When Brando is signed I think we will have a really remarkable 4-star cast, as exciting as any that could possibly be assembled and worth all the trouble that we have gone through. I don’t want to focus guilt or blame particularly on any one character but to have it a tragedy of misunderstandings and insensitivity to others. A new value came out of Brando’s reading which was by far the best reading I have ever heard. It humanizes the character of Stanley in that it becomes the brutality or callousness of youth rather than a vicious older man. This is a value beyond any that Garfield could have contributed, and in addition to his gifts as an actor he has great physical appeal and sensuality, at least as much as Burt Lancaster. He seemed to have already created a dimensional character, of the sort that the war has produced among young veterans. I can’t tell you what a relief it is that we have found such a God-sent Stanley in the person of Brando.
Her chief apparent advantage is that she seems to have millions Audrey says that she also has good taste Of course I am skeptical… I recognize the danger of working with a Female Moneybags from Hollywood but Audrey claims the woman is “safe” and will give an “all-out” production, which is what the play requires to put it over. It had not occurred to me before what an excellent value would come through casting a very young actor in this part. Unfortunately we have fallen out with Dowling and the main problem is to find a really strong but fastidious director (And a good female star).. Ever, Tennessee To Audrey Wood [TW's agent] August 29, 1947 Dear Audrey: … But Audrey is enthusiastic about it and we already have a producer “in the bag” A lady named Irene Selznick… It is a strong play, closer to Battle of Angels than any of my other work, but is not what critics call “pleasant” In fact, it is pretty unpleasant.
I have a feeling that if we survive the next ten years, there will be a great purgation, and this country will once more have the cleanest air on earth, but right now there seems to be an unspeakable foulness. All the people at the controls are opportunists or gangsters I have done a lot of work, finished two long plays. One of them, laid in New Orleans, A Streetcar Called [sic] Desire, turned out quite well. From the looks of things generally, one would do well to get clear out of the country and stay out for at least the opening stages of “The American Century”. The heat and dampness are descending on New Orleans and it is like a Turkish bath only not as socially inspiring So I am wondering whether to go East or West.
If Ogden had tried to shape a convincing story around his subjects rather than loosely improvising, his film might have had a real impact.. To James “Jay” Laughlin [founder of New Directions Publishing Corporation - TW's "literary conscience"]
April 9, 1947
Dear Jay: I was afraid you had decided that I was “Derriere garde” and crossed me off your list. First-time director Perry Ogden chronicles the hardscrabble life of an Irish traveller family on the forlorn margins of modern-day Dublin. A desolate picture emerges of alternating neglect and interference, most of it refracted through the character of 10-year-old Winnie, a tough cookie who would like to be placed in a “settled” school but instead gets herself into trouble with roughneck types who call her a “whore”.