Below, Tennessee Williams writes to Maria St. Just. The actress was the model for Maggie’s character in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which had recently premiered at the Morosco Theatre in Manhattan on March 24, 1955. Upon traveling to Rome with his partner Frank Merlo, Williams lent St. Just his apartment. She would not stay for long; her stay was interrupted by the novelist and playwright Carson McCullers, who insisted that Williams had given her first dibs on the flat. St. Just left, giving way to McCullers’ demand. After the event Williams wrote to St. Just, urging her to consider how McCullers might have been “panicky with loneliness” after her mother’s death. He wanted McCullers to have a place of rest, though he asks her to “limit her stay in the apartment to the shortest period that is psychologically essential to her.”
(on letterhead Hotel Excelsior, Rome, sent to 323 East 58th Street)
June 12, 1955
Darling Maria:
Forgive me for putting off writing you, it wasn’t because I wasn’t thinking about you. Rome lacks your presence, as do most places where you have been and gone.
We are right now camping at the Excelsior but have found the most fabulous apartment, for less than we paid for that two-story furnace last year, and we’ll move into it in six days. (My typewriter’s on the blink, the space bar is broken and the Horse finds many excuses to not have it fixed). The new apartment is in Trastevere, right across the river from last year’s location, but surrounded by a lovely little piazza, a beautiful giardino, and the Palazzo Corsini in which Queen Christina of Sweden lived twenty years and died. It has four lovely rooms, a huge bath and kitchen, and will be cool since there is exposure on all sides: a perfect room for me to work in.
Anna is determined to play Orpheus but is not studying English, I think she is just too lazy. Her English, however, is better than it was in the States, for some reason; I will have to be severe with her about it, for even Anna couldn’t get away with the part if she doesn’t speak freely. She sincerely admires your acting, but says you are best in very dramatic scenes. Of course this is true. She is an excellent and completely honest judge of acting. She also feels that you would be at your best in high comedy, where you could use to advantage your unusual sense of humor. Sophisticated high comedy, in other words. I think so, too. Either that or highly charged drama such as the final scenes of Streetcar. You have not yet learned to play quiet scenes quietly. (Gently). There is still a little too much snap, snap, off with his head, or hers, the hell with croquet!
There is to be a film of War and Peace here in Italy and Mario Chiari, Luchino’s friend and designer, has a job with it. I told him at once you ought to be given a part and will press the matter if there is any change to. Will advise you if anything comes of this. Meanwhile, work hard, I think John [Perry]’s letter makes it clear that London is stout as far as your acting is concerned. The day I sailed I told Audrey to give you a cheque when you need one, so don’t hesitate to let her know if you run short of funds.
Please try to preserve the big fern. I’ve never had anything so graceful and lovely in a place of mine.
Much love, “Wee” Tennessee
From Five O’Clock Angel: Letters of Tennessee Williams to Maria St. Just. Edited by Elia Kazan. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990, pp.115-6
FURTHER READING
Read about Tennessee Wiliams’ death as he choked on a eye drop cap.
Read the Paris Review interview, where Tennessee Williams talks about his relationship with Frank Merlo and his friendship with Carson McCullers.