What is there to say about, in the voice of Stanley Kowalski, "I'm the King around here" Marlon Brando ... I remember the first time I saw Marlon Brando in a film other than the legendary 'The Godfather' (not knowing at the time that he indeed was a legend, if only for his individuality himself!). With all the Marlon Brando films I could talk about, and brother I could go on for days ... literally. I'm going to focus on one film in particular. The one I don't talk about anymore, the one I don't watch anymore, the one that is very hard to even hear in the background anywhere, for me, anymore. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. I want so much at times to join in on the conversation with this piece, that I simply have to turn away for how deeply this film, this actor, Marlon Brando, runs with me. 'Guys and Dolls,' 'On the Waterfront,' 'The Young Lions,' 'A Countess From Hong Kong,' 'Teahouse of the August Moon' (don't start me talkin' on that one), 'The Score,' 'The Godfather,' ... well, you get the picture ... then there is "Streetcar." And because there isn't anything that I can do, say, or feel in my life without it having some kind of connection to my Mom, with my Mom, or because of my Mom, I come to realize, that she will be talked about for the rest of my life. so long as my Dad or I live. Nothing else. I say that because, as with a far amount of everything else in my life, my love for this Marlon Brando film, "A Streetcar Named Desire," stems off an actual occurrence that happened in my household some years ago. Growing up, the only image I had of Marlon Brando outside of tabloid Brando was 'The Godfather' to go by (I was born post Godfather era, when Brando looked less Vito, more Carmine from 'The Freshman.') So imagine my surprise when I grew up and "found" a Film adaptation of a Musical called GUYS AND DOLLS one day on Turner Classic Movies! (UPDATE: Wasn't going to comment on recent "trending events" because it's not my thing, but, growing up in the latter years of Brando's life, "media/tabloid Brando" was the only image my generation had of him, it was his autobio "Songs My Mother Taught Me" (where he is *very* candid about his own personal life with no help from anyone else's two cents) & learning of his help w/ the Black Panthers, Civil Rights movement (see the Documentary A HUEY P. NEWTON STORY), a broken upbringing, and his sincere (especially in his youth) free willingness to help other people, regardless of their background, that made me a Brando Fan Girl, in addition to his ability to bring authenticity to a character unlike I had ever seen on screen done before. And much as I do with all Cinema, I like films for several reasons, be it who I was with when I watched it, what impact or impression it made on me, where I watched them, the back story behind why I watched ... an emotional and personal experience. Cinema to me is like clothing, I wear them according to how I feel. And I wear them everyday. Daytime and nighttime. Now, I'll carry on.) Before the film even started, I looked up the information on the tele guide just to see what it was about. When, there it was, all written, "MARLON BRANDO SINGS ..." *blank stare* I'm sorry, you want me to do what?? ... I went mute. Sitting on edge with anticipation for the start of this film and his arrival in it. I hate to admit I barley noticed Nathan Detroit ... Wait, wait, wait! Not to take away from Frankie; when it comes to The Chairman of the Board, there just IS no other. He IS the top! "And don't tell yo Mama." But deuce take it, when I heard the words: "Sky Masterson!" "Detroit! ... How goes your percentage of life Nathan?" My speech faltered. I didn't know what to say, I just looked on with amazement ... could this be "The Godfather" in training? No. It couldn't be. So I waited. I mean even if it was ... No. Definitely not ... Oh, but it was! And it wasn't until ... "Do you take sinners here?" ... I could allow myself to believe it! It is! Well, of course I just had to know everything there was to know about this man that the paparazzi seemed to enjoy to follow and write about in the papers and on the tele. Then why not go to the source himself, right? Well ... at least in a biographical sense at least, told by himself, of course. Who could write better about ones life than 'the one,' no? And WOW, what a read. It's -- well, I'll just leave it there ... Right on the coffee table for you to read for yourself. When I got "hit" by Marlon Brando, it didn't come in small doses, it came crashing down on me all at once. After 'Guys and Dolls,' I'm telling you brother, that was it! I fell in line with every Marlon Brando film there was. Good or bad, young or old, thin or ... well, you get the point. But my first "non-Godfather" film after that infamous 'Guys and Dolls' introduction was 'A Streetcar Named Desire.' I remember after I bought it, my Mom (my "Film Partner in Crime") said, "Want me to watch it with you?" I told her no, I'd rather do this one on my own at first. Not that I wasn't sure if I'd like it or not, but I just wanted ... Silence. Complete silence. Just to see, can a person live up to what I have now been hearing and reading in his acting? And after seeing the film, I realized I could have been in a crowd of a million people and wouldn't have heard a thing but what was on screen. From seeing him in the background at the bowling alley starting a row with his bowling buddies with Stella pointing him out to Blanche, "The one that's makin' all the rhubarb. Isn't he wonderful looking?," to the very end when you can hear him scream out her name that final time as Stella runs up the steps, baby cradled in her arms, "I'm not going back, not this time. I'm never going back." I don't even remember taking a breath the whole time I was in front of the screen, in awe. Not just Brando's performance, but the entire cast as well, how they came together. I had already read Brando's book, 'Songs My Mother Taught Me,' which put me in mind to know a bit as to what to expect about the play being adapted from stage to screen, on how the whole Jessica Tandy/Vivien Leigh casting played out. How everyone else made that transition from the stage but her (Jessica Tandy), and how Vivien had played the role of Blanche on the London stage previously, directed then by her husband Laurence Olivier. In that too, had me spellbound in watching her performance. How, having read her story as well at one time, could she stand through the process of having to act those scenes out night after night on stage, then to follow it up on screen, when your life itself seems to be ... a trail somewhat in the same direction as Blanche in a lot of mirroring ways, or so it has been told, discovered, talked about. What a new ... respect, and heartache, I held for her. One can only stand in applause over her performance. I remember walking out of my room in that "film daze" you go through when you think you have sat through the best film you've ever seen in your life. You know that speechless look you give ... that *sigh* as if to say, "What now?" ... that unbelievable "Citizen Kane clap" you begin to do before you know it, when you think about what you just saw ... Or maybe, that's just me. Films move me that way. My Mom then asked, "How was it?" She didn't know what those three words were going to mean over the next several years. Because that would be the one film that became our "tagline film" more than any other film she and I have ever seen ... put together. And believe me when I tell you, that's a lot of movie. She and I were the Queen's of film quotes bouncing off of one another. We had one fit for every occasion. To the point, we have even had people ask us if they could join in, that what we were doing looked way too much fun. Sort of the Mike Ross and Harvey Spector in our own right ... SUITS, I'm lookin' at you. (In the voice of Joel McCrea: "That's a different plot entirely.") Anyhow, after that first night of watching "Streetcar," that DVD did NOT come out of my DVD player for over a month (alright ... way over a month). Hence forth, when I would turn on my tele or when I turned it off, there it was, still playing ... on repeat. Everyday. Such being, when I turned on the tele, I'd just roll with it until ... well ... until. I have to say, there are only two films I have ruined no matter the medium ... WAIT! I take that back ... three films, be it recorded on VHS (during those days) or bought on DVD, and that was 'Gilda' ... "Sure, I'm decent," 'Guys and Dolls,' "Sister Sarah, where is yesterday's thought for today?," and ... 'A Streetcar Named Desire,' "Now just remember what Huey Long said, that every man's a King, and I'm the King around here. And don't you forget it." Now have been replaced in good working order. Soon thereafter, the daily routine began to "get around." By that I mean, the Moms and Pops could hear "Streetcar" playing on the regular when I was home and at night. And just when "that scene" hit, my Mom began telling my Dad, "Uh-oh, here comes Stella again ..." and then ... "HEY STELLAAAAA!" "There she is." It was to the point my friends didn't even want to come in the house anymore because they could already hear it playing from the living room. And because I do Theatrical Productions; when prepping for a show, what's playing in the background no matter where I am, script writing, sewing, making props, sketching, going through fittings? ... Yep. That's right. "Well you just tell her to hurry it up, 'cause she's been at my house five months now, and her time is up!" To a fault, I became with that film. I've had a knack for hearing a film to where I could quote it within a short length of time before. But this one? Forget it. I knew everyone's line from the beginning of that film to the end. You know how it is, when you've seen a film so much, you haven't watched it in awhile. It plays as your, "go to" film in the background while you work or do whatever it is you do, so much, you've never bothered to look up at the screen. I can even recall looking up while working, during down time, hearing someone say, "Oh my goodness, did you just say all that?" ... Huh? ... I was used to calling the lines without thought, I didn't know what they were talking about at first. As if you've become one with the film, and you never even left the room. My Mom and I began to talking about Brando and Stella, to a point that, well before we knew it, there we were, Stella and Blanche. That at some point in translation, it became our permanent nicknames. Whether at home, in public, at family gatherings, or even keeping score on a board game, no matter the players, the names Stella and Blanche written across the top. And yet, we were both Stella and both Blanche, because whoever called out to the other person first was "Stella," followed by the second person replying, "Yes, Blanche?" ... For now, with this part of the story, I'll have to leave it here, it's too much for me to "visit" at this point and well ... In short ... too late? ... okay ... "A Streetcar Named Desire" opened up every possibility to all things film for me. Not just acting and filming ... but, Cinema. Brando was/is Cinema to me. He was everything I had never seen on screen before. Everything I tried to seek when watching the Classic Hollywood films I had come to love so much. I mean for me, Classic Films were ... breathing to me. Everything about them spoke to me. I clicked with Black and Whites and Technicolor as if it were the language I learned to speak from a child. Never realizing when it happened. Only that it did. And then, Brando came along, and knocked me mute all at once. I could only imagine that in some fraction of a way, that must have been what people witnessed, who were there, during that period. Where the whole, "There was acting before Brando and after Brando," came from. And to hear, even read from his own book, 'Songs My Mother Taught Me,' one can only imagine, IMAGINE, what the magic must've been like on that stage. With him there. I mean to put your body through those intense performances night after night after night after night, day after day, and then this joker comes on the scene, and from ALL accounts plays the character different with every performance! What an affect! How could you not be inspired by something like that? All my life, I have wanted to be an Actress, I've wanted to entertain, showcase, product, translate, my visual mind from the sounds and colors I see and hear within myself into a story of vision on screen. Marlon Brando's acting itself, inspired in me such an idea I ventured out to start, that has yet to ever be attempted. Still ... I yet to ever see my day come, and since my Mom ... well ... I do not seem to have that same drive, motivation, ambition as I did before. Trying though I still am, to continue on pursuing in my goals and dreams, it will never be the same. The scripts in which I would read to her, get her input, "Oh Critic!," and such, asking, could she "see" it, was she "there," seem to sit there. Waiting. To see Brando act, for me, was like seeing an aurora borealis. Something not everyone is lucky enough to see in person, but you know it's out there, somewhere, whispering colors you've never seen before in a motion too complex to create with one's own mind, like the wings of a hummingbird ... who does that? Marlon Brando. So as always ... #ForMyMom (and Marlon Brando) ... "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse," and leave it here. Maybe next time I'll talk about 'On The Waterfront,' which too has just as long of a history with me as "Streetcar." Until then ... Goodnight Everybody. (UPDATE: See my intro to Marlon Brando for my #31DaysOfOscar kick off in my HELLO. I'M MARLON BRANDO) UPDATE 2018: To watch my Short Film inspired by and #ForMyMom, visit: BACKWARDS AND FORWARDS
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What is there to say about, in the voice of Stanley Kowalski, "I'm the King around here" Marlon Brando ...
I remember the first time I saw Marlon Brando in a film other than the legendary 'The Godfather' (not knowing at the time that he indeed was a legend, if only for his individuality himself!). With all the Marlon Brando films I could talk about, and brother I could go on for days ... literally. I'm going to focus on one film in particular. The one I don't talk about anymore, the one I don't watch anymore, the one that is very hard to even hear in the background anywhere, for me, anymore. A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. I want so much at times to join in on the conversation with this piece, that I simply have to turn away for how deeply this film, this actor, Marlon Brando, runs with me. 'Guys and Dolls,' 'On the Waterfront,' 'The Young Lions,' 'A Countess From Hong Kong,' 'Teahouse of the August Moon' (don't start me talkin' on that one), 'The Score,' 'The Godfather,' ... well, you get the picture ... then there is "Streetcar." And because there isn't anything that I can do, say, or feel in my life without it having some kind of connection to my Mom, with my Mom, or because of my Mom, I come to realize, that she will be talked about for the rest of my life. so long as my Dad or I live. Nothing else. I say that because, as with a far amount of everything else in my life, my love for this Marlon Brando film, "A Streetcar Named Desire," stems off an actual occurrence that happened in my household some years ago. Growing up, the only image I had of Marlon Brando outside of tabloid Brando was 'The Godfather' to go by (I was born post Godfather era, when Brando looked less Vito, more Carmine from 'The Freshman.') So imagine my surprise when I grew up and "found" a Film adaptation of a Musical called GUYS AND DOLLS one day on Turner Classic Movies! (UPDATE: Wasn't going to comment on recent "trending events" because it's not my thing, but, growing up in the latter years of Brando's life, "media/tabloid Brando" was the only image my generation had of him, it was his autobio "Songs My Mother Taught Me" (where he is *very* candid about his own personal life with no help from anyone else's two cents) & learning of his help w/ the Black Panthers, Civil Rights movement (see the Documentary A HUEY P. NEWTON STORY), a broken upbringing, and his sincere (especially in his youth) free willingness to help other people, regardless of their background, that made me a Brando Fan Girl, in addition to his ability to bring authenticity to a character unlike I had ever seen on screen done before. And much as I do with all Cinema, I like films for several reasons, be it who I was with when I watched it, what impact or impression it made on me, where I watched them, the back story behind why I watched ... an emotional and personal experience. Cinema to me is like clothing, I wear them according to how I feel. And I wear them everyday. Daytime and nighttime. Now, I'll carry on.) Before the film even started, I looked up the information on the tele guide just to see what it was about. When, there it was, all written, "MARLON BRANDO SINGS ..." *blank stare* I'm sorry, you want me to do what?? ... I went mute. Sitting on edge with anticipation for the start of this film and his arrival in it. I hate to admit I barley noticed Nathan Detroit ... Wait, wait, wait! Not to take away from Frankie; when it comes to The Chairman of the Board, there just IS no other. He IS the top! "And don't tell yo Mama." But deuce take it, when I heard the words: "Sky Masterson!" "Detroit! ... How goes your percentage of life Nathan?" My speech faltered. I didn't know what to say, I just looked on with amazement ... could this be "The Godfather" in training? No. It couldn't be. So I waited. I mean even if it was ... No. Definitely not ... Oh, but it was! And it wasn't until ... "Do you take sinners here?" ... I could allow myself to believe it! It is! Well, of course I just had to know everything there was to know about this man that the paparazzi seemed to enjoy to follow and write about in the papers and on the tele. Then why not go to the source himself, right? Well ... at least in a biographical sense at least, told by himself, of course. Who could write better about ones life than 'the one,' no? And WOW, what a read. It's -- well, I'll just leave it there ... Right on the coffee table for you to read for yourself. When I got "hit" by Marlon Brando, it didn't come in small doses, it came crashing down on me all at once. After 'Guys and Dolls,' I'm telling you brother, that was it! I fell in line with every Marlon Brando film there was. Good or bad, young or old, thin or ... well, you get the point. But my first "non-Godfather" film after that infamous 'Guys and Dolls' introduction was 'A Streetcar Named Desire.' I remember after I bought it, my Mom (my "Film Partner in Crime") said, "Want me to watch it with you?" I told her no, I'd rather do this one on my own at first. Not that I wasn't sure if I'd like it or not, but I just wanted ... Silence. Complete silence. Just to see, can a person live up to what I have now been hearing and reading in his acting? And after seeing the film, I realized I could have been in a crowd of a million people and wouldn't have heard a thing but what was on screen. From seeing him in the background at the bowling alley starting a row with his bowling buddies with Stella pointing him out to Blanche, "The one that's makin' all the rhubarb. Isn't he wonderful looking?," to the very end when you can hear him scream out her name that final time as Stella runs up the steps, baby cradled in her arms, "I'm not going back, not this time. I'm never going back." I don't even remember taking a breath the whole time I was in front of the screen, in awe. Not just Brando's performance, but the entire cast as well, how they came together. I had already read Brando's book, 'Songs My Mother Taught Me,' which put me in mind to know a bit as to what to expect about the play being adapted from stage to screen, on how the whole Jessica Tandy/Vivien Leigh casting played out. How everyone else made that transition from the stage but her (Jessica Tandy), and how Vivien had played the role of Blanche on the London stage previously, directed then by her husband Laurence Olivier. In that too, had me spellbound in watching her performance. How, having read her story as well at one time, could she stand through the process of having to act those scenes out night after night on stage, then to follow it up on screen, when your life itself seems to be ... a trail somewhat in the same direction as Blanche in a lot of mirroring ways, or so it has been told, discovered, talked about. What a new ... respect, and heartache, I held for her. One can only stand in applause over her performance. I remember walking out of my room in that "film daze" you go through when you think you have sat through the best film you've ever seen in your life. You know that speechless look you give ... that *sigh* as if to say, "What now?" ... that unbelievable "Citizen Kane clap" you begin to do before you know it, when you think about what you just saw ... Or maybe, that's just me. Films move me that way. My Mom then asked, "How was it?" She didn't know what those three words were going to mean over the next several years. Because that would be the one film that became our "tagline film" more than any other film she and I have ever seen ... put together. And believe me when I tell you, that's a lot of movie. She and I were the Queen's of film quotes bouncing off of one another. We had one fit for every occasion. To the point, we have even had people ask us if they could join in, that what we were doing looked way too much fun. Sort of the Mike Ross and Harvey Spector in our own right ... SUITS, I'm lookin' at you. (In the voice of Joel McCrea: "That's a different plot entirely.") Anyhow, after that first night of watching "Streetcar," that DVD did NOT come out of my DVD player for over a month (alright ... way over a month). Hence forth, when I would turn on my tele or when I turned it off, there it was, still playing ... on repeat. Everyday. Such being, when I turned on the tele, I'd just roll with it until ... well ... until. I have to say, there are only two films I have ruined no matter the medium ... WAIT! I take that back ... three films, be it recorded on VHS (during those days) or bought on DVD, and that was 'Gilda' ... "Sure, I'm decent," 'Guys and Dolls,' "Sister Sarah, where is yesterday's thought for today?," and ... 'A Streetcar Named Desire,' "Now just remember what Huey Long said, that every man's a King, and I'm the King around here. And don't you forget it." Now have been replaced in good working order. Soon thereafter, the daily routine began to "get around." By that I mean, the Moms and Pops could hear "Streetcar" playing on the regular when I was home and at night. And just when "that scene" hit, my Mom began telling my Dad, "Uh-oh, here comes Stella again ..." and then ... "HEY STELLAAAAA!" "There she is." It was to the point my friends didn't even want to come in the house anymore because they could already hear it playing from the living room. And because I do Theatrical Productions; when prepping for a show, what's playing in the background no matter where I am, script writing, sewing, making props, sketching, going through fittings? ... Yep. That's right. "Well you just tell her to hurry it up, 'cause she's been at my house five months now, and her time is up!" To a fault, I became with that film. I've had a knack for hearing a film to where I could quote it within a short length of time before. But this one? Forget it. I knew everyone's line from the beginning of that film to the end. You know how it is, when you've seen a film so much, you haven't watched it in awhile. It plays as your, "go to" film in the background while you work or do whatever it is you do, so much, you've never bothered to look up at the screen. I can even recall looking up while working, during down time, hearing someone say, "Oh my goodness, did you just say all that?" ... Huh? ... I was used to calling the lines without thought, I didn't know what they were talking about at first. As if you've become one with the film, and you never even left the room. My Mom and I began to talking about Brando and Stella, to a point that, well before we knew it, there we were, Stella and Blanche. That at some point in translation, it became our permanent nicknames. Whether at home, in public, at family gatherings, or even keeping score on a board game, no matter the players, the names Stella and Blanche written across the top. And yet, we were both Stella and both Blanche, because whoever called out to the other person first was "Stella," followed by the second person replying, "Yes, Blanche?" ... For now, with this part of the story, I'll have to leave it here, it's too much for me to "visit" at this point and well ... In short ... too late? ... okay ... "A Streetcar Named Desire" opened up every possibility to all things film for me. Not just acting and filming ... but, Cinema. Brando was/is Cinema to me. He was everything I had never seen on screen before. Everything I tried to seek when watching the Classic Hollywood films I had come to love so much. I mean for me, Classic Films were ... breathing to me. Everything about them spoke to me. I clicked with Black and Whites and Technicolor as if it were the language I learned to speak from a child. Never realizing when it happened. Only that it did. And then, Brando came along, and knocked me mute all at once. I could only imagine that in some fraction of a way, that must have been what people witnessed, who were there, during that period. Where the whole, "There was acting before Brando and after Brando," came from. And to hear, even read from his own book, 'Songs My Mother Taught Me,' one can only imagine, IMAGINE, what the magic must've been like on that stage. With him there. I mean to put your body through those intense performances night after night after night after night, day after day, and then this joker comes on the scene, and from ALL accounts plays the character different with every performance! What an affect! How could you not be inspired by something like that? All my life, I have wanted to be an Actress, I've wanted to entertain, showcase, product, translate, my visual mind from the sounds and colors I see and hear within myself into a story of vision on screen. Marlon Brando's acting itself, inspired in me such an idea I ventured out to start, that has yet to ever be attempted. Still ... I yet to ever see my day come, and since my Mom ... well ... I do not seem to have that same drive, motivation, ambition as I did before. Trying though I still am, to continue on pursuing in my goals and dreams, it will never be the same. The scripts in which I would read to her, get her input, "Oh Critic!," and such, asking, could she "see" it, was she "there," seem to sit there. Waiting. To see Brando act, for me, was like seeing an aurora borealis. Something not everyone is lucky enough to see in person, but you know it's out there, somewhere, whispering colors you've never seen before in a motion too complex to create with one's own mind, like the wings of a hummingbird ... who does that? Marlon Brando. So as always ... #ForMyMom (and Marlon Brando) ... "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse," and leave it here. Maybe next time I'll talk about 'On The Waterfront,' which too has just as long of a history with me as "Streetcar." Until then ... Goodnight Everybody. (UPDATE: See my intro to Marlon Brando for my #31DaysOfOscar kick off in my HELLO. I'M MARLON BRANDO) AuthorInterest: Sharing Films my Mom and I shared: #ForMyMom | Creator of an Original Old Time Radio Inspired Show "A Day in the Life Of ..." Hollywood: 1930s/40s/50s | TCM Guest Programmer ("Witness For The Prosecution" 1957) | Theatrical Productions DOMINIQUE REVUE. ArchivesCategories |