SUMMER AND SMOKE. The Lead Actress's Annotated Copy of the Script
New York: Anne Meyerson Typing & Mimeographing, March 1958. Softcover. Bound with one of two brads (the bottom is missing) in light gray paper covers (8-1/2" x 11"), untitled on the front, this is the working copy belonging to actress Margaret Phillips (who played the lead, Alma Winemiller, a young woman transitioning from religious repression to liberation) with her extensive annotations, notes, and production changes throughout. The play was first produced in Dallas and received its Broadway premiere in October 1948 starring Phillips in the lead role. In between those two premieres, Williams spent his time in Rome revising the play. Indeed, the title page here states "Rome Version" by the date. "When asked which was the author’s favorite among the many female characters in his plays, Williams often replied it was ‘Miss Alma.’ In Memoirs, he observed that ‘she may very well be the best female portrait I have drawn in a play. She simply seemed to exist somewhere in my being and it was no great effort to put her down on paper’" (SCHVEY, Henry I. “In Search of a Plastic Theater: The Case of SUMMER AND SMOKE,” THE TENNESSEE WILLIAMS ANNUAL REVIEW, No. 23 [2024], page 79). Appearing shortly after A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, SUMMER AND SMOKE, the third full-length play of his professional career, received a disappointing reception, and Williams, unsatisfied with the play, created a new version called THE ECCENTRICITIES OF A NIGHTINGALE in 1951. Geraldine Page played Alma Winemiller in the 1961 film opposite Laurence Harvey, earning an Academy Award nomination. A remarkable piece of theater history. Near Fine. Item #022613
Price: $15,000.00