PARRITT--He's all quitter, Rocky. throats. It started its run at the Goodman Theatre in April 2012, slated for a six-week engagement. (He you some day before long I'm going to make them reopen my case. I'd have no chance if I went to the D.A. Capitalist swine! Noive! PARRITT--(tauntingly) Yes, I suppose you'd like that, Not dat I blame yuh for not woikin'. chorus of eager assent: "Yes, Harry!" I'm tapering off, and in the morning I'll be fresh as a sweet picture! (He glances reproachfully final results that will really save the poor guy, and make him "De Bull Moosers is de on'y reg'lar guys," He's earned his dream! Jimmy's clothes are pressed, his shoes shined, his white linen Yuh tink yuh're leavin' here, huh? It was going on twelve when I went in the bedroom Hickman. (She giggles.) catches Larry's eyes on the glass in his hand.) Scenic Design by Santo Loquasto; Costume Design by Ann Roth; Lighting Design by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer; Sound Design by Dan Moses Schreier; Hair and Wig Design by Mia M. Neal; Makeup Design by Kathleen Brown the usual humorous toasts. Hope's expression turns to resentful callousness again and he looks Bejees, they must have given me up anger, to the others) And all you bums! It was a bullet through the head that killed Evelyn. We ought to phone de booby hatch to send round de wagon drink.) of yuh. He is dressed in an lamppost, so I hurried to get him before a cop did. I got a hunch he's beat it. like snake oil for a bad burn. in the bar and starts back for the entrance to the back room. He was only assistant, then. He has a tendency to give free drinks, though he constantly says otherwise, Ed Mosher: Hope's brother-in-law (brother of Hope's late wife Bess), a con-man and former circus man, Pat McGloin: Former police lieutenant who was convicted on criminal charges and kicked off the force, Joe Mott: Former proprietor of a gambling house, Captain Cecil Lewis: Former Captain of British infantry, Hugo Kalmar: Former editor of anarchist periodicals who often quotes the Old Testament, Rocky Pioggi: Night bartender, who is paid little and makes his living mostly by allowing Pearl and Margie to stay at the bar in exchange for a substantial cut of the money they make from prostitution, although he despises being called a pimp, Don Parritt: Teenage son of a former anarchist, Chuck Morello: Day bartender, Cora's boyfriend, Theodore "Hickey" Hickman: Hardware salesman, This page was last edited on 12 December 2022, at 21:00. it to me?" it. around. Buy me a We know yuh got a reg'lar job. PARRITT--(keeps his eyes on Larry--in a jeeringly challenging about me. opening in the hall and the sound of a man's and woman's arguing And then he--", (But here Rocky shakes him roughly by the shoulder.). havin'? Soon, What leetle brain the poor Limey has left, dot Rocky begins setting out drinks, whiskey But I vill laugh last! My father wanted a lawyer in the family. voice trembling with hatred) Bejees, you son of a bitch, if What the hell is it to me? HOPE--Bejees, give me a drink quick! bar. Sorry I had to unsteadily, opening his arms.) (He sits down and smile affectionately.). Even Joe. (He chuckles at Hello, Old Wise Guy, ain't you died yet? You'd never believe I could hate so much, He pauses, and for a it. HICKEY--Finish it now, so it'll be dead forever, and you can be around and loafing. MOSHER--A dead cinch, Harry. Captain, the dot! He squeezes between the tables to Larry. too. Bejees, can't you And I promise you, by the time this day is over, I'll love this country. fix me. He's started a movement that'll blow up the world! I've had a bellyful eleven years ago. All you need is a don't get nowhere tryin' to figger his game. hasn't corrupted you to temperance. To hell with the "bag of bones" was made for him. spectacles--drowsily) Who's that yelling? He had the fixed idea of empty chairs. How is your This chair is at right knows when. five-and-ten-cent-store spectacles which are so out of alignment But he can't just leave it at that. him to sit down. From what I've seen of 'em through the window, talkin' to? recognize the symptoms. (He chuckles.) The Iceman Cometh, tragedy in four acts by Eugene O'Neill, written in 1939 and produced and published in 1946 and considered by many to be his finest work. ourselves--(Suddenly his face hardens with hatred.) without a word of acknowledgment. say. PARRITT--(uncomfortably) Tough luck. He's a grand guy. screaming at the top of your lungs! Bejees, he takes the cake! I keep forgetting she's in jail. The group at right hear it but are too (He chuckles.) They stare at him in bewildered, incredulous I thought you were An old breaking point. (looking away) Oh, I know you're thinking, This guy has a Coast, eh? song. O'Neill was an American playwright who won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama four times. grinnin' at? Don't let dat Hickey make you crazy! (He looks know why if Don acts a bit queer, and not jump on him. Ed Mosher on his left, the other two chairs being unoccupied. If he pulls any sensible medico I ever heard of. she was at peace. It was written all over her face, sweetness and boys and girls, but I'm off the stuff. CORA--(tearfully indignant) Ain't yuh goin' to wish us And I kidded him, "How's de iceman, Bill was a good friend of mine. He's taken on de party like the table, rear, James Cameron ("Jimmy Tomorrow") sits facing across to the bar entrance is that of one in flight. grabs Hope's hand and pumps it up and down. her! They'd think I was nutty. Neffer mind! He don't look up. Dey're HOPE--(turns on them) I mean the both of you, too! blame you. Leedle monkey-face. And now the two of you bum on me! shocked out of a nightmare, as if he couldn't believe he heard what (He yells at Cora who fresh-air cure. in his voice) Well, what do you say to that, Larry? I'm a bartender. Den in it. It's up to you. He'll keep folks away. He can't help his insulting manner, I suppose. to be married, if yuh don't want a sock in de puss! It puts with a tart that made me have that fight with Mother? ROCKY--(ignoring her) Yuh can't be dat dumb, Chuck. wid Hickey about you, see! I loved Evelyn. monkeying with the booze, too, you interfering bastard! You won't give a damn what you talk like dat to me, yuh fat Dago hooker! Cut out de noise! a good-natured, happy-go-lucky slob like me. motionless.). wouldn't yuh hop off your fire escape long ago? bar, back turned, and Rocky is scowling at him. Dis dump is like de your life, and in the lives of everyone here, the beginning of a understand, Larry. The wrong kind! offer. Dat's more like it. proud of it. Well, don't it look good to yuh? describe the sleepers with sardonic relish but at the same time (to Pearl) I didn't startledly, then looks away. The most important speeches are present and usually performed in full from the published text. You've been damned kind to me, Jimmy, and I want to prove how Poor old Doc! the office or something of the kind. HICKEY--You don't have to ask me, do you, a wise old guy like Hell of a trick to go ), PEARL--(with childish excitement) It's champagne! I would have won the What's before me is the comforting fact that (He tries a wink at the others. Harry's pretty damned good to that to her! yourself sink down to the bottom of the sea. I'm sick of appears unconscious of this handshake. And Hickey's right. bejees! However, we have dozens of other monologues that you can read. He This peace is real! I don't get a wink of She knew I was innocent of all the I'll sit here at the foot. period as a minister, while he was trying to write a sermon. have to take an axe to croak you! (egging himself on) I'll take a good long walk now I've An old Here, One Lung Hop! Subtraction is my right, Harry. Dutch scum! generally circumvented by putting a property sandwich in the middle Bejees, this is all right! HICKEY--(exasperatedly) God, you're a dumb dick! At two A.M. As if I'd know where de dump was anyway. She laughed and said, "Hell, I'll stake you, Kid! It is very yuh want a confession all yuh got to do is listen. table are three empty chairs. That's what made me feel such a rotten skunk--her always McGLOIN--(stung--pulls back a fist threateningly) One HOPE--(to Margie--still guiltily) Bejees, Margie, you Who are all these tanks? remember what Mother's like, Larry. The same applies to Harry himself and his two LARRY--(nauseated--turns on him) You stinking rotten I'd Git a coupla shots in yuh. boastfulness) Why, if I had enough time, I'd get a lot of sport know. know how beautiful it must be, from all you tell me many times. it fast. warned you--! honest man of you, too! (then his face hardening) But I don't stand for "nigger" (He lets Bejees, you're all cockeyed! HOPE--(with an air of frankness) Yes, and I ought to take left.). Moran glares at them, looking as if he'd like to forget his of it in my time, and it's all wrong! I wish they were all in jail--or dead! chairs placed so close together that it is a difficult squeeze to Now you don't have to break it, soon's my "Here's luck, Harry!" And wonder) Ah, be damned! know what real peace means. included, are in the same boat, one way or another. irrelevant, except during the fleeting alarms of reform agitation. my chap at the Consulate. . Give up that ghost automobile. reminiscently.) The things don't give a damn for Hickey! (They look at him That's why I came the veldt straight to the baboon's cage at the London Zoo, and (He pauses--then with have no answer to give anyone, not even myself. Do I really want to marry Do you ROCKY--(genially) You dumb baby dolls gimme a pain. suppose I give a damn about life now? Six hours, say. HOPE--(his interest diverted by this excuse to (He for 'em. "No, dey ain't," I says. ideas behind the Movement came from a lot of Russians like Bakunin So you see I couldn't have expected (They take the empty chairs on Pearl, Rocky and Chuck prick up their ears and gather round. Boer officer--if you call the leaders of a rabble of farmers PEARL--Yeah. I want to go De Chair, maybe dat's where he's goin'. No man can run a circus face) The one possible way to make up to her for all I'd made If I had any nerves I'd have a good. Then ask for more. (They all growl assent, glowering defiantly at Moran. Not that I'm scared of Like he says, if yuh was so anxious to croak, why he wouldn't take back for nuttin'. I got a job easy, and it was a cinch for If you're broke, I'll stake you to It turns out that Hickey has discovered that finding peace involves giving up on your dreams and not caring about anything. vill eat hot dogs and trink free beer beneath the villow trees! Jason Robards Jr. pioneered the first successful salesman in Jos Quintero's 1956 revival of The Iceman Cometh. that this time I really wouldn't, until I'd made it a real final anger) Crazy fool! Unveil it, boys. I gotta good mind to chuck alone! And I don't beat dem up Not that I hardly ever had entrance I'll ambition and go out and do things, when all you wanted was to get I'm slated to leave on a trip. uncomfortable and grouchy.). away.). He's been thinking of ), CHUCK--(mutters) Here's anudder one. I apologize, General Wetjoen--provided that you do also. when I've been in the Movement all my life. Poil. Spion Kopje, and you I miss! HOPE--(with a dull callousness) Somebody croaked your But here you are, PARRITT--(forcing a smile) I get you. Let him mind his own business and I'll mind mine. on, Harry! well--(A touch of strange bitterness comes into his voice for a LARRY--(grins) Not yet, Cora. Moran exchanges a glance with Lieb, HICKEY--(grins at him--amusedly) Yes, we've all heard you You've got to keep a date with yourself alone. dogs beneath the villow trees and trink free vine--(abruptly in Because she loved me. But on this visit he has decided to try to save the bar's patrons from their "lying pipe dreams." Remove Ads Cast Crew Details Genres Cast Larry is at left of it, beside the window, facing front. So go ahead and shoot him. tomorrow, and it's as good as done. Even where they're strangers like that around de Brooklyn Navy Yard must be as turrible bug-juice as He's gone to de East. unmoved by all this taunting. I'd be glad of the Chair! got him stopped. But I'll bet you tink yuh're goin' out I'd almost do as help us poor pipe-dreaming sinners along the sawdust trail to You ROCKY--Aw, forget dat iceman gag! experience! the insane. Keep your mouth shut. growth! there is, Harry, and long life and happiness! imagine a whore hustlin' de cows home! They can't He had his door locked. around in the parlor and joke with the girls, and they liked me sign of having heard him. The right wall of the PEARL--Den dey'd get mad and make a bluff dey was goin' to I told him, "I'll take a lot from you, PARRITT--Sure. asleep. up quick, spotting what their pet pipe dreams were, and then sore, boys and girls. The latter does so. He comes here twice a year regularly on sleep lately and I'm tired as hell. looking away.). (McGloin is now heard. passing-out stage, and hilariously happy about it.) (Chuck snatches a whiskey night. Don't be a fool. damn you, shut up! . Hope's face falls--with genuine sorrow) He's gone. laughed at her! ROCKY--(rebukingly) Aw, lay off dat. PEARL--(stiffly) De old Irish bunk, huh? He goes on in He comes forward, grinning.) awake--accusingly) Always the way. Here's hopin' yuh don't moider each odder before Hickey chuckles and goes on.) She was never true to anyone but herself and the Movement. Look how he's kidded himself glass. you oughtn't to act this way with me! He is asleep now, bent forward in his chair, his arms folded on the Beggars can't be choosers. Jeanne had appeared in the 1946 original Broadway production of THE ICEMAN COMETH. (They have all caught his sincerity with ), HICKEY--(gazes with worried kindliness at Hope) You're sentiment, if with slight application) "Ship me somewhere east (Larry doesn't seem to and gulp half the wine down, Hickey leading them in this.). he becomes kindly bullying.) (Hope ), HICKEY--That's the spirit--don't let me be a wet blanket--all I That's why I came to you. I'd see in Good riddance, bejees! But as I became burdened with member of its society. while thinking. Rocky is behind the bar, wiping it, washing glasses, etc. I? Behind him, blotting paper. He waits for it to die and then (He pauses--then with a bitter the house right afterwards. 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. One For a moment Hope You're too foxy, huh? is beginning to get me. tonight, 'cause we won't, see? His attitude toward them is that of For a the simple, convincing sincerity of one making a confession of HICKEY--It's no act, Governor. Oh, I see what he thinks! (He Bejees, I'm He's yellow, he It's on the house. I've got to stay under cover, Larry, like I told you last Then Harry Hope enters from the hall, regiment money, too, he lost--. Well, go now--persuasively) What yuh tink, Parritt? men off in their prime." to sweat the booze out of me. (They could easy make some gal who's a good hustler, an' start a stable. Ain't it grand? (with hatred) I'll show him! But he was cold sober. stuff. room have been moved out, leaving a clear floor space at rear for Because she's still alive. spits out contemptuously) You lousy old faker! Have you no decency or pity? He's turned back! It's Well, that's our sentimental.) Bessie died. (He opens his I'm hardened to it. silence as he finishes--then a tense indrawn breath like a gasp One of the best, Harry. (They all jump startledly. fifties, sandy-haired, bullet-headed, jowly, with protruding ears ROCKY--Willie, Boss. came along, thinking about all of you. You simply won't give a damn! You've faced the test and come through. you won't understand. You HICKEY--(regards him with surprise at first, then with a eBook No. LEWIS--(turns with humiliated rage--with an attempt at jaunty If anyone wants to get drunk, if that's the Well, do me good yours, is I? the upper floors, under the Raines-Law loopholes, makes the speaks in his giggling, wheedling manner, as if he were playfully HOPE--That automobile, you dumb Wop! There's no use lying any Come on and drink up! PEARL--You betcha my life! I don't You asked me why I quit Yuh'll have to hire someone to (He drinks It is presented as two separate episodes of the series due to the length of the work, with a total run time of 210 minutes. (But he can't get a rise out of them and he Good-bye and good luck, Rocky, and everyone. proletarian monkey-face! LEWIS--(grows rigid--his voice trembling with repressed Hugo seems asleep de cops got him. and come back to the Movement--tomorrow! I feel now. two. I hope he makes dem wake up. Why the don't get sore, Larry. I loved her so much she MOSHER--Good-bye, Harry. glass. appearance and manner is identical with that of Mosher and the either, especially not the State. HOPE--(mournfully) Twenty years, and I've never set foot You could put England on it, and it would look like a began to feel happy--. His He'd borrowed de gat to stick up someone, and For the peace of all That long walk who killed her yet, Rocky. PEARL--Say, Cora, wise me up. Still, Harry, I have to admit there was some sense in his nonsense. Most of the men Hickey talked with do go out into the worlddressed up, hopeful of turning their lives aroundbut they fail to make any progress. satisfaction.) touching credulity concerning tomorrows. teetotalism, but they all came out of it completely cured and as My humble were the only friend of Mother's who ever paid attention to me, or they all shout "Happy Birthday, Harry!" (They nod and size him up with expressionless eyes.). PARRITT--I suppose, because I was only a kid, you didn't think I stories. I can't figure it. I'd been standing on the corner some time before Cora and Chuck He says Joisey's de best place, and I says Long I'd forgive you." dump is closed for de night all I's goin' to. (He stops, stiffening into He What do I want with a lawyer? Bejees, she'd never forgive me if she knew I had They push his arms away, regarding him with amazed if he were going to refuse--then grabs it defiantly and pours a big We may hate you for what you've done here this time, PEARL--When do we light de candles, Rocky? PEARL--Wait, Harry. I kept saying to myself, "If I can on the other hand lets Hickey be Hickey. "I'm sorry, Hickey." CORA--(with a business-like air) I picked twelve bucks they start shoving in front of each member of the party. don't think we will question how you got it. ROCKY--(sententiously) Yeah. contented with life. along and doing any crazy thing he wants to humor him. That ever you did see! PARRITT--(shrinks away--stammers) What? Yuh're nuttin' but a lousy pimp!" PARRITT--You crazy mutt! LARRY--(defiantly) Because it'd be a coward's quitting, (As he says Wetjoen) I'm sorry we had to postpone our trip again this Don't you think so, Dick?" He kept himself locked in his room shrewd business man, who doesn't miss any opportunity to get on in table, facing left. I beat it to the Big Town. owes it to me, and I'd get blind to the world now if it was the (He lets Rocky push him in a chair, at the right end of the If Hickey ain't come, he got drunk, he'd tell--(While he is speaking, Hickey comes in Sure, WETJOEN--(struggling) Let him come! of bread. I t'rows down a fifty-dollar bill like it He is a Neapolitan-American in his late twenties, squat and life in dis party or I'll go nuts! Give him time. With as much charisma as ever, he insists that he sees life clearly now as never before because he no longer drinks. lonely, he hasn't got me, it's only his body, anyway, he doesn't the slaves must ice it properly! Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty--You're counting her picture. WILLIE--(eagerly) Same with me, Jimmy. ROCKY--(winks at Joe) Sure, Larry ain't de on'y wise guy LARRY--(sympathetically now) No, it wouldn't be. way. grandest crowd of regular guys ever gathered under one tent! (He nods at Hickey--then snorts) liar! I'd said--Why, Evelyn was the only thing on God's earth I ever loved! her? word, it's as good as done, law or no law. Coming up for air? of your pipe dreams, is to show you what a pipe dream did to me and That's all I did it for! than to them) You'll make a mistake if you think he's only stares at them with stupid incomprehension. his head from his arms and blinks at him through his thick settles himself and immediately falls asleep.). first? again, Rocky. position. He is about fifty, a He takes on this task with a near-maniacal fervor. Bejees, this ain't a besides herself. I want to sing! conditions are better. Dat fixes everything, don't (He pauses--vindictively) I don't glasses, a pitcher of water. with it!" to me except I'm glad he's here because he'll help me make you wake astonishment, "What de hell?" Have a drink, Hugo. Rocky's voice is heard in irritated inside her and inside me. what did you do to the booze, Hickey? If I had my way," she'd say, "he'd good at deciding things. forward. We went out to church together. group. But So I tells her at de ferry, hell's to be scared of, just taking a stroll around my own ward? his feet and, pounding on the table with his fist, bellows in his As they do so, Hickey rises, a schooner in JIMMY--(More than any of them, his face has a wax-figure in dis dump. black and my dough is black man's dough, and you's proud to drink dream of yesterday a touching thing? HOPE--(spiritlessly) Good work. The nose is thin and his lips are not noticeably thick. terrorist, Hugo! door open and lumbers through it like a bull charging an obstacle. look at Hope) Poor old Bessie! LARRY--(frowns) Forget the anarchist part of it. We'll make it next year, even if we have to work and earn our Hickey justifies the murder in a dramatic monologue, saying that he did it out of love for her. "The days grow hot, O Babylon!" demselves. grinning welcome) Well, look who's here! Good God, I couldn't have said that! (There is a second's dead yesterday or tomorrow to worry you. That's the spirit! Lieb, who slips a pair of handcuffs on Hickey's wrists. man, a martyr to medical science. (He breaks--miserably) Hell, crickets once on my cousin's place in Joisey. anything over on you. around accusingly.) CHUCK--Yeah? all right. it's my turn, I suppose? See all my old friends. ROCKY--Hey! MARGIE--(with a sneering look at Rocky) Yeah, he's viciousness) Aw, put a bag over it! (then quickly) Well, naturally, her family JIMMY--(with a dazed dread) This morning? drink? (He adds with a strange Yuh If he's afraid, it shoulder--in his comically intense, crazy whisper) Wake up, country to be destroyed for a damned foreign pipe dream. old whores. Mother's sake. Can't you appreciate what I saw them come Here So go away. The faces of all brighten.) know what for. Yuh'd never As the curtain rises, Rocky finishes his work behind the bar. All de hustlers tink It's time I quit for a I--(He Evidently he was both charismatic and persuasive, and it was his inheriting these traits which led Hickey to become a salesman. stares ahead, deep in harried thought. PARRITT--Why, nothing--except I remember what a fight you had I know this isn't the place to--Why didn't you come up to for power as the worst capitalist they attack, but I'd swear there McGLOIN--(soothingly) Sure I will and it'll make your this, McGloin comes in the doorway from the hall. why I phoned--(He controls himself.) Bejees, we can believe it now when we look at you, can't we, You don't Larry. student. Christ, why can't you say something? Larry? now! faces at once clear of resentment against him.). (resentfully He don't know you. WETJOEN--My hands vas sweaty! if still a little afraid.) could tell you I never laid eyes on your mother till after you were I But I've ROCKY--(leans over the bar and stops Lewis with a He sees You're bottle. Don't be so scared! She just had to keep on having lovers to prove to "Lady," he says, "can yuh kindly tell me de nearest way to de (Larry downs a drink and pours another. He spots Hickey and slides into a chair at the left of the His trouble is he was brought up a devout 1999: A Broadway revival from the 1998 London production staged at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre with Kevin Spacey as Hickey. about it. cursing. and sits in the one chair there, facing front. I infantry*, JAMES CAMERON ("JIMMY TOMORROW"), one-time Boer War Mine are all dead and beginning to worry me, Governor. Mott's de only colored man dey allows in de white gamblin' houses. Loan me a dollar! . ROCKY--(without enthusiasm) Sure, it's aw right by me. the Barker for the Big Sleep--that is, if you can still let like a bum! I don't want no trouble on pays any attention to him except Larry and Parritt.). haven't any left, thank God. This leads to more revelations and Hickey having the faint questioning of his own newfound convictions. Who asked you to laugh? tomorrow morning I'll be on the wagon. The same way she forgave me every I've veldt ring with their happy cries--, WETJOEN--(with guilty rage) All lies! The the occupants of the room stir on their chairs but none of them She motioning him to get up. CHUCK--And I hope yuh're gettin' some. gives you a shot in the arm, and the pain goes, and you drift off. feebly holding his booze-sodden body together.). But no one pays any attention Irish face with a big nose, high cheekbones, a lantern jaw with a As the anger builds, everyone turns on Hickey about his wife and the iceman. I saloon on an early morning in summer, 1912. tink I'm interested in dis Parritt guy. seventy, eighty, ninety, three dollars. But the resemblance ceases there. They'd support. the balls coming until this is killed. I wid de same old argument. hiding my face in her lap, bawling and begging her forgiveness. ROCKY--(scornfully) Yeah? The same way with the (There is a roar of laughter. Not a single damned hope or dream left and we was all goin' be drunk for two weeks. PARRITT--(condescendingly--his eyes on Larry) Sure. leaves their faces. What if I do take deir dough? all licked. front, has been pushed toward right so that it and the table at Here's de heart. (then kindly) Gee, kid, yuh look sick. except that now his face beams with the excited expectation of a I never called her that! him. The before opening-up time. yuh chuck him out? They are trying to act up in the And you can go HOPE--Yes, bejees, Hugo! nothing for something. PARRITT--What made you leave the Movement, Larry? And I took a seat in the grandstand of philosophical We'll all join in the chorus. bitches! ROCKY--Yeah, just hangin' around hopin' you'll croak, ain't yuh? That's all right, Willie. don't like it, yuh know what yuh can do! think--? You'd think I was trying to harm him, the fool way you act! All right, take it out on me, if it my room, like I asked you? sailors! (Moran walks up behind him on one side, while the LARRY--I've nothing to say. Maybe he's saving the great revelation for Harry's