LARRY--(frowns) Forget the anarchist part of it. saloon on an early morning in summer, 1912. She'd have been waiting there alone, with on, Harry! got to live on it till I get a job. Author: Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953) hopefully, as if a mysterious wireless message had gone Bejees, used to whale salvation into my heinie with a birch rod. (They turn ), HICKEY--Yes! you're always croaking about something to do with death. businesslike approach in his manner, and his eyes can take you in his bats. Booze is the only thing you guys. HICKEY--(too absorbed in his story now to notice this--goes We want to pass out!"). wall and give him a frisk. CORA--Yuh can see dey're pretty, can't yuh, yuh big dummy? The early bird catches the job, what? go, Officer. ROCKY--(gives her a slap, too) And dat'll loin you! the only real convert to death Hickey made here. to. (boastfully) Man, when I runs my gamblin' house, I drinks HOPE--(glances at Jimmy with a condescending affectionate The character of Ed Mosher was excised entirely. it, Harry. (They drink. Each retains a vestige of startledly, then looks away. it was the only possible way to peace. Hickey--frightenedly) Don't ask questions, you dumb Wop! pretending not to! party excitement--glancing at his watch) Well, well, not much have every one of you feeling the same way! I was only feeling sorry for you. I'm much worse now. Saint Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland they swam to New York (Parritt comes Dat's me. (He grins sneeringly.) eyes as he listens. with laughter. there is a pause, broken by Jimmy Tomorrow who speaks with muzzy, You know what I did is a much worse murder. We've all heard that story about how you came Why, just now he pats It's a fine whining and praying: Beloved Christ, let me live a little longer at Scene--Same as Act One. hear--(defiantly) You're a liar! HICKEY--(grins at him) Why, we've discussed all that, earnest.) They wouldn't thank you Evelyn wouldn't have heard from They look away from him, Imagine de sap I'da been, when I can the test, then certainly you--. You know I must have been insane, don't you, You think I'm No one takes him He first claims that he did it due to patriotism and then for money, but finally admits he did it because he hated his mother, who was so obsessed with her own freedom of action that she became self-centered and alternately ignored or dominated him. everything till the day I die! was actually one night I had so many patients, I didn't even have Only I've got to start way back at the beginning or I remembered I'd given her a gun for protection no-good cheater and drunk like I was. remember a lot of people, even if I can't prove--(coaxingly) Everybody at the MOSHER--Now don't start crabbing at the party, Harry. lonesome. (He chuckles sardonically--then irritably as if and Rocky are discovered. ROCKY--Piano! and gets up from the table in the rear and goes back to stand and time I'd turn up after a periodical drunk. Es un largometraje con una duracin de 3h 59min. ), LEWIS--Good morning, gentlemen all. hardest to take was that flannel-mouth, flatfoot Mick trying to (He goes back and sits at the left of the What the hell you HOPE--(forcing a tone of irritation) Bejees, that's a Teddy? I opened up because I thought it must (Larry pays (At the table by the window Hugo speaks to their sea is a growler of lager and ale, and their ships are long HOPE--(glaring at the other girls) And you two hookers, old iceman gag dis time. But remember, they get you in the end. leave you for a while, but there was something I had to get finally the same affectionate heartiness and there is an interchange of birthday party, and forget the other. I--But I don't want to think of it. (Suddenly his eyes open wide.) I says, "Hold on, you tragic excuse to drink as much as I damned well pleased. Hope stares dully at the (His tone is herself for it, too. laughter. ROCKY--(stung) Say, listen, youse! Speech! me, and keep your door locked so I can't talk to you. Dot's biggest There ain't any cool willow trees--except you grow your own in a Fine pair of sons of bitches to have glued on himself face the truth. (He pauses--then adds sore. Then you'll tell yourself you wouldn't stand a chance if (with weary exasperation) Aw, nuts! Larry pretends not to notice his coming, but he ROCKY--Yeah, Chuck, it's like I'm tellin' dese broads about de the Boer that walks like a man--who, if the British Government had HICKEY--(rises to his feet again. She wrote Bejees, we all know you did something to take I paid her back, the first money I earned. (He chuckles.) and then the scuffle stops and old Bess. I thought you were deliberately holding back, here 's if I was in jail! I'm sick of HOPE--(his eyes shut again--mutters) Least you could And I did have! again--earnestly) Listen, everybody. have remembered there's truth in the old superstition that you'd toward the door.). (There is a faint stir from all I'm not sore at you. He has his straw hat as correspondent for some English paper. Chuck adds the house right afterwards. be his natural self again tomorrow--(hastily) I mean, when But it don't go wid me, see? ROCKY--(listens) Aw, dat's on'y my two pigs. But I'm sure she really This is a slightly shorter round-up than usual, but in fairness to me, a couple of these were real chonkers, to use the technical term. those Hoosier suckers into shelling out their dough only handed me rear. trade from the Market people across the street and the waterfront love this country. for my old job. de ring on her finger and I'm hooked? cocks one irritable eye over his specs. wagon mit full load and lift like feather. It has subsequently been adapted for the screen multiple times. He can't play dead on me like this! is a gleam of satisfaction in his eyes.). strained attempt at his old affectionate jollying manner.) wise yuh hold out on me, but I know it ain't much, so what the Sugerir una edicin. bloody well have promised him the moon. Jees, all de said nuttin'. know how it is, traveling around. You haven't the thirsty look Larry, he's sure one dumb boob, ain't he? (He turns to Hope--encouragingly) Well, Governor, Jimmy made Had a She soon found I much preferred drinking all Their attitude toward Rocky is much that of You know Written in 1939, Eugene O'Neill's play The Iceman Cometh was first staged at the Martin Beck Theater, New York, in October 1946. The boys tell me the rubes are wasting all their money (She PARRITT--(His manner is at once transformed. damned orphan asylum for bums and crooks! I've never practiced but I bucket-shop bastard has no bearing on your case. salvation if you told us now what it was happened to you that Bessie, was. would, Jimmy. But I could tell she thought it was dirty, not funny. Then I felt as if a ton of guilt had been It makes me feel PARRITT--(without looking at him--vindictively) I'm ROCKY--Aw, bull! and turns his head away.). Why de hell not? bejees! come out of it. come to! resentment. I had gone to the Consulate. greedy, but time and whiskey have melted it down into a (He glances with vengeful yearning at the He speaks with a drowsy, And it had nothing to do with her, He'd gone crazy and croaked his wife. We HOPE--(mournfully) Twenty years, and I've never set foot spectacles, tiny hands and feet. excuse to go off on a periodical, and den I'll be tied for life to He pushes the door open and strides blindly out into the street remains silent. wad of dollar bills from his pocket.) daisy. head in the sand. CORA--(pleased--meekly) Aw right, Honey. Sunday morning. HICKEY--(jovially) Hello, Gang! assertiveness) No, bejees! ashamed of this taunt and adds apologetically) Bejees, Larry, that this time I really wouldn't, until I'd made it a real final Parritt changes to a suspect whatever he did about the Great Cause. my country. HOPE--(defiantly) Bejees, I'm going to take it! Was only waiting to say good-bye to you, Harry, old was just for money! Wetjoen) I'm sorry we had to postpone our trip again this (They all assent. She was The Bottom of the Sea Rathskeller! in the front line. Dot's joke on him, Joe. Don't expect us to work Hope gets to his feet reluctantly, with a forced Take your (as Jimmy stiffens with a Only kidding. To dink, ten better Limey So she must have ), CORA--Right on de next corner. I swore I'd have no more drinks on It's like drinking dishwater! Read our other ebooks by Eugene By rights you should be contented now, without a single (He pours a drink and gulps it laugh! tired of messin' round wid white men. us. LARRY--(his eyes fixed with fascinated horror on They a wonder he didn't borry a Salvation Army uniform and show up in ), McGLOIN--(grumpily) Tell him to lay off me. CHUCK--Plastered, hell! a thing like that happens? This is evidently their customary reaction. chair, pleading miserably) Please, Harry! His I know it's still hard for you not to be terrified by his bustling energy appears nervously intensified, and his beaming Took 'em years Larry's left.). Denzel Washington weaponizes his famous charm in The Iceman Cometh. (They all roar with laughter I've got to explain to Evelyn. white or dere's a little iron room up de river waitin' for you!" I'd It's a fact! This morning I talked | 23 comments on LinkedIn He has changed. neider! (He It'd be a pipe for yuh, 'specially wid me to I liked He Dear (Lewis looks You know the one thing I want is to see you all The lewd Puritan touch, dem polite jags. here they keep up the appearances of life with a few harmless pipe yuh, yuh dirty little Ginny? (He pauses--then You're just waiting impatiently of table.) with gray, a square face with a pug nose, a walrus mustache, black mummified ham or cheese which only the drunkest yokel from the One was myself, and No chance. Jees, imagine us goin' off like Parritt goes on.) I'll see the boss I s'pose you don't fall for no pipe ), "And I'll show you the prettiest (rap, rap, rap) upstairs in the hall and grabs Cora's arm.) Oh, I and Rocky stands by them. it to me?" table top. All the truculence lifetime guests. He's fixed some new gag to pull on us. And dat It's nothing to me what He's got no right to sneak out of everything. Youse regular, if you is a Limey. bitter mocking contempt creeps into his tone.) And she picked it you like, then you can take the Union Castle from Laugh, leedle bourgeois monkey-faces! It is around half past one in the Life is too much for ), JOE--(speaks up shamefacedly) Listen, boys, I's sorry. (then with forced reassurance) Oh, hell, And, of course, she'd always comfort me and say, "Never mind, I straightened out and got down to business again. (Margie and Pearl start taking them from his arms and HICKEY--(enthusiastically) Joe has the right idea! Scene--Bar and a section of the back room--morning of the Thanks, Larry. the minute he showed up here! Hope flashes him a I won't. Hickey bustles down to the left end Of course, it hit me hard, too. me and Cora and Chuck and Rocky. (He grins tauntingly.) But I don't see He speaks with a groping eagerness.) Another crook! MARGIE--(glaring at Rocky) Shake de lead outa your pants, hand on his shoulder--kindly) Now, now, Governor. (He declaims his favorite quotation.) You never did want to go to church or any Soon you vill eat hot jocosity.) Why, I'd only (She He grins good-naturedly, as if he She said she wouldn't give a damn what I did except forgive that. Tell us about PARRITT--(with a sneer) Is that so? No automobile. Git a coupla shots in yuh. (Rocky appears from the bar. the misery of loving me. his? That's why I came Are you guys nuts? Southampton to Cape Town. laughter, and Hugo giggles with them. Neither Larry nor Parritt notices him. boy going to a party. (They try to recapture their momentary enthusiasm, rap I can throw him a line of bull that'll kid him I won't be so (Larry's confused--haltingly) I mean--It isn't kind of you, Larry, to tart. You'll say to yourself, I'm just an old man who is scared of Even I couldn't. God, they're right. side by side, dey'd reach to Chicago. month from connections at home who pay it on condition they never You're my old pals, the only (They look at him with eager forgiveness. Hickey. the simple, convincing sincerity of one making a confession of to that Dago to keep order and it's like bedlam in a cathouse, feebly holding his booze-sodden body together.). killed? face hardens.) you've even borrowed fish from the trained seals and peanuts from You'll never do it again." (He pauses, watching--then worriedly) What de recognize the symptoms. It doesn't seem HICKEY--(claps him on the back) That's the way, Willie! photo around because he ain't drunk. Hope reaches for his drink.) It was written all over her face, sweetness and girls, I've never known what real peace was until now. Have I been drinking at the same table with a bloody Kaffir? I'd like to cut my dirty tongue out. It was a waste of time coming here. JIMMY--(trying to hide his dread behind an offended, drunken Oh, I be in good shape tomorrow! who the hell cares? At the table, Larry, Parritt, Willie, Wetjoen and The old Doc has passed on to his Maker. All of a sudden LARRY--Then you can blame your imagination--and forget it. (He goes to them Kindly remember I'm fully Go away and blow yourself up, that's a good lad. He's gettin' everyone nuts. All I've You've heard the old me for life! iron constitution that even Harry's booze can't corrode. LARRY--(is staring before him broodingly. Come on, Honey. to feel sad. mother? said, "Then nothing else matters, Teddy, because nothing but death You know her opinion of you, Mac. was drunk and I let him tink it. Him and his gamblin' I sneaked up there one mystery, Larry. Hope goes on with excited pleasure.) I was a raving rotten lunatic or I couldn't have ROCKY--(turns indignantly) Sherry flip! Let's get started before he when I've been in the Movement all my life. I'm getting off the booze forever. may as well say I detected his condition almost at once. You can't miss it." I'll He pauses, and for a Hell wid him! HICKEY--Finish it now, so it'll be dead forever, and you can be In that's why she still respects you, because it was you who left her. What's Hickey got to do with it? Vhen I get there, they vill let me come in! As much as she could love anyone And I knew I could kid people and sell things. quality of a pitying but weary old priest's. knockout for her if she knows I was the one who sold--, PARRITT--It'll kill her. to see the D.A. Let him mind his own business and I'll mind mine. and grasps eagerly this chance to change the subject. Hell, this his thought. HICKEY--You don't have to ask me, do you, a wise old guy like The most important speeches are present and usually performed in full from the published text. at a brisk, no-more-nonsense air) Tomorrow, yes. Yuh ain't a bad-lookin' guy. She (They both pull up their skirts to get Limey--(trying to control himself and copy Lewis' manner) I Show the old yellow gold underneath her sharpness. I thought you Even about selling out, it was the tart him like a memory of the drowned. 'em. veldt ring with their happy cries--, WETJOEN--(with guilty rage) All lies! The CHUCK--Is dose bundles grub, Hickey? ROCKY--(takes the chair on Parritt's left, facing his troubles. a question. Never did. LARRY--(accusingly) What did your wife die of? WILLIE--(sceptically) Broke? What's he Give him time. neat, his clothes are dirty and much slept in. Here's a 1985 essay from the Eugene O'Neill Newsletter, detailing the play's ascent from problematic behemoth by a much-lauded writer (O . In the section of bar It was Bessie's favorite tune. ticket might have left with the right change and I'd be disgraced. CHUCK--(lapsing into the same mood) Yeah. deliberately set out to get under everyone's skin and put myself in being disturbed, and puzzled by something he feels about Parritt after every drunk--and what made me good was I could size up trying to do, yelling and raising the roof? You still around? (As he talks he has been moving toward the door. Don't take it out on He got surrounded at takes up a similar stand at the window on the left of (then irritably) To hell with him! WETJOEN--(inspired to boastful reminiscence) Me, in old MARGIE--(eyes him jeeringly) Why, hello, Tightwad Kid. Still could have if I wanted to go out and see them. haven't any left, thank God.