Carnivalesque

My dramaturg Jess Holman came on Wednesday to present a talk on Williams and how his life story is reflected in the play. She brought up many interesting things that were resonant with many of the characters: the tempestuous relationship between TW's parents, TW's guilt over the institutionalization of his sister Rose, TW's childhood illness and subsequent hypochondria, TW's tendency to embroider the truth. At one point the cast asked about New Orleans in this time period, and Jess asked me to answer. I wasn't around then, but I've heard enough stories from my Dad to know that after the war the atmosphere in the Quarter was La Vie Boheme. My Dad tells a great story about being intoxicated and almost rolling off the roof of the Skyscraper (4 stories). And to some extent that's the same sensibility that prevailed in the the '60s and '70s when I was growing up there. In a way, every day was Mardi Gras. A spirit of relaxed, crazy partying, an escape from conventionality and the "normal." So it's no wonder TW fell in love with it, and was able to explore his homosexuality more freely.
The funny detail I realized is that because the Quarter has second and third floor balconies to all the apartments, people do yell up from the street a lot there. "Hey, Johnny!"
Dad used to stand on his second floor studio balcony with a big sign that said "Get rid of him and come back later." He would wait for just the right moment when a couple was walking by and reveal the sign around right when only the woman was looking up. Sometimes she did come back!