Basic Facts:
The Glass Menagerie
Tennessee Williams, English
Two acts, eight scenes
2 men, 2 women
2 hours, 30 minutes
Drama, according to Dramatists Play Service
Born Thomas Lanier Williams in Columbus, Mississippi in 1914, Tennessee was the son of a shoe company executive and a Southern belle. Williams described his childhood in Mississippi as happy and carefree. This sense of belonging and comfort were lost, however, when his family moved to the urban environment of St. Louis, Missouri. It was there he began to look inward, and to write— “because I found life unsatisfactory.” Williams’ early adult years were occupied with attending college at three different universities, a brief stint working at his father’s shoe company, and a move to New Orleans, which began a lifelong love of the city and set the locale for A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. Williams spent a number of years traveling throughout the country and trying to write. His first critical acclaim came in 1944 when THE GLASS MENAGERIE opened in Chicago and went to Broadway. The height of his career was during the late 1940s and 50s. The 1960s were the most difficult years for Williams because he began to write openly about taboo topics. He depended more and more on alcohol and drugs and was hospitalized in 1969 by his brother. After his release from the hospital in the 1970s, Williams wrote plays, a memoir, poems, short stories and a novel. Williams passed away in 1983.
Dramatists Play Service
Licensed by Dramatists Play Service
$100 per performance, $7.50 per script
1) Popular music between 1915 and 1920 (p. 9)
Ragtime, blues, and jazz growing. Songs made popular because of WWI include "Alexander's Ragtime Band." "Danny Boy," "You Made Me Love You," and "Ah! Sweet Mystery of Life."
http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade10.html
2) D.A.R. (p. 16)
Daughters of the American Revolution. Any woman 18 years or older who can prove direct lineal descent from a patriot of the American Revolution is eligible for membership.
http://www.dar.org/natsociety/whoweare.cfm
3) Etruscan sculpture (p.20)
Etruscan civilization was around from 800 B.C. to 100 B.C. Because of abundant ore deposits, bronze statuary was common. Therefore, Tom is referencing the sturdiness of the bronze to the ideal women of the 1930s.
http://www.huntfor.com/arthistory/ancient/etruscan.htm
4) Milton (p.21)
Born December 9, 1608. English writer (author of Paradise Lost) who lost his eyesight in 1652
http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/milton/miltonbio.htm
5) D.H. Lawrence (p.22)
Another English novelist. Born on September 11, 1885. Some of his work was deemed pornographic.
http://www.online-literature.com/dh_lawrence
6) Garbo (p. 25)
Greta Garbo, a very popular film actress who introduced method acting to the screen. Her movie, Camille, opened in 1936, and she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.
http://www.gretagarbo.com/gretagarbo.com/BIOGRAPHY.html
7) “gay deceivers” (p. 42)
a pair of pads worn inside a woman’s bra to give off the impression of larger breasts
http://www.definition-of.com/gay+deceivers
8) Gable (p. 48)
One of Hollywood’s most popular leading men in the 1930s and 1940s
http://www.reelclassics.com/Actors/Gable/gable.htm
9) Mazda lamp (p. 53)
Edison’s breakthrough of using tungsten filaments in light bulbs to give a consistent and whiter, brighter light
10) jalopy (p. 66)
an old, decrepit, or unpretentious automobile
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/jalopy
This is a memory play. Tom is the narrator. The scene opens with Tom on the fire escape giving a monologue briefly describing life in the little Wingfield apartment. Amanda is calling Tom in to have breakfast with her and Laura, but Tom is trying to be on time for work, so he merely has a cup of coffee. Amanda is a bit of an overbearing mother but is very well meaning, suggesting that Tom actually eat something or insisting that he put sugar or cream in his coffee. In the next scene, Laura hears her mother coming back into the apartment from her D.A.R. meeting and so sits at the typewriter pretending to practice her type charts. Amanda walks in and confronts Laura about her dropping out of Rubicam's Business College. Amanda knows that Laura is very shy and extremely self conscious because of her minor physical setback and wanted her to try and have a better future by attending the college. Amanda is disappointed knowing that Laura spent her days going to see a movie or walking around parks or museums, but tries to be sympathetic and rethink another plan to make Laura suitable. Laura brings down her wall a bit to introduce her mother to a boy she liked all throughout high school, Jim O'Connor, by showing her pictures from the yearbook.
Tom and Amanda get into an argument. Tom loves his family but sometimes wonders why he isn't more like his dad so he could just leave and start the life for himself that he's always wanted. Amanda proceeds to call him selfish and asks why he always has to go to the movies and suspiciously asks him if he even goes to the movies. Tom sarcastically tells her that he's really doing all these awful things and then storms out. He comes home late and Laura helps him into bed. The next morning, Amanda sends Laura to pick up a few groceries and Tom apologizes to Amanda. They begin talking civilized to each other, when they get off track mirroring the first argument they had, when Tom says he has to leave and Amanda tries to say what she'd been meaning to all along. She asks Tom if there is any gentleman at his workplace that he could bring home for Laura and Tom replies that he'll see. Amanda starts on another side job, selling "Homemaker's Companion" magazines to women to try and make a little extra money for Laura.
Tom comes home and tells Amanda that he is invited someone for dinner and Amanda asks all these questions about him trying to see if he will be good for Laura. She reflects on her life and how the father would go to the pastor to check on a caller's character, and how she had many suitors who are well to do now and how when they passed on they left an ample amount of money for their widows, and Tom asks what happened with his dad, to which Amanda responded it was his grin. Tom tells Amanda that his friend's name is Jim O'Connor, and it doesn’t register with Amanda that this is the same boy that Laura had told her about.
Amanda starts to make preparations, cleaning the apartment up and buying little things to make it look prettier, and dressing Laura up. Amanda pulls out a dress that she used to wear when she was younger and looks almost as radiant as she used to. Once dinner is almost ready and Amanda knows the men should be home soon, she tells Laura that she will answer the door. Laura asks who it is and when Amanda tells her it's Jim O'Connor, Laura immediately freezes and gets sick to her stomach and says she can't open the door or have dinner tonight, and reminds her mother that was her high school crush.
Tom and Jim make it home and Jim is introduced to Amanda and Laura, who barely speaks and retreats to her bedroom. Amanda returns to the kitchen to finish up dinner while Tom and Jim discuss Tom's longing to join the Merchant Marine and tour the world and write poetry. He confides in Jim that he didn't pay the month's electricity bill. Amanda comes into the living room and tells them that dinner is ready, and all four of them eat at the table. After dinner, the lights go out and Jim and Laura go to the living room while Tom and Amanda clean up. Laura tells Jim that she is "Blue Roses" and he remembers her. She tells him that she liked him for a long time and that she wanted to get his autograph from "The Pirates of Penzance" and he signs the program for her right then and there. Laura shows him her glass menagerie and her favorite glass ornament, and they discuss Laura's needing to be more confident in herself because she has a lot to offer and just over exaggerated her handicap. Laura asks about Emily Meisenbach, the girl Jim dated in high school, and whether or not they were engaged and he said no. Music flows in from the dance hall and Jim encourages Laura to dance with him. Afterward, he tells her she is pretty and kisses her, which he immediately regrets.
He is in the middle of telling her that he has been seeing someone when Tom and Amanda walk in. Amanda asks what's wrong and Jim tells them that he is engaged to be married to the girl. He thanks them for their hospitality and leaves. Amanda is upset at Tom for making them look foolish but reassures Laura that she will find someone. Laura seemed to be a bit more confident, or maybe she escaped to her menagerie even more, and Tom finally realizes his dream of leaving them, or at least visualizes what that would be like because he doesn't have the heart to leave his sister on her own.
Amanda Wingfield (the mother) -- A little woman of great but confused vitality clinging to another time and place. She is not paranoiac, but her life is paranoia. She has endurance and a kind of heroism, and though her foolishness makes her unwittingly cruel at times, there is tenderness in her slight person.
Laura Wingfield (her daughter) -- Crippled from a childhood illness, one leg slightly shorter than the other. Laura's separation from reality increases until she is like a piece of her own glass collection, too exquisitely fragile to move from the shelf.
Tom Wingfield (her son) -- Narrator of the play. A poet with a job in a warehouse. His nature is not remorseless, but to escape from a trap he has to act without pity.
Jim O'Connor (the gentleman caller) -- A nice, ordinary, young man.
"Characters and Casting"
The Glass Menagerie seems to me a straightforward play to cast. I believe that the mother should be somewhere around her late thirties to early forties. Most people were married at a younger age then than they are now, and it has been sixteen years since the father left his family. Amanda strikes me as a mother who comes off as overbearing but who only wants what is best for her children. She wants to see them happy and successful but doesn’t realize that she is sometimes smothering and unsupportive. The actress should be stern and a bit of a perfectionist, but should show her vulnerability and her genuine caring nature.
Tom is about twenty three years old, as Williams has made this a somewhat autobiographical play and is depicted by Tom at the time it was written. He dreams of becoming a writer but feels an obligation to his mother and sister. Especially with his dad leaving, he feels that he is their only chance of making it. The actor playing Tom needs to be full of passion that keeps getting bottled up because of his need to take care of Amanda and Laura, on top of his mother not being understanding about his aspirations. But he also does truly care about their well being, and that is what had kept him there when he has dreamed so many times of leaving like his father. Once he is fired from his job and leaves for the Merchant Marines, he realizes that he can't forget about Laura, and so he hasn't completely escaped that life.
Laura is twenty five and very shy. She has over exaggerated her limp in her mind and so has escaped into her own world, her glass menagerie. There is a small light inside of her, though, that just needed a bit more encouragement that she seems to have gotten from Jim near the end, if only for that small amount of time. Her mother may have always been telling her that her limp was merely a ‘slight defect’ but Jim reassured Laura that it was hardly noticeable and that she was a great girl and needed to be more confident in herself. The actress playing Laura should be sweetly played, but should also demonstrate strength because although she dropped out of high school and Rubicam’s, she still ventured outside and walked around finding little things to make her happy, as opposed to always staying indoors completely.
Jim is also about twenty five. He had everything in high school, and somehow ended up working at the factory with Tom. He is in school to try and better himself so that he can get away from the factory. He is a nice guy but got carried away trying to make Laura feel better about herself. The actor playing Jim needs to be optimistic and friendly. He knows his position in life right now but is not held to it and knows that he can change it.
For this play, I don’t believe nontraditional casting would work because it is autobiographical, like most of Williams’ pieces. I think that casting it nontraditionally would take away from the meaning behind The Glass Menagerie.
