingmaker of Broadway. So when he read Williams' 00:20:07.680 --> 00:20:10.460 draft of Cat, he had notes. Big notes, I imagine. 00:20:10.480 --> 00:20:12.980 Very big notes. What exactly didn't he like about 00:20:12.980 --> 00:20:15.480 it? He felt the original ending was way too passive. 00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:18.380 In Williams' original draft, Big Daddy finds 00:20:18.380 --> 00:20:20.640 out he's dying and just disappears. He doesn't 00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:23.680 come back on stage. No. He goes off stage to 00:20:23.680 --> 00:20:26.339 rage and silence. And the play ends with this 00:20:26.339 --> 00:20:29.660 quiet, very unresolved tension between Brick 00:20:29.660 --> 00:20:32.240 and Maggie. Sounds very European, very ambiguous. 00:20:32.359 --> 00:20:35.440 Exactly. And Kazan said... No. This is Broadway. 00:20:35.799 --> 00:20:38.400 The audience needs a showdown. So Kazan demands 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:41.200 a rewrite. Three specific demands actually. He 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:43.259 said one, Maggie needs to be more sympathetic. 00:20:43.400 --> 00:20:46.539 Okay. Two, Big Daddy has to reappear in act three 00:20:46.539 --> 00:20:49.200 for a final confrontation. And three. Three, 00:20:49.680 --> 00:20:52.859 Rick needs a moral awakening. He needs to change. 00:20:53.420 --> 00:20:55.720 Kazan wanted a moral arc. He wanted the hero 00:20:55.720 --> 00:20:57.920 to learn something. Right. He wanted a transformation. 00:20:58.339 --> 00:21:00.339 And Williams, who desperately wanted another 00:21:00.339 --> 00:21:02.920 hit because he felt a bit insecure after a couple 00:21:02.920 --> 00:21:05.519 of recent flops, he capitulated. He gave in. 00:21:05.660 --> 00:21:08.440 He rewrote the third act to please Kazan. He 00:21:08.440 --> 00:21:10.740 brought Big Daddy back. He made Maggie softer. 00:21:11.220 --> 00:21:13.640 And he gave Brick a moment where he actually 00:21:13.640 --> 00:21:17.039 supports Maggie's final lie, which suggests some 00:21:17.039 --> 00:21:19.440 sort of moral awakening. So the published text 00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:22.740 of the play, if you go buy a copy today, what 00:21:22.740 --> 00:21:25.349 do you get? You usually get both. Williams often 00:21:25.349 --> 00:21:27.309 published the play with both versions of the 00:21:27.309 --> 00:21:29.589 third act included, the original version and 00:21:29.589 --> 00:21:31.829 the Broadway version. So readers can actually 00:21:31.829 --> 00:21:34.049 decide which one they prefer. Yeah, it's a rare 00:21:34.049 --> 00:21:36.849 look into the collaborative and sometimes compromising 00:21:36.849 --> 00:21:40.230 nature of theater. And later on, in the 1974 00:21:40.230 --> 00:21:43.509 revival, Williams revised the text again. He 00:21:43.509 --> 00:21:46.000 blended them. He blended elements, but he kept 00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:48.900 the harder, more ambiguous edge of his original 00:21:48.900 --> 00:21:52.319 vision. And naturally, the 1958 film adaptation 00:21:52.319 --> 00:21:55.619 took the Kazan approach and just ran even further 00:21:55.619 --> 00:21:58.000 with it. The film leans heavily into the Kazan 00:21:58.000 --> 00:22:01.200 ending, but it adds that real Hollywood gloss. 00:22:01.359 --> 00:22:03.700 It includes a very lengthy reconciliation scene 00:22:03.700 --> 00:22:05.940 between Brick and Big Daddy in the cellar. Right, 00:22:06.099 --> 00:22:08.319 among all the antiques in the luggage, it's highly 00:22:08.319 --> 00:22:10.579 symbolic. They're literally surrounded by the 00:22:10.579 --> 00:22:12.140 baggage of the past. And they have a heart to 00:22:12.140 --> 00:22:14.579 heart. Big Daddy talks about his father, who 00:22:14.579 --> 00:22:17.539 is a hobo, a vagrant, but who left him with memories 00:22:17.539 --> 00:22:20.099 of love. And Big Daddy realizes he left Brick 00:22:20.099 --> 00:22:23.640 with wealth, but no love. And Brick realizes 00:22:23.640 --> 00:22:27.519 Big Daddy actually loves him. They connect. They 00:22:27.519 --> 00:22:31.720 hug. It heals the wound. Which, as an observation, 00:22:32.319 --> 00:22:34.960 adds this very Hollywood ending of reconciliation 00:22:34.960 --> 00:22:38.200 that the original Southern Gothic play deliberately 00:22:38.200 --> 00:22:40.490 avoided. It's touching and it makes you cry, 00:22:40.549 --> 00:22:42.829 but it completely undermines the Southern Gothic 00:22:42.829 --> 00:22:45.029 intent. Because the point of the genre is often 00:22:45.029 --> 00:22:48.150 that the wounds don't heal. The tragedy is the 00:22:48.150 --> 00:22:50.970 inability to connect. By having them connect, 00:22:51.150 --> 00:22:54.589 the film offers a catharsis that the play intentionally 00:22:54.589 --> 00:22:57.529 denies. It tells the audience that love conquers 00:22:57.529 --> 00:22:59.869 all. Whereas Williams was saying that lies conquer 00:22:59.869 --> 00:23:02.730 all. Exactly. I want to circle back to Big Daddy's 00:23:02.730 --> 00:23:04.890 Journey for a minute, specifically in that moment 00:23:04.890 --> 00:23:07.759 where the lie finally breaks. Surrealization. 00:23:08.059 --> 00:23:10.319 Because Burr lives played Big Daddy on Broadway 00:23:10.319 --> 00:23:13.019 and in the film. And today I think most people 00:23:13.019 --> 00:23:15.519 know him as the voice of Sam the Snowman from 00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:17.619 Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. The guy singing 00:23:17.619 --> 00:23:19.500 Silver and Gold. Right, he was a folk singer, 00:23:19.819 --> 00:23:22.000 he sang Wayfaring Stranger, he was this gentle 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:24.960 giant. But in this role he perfectly embodies 00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:28.380 this macabre, domineering patriarch. He is terrifying. 00:23:28.599 --> 00:23:31.339 It is a staggering transformation. He physically 00:23:31.339 --> 00:23:34.339 dominates the space. But the transition from 00:23:34.339 --> 00:23:37.779 tyrant to victim is incredible. When Brick eventually 00:23:37.779 --> 00:23:40.079 reveals the truth to Big Daddy in a moment of 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:43.240 anger, when he says, there is no spastic colon, 00:23:43.539 --> 00:23:46.359 you are dying of cancer. The way Big Daddy crumbles 00:23:46.359 --> 00:23:48.799 is heartbreaking. Williams actually noted something 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:50.839 specific about this moment in his notes, didn't 00:23:50.839 --> 00:23:55.019 he? Yes. The squealing quote. Williams wrote 00:23:55.019 --> 00:23:57.299 that the play says one affirmative thing about 00:23:57.299 --> 00:24:00.059 man's fate. that he has it still in his power 00:24:00.059 --> 00:24:03.059 not to squeal like a pig but to keep a tight 00:24:03.059 --> 00:24:05.519 mouth about it not to squeal like a pig that 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:07.839 phrase comes back around big daddy spends the 00:24:07.839 --> 00:24:10.299 first half of the play roaring and abusing everyone 00:24:10.299 --> 00:24:13.960 just to cover up his deep existential dread when 00:24:13.960 --> 00:24:16.240 the fear becomes reality he tries to hold on 00:24:16.240 --> 00:24:18.519 to his dignity he tries to keep a tight mouth 00:24:18.720 --> 00:24:20.680 That connects beautifully to the Dylan Thomas 00:24:20.680 --> 00:24:23.019 poem that Williams used as an epigraph for the 00:24:23.019 --> 00:24:26.019 1974 version of the play. Do not go gentle into 00:24:26.019 --> 00:24:28.420 that good night. Rage, rage against the dying 00:24:28.420 --> 00:24:31.599 of the light. Big Daddy is the absolute embodiment 00:24:31.599 --> 00:24:34.539 of that rage. He curses, he yells, he buys things, 00:24:34.759 --> 00:24:37.880 he exerts power over his family, all to deny 00:24:37.880 --> 00:24:40.720 the dying of the light. But in the end, the light 00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:43.240 goes out anyway. It does. And in the shadow of 00:24:43.240 --> 00:24:46.420 that death, Maggie makes her final play, The 00:24:46.420 --> 00:24:49.460 Final Lie. The pregnancy announcement. It is 00:24:49.460 --> 00:24:52.839 her absolute desperate gambit. The clock is ticking, 00:24:53.200 --> 00:24:55.140 Gooper has the legal papers ready to sign to 00:24:55.140 --> 00:24:57.160 take over the estate, and Maggie just stands 00:24:57.160 --> 00:24:59.259 up and announces that she is pregnant with Brick's 00:24:59.259 --> 00:25:01.799 child. To secure the inheritance. Yes. And it 00:25:01.799 --> 00:25:04.000 is a lie. Everyone knows it's a lie. Gooper and 00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:06.759 May know it's a lie. But Big Mama believes it 00:25:06.759 --> 00:25:09.500 out of pure hope. She needs a future to distract 00:25:09.500 --> 00:25:11.440 her from the end of her husband. And Big Daddy. 00:25:12.039 --> 00:25:13.880 In the movie, especially, he looks at Maggie, 00:25:14.220 --> 00:25:16.650 and you can see he knows she's lying. But he 00:25:16.650 --> 00:25:19.309 accepts it anyway. And Brick. This is the real 00:25:19.309 --> 00:25:22.910 pivot. In the film and the revised play, Brick 00:25:22.910 --> 00:25:25.390 supports the lie. He has the power to destroy 00:25:25.390 --> 00:25:28.029 her right there. All he has to say is, no, she's 00:25:28.029 --> 00:25:30.849 not. But his complicity is what saves her. He 00:25:30.849 --> 00:25:33.829 steps up, he validates the lie, and they resolve 00:25:33.829 --> 00:25:36.690 to make the lie true. Make the lie true. That 00:25:36.690 --> 00:25:39.910 is the closing resolution. They will go upstairs 00:25:39.910 --> 00:25:43.059 and literally make the lie true. It's an ending 00:25:43.059 --> 00:25:46.359 that is both a victory and a total surrender 00:25:46.359 --> 00:25:50.180 to the theme of mendacity. It's a survival strategy. 00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:52.380 They are building their future on a deception. 00:25:52.920 --> 00:25:55.359 The mendacity hasn't been defeated at all. They've 00:25:55.359 --> 00:25:57.579 just decided to use it to their own advantage. 00:25:58.039 --> 00:26:00.559 Before we wrap up the analysis, we really have 00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:03.200 to acknowledge the human element of the production 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:06.240 itself. We've talked about the characters suffering, 00:26:06.400 --> 00:26:09.319 but the actors were going through Absolute hell. 00:26:09.599 --> 00:26:11.920 It's true. Production trivia rarely gets this 00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:14.480 intense. We touched on Elizabeth Taylor briefly, 00:26:14.940 --> 00:26:17.400 but we need to really understand what she was 00:26:17.400 --> 00:26:19.940 dealing with during filming. Filming began in 00:26:19.940 --> 00:26:23.539 March of 1958. Elizabeth Taylor was just 26 years 00:26:23.539 --> 00:26:26.720 old, and she was married to Mike Todd, the mega 00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:28.599 producer. He was the love of her life at that 00:26:28.599 --> 00:26:30.740 time. He was. And right after filming began... 00:26:30.740 --> 00:26:33.880 The plane crash. Yes. Mike Todd's private plane, 00:26:33.960 --> 00:26:36.839 the Lucky Liz, crashed in New Mexico. All the 00:26:36.839 --> 00:26:38.359 passengers were killed. And she was supposed 00:26:38.359 --> 00:26:40.180 to be on that plane. She'd only stayed behind 00:26:40.180 --> 00:26:42.700 because she had a cold. Imagine the survivor's 00:26:42.700 --> 00:26:45.059 guilt she must have been feeling. She was absolutely 00:26:45.059 --> 00:26:47.779 devastated. Hysterical. She took a few weeks 00:26:47.779 --> 00:26:50.160 off, but she returned to the set, thin and weak, 00:26:50.480 --> 00:26:52.539 and she channeled all of that terrible grief 00:26:52.539 --> 00:26:55.119 straight into the role of Maggie. She said later, 00:26:55.460 --> 00:26:59.000 I became Maggie. Acting was the only time I could 00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:01.759 function. So when we see Maggie the Cat frantic, 00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:04.500 screaming, begging for love on screen, that isn't 00:27:04.500 --> 00:27:07.339 just acting. It's real trauma. And then, during 00:27:07.339 --> 00:27:09.539 production, the scandal hit. The Eddie Fisher 00:27:09.539 --> 00:27:12.539 affair. Eddie Fisher was a famous singer and 00:27:12.539 --> 00:27:15.079 Mike Todd's best friend. He was married to Debbie 00:27:15.079 --> 00:27:17.140 Reynolds, who was America's sweetheart at the 00:27:17.140 --> 00:27:20.079 time. Eddie was comforting the grieving widow, 00:27:20.259 --> 00:27:23.099 and it turned into romance. And her public image 00:27:23.099 --> 00:27:26.529 flipped overnight. Instantly. She went from the 00:27:26.529 --> 00:27:29.210 tragic, grieving widow to a homewrecker, and 00:27:29.210 --> 00:27:31.690 MGM, being ruthless, used it to market the film. 00:27:32.089 --> 00:27:34.150 They put her on the poster on a bed in a slip, 00:27:34.529 --> 00:27:36.829 selling the heat of the scandal. Selling Hollywood 00:27:36.829 --> 00:27:39.309 mendacity with a story about mendacity. It's 00:27:39.309 --> 00:27:41.809 almost poetic. And Paul Newman had his own funny 00:27:41.809 --> 00:27:43.690 rebellion against the Hollywood machine. Oh, 00:27:43.789 --> 00:27:46.990 the SPUman anecdote. Yes. When he was asked to 00:27:46.990 --> 00:27:49.609 change his name earlier in his career for Siddle... 00:27:49.519 --> 00:27:52.779 on the waterfront, he sarcastically suggested 00:27:52.779 --> 00:27:55.880 S .P. Eumann. He hated the fakeness of the industry, 00:27:56.039 --> 00:27:58.160 which is probably why he aligns so well with 00:27:58.160 --> 00:28:00.140 Williams' disappointment over the censored script. 00:28:00.640 --> 00:28:02.700 So to summarize the legacy of this incredible 00:28:02.700 --> 00:28:06.700 work, the play won the Pulitzer Prize in 1955. 00:28:07.309 --> 00:28:09.990 Despite the jury actually preferring a play called 00:28:09.990 --> 00:28:12.809 The Flowering Peach, Joseph Pulitzer Jr. had 00:28:12.809 --> 00:28:15.730 to step in and push for cat. And the film was 00:28:15.730 --> 00:28:19.190 a massive box office hit, despite the huge censorship 00:28:19.190 --> 00:28:21.869 controversy. It remains a definitive text on 00:28:21.869 --> 00:28:24.450 family dysfunction, greed, and the destructive 00:28:24.450 --> 00:28:27.309 power of secrets. It really is. Williams presents 00:28:27.309 --> 00:28:29.430 a world where lying is the only way to survive. 00:28:29.809 --> 00:28:32.390 The family lies to Big Daddy about death. Maggie 00:28:32.390 --> 00:28:34.710 lies to the family about life with her fake pregnancy. 00:28:34.960 --> 00:28:37.279 Which leaves us with a really fascinating question. 00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:39.859 Exactly. I want to leave you, the listener, with 00:28:39.859 --> 00:28:42.660 a final provocative thought to mull over. In 00:28:42.660 --> 00:28:44.819 the Pollitt family, is the truth actually more 00:28:44.819 --> 00:28:46.640 destructive than the lies? Because the truth 00:28:46.640 --> 00:28:49.079 about Skipper destroys Brick. And the truth about 00:28:49.079 --> 00:28:52.319 the cancer destroys Big Daddy. Right. So is the 00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:54.960 refusal to face reality the real tragedy here? 00:28:55.700 --> 00:28:59.119 Or is reality so unbearable that the click Brick 00:28:59.119 --> 00:29:03.690 searches for that numbness, that lie? is actually 00:29:03.690 --> 00:29:05.990 the only way to survive in this world? It's a 00:29:05.990 --> 00:29:07.730 tough question to answer. Something to think 00:29:07.730 --> 00:29:09.490 about the next time you're sweating out a tense 00:29:09.490 --> 00:29:11.849 family reunion in the summer heat. Absolutely. 00:29:12.349 --> 00:29:14.289 Thank you for joining us for this deep dive into 00:29:14.289 --> 00:29:16.150 the sweltering heat in the Mississippi Delta. 00:29:16.549 --> 00:29:19.130 It's been a pleasure. Stay cool out there everyone. 00:29:19.650 --> 00:29:21.589 We will catch you on the next deep dive.