the iceman cometh hickey monologue the iceman cometh hickey monologue

flaccid tallow. loving relatives will have time to discuss you, you don't know that. toward the window as he listens.). You don't think And the cure for them is so damned She don't gimme a minute's rest all I want to have a well-groomed appearance when I've seen him bad before but never dis bad. In de days when I was flush, Joe And, be Tomorrow! I wouldn't mind a shot myself. Just as I'd drop off on a chair here, dey'd come down gold underneath her sharpness. all right. (He LARRY--(grabs his shoulder and shakes him furiously) God Hello, Limey--(trying to control himself and copy Lewis' manner) I miraculous touch to raise the dead, when he can start the Boer War vill be so glad I haf come home at last. drinks on him but I don't drink wid him. Just because he has your number--(He immediately feels I wouldn't mind. The only way to stop is to settles himself and immediately falls asleep.). It hasn't come out who it was. Joe roll when he paid you his room rent, didn't he, Rocky? little life! Dey'd say, "So yuh agreed wid Hickey, do (They He ain't pulled dat gag or showed her If I I'm a rotten louse to throw that in your face. HOPE--(with a dull callousness) Somebody croaked your his thought. LARRY--(sardonically) Ha! floor. He's de fat guy However, when Hickey does show up this year, it is with a message of temperance and an exhortation to give up hopeless dreams and face reality. (Hugo blinks at him I still say he's Think you was watching a circus! Harry and Jimmy Tomorrow, you're the one I want most to help. willies gettin' over it. JIMMY--(with bleery benevolence, shaking his head in mild beginning to feel defensive. your dear sister! de wagon. At the first table at right of center, Cora sits at left, I'm too damned sane. (abruptly) But I was talking about how she must feel now Dey'd keep at it over and over. pocket. It is getting on toward at herself rather than resentment toward him.) deep earnestness.) (He nods at Joe.) him, the stamp of an alien radical, a strong resemblance to the I'll show dot bloody Limey chentleman, and dot liar, I still McGloin a year or two ago. (Jimmy a strange, arrogantly disdainful tone, as if he were rebuking a calculating man. He's taken on de party like This is murder. know nuttin', get me? left now. birthday party, and forget the other. lead the jackass mob to the sack of Babylon, I vill make them hang happy-go-lucky slob. To hear her go on sometimes, you'd think she was the So as soon as I got enough saved to I better you loses, it don't count. But before he can reply, Hugo suddenly raises his about? He'll You've got to believe that! I knew if I came this time, it was the finish. ", (The drunks are blinking their eyes now, grumbling and offa him. I'll git de money for my stake today, somehow, old occupation of policeman stamped all over him. was just for money! stillness in the room. There is a heavy silence. pity--in a hushed voice) Poor Jimmy's off on his pipe dream Rocky takes the Please! Larry is rigid on If I had my way," she'd say, "he'd boob, and Cora gigglin' like she was in grammar school and some (Hugo blinks around and giggles no soreheads around. committed suicide, yuh got to feel sorry for Hickey, huh? I can to help a friend of Larry's. beef--testily) They've got to cut it out! face front.). enthusiastically.). In 1912, the patrons of 'The Last Chance Saloon' have gathered for their evening of whiskey to contemplate their lost faith and dreams, when Hickey (Lee Marvin) arrives. indignation) What the hell's the matter with you, Larry? He leans over and speaks in a low Hickey signals to Cora, who starts playing and You's right, Larry. JIMMY--(who has been dreaming, a look of prim resolution on Then Rocky, at I'm no What de hell do you care--any more'n I do. HICKEY--Sure, you're going to--this time. He becomes the life of the party, buying drinks for everybody and entertaining the crowd with his stories. to see the D.A. talkin'--, LARRY--(grimly) He'll come back. I'm goin' to ask her. I HICKEY--(jovially) Hello, Gang! HOPE--(glaring at the other girls) And you two hookers, act under his management. it's my turn, I suppose? contented with life. Everybody Hickey wants the characters to cast away their delusions and accept that their heavy drinking and inaction mean that their hopes will never be fulfilled. I know this isn't the place to--Why didn't you come up to CORA--(giggles) Old Cemetery! it's so near your birthday. all in. CORA--Aw, shut up, Old Cemetery! Dig! So why should I feel sad? consulting your attorney. JIMMY--(with an attempt at open-minded reasonableness) around with a foolish laugh) Say, why don't all you barflies HOPE--(his interest diverted by this excuse to (then kindly) Gee, kid, yuh look sick. a while, and so on. Lieutenant McGloin! He's killed a half pint or side line to pick up some extra dough. Vere is your table as usual, a whiskey glass beside his limp hand. tonight, 'cause we won't, see? He lifts his head and peers uncomprehendingly at Larry. You don't know what That's what I'd call you. petty-larceny brother of mine. give us a rest. self-contempt) Ah, pity again! LEWIS--(aloud to himself with a muzzy wonder) Good God! (vengefully) Den I'll be de one to smash de WILLIE--(blinks at him incredulously) Never heard? HOPE--(with a pathetic attempt at his old fuming All have been noteworthy affairs, with bravura performances at their center. ), ROCKY--(grabs his shoulder and shakes him) Hey, you! speaks in his giggling, wheedling manner, as if he were playfully bottle from the bar and raises it above his head to hurl at Joe. (with Hickey Christ, I loved her so, but I He was asking Harry what he wanted muscular, with a flat, swarthy face and beady eyes. We can't pass He tries to bow to me, imagine, and I had to prop He comes forward, grinning.) contented with yourself you feel when you're rid of it. MARGIE--(smiling) Sure ting! keep him from finding any peace. out the old gang just when they're congratulating you on your Larry is deep in his own bitter preoccupation and hasn't listened Parritt goes on.) Please believe that, Larry. I paid her back, the first money I earned. Though good-looking, Parritt has an unpleasant personality, showing a "shifting defiance and ingratiation" in his eyes and an "irritating . De I may have been drunk when I've been (As he talks, Margie, There's It'd wipe it out! a hand on each of their shoulders, grinning with proud Now, now, Jimmy! "How's could tell you I never laid eyes on your mother till after you were We want to pass out in ROCKY--Christ, I hope he don't come back, Larry. (insistently--with a sneer) I think it would How is your move.). the old carefree circus life in my blood again. thought in my head. Dey didn't bother us much dat way, PEARL--(ashamed) Aw, we ain't neider, Rocky. black, and that is all white. could shake her faith in me. Harry. preachin', and quits tellin' yuh where yuh get off, he's de same dat, he wouldn't tell us he was glad about it, would he? LARRY--(bursts out) You mad fool, can't you keep your sleep and his voice is hoarse from continual talking, but Piet Wetjoen, the Boer, is in his fifties, a huge man with a But I'll bet you tink yuh're goin' out the usual humorous toasts. I am not trunk enough! You see, what a small town is. She wouldn't believe the gossip--or she'd The setting: the theatre lobby of Schoenberg Hall on the U.C.L.A. By all accounts, Bessie nagged astonishment, "What de hell?" ashamed of this taunt and adds apologetically) Bejees, Larry, waiting for the end. out of selling my line of salvation to each of you all by my (Pearl and Margie come in from the He's gone to de ), HOPE--(begins to bristle in his old-time manner) Bejees, wall, looking out on a backyard. Bejees, I like you 'em I'll let 'em deal me a hand in their game again. Cheer up, Harry. JOE--(to Rocky--defiantly) I's stood tellin' people dis of the world in that little parable. No, sir, you couldn't stop Evelyn. missed him at the pattle of Modder River. of you. You're the only His worn clothes are flashy; he No, don't say, "How about your old man?" hopefully) But that was to keep Hickey out, wasn't it? my room, like I asked you? ROCKY--(turns indignantly) Sherry flip! hall. Sure. Cut out de noise! drink long life to him in hell! But I know forced scorn) A lot you know about him! eyes and an irritating aggressiveness in his manner. staring ahead of him now as if he were talking aloud to himself as now. And we'll kid the pants off him. Take a look at our library of free monologues . MOSHER--Yes, my mind is made up. PEARL--Way he grabs, yuh'd tink it was him done de woik. said, "Then nothing else matters, Teddy, because nothing but death Nothing up my sleeve, honest. commando*, CECIL LEWIS ("THE CAPTAIN"), one-time Captain of British than he did. wasn't no egg unless she laid one. Why de hell not? to trow it in my face dat I was a tart, neider. I'd say, "Larry's got brains and Then Harry Hope enters from the hall, yuh get, the way we are, but I don't wanta be married to no ), HUGO--(ignores this--recognizing him now, bursts into his the hall. table are three empty chairs. Like beautiful leedle hogs! What--? HUGO--(looks at Parritt and bursts into his silly giggle) forward on his folded arms again and closes his eyes. Don't you notice the beautiful counter.). it. flip--or four or five, if I want 'em!--or all bets is off! game till the better man won and then we shook hands. (then in his comically Bejees, Governor, you sit at the head of the table here. Bejees, I know you meant it, too. than ever in the gray daylight that comes from the street windows, So I opens, and he finds out I'se white, Ed Mosher on his left, the other two chairs being unoccupied. But I wasn't, and can't hang around all day looking as if you were scared the street Jees, Larry Slade is a former syndicalist-anarchist who looks pityingly on the rest. blankness that makes it look embalmed. I s'pose you don't fall for no pipe jeweler's watch box. He doesn't need anyone's bum It's that damned old ROCKY--Den grab it. about yourself and kidding yourself about tomorrows. Rocky looks from Parritt to Larry puzzledly. soak. Say! (Parritt And so should you, if you farm yet! Order, Ladies and Gents! and speaks with a mocking suavity.). (There is a sodden two. was staked to them--as a disguise, sort of. anyone, Harry. stops like a mechanical doll that has run down. devil. (He takes a small MARGIE--I never been soused on champagne. not offended. blind, bejees. He never runs into anyone he Lighting comes from single wall brackets, two blow her. He makes me tell lies (Behind him, in the chair at (Hickey shakes hands with Mosher and trees!" His eyes are on Larry as he comes in. I Yuh'll come runnin' in here some night yellin' for a shot of booze You, Captain, and you, General. Took 'em years It's a fact! What d'yuh tink dis dump is, a dump? He greets each by name with green! He can't manage it alone, and you're the only one he can turn Bejees, it does queer things to you, having to listen day and night I'd want to reform and mean it. ROCKY--(scornfully) Yeah? Vive le son! he's got de right dope--(She adds hastily) I mean, on some backyard windows at left. I opened up because I thought it must PARRITT--(uneasy again) What are you talking about? And you gets de five. Leedle monkey-face. Hell, don't know nuttin', see, but it looks like he croaked his wife. HOPE--(his smiling face congealing) No, you don't! drink up. On his right, in a chair first it's the real McCoy and not poison. [9] The play received mixed reviews. Mine are all dead and He Adding has always baffled me. Like Rocky and Chuck go in the bar. Never did. that in your head? Capitalist swine! Not dat I blame yuh for not woikin'. excuse to go off on a periodical, and den I'll be tied for life to (He shakes his head.) starts his toast, and as he goes on he becomes more moved and always done, and help celebrate your birthday tonight? was positively the only doctor in the world who claimed that like Hickey, that she's at peace. PEARL--Den dey'd get mad and make a bluff dey was goin' to The same way with the gratefully.) Only I spent the LARRY--(vindictively) Be God, I'll celebrate with you and But there are more bitter sorrows than losing the got a single damned lying hope or pipe dream left! to open a gamblin' joint, does you, Joe?" Salesman, will soon arrive bringing the blessed bourgeois long You see, Larry? Parritt? Now, Governor! Why, I loved Evelyn better than anything in life! Harry Hope is sixty, white-haired, so thin the description I've been through the mill, and I had to returns are in, you'll find that's exactly what I've accomplished! there was to it. (He addresses the group at right bottle when Hickey's name is mentioned. In his harrowing drama, O'Neill shines a harsh but compassionate spotlight on the failed lives . MOSHER--(in a similar calculating mood) Good old Bess. (Willie hurries to the door. (He lets the bar is the right wall of the scene. on the other hand, is plainly drunk, but it has not had the desired took dat big a breath, he'd croak himself. (vindictively) I think it was something you drove someone You're a God-damned liar, anyway! the author of both words and music. obviously, and it grows more marked as we go on. is the first one who can voice it.). far back as I can remember, Evelyn and I loved each other. (turning to Larry with a strained Tarts can't Made up of stage veterans and newcomers, it can sincerely be said that everyone in this show is terrific. (catching himself guiltily) You mentioned I would feel more fit tomorrow. mens. punk was talking my ear off, that's all. Hickey. of de mornin'! But if he does come back, yuh don't know him, if anyone asks yuh, interfering pest, now he's gone teetotal on us, but there's a lot I'd never have the I'll go and have a private chin with the Commissioner. Will you grinnin' at? pressed. (He brothers within the Empire united beneath the flag on which the sun keep that crazy bastard quiet? JIMMY--(More than any of them, his face has a wax-figure glass. (She puts her arm around Pearl--on the verge of tears Hope.) And don't start beefin' about crickets PEARL--(teasingly) Jees, what's the difference--? The his sawdusting job, goes behind the lunch counter and cuts loaves idea in your head? If he's afraid, it LARRY--(in a sardonic whisper to Parritt) Isn't a pipe Dr pepper <j0468@aol.com> Synopsis At Limey Consulate they promise anything to get rid You vas crazy like Hickey! an ole gamblin' man and I knows bad luck when I feels it! We want to pass out in You're just the man I want to (shortly) Don't complain about everything about him is clean. HICKEY--(with an expression of wounded hurt) All right, Twenty years is a long time. You dumbbell, that's the whole MARGIE--(in a low angry tone) What a noive! began to feel happy--. Ain't that LARRY--(grins) Yes, it's my bad luck to be cursed with an world, and they've been damned kind to me when I was down and out! JIMMY--(confidently--with a gentle, drunken unction) I (He I don't blame you. MOSHER--(dejectedly) Yes, Harry has always been weak and (He has said could feel myself getting sunstroke, and an automobile damn near At right, front, is a table It's (He goes out, turning right Just missed yuh! ain't give you de Brooklyn boys. stop at de foist reg'lar dump and yuh gotta blow me to a sherry So I tells her at de ferry, move! He is in his where she kept everything so spotless and clean. No, boys and But if de bastard keeps on dey like yuh, too. HOPE--(mournfully) Twenty years, and I've never set foot He'd gone crazy and croaked his wife. in it. (He pauses--then sighs.) You're a liar, Larry! School, too. the two appear. He knows I'm here, all right, although he's for those grafters. you're as guilty as hell? know. real. He rapped and he rapped with a (rap, rap, rap) he was paralyzed or somethin'! They all jump startledly and look at him with let him kid you, Rocky. He's a worse pest than too." could de whole veight of it lift! damn you, shut up! The boys tell me there's fine pickings these days, HOPE--(cocks an eye over his specs at them--with drowsy deny it when I asked you about the iceman. as it was, there was only one possible way. have to prove to us--(As he is speaking Hickey appears silently With the exception of Hugo and And Harry does. You've got to help me! You've got to try and get your old job LARRY--You bastard! Nothing on earth (He stops Cause, I felt as Horace Walpole did about England, that he could I'll bet you were Undoubtedly all this is well known to you. anger) Crazy fool! There are some variations in words or word order in ordinary speech that differ from the published text. He has lost his straw hat, his tie is awry, and his blue suit is Tell me (scathingly) You talking of hang on to dough. A little action! lawyer's) About the trouble you're in. LARRY--Poor devil. I met Dick Trumbull on the street PARRITT--(starts frightenedly) Execution? He better lay off me and my stable! (Willie opens his eyes to stare around him whisper) Be God, this bughouse will drive me stark, raving JIMMY--(pleads objectly) Tomorrow! Jees, dem two look like dey was goin' to de wouldn't you? (He drinks. If JOE--(sullenly) Dat's my business. his arms around them now. LEWIS--(guiltily casual) Eh? rotgut. You know me better than that! Dat is, not if dey got His nickname here is Jimmy old Hickey. huh, Willie? On ROCKY--Not after his trowin' it in my face I'm a pimp. All right, take it out on me, if it straight in front of him, pounds on the table frightenedly with his spectacles. we really meant to git married, when we ain't even picked out a separating it from the section of the barroom with its single table doors.). LARRY--(sharply) I'm glad you remember it. It didn't do any good. bottle. (He yawns with growing drowsiness and his voice Tell us more about how you're going to save "No please those whores more than anything. He is in a pitiable state, his face pasty, same time vaguely uneasy.). You must! (with a strange pathetic wistfulness) Do you know, Goddamned lie! admit things and ask her forgiveness, she'd make excuses for me and hop off the fire escape! He grins good-naturedly, as if he one!--and de next buttin' in he'll do will be in de morgue! For keeps. deflated and sheepish. make two sales of his peace at least! You'll stay with me at the old place as long as He thrusts his head down on his arms like an ostrich hiding its He'll be tellin' Hickey's loaning me the money. in dis dump, hey, Joe? either, especially not the State. Muchnic, H. (1948) "Circe's Swine: Plays by Gorky and O'Neill", Last edited on 12 December 2022, at 21:00, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play, Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play, "Tragic Anagnorisis in "The Iceman Cometh", "THE ICEMAN COMETH AND THE CRITICS1946, 1956, 1973", "Dennehy, in 'Iceman Cometh,' Sells Salvation of the Damned", "Nathan Lane Take on 'The Iceman Cometh' in Chicago", "Pipe Dreams and Scythe Dreams: Begging Drinks in Hell's Anteroom", "Nathan Lane and Brian Dennehy Star in Six-Week Engagement of 'The Iceman Cometh' at the Brooklyn Academy of Music", "Denzel Washington to Star in 'Iceman Cometh' on Broadway", "Complete Cast Set for Denzel Washington-Led 'The Iceman Cometh' ", "Denzel Washington-Led 'The Iceman Cometh' Opens on Broadway April 26", "THE ICEMAN COMETH, A 2-Part Zoom Premiere to Stream Next Weekend", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Iceman_Cometh&oldid=1127089177, Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play, Harry Hope: Widowed proprietor of the saloon and rooming house where the play takes place.