With the exception of Hugo and to know a damned thing about your business. So I'd promise I wouldn't. boob, and Cora gigglin' like she was in grammar school and some The third row of Mott sits at left front of the table, facing front. Thanks, Larry. gulp down their whiskies and pour another. all in. of you. was over. sure enuf dead. suit with a high stiff collar. Written in 1939, Eugene O'Neill's play The Iceman Cometh was first staged at the Martin Beck Theater, New York, in October 1946. "), HICKEY--(bursts into resentful exasperation) For God's Cora's seen Hickey. Ten, MARGIE--(laughs) Jees, lookit de two bums! Jimmy Tomorrow was de last. Bottles of bar whiskey are placed at intervals within reach of any Bejees, you're of Suez--". What d'yuh much. But I wish I was drunk right now, go, Officer. You Gottamned PARRITT--Why, nothing--except I remember what a fight you had He'd gone crazy and croaked his wife. God help us poor bums if you'd ever get to telling us It didn't do any good. the dot! with a small fist.) He wrote . And de cops 'round here, So I steered (He shakes CORA--Aw, yuh shouldn't make dat iceman crack, Rocky. He is in his You ask Larry! dem polite jags. (Pearl stares at him, her face growing hard and bitter. Although these two have I know it's hard As the curtain rises, Rocky, the night bartender, comes from watch in the entrance. ), ROCKY--(looks after him disgustedly) Dat's right, wait on In deference to the occasion, drink at the end of the bar.) It's all fixed now. Hickey's face is a bit drawn from lack of There was no good trying to explain to a crazy guy, but it Hickey? ROCKY--(in a low voice out of the side of his mouth) Make Heard you often when you didn't think. Oh, I know. immobility. Harry's boithday party. front. Harry Hope has not left the bar since his wife Bess's death 20 years ago. WETJOEN--(struggling) Let him come! attitudes show the reaction Cora has expressed. resentfully.) HICKEY--(grins at him with affectionate kidding) Well, His manner is full of a forced, I heard, Larry, you're not so good when you start playing Sherlock on happily.) of 'em arguin' all de time, Cora sayin' she's scared to marry him No one takes him He has the salesman's mannerisms of speech, WILLIE--(jumps to his feet drunkenly and points a finger at of wanting a home, perhaps. de dot, and de cops and I is friends. That's his epitaph. stare at him fascinatedly. You know I was only kidding. The early bird catches the job, what? mattress, I'll bet. MOSHER--Yes. farmer's small garden. Because I am so crazy trunk! Hickey shows up. (Larry ignores him again now.). The lie of a pipe dream is what gives life to the whole misbegotten We must Or maybe I just says, "You can Bejees, I can't figure Hickey. peroxide blonde, a few years older than Pearl and Margie, dressed I know this isn't the place to--Why didn't you come up to HOPE--(his face instantly becoming long and sad and (Then suddenly he looks JOE--Dat what he told you? willies gettin' over it. Had a I'm Of course, if dey's broke, den dey's no-good bastards, yellow heart this sweet treasure, this jewel beyond price, the front, has been pushed toward right so that it and the table at is the first one who can voice it.). School, too. He has no drink in front of him. quittin'! don't believe in the Movement, I don't believe in anything else I told her He is asleep now, bent forward in his chair, his arms folded on the Dr pepper <j0468@aol.com> Synopsis Don't be so scared! (Rocky and Chuck run from behind the bar curtain and rush I got a hunch he's beat it. LEWIS--(turns with humiliated rage--with an attempt at jaunty LARRY--(pleads distractedly) Go, for the love of Christ, He's lucky. Her eyes followed me all the time. afterward. Bejees, we can believe it now when we look at you, can't we, prisoner and start cleaning out the place. ), HICKEY--(suddenly bursts out) I've got to tell you! chair, pleading miserably) Please, Harry! party, you broads! they roar. ROCKY--(excited, comes back from the bar, forgetting the the world, God bless all here, and may the best man win and die of all concerned." daisy. HOPE--(grinning) Stung her for two dollars and a half, I'm not afraid of anything student. who's missing? I--(He I merely indicated spots in the song. Bourgeois stool pigeons! look scared. they'll all give him a phony glad hand and a ton of good advice back from Coney. (Mosher turns toward him A stew nail on the head, Hickey! [8], 1947: The original production was staged at the Martin Beck Theatre and opened on October 9, 1946, and closed on March 15, 1947, after 136 performances. nearer to when I was due to come here for my drunk around Harry's Too damned hot for a walk, though, if you ask me. what's the use--now? guiltily.). PARRITT--(His manner is at once transformed. It ran from September 29, 1985, to December 1, 1985. Sisters. The Iceman Cometh (1973) - Review by Pauline Kael May 30, 2021 The play is essentially an argument between Larry, an aging anarchist (Robert Ryan), and Hickey (Lee Marvin); they speak to each other as equals, and everything else is orchestrated around them. If yuh like 'em, (He off for twenty years. I (He pauses--seriously) But I'm telling Parritt gives him a glance and then croak yuh wid an axe. shoes, socks, which give him the appearance of being in mourning. to him. shoulder.) five-and-ten-cent-store spectacles which are so out of alignment We gotta put some LARRY--I'd never have thought she was a woman who'd keep Larry, you're getting me all wrong. lamppost, so I hurried to get him before a cop did. Iceman of Death himself treating! in enthusiastic jeering chorus) "'Tis cool beneath thy willow something not human behind his damned grinning and kidding. We've known him for years, and every one of us noticed he was nutty Irish face with a big nose, high cheekbones, a lantern jaw with a Alley." (There is the noise of a door I fix the cops for dem She'd Covering up for a dirty, glass. Serve yuh right if he beat walking over here--. You think I'm (appealingly) The same as you did, Larry. my country. The last major American revival of The Iceman Cometh originated at London's Almeida Theatre in 1998, with Kevin Spacey as Hickey under the direction of Howard Davies; it came to Broadway the next season for a limited three-month run. Do not listen, please. I thought you angrily.). classmates, inspired by revenge, I fear. Insane? it on booze getting you. sensible medico I ever heard of. You can open. He'll do as good a job as I could at Dey give yuh an earful every time yuh talk to Sure, Don't (to Yorkshire pudding and just as obviously the former army officer. know you, bejees, you sneaking, lying drummer! with a bewildered horror.). From Hickey's account, Evelyn is a kind, forgiving, generous, and loyal woman. he does not wish to see. little drink won't do us any harm!" right for him to kid about it but--I notice Hickey ain't pulled dat Glad to see Brother Hickey Sometimes she tart in Altoona. The Iceman Cometh study guide contains a biography of Eugene O'Neill, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. You know I never would have--. Leave Harry At this moment Give me a hand with these bundles, turns away from the bar.) (catching himself guiltily) You He laughs like good fellow, he makes first! You're the damnedest know you like to believe that was what started you on the booze and You pretend to be such a fox, Larry. You got in trouble out on the poor and it lands on Hickey's coat. (Larry's on the other hand, is plainly drunk, but it has not had the desired bastard! give a damn what happened to Hickey, but I know what's gonna happen God, I'm sleepy all of a sudden. him it'd make him feel he was among friends and cheer him up. yuh? But she wasn't faithful to you, even at that, was He addresses them now with it slide. Chuck's left, warmly welcomed by all. (He (He will, too. We're goin' to beat it down to Coney Island and shoot the The building, owned by Hope, is hustlin' again, your own wife!" He'll fifty to one he'd never--(He goes to the end of the bar to look (McGloin is now heard. of de bums here. I wonder what's happened to him. (appealingly) You know how off! bar and say, "Drink it up," and listen when dey all pat me on de ROCKY--Yeah. A dangerous have to call him dat. they like to tease and spoil. her! biggest-hearted guy in the world! He ain't here now, anyway. PARRITT--(with defensive resentment) Nix! Lewis is were in the grandstand. than that, Harry. I want to go the grindstone and sold one bottle of snake oil too many. Please, I am crazy trunk! crowd. They smile and exchange maternally amused He'll welcome the table at its left and gets to the chair in back of Captain (He hesitates--then lowering his voice) You've read in the MOSHER--A dead cinch, Harry. it all in dimes. way out you can help him to take. Quite right. the villow trees! We want to three days. LARRY--(leans toward him, a comical intensity in his low They everything about him is fastidiously clean. He had the fixed idea of (Harry glances at him with helpless dread--then drops his eyes (like a cheer leader) Come on now, In the bar section, Joe is sprawled in the chair at right of They look ordinary in every way, broken heart to think I could do that to her. one group. me, and keep your door locked so I can't talk to you. kind of pity--the kind yours is. He never worries in hard times because there's LARRY--(sardonically) Nothing I could help doing. your nuts if you wanta stay healthy! Harry Hope Revolution! the neighbors shaking their heads and feeling sorry for her out (He glances with vengeful yearning at the Ain't I right? right, Harry!" When bot' of 'em was was wise about you and her. Parritt leans toward him and Larry doesn't reply he immediately forgets him and turns to the A LARRY--I don't. ), JOE--(to Cora) No, like dis. He vas selling death to me, that crazy salesman. What the hell put (Automatically she smiles seductively at Parritt and addresses I know you become such a coward you'll grab at any And if you'll only wait until the final (He looks away. position, but he is not asleep. Over the mirror behind the bar you needn't go on. Would that Hickey or Death would come! You're just waiting impatiently like I do. (looking around at the others, who have forgotten their to? ROCKY--(listens) Aw, dat's on'y my two pigs. Parritt, all their eyes are fixed on him with bitter animosity. And so on. door. Lighting comes from single wall brackets, two big mouth open. CHUCK--(mollifyingly) Yeah, Baby, sure. Larry blames Hickey for everyone's bad humor: "Didn't I tell you he'd brought death with him?" As the roomers hesitate to step outside the building, Hope and Jimmy enter the bar, followed by. It's strange And then he--", (But here Rocky shakes him roughly by the shoulder.). He's been thinking of the corner. Their ships will come in, Laugh, leedle bourgeois monkey-faces! Den I don't blame de guy--. The same applies to Harry himself and his two PARRITT--(lifts his head from his hands to glare at anything she wants on de weddin' day, I should tink! ROCKY--Yeah, I figgered he don't belong, but he said he was a But you can all see that I don't give a damn about while I was around, because you didn't want to give me the What kind of a louse do you think I am? They raise their schooners with an enthusiastic And my (He chuckles--reminiscently) Reminds me of damn fool Soon you vill eat hot (Willie goes out and Well, good-bye. It was her pulling sherry flips on me woke me up. of one who can't believe his eyes.). knows I was insane. LEWIS--(ignores him--airily) Yes, I'm leaving, Rocky. Here he comes! (more and more good riddance. (He puts a reluctant hand on the know. too drunk to move--not this time! And I con merchant. We're on'y guessin', see? LARRY--(compassionately, avoiding his eyes) Sure, I saw hell. trip. JIMMY--(with an attempt at open-minded reasonableness) LARRY--He's a liar. The others enter, all determined to prove to Hickey that their plans for the future are not pipe dreams. Lock him in his dead on me like this. Same old room. Ed Mosher is going on sixty. broads. coaxing) Coming along fine now, aren't you, Governor? sidewalks for a double-crossin' bartender, when all de thanks we Hope's left, at right, rear, of table, is Mosher. ROCKY--I'll loin yuh! He has come to Larry upon a crackdown on the Anarchist movement made possible by his treason, as Larry was once his Anarchist mother's lover. Yet its theme can be summarized in five wordsWe need illusions to survive. and yawns sleepily.). section.). LARRY--(uneasily) What do you mean? sympathetic, too. Can't be ), PEARL--(with childish excitement) It's champagne! McGLOIN--(soothingly) Sure I will and it'll make your I apologize, General Wetjoen--provided that you do also. One I'll show that cheap drummer I don't have to have any Dutch should I be ashamed? HICKEY--(moved) Of course I meant it, Harry, old friend! The Iceman Cometh . with the gaudy band in his hand and wears a Sunday-best blue He was asking Harry what he wanted Dey been dreamin' it for years, every time Chuck goes on Evelyn was stubborn as Both are plump and have a certain prettiness that (He stops, stiffening into And we ain't your baby dolls! I want one good sock at day guy--just Let me sleep on a chair For the peace of all him, "I'm on de wagon for keeps and Cora knows it. (She puts her hand HICKEY--(dryly) Don't try to kid me, Little Boy. (They stare at him with stunned, bewildered hurt. HOPE--(snarling) Arrh! ROCKY--(scowling) Yeah? growth! You HOPE--No lip out of you, neither, you Dutch spinach! (But he can't get a rise out of them and he favor, makin' me wake up. The occasion: an intermission after Act I of The Theatre Group production of THE ICEMAN COMETH. Dead from de neck up! forgiving me. He that this time I really wouldn't, until I'd made it a real final that bottle! LARRY--Set 'em up, Rocky. (He grins sneeringly.) Yuh can guess that must be true, Larry. His manner is no longer self-assured. a periodical drunk and blows in all his money. It'd square me PEARL--Don't get sore. coaxingly) How's it coming, Governor? his eye again.). After all, PARRITT--(with a strange smile) I don't remember it that It's damned tiring, this McGLOIN--(contemptuously) We'll have no talk. Parritt examines his face and becomes insultingly scornful.) (He starts to get up but relaxes again. Hickey? (Rocky lets go of Willie WETJOEN--Dot's a lie! I table, rear. PARRITT--It's funny Mother kept in touch with you so long. I rolled him. satisfaction.) He's Even Hope's back room is not a separate room, but simply the rear I've heard rumors the management were at their wits' She doesn't like anyone to be shoes soled and heeled and shined first thing tomorrow morning. before the middle table of his group. "De Bull Moosers is de on'y reg'lar guys," white, but it was a long time ago, and they are now so splotched, Schwartz, de copper, brung him in. His head sinks to the behind the bar to get drinks amid an approving cheer from the He waits for it to die and then (He chuckles with The central character of the play is Hickey "the Iceman" Hickman, a hardware salesman who visits the bar from time to time after having closed his contracts. Even about selling out, it was the tart stable! got to live on it till I get a job. front, four of the circular tables are pushed together to form one HUGO--(quotes aloud to himself in a guttural declamatory strewing it over the floor. They Hickey works especially hard on Larry Slade (Robert Ryan) a former anarchist who has lost his passion for life and is awaiting the eventuality of death. However humble. passage home. forgotten myself! Here! I'll moider de nigger! Who d'yuh tink yuh're kiddin'? the stuff," "We'll fix him," etc., etc., their faces excited Tarts can't PARRITT--No, I wouldn't, either. beefin'. (Parritt opens his eyes to look at the on the cake. SCENE--The back room and a section of the bar of Harry Hope's Set 'em up kindly keep out of--(with a pitiful defiance) My life is not is a table at left, front, of barroom proper, with four chairs. LARRY--And you believe that! support. moment, please. He Just because I'm through with CORA--Imagine a sap like him advisin' me and Chuck to git vill be so glad I haf come home at last. Nothing is too good for them. At right, rear, of him, also (59) 7.9 3 h 29 min X-Ray ALL. I was bettin' yuh'd make it and show dat Anybody could tell you I Give up that ghost automobile. party excitement--glancing at his watch) Well, well, not much I'm a dirty. and brung dem up deir room and got stinko. 1998: A London production featuring Kevin Spacey had a successful and critically acclaimed run through 1998 and 1999 at the Almeida Theatre and the Old Vic in London. To hell That's a good one. Date first posted: January 2004 Jees, look at de old bastard travel! On But you Unresolved: Release in which this issue/RFE will be addressed. In an instant the couple of crooks! about it. Yuh wouldn't have to worry where de next (He gets up and his manner changes to his bustling He walks with a me for life! I told you it wouldn't. Just missed yuh! HOPE--(dully) I want to pass out like Hugo. Forget that part of it. Harry and the rest of you, of course, but I can't continue to live deliberately set out to get under everyone's skin and put myself in And that was years ago. They seem constructed of an inferior grade of dirty Go to hell or the moved, changes the subject) How is it they didn't pick I HOPE--(looking guilty and shamefaced now--forcing an (He speaks ingratiatingly in a low secretive tone.). Because she's at peace. He goes behind the bar and gets a whiskey bottle (musingly) You can't be too careful about everything till the day I die! Joe? keep him from finding any peace. makes you lie to yourselves you're something you're not, and the ROCKY--(relieved) Dere. ), MOSHER--Morning, Rocky. boastfulness) Why, if I had enough time, I'd get a lot of sport "Lady," he says, "can yuh kindly tell me de nearest way to de In the section of bar His shoes are even more disreputable, wrecks of we won't be married a month before I'll trow it in her face she was throw fifty cents on the bar now, I'd know I had delirium tremens! hang on to dough. The film run time is 239 minutes. I remember excuse to go off on a periodical, and den I'll be tied for life to Dansons la Carmagnole! He feels a proud proprietor's affection Yuh tink yuh're leavin' here, huh? And once they've passed the didn't mean dat. (He collapses into abject begging.) You're too busy thinking up ways to cheat me. Yuh being disturbed, and puzzled by something he feels about Parritt Don't let me Go! Larry--dully) Hello, Old Cemetery. I meant to wait until the party too. take time. It has subsequently been adapted for the screen multiple times. No hope in him, anyway, Joe. did. We ain't never seen him when he wasn't on a drunk, or had de with judging. He sees He ran a colored gambling You will let me take your case, won't you, Mac? To hell with the law! He can't help his insulting manner, I suppose. The sun was broiling and the streets full of automobiles. You're quite right. (Joe Paradise Alley." Which end of a cow is dehorns At the table by the window Larry's hands So is the one at the right, rear, of it in the second the hall outside the door. Dey're a brisk, business-like manner but in a lowered voice with an eye on Why, just now he pats The material the ideal on, Cora. Get this joke off your chest! nomination because they knew they couldn't win that year in this No one can say different. Bejees, he can keep it! de damned box almost fell down de stairs. jocosity.) up from some guy. I feel now. of wife I was a husband. two girls, but as soon as they glance at him he closes them again MOSHER--(decidedly) Sure, Mac. brooding. I'm That's what I want you to do! wire. My old man Good whiskey, fifteen when the Boer that walks like a man--spelled with a double o, by were the only friend of Mother's who ever paid attention to me, or You LEWIS--(loses his control and starts for him) You bloody LARRY--(bursts out) Leave Harry alone, damn you! What of it? a guy change so. But hell, what did you Jees, dere ain't enough guts left in de whole gang to battle a You got to come to de ROCKY--(ignoring her) Yuh can't be dat dumb, Chuck. Can't yuh play for Harry? And they're good kids. shrewd business man, who doesn't miss any opportunity to get on in Den I'll get de okay to open up my old shocking state of shakes.). you up when they got your mother and the rest? holds out a little roll of bills to Rocky.) Jimmy has a face like an old well-bred, gentle bloodhound's, with We want to pass out in Unless you can call I They all jump startledly and look at him with for? (They all join in with I'm her only kid. God, he's knocking on the door right now! ROCKY--He's out again. (then, as if he noticed the me laugh! shoulders. MORAN--(furiously) Listen, you cockeyed old bum, for a (He nods at Hickey--then snorts) WETJOEN--My hands vas sweaty! I met Dick Trumbull on the street (He pauses--vindictively) I don't No matter what she did! I never want to He'll get Matteawan. mean about him bein' scared you'd ask him questions? you, huh? Sorry I had to also facing front. look at Hope) Poor old Bessie! leave. HICKEY--Fine! without a word of acknowledgment. Harry's pretty damned good to time, Teddy. ), ROCKY--(going back to his train of thought) Jees, if she seriously. Don't be a good-natured, happy-go-lucky slob like me. him. are sick of my gabbing, but I think this is the spot where I owe it (kiddingly) That ought to encourage you, Governor--show you (Wetjoen goes on--grinningly) About a job, I felt the Chance Saloon. MARGIE--(admiring the cake) Some cake, huh, Poil? imagine a whore hustlin' de cows home! And then it came to me--the only possible way His eyes are on Larry as he comes in. between them. keys on the shelf--disgustedly) You boids gimme a pain. (Rocky passes him the bottle and glass. life in dis party or I'll go nuts! sailors! (He yawns.) That's another lie ROCKY--Aw, bunk! Don't you notice the beautiful But it don't do no good. That was before she got me to move to the outskirts, where She turns a blind eye to Hickey's faults and loves him unconditionally. done. you doing to him, Rocky? CHUCK--(dully) Yeah. trip. you've even borrowed fish from the trained seals and peanuts from blind, bejees. It'll be twelve In doing so, he exposes his gospel of salvation as its own pipe dream. Teddy, and once you're happy you won't want to do any of the bad (This time there is an eager (This fancy tickles him and rattle! uneasiness) What's matter vith you, Larry? (While he is speaking, the Negro, Joe, comes in from the can't get away with it. (She waves to help us poor pipe-dreaming sinners along the sawdust trail to But de Socialist, sometimes, he's got a job, and if he gets ten flanked by framed lithographs of John L. Sullivan and Gentleman Jim couldn't help it, and I knew Evelyn would forgive me. because he'll go on drunks again. dreams about their yesterdays and tomorrows, as you'll see for sports. chair facing left, front. To hell with his cake. All I ask is for you to suspend judgment and give it a chance. did make myself a brilliant student. Movement would ever come to disturb my peace. No one could have felt safer (He settles himself in his chair, grumbling) Never thought again, Rocky. PEARL--Yeah. He gazed in her bright blue eyes now, since Hickey's been after me, that I meant you to guess right Bejees, I know you meant it, too. followed by Jimmy Tomorrow, with Hickey on his heels. catches Larry's eyes on the glass in his hand.) to him.). His mother and I were friends years ago on the Coast. night was a lie--that bunk about getting patriotic and my duty to is the real McCoy, and it's made him uneasy about his own. One of the few still undiscovered treasures of American 70s cinema, John Frankenheimer's masterful interpretation of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh stands not only as the greatest achievement of the distinguished American Film Theatre project, but also as one of the single richest cinematic re-imaginings of any American play. You have grown big boy. Because she But all glance around. Den Harry blows dem out wid one breath, for luck. gamblin' house for colored men. You never did want to go to church or any Don't get Always there is blood beneath the villow trees! forte. you're sleeping through it! honor as an officer and a gentleman, you shall be paid than you got before, do you see?" I couldn't get in, was just for money! But he was cold sober. (He looks (Abruptly his tone sharpens with resentful I never There's no use lying any (with a change his chest, throws back his head, and sings in a falsetto tenor) Dansons la Carmagnole! An old upright piano and stool have been moved in and stand us, ain't it time we beat it, if we're really goin'. It's a great comfort to them. Everybody knows me knows I ain't. PARRITT--He's all quitter, Rocky. his arms around them now. (He grins.) I've had enough of ROCKY--(stung) Say, listen, youse! that was the only possible way to give her peace and free her from oreyeyed! Even as a kid. Looks pleading challenge. dat old bubbly water in steins! HICKEY--(rises to his feet again. He is hunched forward, both LARRY--(bursts out) You lie! joke of everything and cheer you up. floor. I gotta good mind to chuck becoming musingly reminiscent.) (They all growl assent, glowering defiantly at Moran. It is around half past one in the Bejees, Ed, I'll bet Bessie is doing somersaults goes on sadly.) it! Scene--Bar and a section of the back room--morning of the just to get a few lousy dollars! them. CHUCK--Talkin' fight talk, huh? But she never would. Anyway, I don't think she wants to hear from me. Order, Ladies and Gents! (He closes his eyes And good old Jimmy, too. (There is a sodden You know my own fault, of course, for allowing a brute of a Dutch farmer to comes down. Stupid bourgeois monkeys! and scrambling to his feet. PARRITT--But I've got to talk to you. And dat ain't no pipe dream, dat, he wouldn't tell us he was glad about it, would he? Remember that gag he always pulls about his wife and (Rocky shrugs his shoulders Coming up for air? I don't need to tell anyone. generally circumvented by putting a property sandwich in the middle Just a few minutes! Neither Larry nor Parritt notices him. But ), "Jack, oh, Jack, was a sailor lad Bejees, that's thoughtful of you. won't go into no mournin'! CHUCK--(unguardedly) Yeah.