''Sweet Bird of Youth'' is a 1959 play by
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thr ...
which tells the story of a
gigolo
A gigolo () is a male escort or social companion who is supported by a person in a continuing relationship, often living in her residence or having to be present at her beck and call.
The term ''gigolo'' usually implies a man who adopts a lifes ...
and drifter, Chance Wayne, who returns to his home town as the companion of a faded movie star, Alexandra del Lago (travelling incognito as Princess Kosmonopolis), whom he hopes to use to help him break into the movies. The main reason for his homecoming is to get back what he had in his youth: primarily, his old girlfriend, whose father had run him out of town years before. The play was written for
Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (January 31, 1902 – December 12, 1968) was an American actress. Primarily an actress of the stage, Bankhead also appeared in several prominent films including an award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's '' L ...
, a good friend of Williams.
''Sweet Bird of Youth'' originated around 1956 as two plays: a two-character version of the final play featuring only Chance and the Princess, and a one-act play titled ''The Pink Bedroom'' that was later developed into Act Two of the play, featuring Boss Finley and his family.
Plot
In St. Cloud, native son Chance Wayne has fled his home town, seeking to profit from his beauty and youth in New York or Hollywood (whichever of the two). When he fails as an actor and then a personality in both cities, he turns to the freelance career of gigolo. As the traveling escort of his current employer, Chance returns to St. Cloud in an attempt to win back his childhood lover, escorting an aging, depressed, semi-alcoholic film star: Alexandra del Lago, who is running away from the negative criticism she believes is the public and critical response to her attempt at a cinematic comeback in a recently released film.
Del Lago also had been running away and burying herself in sex, alcohol, and drugs until Chance recognized her while hustling in a Florida resort. He saw in her a last chance to build a relationship (taking care of her while on their drive back to Hollywood, with him as her escort). He is using his perceived gallantry to entice del Lago to give him the imprimatur of stardom which he failed to achieve on his own. As he and del Lago are driving along the Sunset Route back to California, Chance hopes that he will reunite with Heavenly Finley, his childhood sweetheart, and bring her back to Hollywood, where – with del Lago's aid – they will both achieve stardom.
Unfortunately once returned to St. Cloud, Chance discovers Heavenly is only a shadow of the girl he knew. During his last visit to St. Cloud, she got pregnant. When she discovered the problem, she had to have an abortion and because of an unskilled doctor's knife, she was hospitalized and the abortion resulted in a hysterectomy and her sterility. Her powerful and corrupt father and brother are determined to make Chance pay for the injury done to Heavenly. Chance worries that he will receive the same fate as a black man in town who recently was attacked and castrated.
Using Alexandra's car and funds, Chance tries to prove to the town that he is a success, but his old friends call his bluff and see him for what he has become. Meanwhile, Alexandra receives news that the criticism she's been running from is actually praise and that her comeback could not have been better. Chance believes he will ride with her to the top, but Alexandra has no wish for a gigolo to besmirch her good name. With his youth gone, Chance does not know how to move on with his life. Although she will not recommend him for a job in Hollywood, Alexandra urges him to continue as her escort, but he decides to stay and accept his inevitable punishment in St. Cloud.
Production history
![Tennessee Williams, Mila ptica mladosti, Drama SNG v Ljubljani](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Tennessee_Williams%2C_Mila_ptica_mladosti%2C_Drama_SNG_v_Ljubljani.jpg)
Pre-Broadway
Williams began work on the play in the fall of 1959, calling it at first ''The Enemy of Time''.
[Lahr, John ''Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh'' W. W. Norton & Company, 2014.]
As ''Sweet Bird of Youth'', the work-in-progress had a tryout production starring
Tallulah Bankhead
Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (January 31, 1902 – December 12, 1968) was an American actress. Primarily an actress of the stage, Bankhead also appeared in several prominent films including an award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's '' L ...
and
Robert Drivas in Coral Gables, Florida, directed by George Keathley
at his Studio M Playhouse in 1956 which began before Williams' agent
Audrey Wood knew he had a new play.
Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan (; born Elias Kazantzoglou ( el, Ηλίας Καζαντζόγλου); September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003) was an American film and theatre director, producer, screenwriter and actor, described by ''The New York Times'' as "one o ...
saw it. Kazan and
Cheryl Crawford
Cheryl Crawford (September 24, 1902 – October 7, 1986) was an American theatre producer and director.
Biography
Born in Akron, Ohio, Crawford majored in drama at Smith College. Following graduation in 1925, she moved to New York City and ...
were "party to the secret and petitioned Audrey to let them produce and direct the new play."
Broadway
The original production by
Cheryl Crawford
Cheryl Crawford (September 24, 1902 – October 7, 1986) was an American theatre producer and director.
Biography
Born in Akron, Ohio, Crawford majored in drama at Smith College. Following graduation in 1925, she moved to New York City and ...
opened on March 10, 1959 at the
Martin Beck Theatre
The Al Hirschfeld Theatre, originally the Martin Beck Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 302 West 45th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1924, it was designed by G. Albert Lansburgh in a Moorish a ...
in New York City. Directed by
Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan (; born Elias Kazantzoglou ( el, Ηλίας Καζαντζόγλου); September 7, 1909 – September 28, 2003) was an American film and theatre director, producer, screenwriter and actor, described by ''The New York Times'' as "one o ...
, it starred
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three ...
,
Geraldine Page
Geraldine Sue Page (November 22, 1924June 13, 1987) was an American actress. With a career which spanned four decades across film, stage, and television, Page was the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Acad ...
,
Sidney Blackmer
Sidney Alderman Blackmer (July 13, 1895 – October 6, 1973) was an American Broadway and film actor active between 1914 and 1971, usually in major supporting roles.
Biography
Blackmer was born and raised in Salisbury, North Carolina, t ...
,
Madeleine Sherwood,
Diana Hyland,
Logan Ramsey
Logan Carlisle Ramsey Jr. (March 21, 1921 – June 26, 2000) was an American character actor of television and film for nearly 50 years.
Early life
Ramsey was born in Long Beach, California, the son of Harriet Lillian (née Kilmartin) and Capta ...
, and
Rip Torn
Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn Jr. (February 6, 1931 – July 9, 2019) was an American actor whose career spanned more than 60 years. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his part as Marsh Turner in '' Cross Creek'' ...
.
Bruce Dern
Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor. He has often played supporting villainous characters of unstable natures. He has received several accolades, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and the Silver ...
also played a small role. The production was nominated for three
Tony Awards
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...
, including Best Actress for Page. The play ran for more than a year and 375 performances.
A revival opened on December 29, 1975 at the
Harkness Theatre, in a production directed by Edwin Sherin, starring
Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken (born Ronald Walken; March 31, 1943) is an American actor. Prolific in film, television and on stage, Walken is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Awa ...
as Chance Wayne and
Irene Worth as Princess Kosmonopolis. Worth won the 1976
Tony Award for Best Actress.
A production was planned to open in 2011 with
David Cromer directing and
Scott Rudin serving as producer. In 2012, the production showed at the
Goodman Theatre
Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of the Chicago theatre scene, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization. Part of its present theater complex occupies the la ...
to much acclaim, with
Diane Lane
Diane Colleen Lane (born January 22, 1965) is an American actress. Born and raised in New York City, Lane made her screen debut at age 14 in George Roy Hill's 1979 film '' A Little Romance''.
The two films that could have catapulted her to st ...
in the lead role.
London
After 26 years, ''Sweet Bird of Youth'' appeared in London's
West End. It opened on July 8, 1985 at the
Haymarket Theatre
The Theatre Royal Haymarket (also known as Haymarket Theatre or the Little Theatre) is a West End theatre on Haymarket, London, Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in ...
in a production directed by
Harold Pinter
Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that span ...
and presented by impresario
Douglas Urbanski
Douglas Urbanski is an American film producer and occasional film actor. He is a twice Oscar-nominated, Golden Globe Nominated and BAFTA-winning motion picture producer.
Life and career
Urbanski was born in Somerville, New Jersey.
In addition t ...
it starred
Lauren Bacall
Lauren Bacall (; born Betty Joan Perske; September 16, 1924 – August 12, 2014) was an American actress. She was named the 20th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute and received an Academy Honorary ...
and
Michael Beck
John Michael Beck Taylor (born February 4, 1949), commonly known as Michael Beck, is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Swan in '' The Warriors'' (1979) and Sonny Malone in '' Xanadu'' (1980).
Early life
Beck was born in Memphis, T ...
with
James Grout
James David Grout (22 October 1927 – 24 June 2012) was an English actor of radio and television.
Early life
Grout was born in London, the son of Beatrice Anne and William Grout. He trained to be an actor at RADA.
Career
His BBC Radio 4 appear ...
and
David Cunningham. This production later transferred to Los Angeles under the direction of
Michael Blakemore
Michael Howell Blakemore OBE, AO (born 18 June 1928) is an Australian actor, writer and theatre director who has also made a handful of films. A former Associate Director of the National Theatre, in 2000 he became the only individual to win ...
.
The play returned to the London stage on 1 June 2013 with a production at
The Old Vic
The Old Vic is a 1,000-seat, not-for-profit producing theatre in Waterloo, London, England. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, and renamed in 1833 the Royal Victoria Theatre. In 1871 it was rebuilt and reopened as the Royal ...
directed by
Marianne Elliott and starring
Kim Cattrall as Del Lago and
Seth Numrich
Seth Numrich ( ; born January 19, 1987) is an American stage, television, and film actor.
Early life
Numrich was born in Minneapolis. He studied at The Juilliard School graduating in acting in 2006 with Group 36
in acting.
He was a teaching ar ...
as Chance.
Chichester
The play was revived in 2017 at
Chichester Festival Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre is a theatre and Grade II* listed building situated in Oaklands Park in the city of Chichester, West Sussex, England. Designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, it was opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Mart ...
, running from June 2 to 24. Directed by
Jonathan Kent, it starred
Marcia Gay Harden
Marcia Gay Harden (born August 14, 1959) is an American actress. She is the recipient of accolades including an Academy Award and a Tony Award, in addition to nominations for a Critics' Choice Movie Award and three Primetime Emmy Awards.
Born ...
as Alexandra del Lago/The Princess Kosmonopolis and
Brian J. Smith
Brian Jacob Smith (born October 12, 1981) is an American actor, known for his role as Will Gorski in the Netflix-produced series ''Sense8,'' Lieutenant Matthew Scott in the military science fiction television series ''Stargate Universe'', and h ...
as Chance Wayne. Co-stars included
Emma Amos and
Richard Cordery.
Film and television adaptations
1962 feature film
In 1962, the play was made into a
feature film
A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
starring
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three ...
,
Geraldine Page
Geraldine Sue Page (November 22, 1924June 13, 1987) was an American actress. With a career which spanned four decades across film, stage, and television, Page was the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Acad ...
,
Shirley Knight,
Madeleine Sherwood,
Ed Begley,
Rip Torn
Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn Jr. (February 6, 1931 – July 9, 2019) was an American actor whose career spanned more than 60 years. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his part as Marsh Turner in '' Cross Creek'' ...
and
Mildred Dunnock
Mildred Dorothy Dunnock (January 25, 1901 – July 5, 1991) was an American stage and screen actress. She was twice nominated for an Academy Award: first '' Death of a Salesman'' in 1951, then '' Baby Doll'' in 1956.
Early life
Born in Baltimor ...
. The movie was adapted and directed by
Richard Brooks
Richard Brooks (May 18, 1912 – March 11, 1992) was an American screenwriter, film director, novelist and film producer. Nominated for eight Oscars in his career, he was best known for ''Blackboard Jungle'' (1955), ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' ...
.
The film version earned three Academy Award nominations, all for acting: Geraldine Page for Best Actress, Shirley Knight for Best Supporting Actress, and Ed Begley for Best Supporting Actor, which he won.
1989 television version
''
Sweet Bird of Youth'' was made for television in 1989, directed by
Nicolas Roeg
Nicolas Jack Roeg (; 15 August 1928 – 23 November 2018) was an English film director and cinematographer, best known for directing ''Performance'' (1970), '' Walkabout'' (1971), ''Don't Look Now'' (1973), '' The Man Who Fell to Earth'' (1976 ...
and starring
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...
,
Mark Harmon
Thomas Mark Harmon (born September 2, 1951) is an American actor. He is most famous for playing the lead role of Leroy Jethro Gibbs in '' NCIS''. He also appeared in a wide variety of roles since the early 1970s. After spending the majority of ...
,
Valerie Perrine,
Ronnie Claire Edwards
Ronnie Claire Edwards (February 9, 1933 – June 14, 2016) was an American actress, best known for playing Corabeth Walton Godsey on the TV series ''The Waltons''.
Early life
Edwards was born and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Acting caree ...
,
Cheryl Paris,
Kevin Geer
Kevin Scully Geer (November 7, 1952 – January 25, 2017) was an American actor of stage and screen.
Kevin Geer's father died when he was an infant. He moved from Reno, Nevada to Los Angeles with his mother, Claire Scully Geer. After graduat ...
and
Rip Torn
Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn Jr. (February 6, 1931 – July 9, 2019) was an American actor whose career spanned more than 60 years. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his part as Marsh Turner in '' Cross Creek'' ...
. It was adapted by
Gavin Lambert
Gavin Lambert (23 July 1924 – 17 July 2005) was a British-born screenwriter, novelist and biographer who lived for part of his life in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood. His writing was mainly fiction and nonfiction about the film indust ...
.
In popular culture
* In the
Robert Zemeckis
Robert Lee Zemeckis (born May 14, 1952) is an American filmmaker. He first came to public attention as the director of the action-adventure romantic comedy ''Romancing the Stone'' (1984), the science-fiction comedy ''Back to the Future'' film tr ...
film ''
Death Becomes Her
''Death Becomes Her'' is a 1992 American satirical black comedy fantasy film directed and produced by Robert Zemeckis. Written by David Koepp and Martin Donovan, it stars Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn as rivals who fight for the affections of th ...
'' (1992), lead character Madeline Ashton (played by
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise Meryl Streep (born June 22, 1949) is an American actress. Often described as "the best actress of her generation", Streep is particularly known for her versatility and accent adaptability. She has received numerous accolades throu ...
) is depicted as the star of a failing Broadway musical adaptation of ''Sweet Bird of Youth'' titled ''Songbird!''.
* The song "Sweet Bird of Truth" by the rock group
The The
() are an English post-punk band. They have been active in various forms since 1979, with singer-songwriter Matt Johnson being the only constant band member. achieved critical acclaim and commercial success in the UK, with 15 chart singles ...
is a reference to the Tennessee Williams play.
* A reference to the Tennessee Williams play (as well as Williams) was written by
Bernie Taupin
Bernard John Taupin (born 22 May 1950) is an English songwriter, singer and visual artist. He is best known for his long-term collaboration with musician Elton John, a songwriting partnership that is one of the most successful in history. Tau ...
in his lyric for
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...
's song "Lies", from John's 1995 album ''
Made in England''.
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
1959 plays
American plays adapted into films
Plays by Tennessee Williams
Plays set in Florida