The Books: “The Dark at the Top of the Stairs” (William Inge)

Next script on my script shelf:

Next play in my little unalphabetized pile of Samuel French plays is The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, by William Inge

Man, I did this play once. I was so miscast. I was 22 years old and I was cast as Cora – who is the mother of two teenagers. And my husband was a CHEESY actor who was probably 45 years old. He WASN’T miscast – but I WAS – and the fact that we were married … It just was ridiculous. It made me look like Helen Hunt in the child bride of Short Creek. But you know, I did my best. I tried to create an older woman, yadda yadda, and it didn’t work, but whatever. I was only 2 years older than the girl cast as my teenage daughter.

I haven’t read the play in years so I picked it up this this morning to flip through it. I remember nothing. So weird! The only scene I have a vague memory of is the one between Cora and her sister Lottie. I think the reason I remember that is because I became friends with the woman who played Lottie – she was a terrific actress, and I liked working with her.

As far as I can tell, the plot is this:

It takes place in the 1920s in a small Oklahoma town that is experiencing a boom economically – you can feel the Jazz Age hovering on the fringes of the culture. The teenage girls in the play want to bob their hair – they love Rudolph Valentino – etc. Cora and Rubin are married. They have two children – Reenie and Sonny. Sonny is about 8 years old, and Reenie is in high school and she is an introspective withdrawn type girl – she would rather sit at home and play the piano than go out on dates, etc. Cora is very frustrated with Reenie. She kind of wants a different daughter – one that’s a bit more girlie-girlie. Also, Reenie is kind of a whiner. Cora has had it.

There are problems in the marriage. Something’s going on. Rubin is not very involved in his duties as a parent. Cora begs with him, pleads. Eventually things come to such a head (he slaps her one night) that she throws him out of the house. She wants to take her kids and go and live with her sister Lottie and her husband. Somehow this doesn’t work out – because Lottie has problems of her own. She basically says to Cora: “You need to grow up, and figure out your own solution.”

Reenie is forced (by her mother) to go to a party. Cora has ordered a dress for her, had it altered – even arranged for her to have a date – with a young man who is actually from California, but he is going to the military academy nearby. His name is Sammy Goldenbaum. Reenie is shy (and annoying) but Cora forces her to go through with it. Now Sammy just shows up for one scene – he comes to pick up Reenie for the party – but this is just one instance of Inge’s beauty as a playwright – He invests Sammy with a lot of meaning, almost right away. He has become a symbol – at least in Cora’s eyes – but also: Nobody in an Inge play is two-dimensional. Even someone with 2 lines has depth. Sammy is a terrific character. Inge describes him on his first entrance: “He is a darkly beautiful young man of 17, with lustrous black hair, black eyes, and a captivating smile. Yet, there seems something a little foreign about him at least in comparison with the Midwestern company in which he now finds himself. He could be a Persian prince, strayed from his native kingdom. But he has become adept over the years in adapting himself, and he shows an eagerness to make friends and be liked.” In casual conversation, it is revealed that his mother is “in moving pictures” – and you can get the sense that she is kind of wild, and that she couldn’t deal with having a kid – so she just shuffled him off to military school. He is the only Jew in the school. But Sammy seems always determined to put a positive spin on things. (This is all the more interesting and tragic because Sammy commits suicide at the end of the play. He is NOT doing well, he is NOT okay … he has just been really good at pretending.)

I think Sammy – even though he’s only in one scene – is the best character in the play. I’d like to see a whole play about him!

I’ll excerpt from the scene where Sammy (and his friend Punky) come to the house to pick up Reenie (and her friend Flirt – a wild flapper) – to go to the party. Cora has thrown Rubin out – so it’s just Cora, and Sonny (her son) – and Lottie and her husband Morris. When Sammy and Punky arrive, Cora is upstairs still trying to force Reenie to get into her dress. Lottie takes over trying to entertain the guests until Cora can come downstairs. Lottie is also a great character – loud, nosy, warm-hearted, straight to the point …

One of Inge’s underlying theme (as it is in all of his plays) is the problems inherent in a sexually repressed culture. How things get twisted, morph into something ugly … the whole split between “good girls” and “bad girls” – Sex is the great unspoken force in everyone’s lives and nobody talks about it. Inge was gay. He was a tormented man. He keeps returning to this theme. He doesn’t bash you over the head with it, no. It is just the air that people breathe in Inge plays. It is part of the atmosphere. This is one of the reasons why Inge’s plays seem “dated” – and why you really cannot lift them out of their time period.

Oh, and in the original production on Broadway in 1957 (directed by Elia Kazan) – Cora was played by the lovely Teresa Wright – who just died. What a wonderful actress.

EXCERPT FROM The Dark at the Top of the Stairs
, by William Inge

SAMMY. Quiet everyone. Quiet! [All enter the parlor but Morris who crosses right as Sonny begins the famous soliloquy. Morris looks as though he might share some of Hamlet’s woes. After Sonny begins, Cora starts down the stairs with Reenie.]

SONNY.
To be or not to be, that is the question
Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them.
To die: to sleep:
No more; and, by a sleep to say we end the heartache and
the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to, ’tis a
consummation devoutly to be wish’d.
To die, to sleep. To sleep; perchance to dream.
Ay, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause.

[There is immediate loud acclaim for Sonny]

CORA. Oh, Sonny’s reciting. Why, he’s reciting Shakespeare. He must have gotten out that dusty volume of Shakespeare over in the bookcase, and memorized that speech all on his own. [Points to Sammy in the parlor] Reenie, there’s your young man. Isn’t he handsome? Now you’re going to have a good time. I can feel it in my bones.

SAMMY. That was wonderful, Sonny. [All come from parlor now, Sammy carrying Sonny on his shoulders like a triumphant hero]

LOTTIE. He’s a second Jackie Coogan.

FLIRT. That was just wonderful, Sonny.

LOTTIE. Cora, you should have been here. Sonny recited Shakespeare. It was just wonderful.

CORA. Yes. I heard him.

SAMMY. Sonny’s a genius. I’m going to take you to Hollywood, and put you in the movies. You’ll be the greatest actor out there, Sonny.

FLIRT. Oh, I think Shakespeare’s just wonderful. I’m going to read him sometime, really I am.

CORA. [going to Sammy] Good evening, young man. I’m Mrs. Flood.

SAMMY. [putting Sonny down] Beg your pardon, Ma’am. I’m Sammy Goldenbaum.

CORA. Welcome. I see my son’s been entertaining you.

SAMMY. He sure has, Ma’am.

CORA. He started speaking pieces about a year ago. Just picked it up. Some people think he’s talented.

SAMMY. I think so, too, Ma’am. Very.

CORA. [brings Reenie forth] Reenie! Sammy, this is my daughter Reenie.

SAMMY. Good evening, Reenie.

REENIE. [reluctantly] Good evening.

SAMMY. You certainly look nice. That’s a very beautiful dress.

FLIRT. Isn’t it cute! I helped her pick it out! [Cora quietly takes hold of Flirt’s arm and prevents her from taking over] Ouch!

SAMMY. Gee! I didn’t expect you to be … like you are. I mean … well, Punky told me you were a friend of Flirt’s so I just naturally thought you’d be … well, kind of like Flirt is. Although Flirt is a very nice girl. I didn’t mean to imply anything against her. But … you’re very nice, too, in a different way.

REENIE. [still a little distrustful] Thank you …

SAMMY. Would you call me Sammy?

REENIE. Sammy?

SAMMY. And may I call you Reenie?

REENIE. I guess so.

SAMMY. It’s awfully nice of you to let me take you to the party. I know just how a girl feels, going out with some crazy guy she doesn’t even know.

REENIE. Oh … that’s all right. After all, you don’t know anything about me, either.

SAMMY. You know, I’ve never been to many parties, have you?

REENIE. Not many.

SAMMY. I always worry that maybe people aren’t going to like me when I go to a party. Isn’t that crazy? Do you ever get kind of a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach when you dread things? Gee, I wouldn’t want to miss a party for anything. But every time I go to one, I have to reason with myself to keep from feeling that the whole world’s against me. See, I’ve spent almost my whole life in military academies. My mother doesn’t have a place for me, where she lives. She … she just doesn’t know what else to do with me. But you mustn’t misunderstand about my mother. She’s really a very lovely person. I guess every boy thinks his mother is very beautiful, but my mother really is. She tells me in every letter she writes how sorry she is that we can’t be together more, but she has to think of her work. One time we were together, though. She met me in San Francisco once, and we were together for two whole days. Just like we were sweethearts. It was the most wonderful time I ever had. And then I had to go back to the old military academy. Every time I walk into the barracks, I get kind of a depressed feeling. It’s got hard stone walls. Pictures of generals hanging all over … oh, they’re very fine gentlemen, but they all look so kind of hard-boiled and stern … you know what I mean. [Cora and Lottie stand together, listening to Sammy’s speech with motherly expressions. Flirt is bored, Punky is half asleep, and gives now a sudden, audible yawn that startles everyone] Well, gee! I guess I’ve bored you enough, telling you about myself.

CORA and LOTTIE. Oh, no. You haven’t either.

FLIRT. [impatient] Come on, kids. Let’s hurry.

SAMMY. [tenderly, to Reenie] Are you ready?

CORA. [as though fearing Reenie might bolt and run] Reenie?

REENIE. Yes.

SAMMY. May I help you into your wrap. [The word “wrap” is a false glorification of her Sunday coat, which he offers her, helping her into it]

REENIE. Thank you.

CORA. [whispering to Lottie] I wish I could have bought her one of those little fur jackets like Flirt is wearing.

FLIRT. Stand up straight, Punky, and say good night to everyone. [Punky tries again, but remains inarticulate]

CORA. [assuming that Punky said good night] Good night, Punky. Tell your mother hello for me.

FLIRT. Very pleased to have met you, Mr. and Mrs. Lacey. Good night, Mrs. Flood.

CORA. Good night, Flirt.

LOTTIE and MORRIS. Good night.