Jacquie's Email
Hello Literary Ladies! We will be meeting this Wednesday, January 18th in the Orr Room of the Library for Diana's presentation on Edward Albee. Small talk begins at 12:30pm - confrontation beings at 1pm. Diana promises loads of drama, but alas, with our masks on, the sloppy drinking will have to be done in private and without an audience.
Here's a little something to whet your appetites. Even though our prior readings have proven our group's excellent acting chops, no one can emote with their forelocks quite like Liz and Dick! On YouTube: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Elizabeth Taylor (Martha), Richard Burton (George) – the boxing match scene.
Christine's Minutes
On a blustery January 18th, thirteen members of the Literature Club gathered again in the Orr Room of the Hasting library, home to hard uncomfortable chairs graciously made comfortable by Jacquie’s collection of cushions.
President Constance rang the ceremonial bell at 1 pm. There were a few announcements. Joanna, in her library hat, reminded us of the upcoming documentary, The Automat, and discussion to follow, and then wearing her Arts Council hat, she told us about “Drinking and Drawing,” in this very same Orr room with which we are so well acquainted.
Meanwhile, Jacquie made sure that we were recording the meeting for Sharon, who is in Florida. Most importantly, we all welcomed. Gita back from her illness and recuperation – we are all so glad to see her again.
The minutes of our previous meeting were read and accepted. Having recently written a large check to the library, our treasury now holds $129.50. Recommended books included Trust, by Hernan Diaz, The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell, and The Golden Compass trilogy by Philip Pullman.
Lest anyone was still expecting to hear about Horton Foote, Diana explained that having read through Foote’s oeuvre, she decided it lacked sufficient drama. Additionally, one of his plays had been scathingly reviewed by Stefan Kanfer, husband to our own late member, May Kanfer.
The biographical information in this program comes from Mel Gussow’s Edward Albee: A Singular Journey (2000) Gussow was not only an important critic, but also a good friend of Albee.
We could just glide over the next part, Albee’s almost classic alienated childhood of the artistic son of rich parents, but as has been noted elsewhere, everyone gets their very own particular and peculiar unhappy childhood.
Edward was born in 1928 to a single mother, in Washington DC. The biological father was nowhere to be seen. The babe was then adopted by a wealthy childless couple in Larchmont, New York, the Albees, in need of an heir. They named him Edward Franklin Albee III.
Reed Albee, a successful theatrical producer, was rather short but loved tall women. Frances, his much younger-wife, called Frankie, was six foot two inches, and had worked as a model. Also in the household were Frankie’s alcoholic sister, and her mother.
Frankie, described oxymoronically, as a “genial anti-Semite”, was not maternal. The young Albee did not even eat meals with his parents.
In 1932 the story of the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby gripped the nation. There was no escape from lurid coverage of the event. The young Albee became very fearful and slept with a bow and arrow under his pillow.
In the classic trope of rich clueless parents, Albee was financially pampered, given legions of toy soldiers, tennis lessons, dancing lessons, boxing lessons and lavish birthday parties.
But there were two loving women in his life: Nanny Church, who encouraged his interest in the arts, and took him to museums and Broadway shows. And Grandma Cotter – she lived upstairs in the large house, and was isolated there with her asthmatic Pekinese dogs. She was an Albee play before there was such a thing as an Albee play. And then there was. Albee wrote The Sandbox – a 12-minute play – about her.
But back to the miserable childhood. Albee was first sent to Rye Country Day, though in the winters he was pulled out and sent to a private school in Palm Beach, because his parents wintered there. After failing at RCD, he was sent to Lawrenceville, where he had his first sexual experience. He was tossed out again, and sent to Valley Forge Military Academy. Not surprisingly, he hated it. Lastly, he went to Choate, where he had a successful academic career.
He spent three semesters at Trinity College, before leaving for Greenwich Village, and his real life. By this time, he knew he was gay; he said he had known since he was twelve. Initially he lived at home in Larchmont, but in 1948 he had a serious break with his parents, and left the nest. When he was 21, he inherited money from his grandmother, which gave him $25 a week. It helped, but he still needed to work. He held a series of odd jobs; his favorite was Western Union, where he worked from 1955 to 1958. He said that he liked the flexible hours, the interesting people he met, and lots of walking. He also liberated one of their typewriters in order to start writing plays. And he did. He dashed off The Zoo Story in three weeks, and it was produced off-Broadway in 1959. He was suddenly the darling of the New York theater world. The plays kept coming: The Sandbox in 1960, American Dream in 1961, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1962, A Delicate Balance in 1966. He wrote several plays in the seventies and eighties, but they weren’t his best. Then in 1991 Three Tall Women came out. The play was a huge hit, and Albee won the Pulitzer.
Albee’s first serious love was William Flanagan.
From 1959 to 1963, he had a relationship with Terence McNally, but they split after four years because Albee was unable to be open about his sexuality.
Then, in 1971, Albee met Jonathan Thomas and they were together until Thomas died in 2005.
In 1989, Frankie Albee, his mother, died, having changed her will to exclude Edward. This left him free to write about her. He found his adoption papers and contacted his birth mother. And to exorcise his demons, he wrote Three Tall Women (1990); there were only three characters and they were all variations on his mother.
According to Albee there are only 2 things to write about: Life and Death. Albee died in 2016 at the age of 88.
And now for some real drama: members read selected scenes from A Delicate Balance. This was an excellent choice, as it has six very vivid characters: Tobias and Agnes, a wealthy older couple; Julia, their fourfold-divorced daughter just come home; Claire, Agnes’ alcoholic sister; and their soi-disant best friends, Harry and Edna. In reading certain scenes across the whole play, we felt we had experienced the whole messy, emotional, theatrical, familial show.
Respectfully submitted,
Christine Lehner, Recording Secretary
