Pink Triangle: The Feuds and Private Lives of Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal, Truman Capote, and Famous Members of Their Entourages (Blood Moon's Babylon Series) (102 page)

Brooks called Lana Turner, telling her, “It’s almost certain that MGM is going to ask you to play Maggie the Cat in the movie version of the Tennessee Williams play,
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
. We want you to come in for a reading with Paul Newman. He’s one of the stars who’s up for the role of the male lead.”

“I’d be thrilled to play Maggie the Cat,” Turner said. “I saw it on Broadway. I can be a hell of a lot more feline that Barbara Bel Geddes, darling. I’d adore playing opposite Paul. Who is his competition? Don’t tell me…Ben Gazzara!”

“You’re not going to believe this,” Brooks said, “but yesterday, I got a call from none other than Elvis Presley. I told him about you. He’d love to play Brick to your Maggie.”

“You’ve got to be kidding!” said Lana. “Lana Turner and Elvis Presley starring together in a raunchy Tennessee Williams drama of the Old South!”

“A distinct possibility,” Brooks told her. “But you’ve got the billing out of order. It would be listed as ‘Presley and Turner.’”

When Tennessee landed in Hollywood, he learned that Elvis was in town, having flown in from Las Vegas. He’d heard from the cast of
Cat
on Broadway that Elvis had attended a performance, but that he had not come backstage to greet the cast. At the time, Gazzara was fully aware that Elvis was in the audience, but at no time did it occur to him that Elvis wanted to play Brick, a repressed homosexual.

When Elvis called with an invitation, Tennessee eagerly accepted. But in advance of his meeting with Elvis, he called Weingarten. Tennessee had learned that Elvis wanted to make a serious movie and Tennessee thought he’d be ideal as Brick.

“The brass is considering casting Elvis as Brick, with Lana Turner as Maggie,” Weingarten said. “Their eyeballs are registering dollar signs at the box office.”

“Elvis with Lana!” Tennessee said. “That’s Hollywood!”

A paid companion drove Tennessee to Elvis’ rented home and stayed in the car throughout the course of Tennessee’s visit. A member of Elvis’ Memphis Mafia let Tennessee in and offered him a drink, telling him that “The Boss” would be down in fifteen minutes when he got off the phone.

A short while later, Elvis bounced down the stairs. Back then, he was still in good physical shape, and Tennessee was impressed with his startling good looks, even better in person than on the screen. He radiated vitality.

“Mr. Playwright,” Elvis said to Tennessee. “Welcome. I want you to let me be your Teddy Bear—specifically I want to play Brick in
Cat.”

“Well,” Tennessee said. “That’s a startling casting idea. At least you won’t have to fake a Southern accent.”

“No one can play a Southern boy like Elvis,” the singer said. “The part has my name written on it. I want a meaty role. I’m tired of all this shit Colonel Parker tosses my way. I can’t go through the rest of my life shaking my butt and swinging my hillbilly pecker—covered in pants, of course—in front of a lot of screaming teenage gals.”

[“Colonel” Tom Parker, a former circus roustabout with a shady background, became Elvis’ rapacious business manager. He consistently demanded (and got) a fifty percent agent’s fee, and a hell of a lot more. In essence, he functioned as Elvis’ crooked Svengali.]

“I, for one, would be delighted to see you on the screen as Brick,” Tennessee said. “But from what I hear of this colonel of yours, he won’t let you do it.”

“Fuck Colonel Parker,” Elvis said, flashing anger. “I’m seriously pissed off at him. There are just so many movies I can do like
Loving You.”

“I’m all for you,” Tennessee said. “I find you very charismatic, but I must say I fear the deal can’t be worked out.”

“You leave that to me,” Elvis said. “I’ve got clout in this town.” He settled back with his drink on a large sofa.

“I hear that cute little Jew boy, Paul Newman, is also up for the role,” Elvis said. “But he ain’t Southern. Newman’s got Yankee written all over him. It takes a guy like me to stand up to both Maggie the Cat and Big Daddy.”

“Paul has been talked about,” Tennessee said.

“I think he’s too old,” Elvis said. He’s ten years older than me…at least.”

“I don’t make casting decisions in films…regrettably,” Tennessee said.

“I hear Newman’s a nice guy, and I think he and I can settle this competition the way we do it in Memphis,” Elvis said.

“You mean, duke it out?” Tennessee asked.

“Note quite,” Elvis said. “I thought of a little contest between me and Newman. Of course, we both could invite Marilyn Monroe over, and each of us could plug her. Then she could award the prize to the best man for a roll in the hay.”

“I’m sure Marilyn would find that most intriguing,” Tennessee said.

“Actually, I had another contest in mind,” Elvis said. “Both Newman and I are world class beer drinkers. What I’m suggesting is that I have him over, and that we both fill up on brew. Then when we want to get rid of some of the suds, we go out into my moonlit garden. Let my boys be the judge. We stage a pissing contest like we do in Memphis. Whoever can piss the farthest gets to play Brick.”

“I won’t say this is a first for Hollywood,” Tennessee said, “and I can’t say it’s not been done before, but this is a most intriguing contest. I’m a bit of a voyeur, if you’d like me to judge the contest.”

“I don’t think me or Paul could trust you when we whip out our dicks,” Elvis said. “We’ve heard stories.”

“You’re probably right. I wish you luck in throwing the largest arc of golden showers.”

Tennessee remembered that sometime during the remainder of the evening, he and Elvis each passed out from drink and drugs. Two members of the Memphis Mafia eventually placed Tennessee in the back seat of his car for the ride back to his hotel.

A few nights later, Newman called: “Good news. I won the pissing contest that Elvis came up with. I’m your Brick.”

Weingarten called the following day with a different slant on casting. “Tenn, I’ve got to be upfront with you. Years ago, Elvis wanted to star in Inge’s
Picnic
, but Col. Parker nixed that idea, too. Now, he’s forbidden Elvis to appear on the screen as Brick. He claims you’re the biggest queer in Hollywood, and that you’ve crafted the role as a ‘fucking piece of shit about a repressed homosexual.’ Those are his exact words, of course, not mine. He claimed that if Elvis appears in
Cat
, it’ll destroy his fan base. He had more to say on the subject, too, giving me a lecture about sex.”

“What exactly are the Colonel’s view of sexual relations?” Tennessee asked.

“Okay, if you must know!” Weingarten said. “The Colonel told me, in his words, that ‘God made a man and a woman. He gave a man a dick and a bitch a hole. God’s intention was to have a man stick his thing in a cunt and make babies. It was not God’s intent for a man to stick his thing up another man’s ass. Assholes are made for shitting, not fucking.’ Then he went on to say, ‘As long as I’m able to smoke a cigar, my boy, Elvis is not appearing in this perverted piece of crap.’”

“Sounds like a New York drama critic to me,” Tennessee said.

At around midnight, Tennessee had fallen asleep in front of his TV set. Then a call came in from Richard Brooks in his capacity as the director of
Cat
.

“Forget Grace Kelly,” Brooks said. “Forget Vivien Leigh. Forget Lana Turner. MGM has its Maggie the Cat to play opposite Paul Newman. I’ve just returned from a late night meeting with the brass. A contract has been signed. Miss Elizabeth Taylor Todd is your Maggie. No doubt, she’ll soon be meowing after you.”

“Not as long as Mike Todd is still alive,” was Tennessee’s immediate response. “I know Elizabeth. She’ll make a great Maggie, although I think I might have preferred Marilyn Monroe.”

“Dream on,” Brooks said. “Marilyn is the Queen of Fox. We want the role to go to MGM’s Queen. With this role, Elizabeth is a sure-fire Oscar winner.”

Elizabeth Taylor faced life-threatening pains while she was pregnant during late September of 1957. An abortion was suggested, but she eventually submitted to a dangerously premature caesarean, which led to the birth of Frances (Liza) Todd, weighing four pounds, fourteen ounces.

During her time in the hospital, her husband, showman Mike Todd, entertained her with plans to film
Don Quixote
, with the understanding that Elizabeth would play the scruffy, shrewish Dulcinea.

Her friend, Truman Capote, came to visit her. They had become friends through their mutual interest in Montgomery Clift, and Truman had called on Elizabeth on occasion, begging her to help rescue Monty Clift from his latest physical and emotional breakdown.

Truman said he was drawn to Elizabeth because of what he defined as her “hectic allure,” apparently referring to a lively intelligence and a raucous, often raunchy, sense of humor.

“She was very bright and even gave me unknown books by rather famous writers to read—P.G. Wodehouse, for example.”

After Elizabeth survived that dangerous pregnancy, and with the infant out of danger, Truman went to visit her in Westport, Connecticut, where she and Todd had rented a 23-room mansion. “I found her in the front yard buried under a dozen Golden Retriever puppies.”

Almost immediately, she asked about Clift. “He’s starting to pick up rough trade,” Truman said. “These guys sometimes beat the shit out of him. Monty seems to enjoy it. And he’s still crazy for those pills.”

Almost in passing, Truman told Elizabeth that he was leaving a script that had been entrusted to him by Tennessee. “He wrote you a note. The package is in your study.”

In the whirlwind that encircled the Todds, she didn’t open the package containing the script, and its note, until months later.

One day in her study, when recovering from a severe back pain, she noticed the script from Tennessee and opened it, settling in to read it. The play was
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
. In his note, he had scribbled, “The role of Maggie the Cat is waiting for you. Sharpen those claws of yours.”

The Broadway play came and went, and Elizabeth attended one of its performances with Todd. Later, the couple had dinner with Tennessee at Sardi’s. Elizabeth told Tennessee, “I’d give my right nipple to play your Maggie the Cat.”

Todd responded to the room at large, “Elizabeth Taylor could seduce any man, even your Brick fag.”