Three Plays by Tennessee Williams: Moony's Kid Don't Cry/The Last of My Solid Gold Watches/This Property Is Condemned

This is one of three mini-plays written by Tennessee Williams that were directed by Sidney Lumet for "Kraft Theatre" back in 1958.

Zena Bethune and Martin Huston, two relatively unknown actors today, are the only two in this mini-play. Zena has very messy hair and these two young people talk and talk and talk on the set that looks like a gully by a railroad track. Frankly, I had a hard time following much of it--and it seemed like a lot of prattling--uninteresting prattling. At times, Zena talks VERY fast and jumps about a bit--and it all comes off very badly. Had I not know that this was written by Williams and directed by Lumet, I would have soon forgotten it or even turned it off--it was that uninteresting. Worth skipping unless you are a die-hard Williams fan and I could see why this one wasn't expanded further.

This is one of three mini-plays written by Tennessee Williams that were directed by Sidney Lumet for "Kraft Theatre" back in 1958.

Although there are two other actors in the play, this is essentially a one-man short play featuring Thomas Chalmers in an exceptional performance. And, like most of the TV teleplays of the era, it was all done live! Chalmers is an aging salesman--who laments the changes brought with time. As he talks to a younger salesman about it, the young guy says very little--he just lets Chalmers talk. The same happens when an old black porter arrives--Chalmers just talks and talks. It's a great case of very good acting--though there isn't an especially deep story here--just a nice little vignette.

By the way, there is some bad music throughout this piece. There's an odd strumming sound throughout--like cat walking across a banjo. I couldn't see much point to it.