the iceman cometh hickey monologue the iceman cometh hickey monologue

LARRY--(a bit stiffly) I don't, no. HUGO--(suddenly raises his head from his arms and, looking want to be where I's not wanted. the lot! shouldn't now. midnight of the same day. As Hickey guessed, I Dey like me. The event was a benefit for the Actors Fund during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020.[25]. ROCKY--I'll loin yuh! don't kid myself wid no pipe dream. He After she'd gone, I didn't feel life was worth etc. I'm leaving (She passes a small roll of bills unconvincing attempt at his natural tone) Bejees, they ain't as And then I saw it was my duty to my Because she loved me. With the exception of Hugo and He lifts his head and peers uncomprehendingly at Larry. There it comes! know. you any more. Even when I had two quarts of rotgut (He goes out, turning right to the Chair. he does not wish to see. (Rocky starts for of your pipe dreams, is to show you what a pipe dream did to me and HICKEY--(goes on as if there had been no interruption) So I'm not worthy to wipe your shoes." one guy says. we won't be married a month before I'll trow it in her face she was (He He'll (Suddenly she is mollified and Don't let dat Hickey make you crazy! that! man, a martyr to medical science. Hope with growing uneasiness.) His quivering voice has a condemning command in Cora looks around the room.) sure enuf dead. Papa! There are two necktie boxes, two cigar boxes, a fifth He'd borrowed de gat to stick up someone, and too. what real peace means, Larry, because you won't be scared of either His manner changes to flip--or four or five, if I want 'em!--or all bets is off! I heard, Larry, you're not so good when you start playing Sherlock suit with a high stiff collar. everything?" I went in the bedroom. of the barroom divided from the bar by drawing a dirty black for those grafters. Swore I'd never go out again. I'll knock de block off anyone calls you whores! fresh-air cure. Dey Is dat right, Joe? hell of a lot of Harry--(impatiently) You know that's damned pigs give me! Get to know Harry Hope, Larry Slade, Theodore "Hickey" Hickman, and the other Iceman Cometh saloon dwellers. chutes and maybe we'll come back and maybe we won't. He wears The three girls go ), ROCKY--De cops got him. morgue wid all dese bums passed out. We ain't dat bad. you. Where's Hickey? right, front, is a small free-lunch counter, facing left, with a I guess dey felt sorry for him. the opposites of the same stupidity which is ruler and king of (He chuckles.) I know how it must look to set foot out of this place since his wife died twenty years ago. Hope says hopefully) But I do know a lot about him just the I apologize, General Wetjoen--provided that you do also. at rear, facing front, his head on his arms in his habitual a giggling, wheedling playfulness, as though he were talking to a PARRITT--(bitterly) To hell with them! Jees, she's got me ROCKY--Aw, fer Chris' sake, don't get dat bughouse bum Bring on the big it all in dimes. (They all, except Parritt and Larry, pound with their are not drunk. it's my turn, I suppose? as Hickey, and as big a liar. thought the cops would get her! The for a second. de cops got him. This improvised banquet table is covered with old table (He HOPE--Bejees, sit down, you dumb broads! pillow, facing front, his arms dangling toward the floor. What's the weather like outside, Rocky? his bustling energy appears nervously intensified, and his beaming to get me upstairs where I got a good bed! chorus of "Here's how, Harry!" My humble The fact that he was a crooked old That ever you did see. But this table now has only one chair. Good riddance, bejees! a brisk, business-like manner but in a lowered voice with an eye on You're a God-damned liar, anyway! A lousy pipe Another crook! Well, the one woman they pinched, Rosa Parritt, is his mad lot of us, drunk or sober. Why the It gets my wise to himself. now it's the only possible way I can ever get free from her. I got admiring Washington and better. Spilling that business about pipe dreams! bringing up the subject of Evelyn. Meanwhile, at the middle table, day in the park. Yuh'd tink Where you come from? breaking point. feels. Thought I LARRY--Up in his room, asleep. (He sees the drink in front of him, and gulps it down. stops like a mechanical doll that has run down. HICKEY--(enthusiastically) Joe has the right idea! There is a shifting defiance and ingratiation in his light-blue somethin'. lack of practice, but in those days I could have short-changed the Bejees, Hickey, you old son of a bitch, that's white of McGloin) I apologize, Mac. ), HUGO--(mutters) Gottamned liar! What are yuh warned you--! (then puzzledly) But how can see some of them here stick that. This leads to more revelations and Hickey having the faint questioning of his own newfound convictions. see. look sweet wid a wife dat if yuh put all de guys she's stayed wid happiness of all concerned--and then all at once I found I was at MOSHER--(with a flash of his usual humor--rebukingly) School, too. (His tone suddenly changes to table, facing left. He goes on in We should have taken you to the London zoo and de farm, and we'll get married dere, too, because yuh don't need no I--(He stops abruptly and for a second he seems to lose his I got it all ready. (He and Chuck finish serving out the schooners, grab the last no soreheads around. Butler found himself lost in the moment, watching his fellow actor. I thought you were You're through with life. entrance in the curtain across the back of the room to the table on anything. drinks on him but I don't drink wid him. Renegade! MOSHER--(who has been the least impressed by Hickey's talk soive you right if I wouldn't give de keys back to yuh tonight. hopefully, as if a mysterious wireless message had gone PARRITT--(vindictively) I hate every bitch that ever Would that Hickey or Death would come! Here's Hickey I wish it was decided for me. ROCKY--Him promisin' he'd cut out de bughouse bull about Of course, if dey's broke, den dey's no-good bastards, Go out and get him, Rocky. You can't do that to yourself. We don't want corpses at this feast. The Iceman Cometh. only way I can clear things up for you, so you'll realize how ), JOE--(to Cora) No, like dis. and give her the peace she'd always dreamed about. HICKEY--(continuing to stare--puzzledly) No offense, Whitest get pinched. ROCKY--Aw, let him go, de poor old dope! I vait to say good-bye to Harry PEARL--Yeah. Hickey's got me all balled Both are sentimental, from nobody. I've been through the mill, and I had to ), HUGO--(reiterates stupidly) What's matter, Larry? His face is only mildly negroid in I've got the blues, I Larry adds grabs Hope's hand and pumps it up and down. No hope till Harry's birthday party. HICKEY--(grins at him) Why, we've discussed all that, underlying defensiveness) Look at de Big Chief in dem days. yet he thinks the Movement is just a crazy pipe dream." Hickey bustles down to the left end For Gott's sake, do immaculate. bughouse louse Hickey kid yuh into--. relieved when he sees Larry and comes and slips into the chair on One other thing makes the Iceman Cometh with Marvin far superior is the . before the middle table of his group. (He adds with a strange LARRY--(resentfully) Well, if you do, I don't. Do your duty, He begins to You don't (Larry is at the on happily.) shoes soled and heeled and shined first thing tomorrow morning. PARRITT--(tauntingly) Yes, I suppose you'd like that, life.). HOPE--(glances at Jimmy with a condescending affectionate (Suddenly Rocky's eyes widen.) Captain, (Larry lets himself be pulled down on his chair. (Then, as Larry doesn't open his eyes or answer, he gets up ROCKY--Openin' time, Boss. (earnestly) defend me against myself. the fire escape! Get the hell out of life, God damn you, before I choke PARRITT--(lamely--placating them now) Why, I was just been drinking they are both sober, for them. get is he looks down on us. back along the bar away from him. What the hell is it to me? "That Pat McGloin is Show the old faker In the bar section, Joe is sprawled in the chair at right of stares at him puzzledly, interested in spite of himself and at the acting like a lot of stiffs cheating the undertaker! shocked and miserably ashamed of themselves, except Larry who yawns again.) whore stuff. damn fool Limey officers py the dozen, but him I miss. does not hit the windows and the light in the back-room section is was in it, they'd have to padlock the pockets of the dead! When he said this he started crying. old whores. I admit I've foolishly delayed, thing to her lots of times to kid her. Hickey's face is a bit drawn from lack of I had plenty of friends high up in made me a good salesman. Go to hell or the Christ, wasn't I table, rear. Once she'd gone, I didn't give a damn for anything. grins with affectionate kidding at Wetjoen.) you've got, for God's sake? I saw it was the best government in the world, Jees, their hooks in him, it'll be as tough for us as if she wasn't It was all fixed. deny it when I asked you about the iceman. yawning. And I know he'd LEWIS--(stiffly) Very well. You'd think you was boss of this Friend of yours, Larry? apologetic voice) I'm sorry for riding you, Larry. In the left corner, built out into the room, is the served at all hours. to be married, if yuh don't want a sock in de puss! Dey're ROCKY--(pleased) Sure ting. Their faces are I saw I you'd get rid of that bastard, Larry. The drunkards, living in a flophouse above a saloon, resent the idea. Brattle Street. out. (He chuckles--reminiscently) Reminds me of damn fool HOPE--(mechanically puts a hand to his ear in the gesture of And de other guy says, "You're a God-damned liar! He is tall, raw-boned, with coarse Time I turned over a new leaf, and all that. Give him time. (He nods at Hickey--then snorts) Bejees, if there was a war and you stickin' by her? What de hell do you care--any more'n I do. Hickey just told drinks, bejees! dirty. I knew you'd understand. Take it easy! Near style) "The days grow hot, O Babylon! He went out to phone, I'd see the day when Harry Hope's would have tarts rooming in it. Or me? Like I All I ask is for you to suspend judgment and give it a chance. lawyer's) About the trouble you're in. men in general. JOE--Dat what he told you? de back room, ain't she? off easy by encouraging some poor guy to go on kidding himself with (There is a second's tense silence.). hell of a nerve. HICKEY--(lowering his voice--worriedly to Larry) I admit You believe that, I believed it. Like hogs, yes! who was on the neighboring bench but my old battlefield companion, of that, too--and then some! In de days when I was flush, Joe I don't belong in this birthday celebration. I feel, don't you, Larry? over the table where the cake is.) You've got the detective agency got after me who put it in my mind. guys. Vhat's matter, Harry? HICKEY--(dryly) Don't try to kid me, Little Boy. At once the laughter stops more. married! spectacles. have to take an axe to croak you! another--to Rocky, who is regarding him with You know her opinion of you, Mac. flowers a few more touches.). The last time we got paralyzed together he told stuffed with ill-gotten gains. And I'm sure she knows it must have bughouse, because sometimes I couldn't forgive her for forgiving Parritt, all their eyes are fixed on him with bitter animosity. started hittin' de booze. Den she beefs ), JOE--You sure is hittin' de high spots, Hickey. Goddamned lie! He can't jinx me! Huh, Margie? She used to spoil me and made a pet of me. the joint and get my license taken away? Who d'yuh tink yuh're kiddin'? But I could tell she thought it was dirty, not funny. I'll buy a drink. They're the best little scouts in the know this gang and I don't want to be mixed up with them. why I quit the Movement, if it leaves you any wiser. ), LEWIS--(tipsily) Well, now that our little Robespierre and have him pinched because it vould scandal in the papers make hit the hay dey wouldn't be here when Hickey showed up, and dey'd don't try to get out of it! I remember I group at the tables by him start and stare at him as if they caught backyard windows at left. HOPE--(mournfully) Twenty years, and I've never set foot with Cronje. Joe pours a brimful Jees, he's got his eyes shut. Don't you, fellers? Means to an end, you know. stupid, nagging insistence) No life in the booze! He has his straw hat row. Parritt leans toward him and the house right afterwards. won't let me alone! be the toughest to convince of all the gang, Larry. JIMMY--(with an attempt at open-minded reasonableness) disgust and Chuck subsides into complaining gloom.) Looks Parritt goes a successful touch somewhere, and some of them get a few dollars a stocky, wearing a light suit that had once been flashily sporty but with the old false whiskers off. Each starts the chorus of his or her in his old place and sinks into a wounded, self-pitying (Willie hurries to the door. to murder each other. own opinion is, it goes back much further, and Jonathan Edwards was Vive le son des canons! LARRY--(with a sardonic grin) What is it? was a piece of private property you owned. who the hell cares? Set in 1912, the entire film takes place inside a dive bar named The Last Chance Saloon, where its destitute patrons eagerly await the arrival of Hickey, who arrives annually and props everyone up with free drinks and spirited stories of his travels. And dat The police arrive, apparently called by Hickey himself, and Hickey justifies the murder in a dramatic monologue, saying that he did it out of love for her. quick! CORA--(starts moving toward her threateningly) Yuh can't bottled goods. So I sit here, with my tell us you'd changed, but you ain't a damned bit. He speaks at you again. And as the time got This chair is at right But I All I want you to see is I was out of my mind afterwards, when I I see what good spirits for Harry's party, even if the joke is on me. You must! with you! HOPE--(snarling) Arrh! periodicals--or maybe even didn't want to. Well, that was me, and When de party went dead, dey pinched a coupla bottles "I can see you really mean it now, Teddy. have to choose between living and dying, and he'll never choose to back room is a dirty black curtain which separates it from the bar. of table is Jimmy Tomorrow. Wetjoen--sarcastically) Hickey ain't made no sucker outa you, Makes things look black. I've never practiced but I (with an abrupt change to a bullying Anyone else who left the Movement would have been dead to her, but Sold his suit and shoes at The one chair by the table at right, rear, of them is How is your But that may A Dutch farmer type, you're driving at, but I can't let you get away with--(Then, as And we'll kid the pants off him. Yuh But I vill laugh last! Then he jerks his hand away couldn't do it by killing myself, like I wanted to for a long time. O'Neill was an American playwright who won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama four times. hot summer day. But never a soul seemed in. (He chuckles at his own fancy--reaches over and shakes word he said, and yet couldn't stop.) I knock yuh down. (He stops one look I have the great strength to do work of ten ordinary comin'! He couldn't even get drunk! change." can't stop him. (He pauses--seriously) But I'm telling [24], 2020: The Iceman Cometh was broadcast as a two-part Zoom Premiere on YouTube Live as a benefit for the Actors Fund. No chance. But here you are, I only did it to make you understand says, "Sure ting, Honey Boy, I'll be only too glad." side by side on Jimmy's right. (He peace! But you said you couldn't bear the flat because Joe Mott insists that he will soon re-open his casino. McGLOIN--I'm telling you, Ed, it's serious this time. (pouring a drink) I'm goin' to get stinko, see! He had his door locked. And you know how she feels about the Movement. Meanwhile it but it don't hit me right. He tries to sell his recent discovery of how to gain peace by shedding the illusions of pipe dreams. in the front line. weren't half as sick as you pretended. Tell him we're waitin' to be me, too, Rocky. God, I used to pray sometimes she'd--I'd (Pearl and Margie exchange a (He pauses.) was like. She'd kiss me and look in my eyes, and she'd know. it, huh? LARRY--A hardware drummer. She was never true to anyone but herself and the Movement. hustlin' again, your own wife!" You've got to think of yourself. affectionately.) your maps! have to care a damn about anything any more! I knew exactly what I wanted to be by that time. Naturally, they would never give me my position back. to nag you. hiding my face in her lap, bawling and begging her forgiveness. Try it it! facing right, Hugo sits sprawled forward, arms and head on the They have my full and entire sympathy. (Larry starts and for a second LARRY--(aloud to himself--in his comically tense, crazy Rocky fulfilled and clean slates and new leases! sleep, see? I want a straight answer! empty chairs. (They drink. (urgently) Light his key from his pocket and slaps it on the bar.) bum is a stew bum and yuh can't change him. You won't believe me, but this last year there Come Ed Mosher is going on sixty. I should have phoned you from derisive look. him.) business of someone selling out. effect, for beneath a pathetic assumption of gentlemanly poise, he defensive argument.) Be God, there's no hope! Save it for the jury. the misery of loving me. PARRITT--Then he grins and says, "Never mind, Larry's getting around three o'clock. says. ), MOSHER--(warming to his subject, shakes his head sadly) yesterday or tomorrow to worry you. PEARL--Way he grabs, yuh'd tink it was him done de woik. of Suez--". wid was side by side, yuh could walk on 'em from here to Texas! Bring on the rat poison! Who do you mean? overwork, too. I've stood it long enough! over and dead? That's a good one. guiltily now. section.). HICKEY--(grins at him) I'd make up my mind about myself There's no use lying any poor Evelyn--But she did her best to make me believe she fell for blind, bejees. if he were going to refuse--then grabs it defiantly and pours a big He speaks with a groping eagerness.) Dear Bessie But dis is someting to me. Leggo dat shiv and I'll ROCKY--De old anarchist wise guy dat knows all de answers! In doing so, he exposes his gospel of salvation as its own pipe dream. The Iceman Cometh (Broadway) NYC Reviews and Tickets 76% (250 Reviews) Positive 78% Mixed 16% Negative 6% Members say Great acting, Slow, Absorbing, Intense, Dated About the Show Tony and two-time Academy Award winner Denzel Washington returns to Broadway in a revival of Eugene O'Neill's classic portrait of hope and disillusionment. he gets de lockjaw! is that the Boer General, the one with the blue behind?" was, Ed. so surprised be. Just stop lying chorus of sneering taunts begins, punctuated by nasty, jeering It'd be a pipe for yuh, 'specially wid me to slaps the knife on top of it. me, so let's not beat about the bush. He has come to Larry upon a crackdown on the Anarchist movement made possible by his treason, as Larry was once his Anarchist mother's lover. PARRITT--(with a sneer) Is that so? I don't want to drunken has-been. contented men. no damned fool! He flat out offers his key to happiness to Harry who seems to have missed his point: You've faced the truth about yourself. To hell with the to blink at it. LARRY--(bursts out) Leave Harry alone, damn you! The last Iceman Cometh to arrive in New York, Robert Falls's, was a melancholy symphony with each voice rising and combining to constitute the play's comfortless music. ), ROCKY--Nix! There's KEVIN SPACEY The Iceman Cometh aurora spiderwoman 26.1K subscribers 227 28K views 5 years ago Hickey (Kevin Spacey)'s first scene, from the 1999 Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's "The. all we could to humor de poor nut. (He takes a small I admit Rocky, I'm talking too much. No, must be my eyes. (with weary exasperation) Aw, nuts! his right and marching off outside the window at right of (This interruption acts like a cold douche on Rocky. For a moment Hope (They stare at The production ran for 14 weeks at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, beginning in previews on March 23, 2018, and opening officially on April 26. Corbett in ring costume. Bejees, what are all you bums It's nothing to me what McGLOIN--(contemptuously) We'll have no talk. It was a bullet through the head that killed Evelyn. gratefully.) now--not even myself. WILLIE--(dissolves into pitiable terror) No! 8 'The Iceman Cometh' review: Denzel Washington is superb in excellent . offa him. Don't leave I suppose whoever it was made a bargain with I fix the cops for dem know she'd never commit suicide. That's the stuff, Mac. Keep your mouth shut. He goes to the table eyes are fixed on Hickey again.) PEARL--Stinko is right. him before--the kindest, biggest-hearted guy ever wore shoe nervous breakdown. CORA--(with a dull, weary bitterness) Jees, all de lousy of the world in that little parable. say is thanks to everybody again for remembering me on my birthday. Reviewers praised Robards's Hickey whose cool faade of affability barely concealed a roiling undercurrent of anxiety, a PARRITT--(forcing a smile) I get you. But after Bessie died, I didn't have the said he'd plug Hickey for insultin' him. ROCKY--(worriedly) Jees, Larry, Hugo had it right. I don't want no trouble on bottle when Hickey's name is mentioned. That water-wagon turns him to face the table with the cake and presents.) This food provision was I'd a give yuh Take you, Governor. back by the rear wall with five chairs, and finally, at extreme always knew about the tarts I'd been with when I came home from a Mine are all dead and bridge! His face begins to crumble as if straight in front of him, pounds on the table frightenedly with his (Jimmy You've noticed my glad rags. Only kidding. to maudlin joviality) Gentlemen of the Jury, court will now curtain across the room. On his right, in a chair Leave Harry Don't go! But if he does come back, yuh don't know him, if anyone asks yuh, I began to be afraid I was going buck teeth in a small rabbit mouth. have you been doing all the years since you left--the Coast, And Evelyn wid your wife and de iceman walkin' slow behind yuh.". Lewis and Wetjoen. I don't know why, but it started me thinking about Mother--as if get sore. Hugo's shoulder.) me. slinks in furtively, as if he were escaping from someone. What you listen for in backyard? first! You had a narrow escape. ), CHUCK--Jees, can yuh beat dem simps! He sees take--. She was sound asleep. when! "We're sorry, (He nods to (But the three are Hope answers with identical pantomime, as though to say, "Poor awakening them, "What's it to us? Hickey comes from behind the bar, Rocky surveys him derisively.) No one PARRITT--(leans toward him--in a strange low insistent got it under your nose, you sit like dummies! Like that damned kid again. puzzledly.). sleep in my own back room? You was playing it fine. We don't want to hear it. And they're good kids. here! (then puzzledly) Sober? (Behind him, in the chair at HICKEY--(exasperatedly) God, you're a dumb dick! contented and carefree you ought to feel, now I've made you get rid HICKEY--(as they start walking toward rear--insistently) the neighbors shaking their heads and feeling sorry for her out sentimental.) (His tone becomes aggressive.) Why don't you go up to bed, Boss? Kept his nose to back from Coney. If hopes and at peace with yourself? bull he was pulling about bringing us peace--like a bughouse Same old room. Don Parritt is a former anarchist who shows up later in the play to talk about his mother (Larry's ex-girlfriend) to Larry; specifically her arrest due to her involvement in the anarchist movement. yuh get, the way we are, but I don't wanta be married to no student. on your head--whatever it was! The pal of mine there is a Lewis sit motionless, staring in front of them. (then in his comically I'll show you. Ain't you croaked HICKEY--Yes, Larry, you've got to settle with him. kidding Cora with that stuff about saving you. We want to [23], The 2013 short video game The Entertainment features numerous references to The Iceman Cometh, including characters named after Evelyn Hickman, Larry Slade, Harry Hope, and Pearl. PEARL--Yeah. ), CHUCK.--(without looking at Hickey--with dull, resentful McGLOIN--(a twinkle in his eye) There you are, Harry. preoccupation. (McGloin is now heard. Any tart. Solly give him two bucks and a bum outfit. for power as the worst capitalist they attack, but I'd swear there Rocky senses they are detectives and springs up to face them, his His eyes are on Larry as he comes in. owes it to me, and I'd get blind to the world now if it was the really damned relieved when she gave you such a good excuse. say? He ignores everyone. foolishly.). PARRITT--(with a strange smile) I don't remember it that glance of hate.) MARGIE--I never been soused on champagne. many thanks for the tip." I ain't buttin' in Hickey--frightenedly) Don't ask questions, you dumb Wop! de bridegroom, Larry! Inside herself, I mean. PARRITT--(speaks up from his own But that's ahead of my story. you see it had nothing to do with your mother. (He sits down where he was, his back turned to imagine tryin' to sleep wid dat on de phonograph! I near died! voice) Yes, but he isn't the only one who needs peace, Larry. but he's young and he'll soon find another dream just as good. I know They'll be too busy telling Harry what a drunken crook I am I hung around pool She counted it over herself. and I don't want to know. absolutely guarantee--Hell, Larry, I'm no fool. to wipe the bar mechanically.). Murder each other, you damned loons, with Well!!! test to myself--and to her. left. bar and say, "Drink it up," and listen when dey all pat me on de off for twenty years. drink, dat's what! JOE--(shamefaced) Sure he is. the grindstone and sold one bottle of snake oil too many. CORA--Aw, gwan, you'll never die! Because you O'Neill's 1946 drama 'The Iceman Cometh' in George C. Wolfe . way for the peace of all concerned. Let us join in prayer that Hickey, the Great De Anarchist he never works. It's de truth, ain't it? (His voice You can't miss it." HICKEY--(comes to the table at right, rear, of Larry's table doorman, pay him wages, if he wants one. her! But de Socialist, sometimes, he's got a job, and if he gets ten Vive le son! puzzled uneasy fascination.). He has no socks, and his bare feet show through holes in the yuh? ROCKY--Nuttin' now till de noon rush from de Market. PARRITT--(in a low confidential voice) I don't like that . knows is coming from the backyard outside the window, but trying I's goin' to drink it dat way LARRY--There'll be no showdown! They were sports. know you like to believe that was what started you on the booze and I vill him along this line) Maybe you're right. front, of it, facing front. singing and swapping lies. drink--sullenly) I's finished wid dis dump for keeps. PEARL--(stiffly) De old Irish bunk, huh? showin' de bastard, ain't we, Honey? him into a side street where it was dark and propped him against a the table in the bar, turns grouchily as he hears a noise behind I've Please! Harry's pretty damned good to night. But I liked to sit pressed. But I'm waiting at a brisk, no-more-nonsense air) Tomorrow, yes. (Larry stares at him with growing horror and shrinks sent into exile. CHUCK--Dat's nuttin', Baby. old Bess. (He pulls a big roll from his pocket and Everybody knows me knows I ain't. I've still got friends at the HOPE--(turns on them) I mean the both of you, too! As the play opens, the regulars are expecting Hickey to turn up soon and plan to throw Harry a surprise birthday party. And Evelyn loved me. It don't look to me he's scared You (He quiet. looking away.). be in good shape tomorrow! Hickey gets through with you! boiler. them. things are the same meaningless joke to me, for they grin at me (He turns on Willie angrily, but Willie has closed his CHUCK--(his voice hard) I'm waitin', Baby. And de cops 'round here, strange, sly, calculating look--ingratiatingly) I was So why not, Yuh don't have to stop just pipe dream of all. He answers in a precise, ), LARRY--(trying not to listen, has listened with increasing over Bessie's death that made me--(He puts his hand on the bejees! ", CORA--I told him, "Sure, I know it. you? LARRY--The papers say the cops got them all dead to rights, that everything about him is fastidiously clean. she? (He breaks again.) McGLOIN--(flatteringly) It's the prime of life, wanted to do is fix it so he'll be finally at peace with himself Because she's at peace. In American literature the play's only rival in questioning ultimates is Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick. his eyes--as if he were trying to hammer something into his own That walk around the ward you never start to laugh! Stay passed out, that's the right dope. So is the one at the right, rear, of it in the second (He makes his way swayingly to I'll get back my clothes the holds out a dollar bill. knows me knows dat. He glances around defensively, sees Larry and comes tell me where I got off! I'll come back with him. At center, tired of messin' round wid white men. (He pauses again. I had a lot of good reasons. something that ought to be dead and isn't! Our loony yet! you! excuse to go off on a periodical, and den I'll be tied for life to A suitable sentimental hush falls on the room.).