The Glass Menagerie

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Glass Menagerie, The, play by Tennessee Williams, produced in 1944 and published in 1945.

Laura Wingfield, who wears a leg brace because of a crippling childhood illness and is hypersensitive about it, lives with her mother Amanda and brother Tom in a St. Louis tenement. Her father has long since deserted them, though a dashing photo remains as a reminder of his charm. Amanda, a victim of illusions about her past as a Southern belle and about Laura's future, persists in preparing her daughter for hypothetical secretarial work and for nonexistent “gentlemen callers.” She likewise wants Tom to get ahead in his warehouse job, which largely supports the family, but as a poetic dreamer his thoughts, like his father's, are often about escape from the family, as he turns to compulsive movie‐going or plans for merchant‐marine service. Amanda persuades Tom to invite a friend from the warehouse for dinner, and lets herself leap to romantic conclusions concerning a relationship between the visitor and Laura, even though the pathetically withdrawn girl is only at home in her private world, which centers on a collection of glass animal figurines. On the appointed evening Tom arrives with Jim O'Connor, who turns out to be a high‐school acquaintance whom Laura admired and who has since been part of her dream life. Her shy, nervous confusion is eased by Jim's warmth and she shows him her favorite animal, a tiny unicorn, but when he later teaches her a few dance steps while trying to build up her self‐confidence, they bump the table and the unicorn's horn is broken. She discounts the accident, saying that now the unicorn will “feel less—freakish,” and Jim is moved to tell her that she herself is different from others “in a nice way,” like “Blue Roses,” his high‐school nickname for her. He tells her that she is pretty and kisses her. He is sincere but casual and, suddenly embarrassed, explains that he cannot call again because he is engaged to another girl. Furious at Tom for bringing home an engaged man, Amanda goads him beyond the breaking point, and he leaves home, haunted by the memory of his sister, who now retreats even further into herself.

Glass Menagerie, The (1945), a drama by Tennessee Williams. [Playhouse, 561 perf.; NYDCC Award.] Looking back, Tom Wingfield ( Eddie Dowling) recalls his life in a shoddy St. Louis tenement during the Depression with his mother, Amanda ( Laurette Taylor), who lives in dreams of a probably imaginary past, and his crippled sister, Laura ( Julie Haydon), who seems to live only for a collection of glass animals. At Amanda's insistence, Tom invites his friend Jim ( Anthony Ross) from the warehouse where he works to the Wingfield apartment for dinner. It turns out Jim went to high school with Laura, who has long been quietly in love with his memory, and the two hit it off quite well until Jim mentions that he is engaged to be married. After Jim has gone, Amanda scolds Tom, who runs off to join the merchant marine. Called “a memory play” by Williams, and “a mood‐memory play” by some later writers, it was hailed by Ward Morehouse of the Sun as “fragile and poignant . . . a vivid, eerie and curiously enchanting play.” The success of the Dowling and Louis J. Singer production placed Williams in the front ranks of contemporary dramatists, and Taylor's performance was considered one of the memorable acting gems of the time. Pauline Lord headed the road company, and the play has remained a favorite in regional and educational theatres. New York revivals have been less successful; a 1983 revival with Jessica Tandy and a 1994 production with Julie Harris were rare failures for the two gifted actresses.