GREAT PERFORMANCES: ECCENTRICITIES OF A NIGHTINGALE (TV)
Summary
One in this series of dramatic arts programs. This production is part of the "Theater in America" series, featuring stage dramas produced especially for television. Host Hal Holbrook offers brief background on the production, explaining that Tennessee Williams revised his 1948 play "Summer and Smoke" in 1964, retitling it "Eccentricities of a Nightingale," noting that he preferred the second version. The story opens in the early 20th century on the Fourth of July in Glorious Hill, Mississippi, as Alma Winemiller sings a song during the town's holiday celebrations and is seemingly unnerved by the loud fireworks. She spots her neighbor John Buchanan and his overbearing mother in attendance, telling her own father, the Reverend, that Mrs. Buchanan has repeatedly impeded her budding friendship with John. Alma's mother Grace wanders off, and the Reverend complains to Alma that Grace's mental "condition" seems deliberate to him. Mrs. Buchanan compliments Alma's singing voice, and John jokingly scares Alma with a firecracker and praises her singing as well, and his attention makes Alma all the more nervous. He explains that he is finished with medical school, and Alma muses that she sees "the footprints of God" in science. He tells her that he is soon leaving to assist with an epidemic in Cuba and offers to take Alma for a drive, but Mrs. Buchanan intervenes and drags him off home.
On Christmas Eve, the Reverend tells Alma that he is considering early retirement, though Alma is more interested in watching the carolers outside, and her father points out that she spends a good deal of time watching the Buchanans across the street. He attempts to sit her down for a talk and she rambles nervously about her work alongside him at the church, and he finally tells her that people in town sometimes mock her for the exaggerated gestures she makes while singing. Alma protests that she is merely feeling the passion of the music, but he points out her other quirky habits and warns her against becoming "hysterical" like her mother, saying that eccentrics are rarely happy, though this only upsets her further. Grace comes downstairs and starts talking about her sister Albertine, who works at the Musée Mecanique, but the Reverend reminds her that Albertine died fifteen years ago in a fire. Mrs. Buchanan, dressed as Santa Claus, visits the Winemillers along with John, and Alma is flustered to find him there, having not seen him since July. Mrs. Buchanan brags about her son's accomplishments, but Grace soon barges in again and begins telling John all about the museum and its "mechanical marvels" as well as its live boa constrictor, and he listens politely. Later, Alma and John talk by the fire and she praises his medical career, then inviting him to a meeting of her "club" at which she and some friends discuss cultural matters, and he agrees to stop by. She accidentally reveals that she can see into his bedroom from hers, however, and Grace makes things worse by blurting out that Alma has fallen in love with "that tall boy," meaning John.
At home, Mrs. Buchanan tells John to keep his distance from Alma, and though he protests that she is only "a little bit quaint," she insists that he must find a wife who has "everything" in order to maintain their social position, fantasizing at length about his perfect wife and children. She tells him not to attend Alma's "freak club," but he only states that he is not in love with Alma. At the club meeting, the members debate creating a manifesto to declare themselves "the Athens of the South," and Alma is excited when John arrives, leading the others to notice her infatuation with him. They argue about whether to focus on one member's play or another's paper on William Blake, and John seems affected when Alma reads Blake's poem "Love's Secret" aloud. Mrs. Buchanan then crashes the party, claiming to need John's help with an ill neighbor, and he leaves. Grace arrives in their midst as well, fretting about the fire at the museum, and the club members hurriedly leave, feeling awkward. Alma sneaks over to John's house late at night in the midst of a panic attack of sorts, and he calms her down, telling her about recent scientific discoveries about the size and scope of the universe. She seems content with his treatment, but is then insulted when he calls her "lonesome," and accuses him of being "cold and inhuman," rambling about how he will undoubtedly marry someone non-eccentric. When she expresses shame for her outburst, he praises her honesty, and she admits that she cannot explain her frequent "frantic" emotions. He promises to take her out to the movies the following day, and she leaves for home greatly cheered, though Mrs. Buchanan is annoyed to learn of her late-night visit.
The next day, New Year's Eve, Alma anxiously awaits John's arrival, ignoring the presence of her friend Roger. He suggests that her affections are wasted on John and points out their own strong "companionship," but Alma tells him that there is no desire between them. She finally explains how her aunt Albertine was whisked away from her boring life by a charming mechanical genius, who opened the Musée Mecanique and then burned it down after losing the place to a bad investment, killing himself and Albertine in the process. She is then thrilled when John finally arrives, and they head out to the movies and then for a walk around the square. She admits that she is indeed in love with him and has been since their childhood together, saying that her idiosyncrasies do not prevent her from wanting to be loved. He seems embarrassed and offers to take her home, but she suggests that they should go elsewhere, to "one of those rooms," and he reveals his awkward youthful encounters with various "anonymous young ladies." He gently tells Alma that he is not in love with her, but she says she expects nothing more than one night, and though he seems doubtful, he finds a cab and they head off to the seedy side of town together. Once they arrive in the room, Alma is excited and determined to light a fire in the grate, but he tells her that it cannot be lit and "never got started" in the first place. Bells signal the arrival of the new year, and she says that she is unashamed of their "failure," but as they finally kiss, Alma notices that the fire has been lit after all.
In the epilogue, on a later July fourth, Alma sits alone in the square, watching one of her former musical pupils sing. A traveling salesman approaches her and she flirts with him, telling him all about the town, noting that her father has since died. She hints at the features of the "other" side of town and invites him to go there with her, and he agrees. As he heads off to find a cab, Alma admires the fireworks, apparently no longer frightened by their noise. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: June 16, 1976 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:56:52
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:85946
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama; Theater
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV, 1976
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Jac Venza … Executive Producer
- Lindsay Law … Producer
- Glenn Jordan … Producer, Director
- Tennessee Williams … Writer
- Bill Brohn … Music by
- Mundell Lowe … Conductor
- Hal Holbrook … Host
- Blythe Danner … Cast, Alma Winemiller
- Frank Langella … Cast, John Buchanan, Jr.
- Tim O'Connor … Cast, Reverend Winemiller
- Louise Latham … Cast, Grace Winemiller
- Neva Patterson … Cast, Mrs. Buchanan
- Lois Foraker … Cast, Rosemary
- Carl Weintraub … Cast, The Traveling Salesman
- Joyce Collins … Cast, Singer in Epilogue
- Priscilla Morrill … Cast
- Lew Horn … Cast
- Tobias Andersen … Cast