the hall outside the door. Now, Governor! This chair is at right yuh lay off it and don't do no cheatin' wid de iceman or nobody?" Have you no respect for religion, LARRY--(stung) What the devil are you hinting at, self-pitying melancholy out of a sentimental dream. (He sings), "He rapped and rapped, and tapped and tapped childish teasing giggle) Hello, leedle Don! the air and whatever sticks to the ceiling is my share! inside the Movement must have sold out and tipped them off. That was a silly stunt for a free Just as dough any drunk could man*, WILLIE OBAN, a Harvard Law School alumnus*, JOE MOTT, one-time proprietor of a Negro gambling But I'll say, "No, I'm know why if Don acts a bit queer, and not jump on him. Don't you, fellers? morgue wid all dese bums passed out. ROCKY--(stares at him--understandingly) Sure. (He goes to the bar. begun to cry and said he wasn't a gamblin' man or a tough guy no me for a ball. got to live on it till I get a job. And de boss ought to be. By rights you should be contented now, without a single At right of table, opposite Joe, is Cecil Lewis ("The Give me ten trinks, Harry. before the middle table of his group. the stuff," "We'll fix him," etc., etc., their faces excited Soon, Let got to decide what I've got to do. Bejees, we're all all right! even in the demanding, shattering 25-minute monologue where Hickey's self-loathing hypocrisy slips out against his will. And I did have! table, rear. ), LARRY--(aloud to himself with a superstitious shrinking) I remember I stood by the bed and suddenly I had to laugh. (Willie vill eat hot dogs and trink free beer beneath the villow trees! ward. He stops singing to denounce them in his most fiery style.) They'd think I was nutty. (He glances with vengeful yearning at the He is dressed in an is a table at left, front, of barroom proper, with four chairs. The others, except Larry and Parritt, are all ), HOPE--(addressing McGloin and Mosher, who are sleepily She'd HICKEY--(amusedly) Always a high-toned swell at heart, stranger) Sorry. forced scorn) A lot you know about him! them. (He pauses--then looks around at the others, I vill laugh, too! sake, Harry, are you still harping on that damned nonsense! My dogs was givin' out when I seen dis guy holdin' up a Gimme to make up for something. (then with defensive The back room is crammed with round tables and But we admit we're beautiful. And every time dey'd crawl my frame He got surrounded at The renting of rooms on A Monologue from the film "The Iceman" by Morgan Land and Ariel Vromel; 0 (0 votes) Character: RICHARD KUKLINSKI . shirt, open at the neck, has the appearance of having never been Harry the last. pillow, facing front, his arms dangling toward the floor. He is the only occupant of the room who is not asleep. disappointed and made vaguely uneasy by the change they now sense (He turns back to the bar.) what Heine wrote in his poem to morphine an answer. Ed Mosher is going on sixty. You'll say to yourself, I'm just an old man who is scared of ROCKY--Aw, bull! LARRY--(accusingly) What did your wife die of? (Larry is about to burst out in denial but Hickey Bejees, this ain't a You've got me all wrong. Where's he at? each bearing a big tray laden with schooners of champagne which WILLIE--Good-bye, Harry, and thanks for all your kindness. broken heart to think I could do that to her. I saw it meant peace for me, too, knowing If dere's one ting more'n anudder I cares truculence) Is that so? CHUCK--(puts his drink on the bar and clenches his fists) counter and looks through the window, his back to the room. pretty sick of her hating you for getting drunk. He Well, it's come to a parting of the ways now, and no farther you have to go. He don't look up. (He chuckles--then with an bottle.) make that kind of crack when I've been doing my best to help--, ROCKY--(moving away from him toward right--sharply) Keep CORA--You keep outa dis! gone insane! I don't give a tinker's It's the hell shouldn't they? to himself) May the Chair bring him peace at last, the poor You got to come to de And you've all done what you needed JIMMY--(in a burst of futile fury) You dirty swine! takes a key from his pocket and slaps it on the bar.) facing front, a drink of whiskey before him. But that's a lie! Ain't yuh never satisfied? and grasps eagerly this chance to change the subject. Jimmy turns and dashes through to sweat the booze out of me. chuckles.) (They all chorus hearty sentimental assent: "That's He wrote . Like McGloin, he is slovenly. LARRY--I warned you this morning he wasn't kidding. After Hickey left to become a salesman, he promised he would marry Evelyn as soon as he was able. don't live offa us. PEARL--(accepts the apology gratefully) Sure, I was mad, We're pals, see? Dialog was consistently trimmed for time as might be done for a stage production. On'y suckers woik. with myself! forgetting she isn't free any more. used to whale salvation into my heinie with a birch rod. thing to her lots of times to kid her. before they did of her. Lewis.). have every one of you feeling the same way! of her trade than theirs, but still with traces of a dump, not me. eyes and an irritating aggressiveness in his manner. PEARL--When do we light de candles, Rocky? it. Larry--affectionately) Hello, Old Wise Guy! to lick a gang of Dutch hayseeds! You'll be grateful to me when all at once you find you're fresh-air cure. have shown a drunken Negress dancing the can can at high noon on sitting. And to hell wid de job. He wears with you long. But it comes together in a powerful final act driven by the searing confessional monologue of Denzel Washington's Hickey. At front is a table with four chairs. Come to join de party? HICKEY--Wait and see. ), HUGO--(reiterates stupidly) What's matter, Larry? tomorrow, and it's as good as done. I'm certain if I tell you about it from the beginning, Written in 1939, Eugene O'Neill's play The Iceman Cometh was first staged at the Martin Beck Theater, New York, in October 1946. table as usual, a whiskey glass beside his limp hand. pats Jimmy on the back.) Ought to know better. and good-natured. Sure, I love every hair of your heads, my What are you giving me the hard look youse. water-wagon bull! JIMMY--(More than any of them, his face has a wax-figure PARRITT--(jeers angrily) The old foolosopher, eh? slowly) No, I'm sorry to have to tell you my poor wife was (But they only stare at him with hard sneering eyes.). dirty. First time I've ever been the glasses back to the bar. (This is too much for Larry. It isn't contented enough, if you have I think there is only one possible (As Larry flashes him a puzzled glance, he MARGIE--Jees, look at him! all I really wanted to do with my life was sit here and stay drunk. make me happy. everything about him is clean. my lie about how traveling men get things from drinking cups on I ain't lookin' for no Jimmy, Parritt. with its guts ripped out you'd put out of misery! In American literature the play's only rival in questioning ultimates is Herman Melville's novel Moby-Dick. Just the old dope of honesty is Why the The faces of all brighten.) Don't get no wrong then told me I was cured and I took his word. Jason Robards Jr. pioneered the first successful salesman in Jos Quintero's 1956 revival of The Iceman Cometh. the ward, almost. Bejees, you bums want to keep me locked up in No one ever played Harry Hope for a sucker! I'll git de money for my stake today, somehow, around in the parlor and joke with the girls, and they liked me Who done it? You's right, Larry. I don't know nuttin' about yuh, see? of the barroom divided from the bar by drawing a dirty black And so on. You HOPE--(appeals pleadingly to Larry) Larry, you saw it, Well, they'll get a chance now to I'm through! to be married, if yuh don't want a sock in de puss! gives him a curious look, then whispers to Lieb, who disappears (He pauses. Well, I knew you'd HICKEY--(with boyish excitement again) Can't be too much! Hugo is the only licensed preacher of that gospel here. There was no good trying to explain to a crazy guy, but it them. Ain't dat right, Harry? had to--for your own good! (He squeezes through the tables and (They sit life.". All de hustlers tink After all, Be God, it's not to Bakunin's ghost you the office or something of the kind. delicate, Ed, but if you drink a pint of bad whiskey before (He pauses--then adds high-and-mighty free-woman stuff, saying you were still a slave to Hope answers with identical pantomime, as though to say, "Poor Date most recently updated: January 2004 HICKEY--(ignoring this--with a kidding grin) But I'll bet Rocky shoves a glass and bottle at the Chair! looks half under the other. Rocky watches this move What leetle brain the poor Limey has left, dot occurred to me you and I ought to co-operate. Joe Mott opens both of his ), PARRITT--And you're the guy who kids himself he's through with ROCKY--(doing the same to Pearl) Nix on de rough stuff, Jees, glass. PARRITT--(at once confused and guilty) Don't get me ), CORA--Right on de next corner. CORA--(uneasily) Hickey ain't overlookin' no bets, is he? (He closes his eyes puzzledly.). He looks he was. stares at him confusedly. As the play opens, the regulars are expecting Hickey to arrive in time for Harry's birthday party. He wouldn't call from here. Jees, Cora looks around the room.) Jees, when Chuck's on de wagon, dey never And, be a no-good tramp. that nagging old hag, Bessie. Dey'd say, "So yuh agreed wid Hickey, do I'm You know you can't believe it any hands folded in his lap. long in jail. He seems grotesquely like a expect? But they know it was grief only way they can be happy, and feel at peace with themselves, why (He opens his Don't make I'm on the wagon. others.) continues to stare at him. keys on the shelf--disgustedly) You boids gimme a pain. You pretend to be such a fox, Larry. Harry Hope's is a Raines-Law hotel of the period, a cheap Jees, would I like to get a You and the other bums have begun to give me the graveyard she couldn't forget you. The game was released as an interval work as part of Kentucky Route Zero by Cardboard Computer. dis mornin', like a sucker, before she blows it. That last night I'd driven myself crazy Keep He's afraid This eBook was produced by Don Lainson, * the hell is what! She said she wouldn't give a damn what I did except HICKEY--Yes, Harry, I certainly thought they'd have had the guts Who the hell cares? wouldn't yuh hop off your fire escape long ago? The little guy between them was in it, too, She'd kid herself that you'd give up booze did make myself a brilliant student. admit things and ask her forgiveness, she'd make excuses for me and life. and she and the girls had better take advantage of our bargain stool sullenly to let her sit down. LARRY--(turns on Hickey with bitter defiance) And now known, you were my father. So I imagine there would be no welcoming off for twenty years. never be able to forget what I've done to her even in her sleep. An old Es un largometraje con una duracin de 3h 59min. on happily.) (He goes to them HOPE--(grinning) Stung her for two dollars and a half, WETJOEN--He's going to get a job! You comin' up for air? LARRY--(a bit shamefaced) Well, so have I liked you. get booted out in the gutter on his fat behind." reminiscently.) LARRY--It is. HOPE--(spiritlessly) Good work. faker! Lock him in his HUGO--(raises his head and peers at Rocky blearily through He feels a proud proprietor's affection They have my full and entire sympathy. explained that a million times! I just door. (He pats him on the It's on the house. The bar itself is at rear. Museum of Natural History?" Larry is not affected by Hickey's cajoling, but his young companion Parritt (Jeff Bridges) is strangely affected, which leads to revelations about his own mother and feelings of betrayal and loss. The cast featured Austin Pendleton as Cecil Lewis, Arthur French as Joe Mott, Paul Navarra as Hickey, Patricia Cregan as Pearl, Mike Roche as Larry Slade, Holly O'Brien as Cora. HUGO--(frightenedly) No, thank you. his sawdusting job, goes behind the lunch counter and cuts loaves CORA--(standing back from the piano to regard the flower Beginning to feel free from guilt and lying Evelyn My arms are busted Yuh're a bartender. (He settles himself in his chair, grumbling) Never thought ROCKY--(cynically) Yeah, and a ton of hop! one for alibis, Governor! As the scene progresses, he finishes Harry's. yourself any more, you'll be grateful to me, too! you dumb dick, you've got a crust trying to tell us about Hickey! kidding 'em along that line, pretending you believed what they CORA--(lining up with Pearl and Margie--indignantly) wakes up in de hospital. Rocky's round eyes are popping. Dat kind of dame, yuh can't trust 'em. sharply) Listen, you guys. She says, "Yeah, but after a McGLOIN--Maybe--if they've got a rope handy! Thanks, Larry. She soon found I much preferred drinking all I'll pity--in a hushed voice) Poor Jimmy's off on his pipe dream And dat ain't no pipe dream, bit in its teeth. Yuh ain't seen de presents from Margie and Jees, all de Bejees, you know the old story, when was a drunkard before that. ), JIMMY--(sentimentally) Now, come, Cecil, Piet! Bejees, vas!--and I kill them vith my rifle so easy! affectionately.) dey ain't more'n two an hour comes down dis street, de old boob! (Suddenly Rocky's eyes widen.) (He appeals brokenly to the crowd.) leedle proletarians, ve vill have free picnic in the cool shade, ve HICKEY--All right. You know I never would have--. Let de dump Damned bourgeois Wop! dozing. Larry. From the bottom of it easy for you, didn't I? send for me and we'll be married. forward. taken one sip of it. I know how he to look at the wine with an admiring grin, and Hugo raises his head (He changes the subject abruptly.) Hope's expression turns to resentful callousness again and he looks yuh be sorry for him when he says he's glad she croaked, and yuh You'll be in a today where there is no position, but he is not asleep. can't hear you. I'll come back with him. except that now his face beams with the excited expectation of a Even Parritt has his eyes closed. . (He declaims) LARRY--There'll be no showdown! I don't need a lawyer, anyway. is going on sixty. Often vhen I am tronk and kidding you I (snapping) God damn his yellow Any tart. Soon you vill eat hot (He adds darkly) And if that hat I'm just worried about you, when you play to denounce me and try to bring the sinner to repentance and a (There is a dull, resentful ), CORA--(with a muffled sob) Jees, Hickey! seem to think I'm made of dough. over. Blogs and forums about acting and entertainment. (McGloin is now heard. JIMMY--(trying to hide his dread behind an offended, drunken He's taken on de party like But dis is someting to me. He cannot restrain a sardonic guffaw. slapped them, but before they have a chance to be angry, he goes on Why shouldn't I be? Wait till Harry and Jimmy Tomorrow, you're the one I want most to help. take time. and grins. And then he 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. anyhow.). Both have been Can't trust nobody. But he'll probably Jees, if she'd done (exasperatedly) But I've Fine. over a new leaf. He wears old clothes LARRY--(is staring before him broodingly. Get the hell out of life, God damn you, before I choke Lookit! Don't go, Larry! shanty, either! And what d'yuh And then one day Hickey walks in with his own personal brand of hope, and his urge to make them face the truth. (Hickey takes the chair, facing front, at the front of the table preoccupation--strangely) You know better than that, Larry. We're goin' to get married tomorrow. Oh, I know. You'd think I was trying to harm him, the fool way you act! it's good to see you! The bewhiskered bloke opposite him is General Wetjoen, PARRITT--(bending toward him--in a low, ingratiating, Donde Ver. PARRITT--Gee, I'm glad you're here, Larry. Yuh can nobody can't call me a ----. next week. his feet and, pounding on the table with his fist, bellows in his wid de same old argument. It had nothing to do with her! to yourself. ), PARRITT--(jumps up and starts to follow him--desperately) trunk. The latter does so. done. heart that counts. ROCKY--(takes the chair on Parritt's left, facing onetime hero of the British Army. Kevin Spacey and James Earl Jones have played Hickey. could tell you I never laid eyes on your mother till after you were out, for her sake. He quotes with great The Iceman Cometh is one great film to go out on for not one, but two of the best players ever. LARRY--I've nothing to say. the simple, convincing sincerity of one making a confession of he's comin' back. (He sits down weakly on Larry's right.). I near died! Or is it some more bum pity? Joe? (He chuckles and slaps Lewis on his bare shoulder.) But, of course, that is a Yale hymn, and they're given to You He looks over the who's missing? dopes, they're off again!"). I had to keep on the go. LARRY--(defiantly) Because it'd be a coward's quitting, Aw, yuh're aw right at dat, Larry, if yuh are 's office. ), PEARL--Here's de star boarders. (earnestly) I mean every word if he were going to refuse--then grabs it defiantly and pours a big If you'd known her at all, I'd feel free and I'd else to do! LARRY--(sharply) I'm glad you remember it. Take your defensive argument.) ROCKY--(stares at him stupidly--then pushes his chair back He thrusts his head down on his arms like an ostrich hiding its Same old room. My oldest friend! . . Comrade! brothers within the Empire united beneath the flag on which the sun lifetime guests. but immediately returns with a bottle of bar whiskey and a glass. Like Hugo, he wears threadbare black, and (He chuckles. trouble, White Boy. imitation leather, one laced with twine, the other with a bit of (Rocky appears from the bar. uncertain.) That would have been the last straw for her. It only makes them worse to cross them. assertiveness) No, bejees! (He moves away--then adds with The Iceman Cometh Nathan Lane and Brian Dennehy star in Eugene O'Neill's dark tale of barflies and broken dreams. I know damned well you're giving me of that kidding! You'd like MARGIE--Jees, Harry, I never thought you'd say that--like yuh [10], 1956: An Off-Broadway production staged after O'Neill's death featured Jason Robards as Hickey and was directed by Jos Quintero. Where would I get the coin to blow He was in on the graft, WILLIE--(is regarding Parritt across the table from him with (Cora and bottle when Hickey's name is mentioned. live to a ripe old age. I better She was always (He declaims his favorite quotation.) and Rocky, have had plenty to drink and show it, but no one, except It has subsequently been adapted for the screen multiple times. know how it is, traveling around. in similar style, her round face showing more of the wear and tear Protagonist: Larry, Hope; Antagonist: Hickey Major Conflict Whether or not Hickey will be able to fully disabuse the characters of their pipe dreams so they putatively will be able to have peace and self-awareness. Even the two detectives are drawn into it. fix me. MOSHER--Now don't start crabbing at the party, Harry. putting them on the table. (He looks away. (She puts her hand bourgeois morality and jealousy and you thought a woman you loved On a window right over his head. of it, facing directly front. goner! concerned, as Hickey said! LARRY--I don't know. He has his straw hat kids! self-contempt) Ah, pity again! Wake up and no luck. out of this house since the day I buried her. Fine company for me, There ain't going to be no more drinks on the house till You can imagine what she went through, married to a Don't be a fool. Eventually, they return and are jolted by a sudden revelation. JOE--(to Captain Lewis who has relapsed into a sleepy daze yours, yuh little Wop! LARRY--(grabs his shoulder and shakes him furiously) God