LILIOM
A LEGEND IN SEVEN SCENES
AND A PROLOGUE
BY
FRANZ MOLNAR
ENGLISH TEXT AND INTRODUCTION BY
BENJAMIN F. GLAZER
HORACE LIVERIGHT
PUBLISHER NEW YORK
LILIOM
COPYRIGHTED, 1921, BY
UNITED PLAYS INC.
_All rights reserved_
First Printing, May, 1921
Second Printing, June, 1921
Third Printing, August, 1921
Fourth Printing, November, 1921
Fifth Printing, September, 1922
Sixth Printing, December, 1922
Seventh Printing, January, 1926
Eighth Printing, December, 1927
Ninth Printing, November, 1928
_CAUTION_--All persons are hereby warned that the plays published in
this volume are fully protected under the copyright laws of the United
States and all foreign countries, and are subject to royalty, and any
one presenting any of said plays without the consent of the Author or
his recognized agents, will be liable to the penalties by law
provided. Applications for the acting rights must be made to the
United Plays, Inc., 1428 Broadway, New York City.
_Printed in the United States of America_
As originally produced by The Theatre Guild, on the night of April 20,
1921, at the Garrick Theatre, New York City.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
(In the order of their appearance)
_Marie_ Hortense Alden
_Julie_ Eva Le Gallienne
_Mrs. Muskat_ Helen Westley
_"Liliom"_ Joseph Schildkraut
"Liliom" is the Hungarian for lily, and the slang term for "a tough"
{ Frances Diamond
_Four Servant Girls_ { Margaret Mosier
{ Anne de Chantal
{ Elizabeth Parker
{ Howard Claney
_Policemen_ { Lawrence B. Chrow
_Captain_ Erskine Sanford
_Plainclothes Man_ Gerald Stopp
_Mother Hollunder_ Lilian Kingsbury
_"The Sparrow"_ Dudley Digges
_Wolf Berkowitz_ Henry Travers
_Young Hollunder_ William Franklin
_Linzman_ Willard Bowman
_First Mounted Policeman_ Edgar Stehli
_Second Mounted Policeman_ George Frenger
_The Doctor_ Robert Babcock
_The Carpenter_ George Frenger
_First Policeman of the Beyond_ Erskine Sanford
_Second Policeman of the Beyond_ Gerald Stopp
_The Richly Dressed Man_ Edgar Stehli
_The Poorly Dressed Man_ Philip Wood
_The Old Guard_ Walton Butterfield
_The Magistrate_ Albert Perry
_Louise_ Evelyn Chard
_Peasants, Townspeople, etc._
Lela M. Aultman, Janet Scott, Marion M. Winsten, Katherine
Fahnestock, Lillian Tuchman, Ruth L. Cumming, Jacob Weiser,
Maurice Somers, John Crump.
_Prologue_ An Amusement Park on the Outskirts of Budapest
_First Scene_ A Lonely Place in the Park
_Second Scene_ The Tin Type Shop of the Hollunders
_Third Scene_ The Same
_Fourth Scene_ A Railroad Embankment Outside the City
_Intermission_
_Fifth Scene_ Same as Scene Two
_Sixth Scene_ A Courtroom in the Beyond
_Seventh Scene_ Before Julie's Door
_Produced under the direction of_ FRANK REICHER
_Costumes and scenery designed by_ LEE SIMONSON
_Technical Director_ SHELDON K. VIELE
_Scenery painted by_ ROBERT BERGMAN
_Costumes executed by_ NETTIE DUFF READE
_Stage Manager_ WALTER GEER
_Assistant Stage Manager_ JACOB WEISER
_Music arranged_ by DEEMS TAYLOR
_Executive Director_ THERESA HELBURN
INTRODUCTION
The première of "LILIOM" at Budapest in December, 1909, left both
playgoer and critic a bit bewildered. It was not the sort of play the
Hungarian capital had been accustomed to expect of its favorite
dramatist, whose THE DEVIL, after two years of unprecedented success,
was still crowding the theatres of two continents.
One must, it was true, count on a touch of fantasy in every Molnar
work. Never had he been wholly content with everyday reality, not in
his stories, or in his sketches or in his earlier plays; and least of
all in THE DEVIL wherein the natural and supernatural were most
whimsically blended. But in LILIOM, it seemed, he had carried fantasy
to quite unintelligible lengths. Budapest was frankly puzzled.
What did he mean by killing his hero in the fifth scene, taking him
into Heaven in the sixth and bringing him back to earth in the
seventh? Was this prosaic Heaven of his seriously or satirically
intended? Was Liliom a saint or a common tough? And was his abortive
redemption a symbol or merely a jibe? These were some of the questions
Budapest debated while the play languished through thirty or forty
performances and was withdrawn.
Almost ten years passed before it was revived. This time it was an
immediate and overwhelming triumph. Perhaps the wide circulation of
the play in printed form had made its beauty and significance clearer.
Perhaps the tragedy of the war had made Molnar's public more sensitive
to spiritual values. Whatever the reason, Budapest now accepted
ecstatically what it had previously rejected, and Molnar was more of a
popular hero than ever. From which it may be gleaned that Hungary
takes its drama and dramatists more seriously, disapproves them more
passionately and praises them more affectionately than we Americans
can conceive. In Paris I once saw an audience rise en masse, because
the sculptor Rodin had entered the auditorium, and remain on its feet
cheering until he had taken his seat. Something of the kind greets
Molnar whenever he appears in public, and nothing is more certain than
that he is the hero, the oracle, the spoiled darling of club, salon
and coffee house in which artistic Hungary foregathers.
But the years immediately following the first production of LILIOM
were for him a period of eclipse. It was the first time that even the
threat of failure had cast its shadow across his career. He became
timid, wary of failure, too anxious to please his public. His
subsequent plays were less original, less daring, more faithful to
routine. Never again did he touch the heights of LILIOM; and some of
his best friends aver that he never will again until he has banished
the dread of failure that obsesses him.
An odd situation, truly, and in some aspects a tragic one. Genius
lacking the courage to spread its wings and soar. A potential immortal
bidding fearfully for the praise of a coffee-house clique. Is it
vanity? Is it abnormal sensitiveness? Biographical data cast little
light on the enigma.
Franz Molnar was born in Budapest on January 12, 1878, the son of a
wealthy Jewish merchant. He graduated from the Universities of Geneva
and Budapest. His literary career was begun as a journalist at the age
of eighteen. He wrote short sketches and humorous dialogues of such
beauty and charm that he became a national figure almost at once, and
the circulation of his newspaper increased until it was foremost in
Budapest. Then he married Margaret Vaszi, the daughter of his editor,
herself a journalist of note. Two years later he was divorced from
her, and subsequently he married an actress who had played rôles in
his own plays.
For a portrait of him as he is today you have to think of Oscar Wilde
at the height of his glory. A big pudgy face, immobile, pink,
smooth-shaven, its child-like expressionlessness accentuated by the
monocle he always wears, though rather belied by the gleam of humor in
his dark alert eyes. His hair is iron-gray, his figure stocky and of
about medium height. A mordant wit, an inimitable raconteur, he loves
life and gayety and all the luxuries of life. Nothing can persuade him
out of his complacent and comfortable routine. He will not leave
Budapest, even to attend the première of one of his plays in nearby
Vienna. The post-war political upheaval which has rent all Hungary
into two voluble and bitter factions left him quite unperturbed and
neutral. His pen is not for politics.
Yet it is a singularly prolific pen. His novels and short stories are
among the finest in Hungarian literature. He has written nine long
plays and numerous short ones. A chronology of his more important
dramatic works is as follows:
1902 A DOKTOR UR (The Doctor).
1904 JOZSI.
1907 AZ ÖRDÖG (The Devil).
1909 LILIOM.
1911 TESTÖR (Played in this country as "Where Ignorance is Bliss").
1913 A FARKAS (Played in this country as "The Phantom Rival").
1914 URIDIVAT (Attorney for Defence).
1919 A HATTYU (The Swan).
1920 SZINHAZ (Theatre: Three One-Act Plays).
Undoubtedly the greatest of these is LILIOM. Indeed, I know of no play
written in our own time which matches the amazing virtuosity of
LILIOM, its imaginative daring, its uncanny blending of naturalism and
fantasy, humor and pathos, tenderness and tragedy into a solid
dramatic structure. At first reading it may seem a mere improvization
in many moods, but closer study must reveal how the moods are as
inevitably related to each other as pearls on a string.
And where in modern dramatic literature can such pearls be
matched--Julie incoherently confessing to her dead lover the love she
had always been ashamed to tell; Liliom crying out to the distant
carousel the glad news that he is to be a father; the two thieves
gambling for the spoils of their prospective robbery; Marie and Wolf
posing for their portrait while the broken-hearted Julie stands
looking after the vanishing Liliom, the thieves' song ringing in her
ears; the two policemen grousing about pay and pensions while Liliom
lies bleeding to death; Liliom furtively proffering his daughter the
star he has stolen for her in heaven. . . . The temptation to count
the whole scintillating string is difficult to resist.
What is the moral of LILIOM? Nothing you can reduce to a creed. Molnar
is not a preacher or a propagandist for any theory of life. You will
look in vain in his plays for moral or dogma. His philosophy--if
philosophy you can call it--is always implicit. And nothing is plainer
than that his picture of a courtroom in the beyond is neither devoutly
nor satirically intended. Liliom's Heaven is the Heaven of his own
imagining. And what is more natural than that it should be an
irrational jumble of priest's purgatory, police magistrate's justice
and his own limited conception of good deeds and evil?
For those who hold that every fine dramatic architecture must have its
spire of meaning, that by the very selection of character and incident
the dramatist writes his commentary on life, there is still an
explanation possible. Perhaps Molnar was at the old, old task of
revaluing our ideas of good and evil. Perhaps he has only shown how
the difference between a bully, a wife-beater and a criminal on the
one hand and a saint on the other can be very slight. If one must tag
LILIOM with a moral, I prefer to read mine in Liliom's dying speech to
Julie wherein he says: "Nobody's right . . . but they all think they
are right. . . . A lot they know."
BENJAMIN F. GLAZER.
_New York, April, 1921._
LILIOM
SYNOPSIS OF SCENES
PROLOGUE--_An amusement park on the outskirts of Budapest._
FIRST SCENE--_A lonely place in the park._
SECOND SCENE--_The photographic studio of the HOLLUNDERS._
THIRD SCENE--_Same as scene two._
FOURTH SCENE--_A railroad embankment outside the city._
FIFTH SCENE--_Same as scene two._
SIXTH SCENE--_A courtroom in the beyond._
SEVENTH SCENE--_JULIE'S garden._
There are intermissions only after the second and fifth scenes.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
LILIOM
JULIE
MARIE
MRS. MUSKAT
LOUISE
MRS. HOLLUNDER
FICSUR
YOUNG HOLLUNDER
WOLF BEIFELD
THE CARPENTER
LINZMAN
THE DOCTOR
THE MAGISTRATE
TWO MOUNTED POLICEMEN
TWO PLAINCLOTHES POLICEMEN
TWO HEAVENLY POLICEMEN
THE RICHLY DRESSED MAN
THE POORLY DRESSED MAN
THE GUARD
A SUBURBAN POLICEMAN
THE PROLOGUE
An amusement park on the outskirts of Budapest on a late afternoon in
Spring. Barkers stand before the booths of the sideshows haranguing
the passing crowd. The strident music of a calliope is heard;
laughter, shouts, the scuffle of feet, the signal bells of
merry-go-round.
The merry-go-round is at Center. LILIOM stands at the entrance, a
cigarette in his mouth, coaxing the people in. The girls regard him
with idolizing glances and screech with pleasure as he playfully
pushes them through entrance. Now and then some girl's escort resents
the familiarity, whereupon LILIOM'S demeanor becomes ugly and
menacing, and the cowed escort slinks through the entrance behind his
girl or contents himself with a muttered resentful comment.
One girl hands LILIOM a red carnation; he rewards her with a bow and a
smile. When the soldier who accompanies her protests, LILIOM cows him
with a fierce glance and a threatening gesture. MARIE and JULIE come
out of the crowd and LILIOM favors them with particular notice as they
pass into the merry-go-round.
MRS. MUSKAT comes out of the merry-go-round, bringing LILIOM coffee
and rolls. LILIOM mounts the barker's stand at the entrance, where he
is elevated over everyone on the stage. Here he begins his harangue.
Everybody turns toward him. The other booths are gradually deserted.
The tumult makes it impossible for the audience to hear what he is
saying, but every now and then some witticism of his provokes a storm
of laughter which is audible above the din. Many people enter the
merry-go-round. Here and there one catches a phrase "Room for one more
on the zebra's back," "Which of you ladies?" "Ten heller for adults,
five for children," "Step right up"----
It is growing darker. A lamplighter crosses the stage, and begins
unperturbedly lighting the colored gas-lamps. The whistle of a distant
locomotive is heard. Suddenly the tumult ceases, the lights go out,
and the curtain falls in darkness.
END OF PROLOGUE
LILIOM
SCENE ONE
SCENE--_A lonely place in the park, half hidden by trees and
shrubbery. Under a flowering acacia tree stands a painted wooden
bench. From the distance, faintly, comes the tumult of the amusement
park. It is the sunset of the same day._
_When the curtain rises the stage is empty._
_MARIE enters quickly, pauses at center, and looks back._
MARIE
Julie, Julie! [_There is no answer._] Do you hear me, Julie? Let her
be! Come on. Let her be. [_Starts to go back._]
[_JULIE enters, looks back angrily._]
JULIE
Did you ever hear of such a thing? What's the matter with the woman
anyway?
MARIE
[_Looking back again._] Here she comes again.
JULIE
Let her come. I didn't do anything to her. All of a sudden she comes
up to me and begins to raise a row.
MARIE
Here she is. Come on, let's run. [_Tries to urge her off._]
JULIE
Run? I should say not. What would I want to run for? I'm not afraid of
her.
MARIE
Oh, come on. She'll only start a fight.
JULIE
I'm going to stay right here. Let her _start_ a fight.
MRS. MUSKAT
[_Entering._] What do you want to run away for? [_To JULIE._] Don't
worry. I won't eat you. But there's one thing I want to tell you, my
dear. Don't let me catch you in my carousel again. I stand for a whole
lot, I have to in my business. It makes no difference to me whether my
customers are ladies or the likes of you--as long as they pay their
money. But when a girl misbehaves herself on my carousel--out she
goes. Do you understand?
JULIE
Are you talking to me?
MRS. MUSKAT
Yes, you! You--chamber-maid, you! In my carousel----
JULIE
Who did anything in your old carousel? I paid my fare and took my seat
and never said a word, except to my friend here.
MARIE
No, she never opened her mouth. Liliom came over to her of his own
accord.
MRS. MUSKAT
It's all the same. I'm not going to get in trouble with the police,
and lose my license on account of you--you shabby kitchen maid!
JULIE
Shabby yourself.
MRS. MUSKAT
You stay out of my carousel! Letting my barker fool with you! Aren't
you ashamed of yourself?
JULIE
What? What did you say?
MRS. MUSKAT
I suppose you think I have no eyes in my head. I see everything that
goes on in my carousel. During the whole ride she let Liliom fool with
her--the shameless hussy!
JULIE
He did not fool with me! I don't let any man fool with me!
MRS. MUSKAT
He leaned against you all through the ride!
JULIE
He leaned against the panther. He always leans against something,
doesn't he? Everybody leans where he wants. I couldn't tell him not to
lean, if he always leans, could I? But he didn't lay a hand on me.
MRS. MUSKAT
Oh, didn't he? And I suppose he didn't put his hand around your waist,
either?
MARIE
And if he did? What of it?
MRS. MUSKAT
You hold your tongue! No one's asking you--just you keep out of it.
JULIE
He put his arm around my waist--just the same as he does to all the
girls. He always does that.
MRS. MUSKAT
I'll teach him not to do it any more, my dear. No carryings on in my
carousel! If you are looking for that sort of thing, you'd better go
to the circus! You'll find lots of soldiers there to carry on with!
JULIE
You keep your soldiers for yourself!
MARIE
Soldiers! As if we wanted soldiers!
MRS. MUSKAT
Well, I only want to tell you this, my dear, so that we understand
each other perfectly. If you ever stick your nose in my carousel
again, you'll wish you hadn't! I'm not going to lose my license on
account of the likes of you! People who don't know how to behave, have
got to stay out!
JULIE
You're wasting your breath. If I feel like riding on your carousel
I'll pay my ten heller and I'll ride. I'd like to see anyone try to
stop me!
MRS. MUSKAT
Just come and try it, my dear--just come and try it.
MARIE
We'll see what'll happen.
MRS. MUSKAT
Yes, you will see something happen that never happened before in this
park.
JULIE
Perhaps you think you could throw me out!
MRS. MUSKAT
I'm sure of it, my dear.
JULIE
And suppose I'm stronger than you?
MRS. MUSKAT
I'd think twice before I'd dirty my hands on a common servant girl.
I'll have Liliom throw you out. He knows how to handle your kind.
JULIE
You think Liliom would throw me out.
MRS. MUSKAT
Yes, my dear, so fast that you won't know what happened to you!
JULIE
He'd throw me---- [_Stops suddenly, for MRS. MUSKAT has turned away.
Both look off stage until LILIOM enters, surrounded by four giggling
servant girls._]
LILIOM
Go away! Stop following me, or I'll smack your face!
A LITTLE SERVANT GIRL
Well, give me back my handkerchief.
LILIOM
Go on now----
THE FOUR SERVANT GIRLS
[_Simultaneously._] What do you think of him?--My handkerchief!--Give
it back to her!--That's a nice thing to do!
THE LITTLE SERVANT GIRL
[_To MRS. MUSKAT._] Please, lady, make him----
MRS. MUSKAT
Oh, shut up!
LILIOM
Will you get out of here? [_Makes a threatening gesture--the four
servant girls exit in voluble but fearful haste._]
MRS. MUSKAT
What have you been doing now?
LILIOM
None of your business. [_Glances at JULIE._] Have you been starting
with her again?
JULIE
Mister Liliom, please----
LILIOM
[_Steps threateningly toward her._] Don't yell!
JULIE
[_Timidly._] I didn't yell.
LILIOM
Well, don't. [_To MRS. MUSKAT._] What's the matter? What has she done
to you?
MRS. MUSKAT
What has she done? She's been impudent to me. Just as impudent as she
could be! I put her out of the carousel. Take a good look at this
innocent thing, Liliom. She's never to be allowed in my carousel
again!
LILIOM
[_To JULIE._] You heard that. Run home, now.
MARIE
Come on. Don't waste your time with such people. [_Tries to lead JULIE
away._]
JULIE
No, I won't----
MRS. MUSKAT
If she ever comes again, you're not to let her in. And if she gets in
before you see her, throw her out. Understand?
LILIOM
What has she done, anyhow?
JULIE
[_Agitated and very earnest._] Mister Liliom--tell me please--honest
and truly--if I come into the carousel, will you throw me out?
MRS. MUSKAT
Of course he'll throw you out.
MARIE
She wasn't talking to you.
JULIE
Tell me straight to my face, Mister Liliom, would you throw me out?
[_They face each other. There is a brief pause._]
LILIOM
Yes, little girl, if there was a reason--but if there was no reason,
why should I throw you out?
MARIE
[_To MRS. MUSKAT._] There, you see!
JULIE
Thank you, Mister Liliom.
MRS. MUSKAT
And I tell you again, if this little slut dares to set her foot in my
carousel, she's to be thrown out! I'll stand for no indecency in my
establishment.
LILIOM
What do you mean--indecency?
MRS. MUSKAT
I saw it all. There's no use denying it.
JULIE
She says you put your arm around my waist.
LILIOM
Me?
MRS. MUSKAT
Yes, you! I saw you. Don't play the innocent.
LILIOM
Here's something new! I'm not to put my arm around a girl's waist any
more! I suppose I'm to ask your permission before I touch another
girl!
MRS. MUSKAT
You can touch as many girls as you want and as often as you want--for
my part you can go as far as you like with any of them--but not this
one--I permit no indecency in my carousel. [_There is a long pause._]
LILIOM
[_To MRS. MUSKAT._] And now I'll ask you please to shut your mouth.
MRS. MUSKAT
What?
LILIOM
Shut your mouth quick, and go back to your carousel.
MRS. MUSKAT
What?
LILIOM
What did she do to you, anyhow? Tryin' to start a fight with a little
pigeon like that . . . just because I touched her?--You come to the
carousel as often as you want to, little girl. Come every afternoon,
and sit on the panther's back, and if you haven't got the price,
Liliom will pay for you. And if anyone dares to bother you, you come
and tell _me._
MRS. MUSKAT
You reprobate!
LILIOM
Old witch!
JULIE
Thank you, Mister Liliom.
MRS. MUSKAT
You seem to think that I can't throw you out, too. What's the reason I
can't? Because you are the best barker in the park? Well, you are very
much mistaken. In fact, you can consider yourself thrown out already.
You're discharged!
LILIOM
Very good.
MRS. MUSKAT
[_Weakening a little._] I can discharge you any time I feel like it.
LILIOM
Very good, you feel like discharging me. I'm discharged. That settles
it.
MRS. MUSKAT
Playing the high and mighty, are you? Conceited pig! Good-for-nothing!
LILIOM
You said you'd throw me out, didn't you? Well, that suits me; I'm
thrown out.
MRS. MUSKAT
[_Softening._] Do you have to take up every word I say?
LILIOM
It's all right; it's all settled. I'm a good-for-nothing. And a
conceited pig. And I'm discharged.
MRS. MUSKAT
Do you want to ruin my business?
LILIOM
A good-for-nothing? Now I know! And I'm discharged! Very good.
MRS. MUSKAT
You're a devil, you are . . . and that woman----
LILIOM
Keep away from her!
MRS. MUSKAT
I'll get Hollinger to give you such a beating that you'll hear all the
angels sing . . . and it won't be the first time, either.
LILIOM
Get out of here. I'm discharged. And you get out of here.
JULIE
[_Timidly._] Mister Liliom, if she's willing to say that she hasn't
discharged you----
LILIOM
You keep out of this.
JULIE
[_Timidly._] I don't want this to happen on account of me.
LILIOM
[_To MRS. MUSKAT, pointing to JULIE._] Apologize to her!
MARIE
A-ha!
MRS. MUSKAT
Apologize? To who?
LILIOM
To this little pigeon. Well--are you going to do it?
MRS. MUSKAT
If you give me this whole park on a silver plate, and all the gold of
the Rothschilds on top of it--I'd--I'd---- Let her dare to come into
my carousel again and she'll get thrown out so hard that she'll see
stars in daylight!
LILIOM
In that case, dear lady [_takes off his cap with a flourish_], you are
respectfully requested to get out o' here as fast as your legs will
carry you--I never beat up a woman yet--except that Holzer woman who I
sent to the hospital for three weeks--but--if you don't get out o'
here this minute, and let this little squab be, I'll give you the
prettiest slap in the jaw you ever had in your life.
MRS. MUSKAT
Very good, my son. Now you _can_ go to the devil. Good-bye. You're
discharged, and you needn't try to come back, either. [_She exits. It
is beginning to grow dark._]
MARIE
[_With grave concern._] Mister Liliom----
LILIOM
Don't you pity me or I'll give _you_ a slap in the jaw. [_To JULIE._]
And don't you pity me, either.
JULIE
[_In alarm._] I don't pity you, Mister Liliom.
LILIOM
You're a liar, you _are_ pitying me. I can see it in your face. You're
thinking, now that Madame Muskat has thrown him out, Liliom will have
to go begging. Huh! Look at me. I'm big enough to get along without a
Madame Muskat. I have been thrown out of better jobs than hers.
JULIE
What will you do now, Mister Liliom?
LILIOM
Now? First of all, I'll go and get myself--a glass of beer. You see,
when something happens to annoy me, I always drink a glass of beer.
JULIE
Then you _are_ annoyed about losing your job.
LILIOM
No, only about where I'm going to get the beer.
MARIE
Well--eh----
LILIOM
Well--eh--what?
MARIE
Well--eh--are you going to stay with us, Mister Liliom?
LILIOM
Will you pay for the beer? [_MARIE looks doubtful; he turns to
JULIE._] Will you? [_She does not answer._] How much money have you
got?
JULIE
[_Bashfully._] Eight heller.
LILIOM
And you? [_MARIE casts down her eyes and does not reply. LILIOM
continues sternly._] I asked you how much you've got? [_MARIE begins
to weep softly._] I understand. Well, you needn't cry about it. You
girls stay here, while I go back to the carousel and get my clothes
and things. And when I come back, we'll go to the Hungarian
beer-garden. It's all right, I'll pay. Keep your money. [_He exits.
MARIE and JULIE stand silent, watching him until he has gone._]
MARIE
Are you sorry for him?
JULIE
Are you?
MARIE
Yes, a little. Why are you looking after him in that funny way?
JULIE
[_Sits down._] Nothing--except I'm sorry he lost his job.
MARIE
[_With a touch of pride._] It was on our account he lost his job.
Because he's fallen in love with you.
JULIE
He hasn't at all.
MARIE
[_Confidently._] Oh, yes! he is in love with you. [_Hesitantly,
romantically._] There is someone in love with me, too.
JULIE
There is? Who?
MARIE
I--I never mentioned it before, because you hadn't a lover of your
own--but now you have--and I'm free to speak. [_Very
grandiloquently._] My heart has found its mate.
JULIE
You're only making it up.
MARIE
No, it's true--my heart's true love----
JULIE
Who? Who is he?
MARIE
A soldier.
JULIE
What kind of a soldier?
MARIE
I don't know. Just a soldier. Are there different kinds?
JULIE
Many different kinds. There are hussars, artillerymen, engineers,
infantry--that's the kind that walks--and----
MARIE
How can you tell which is which?
JULIE
By their uniforms.
MARIE
[_After trying to puzzle it out._] The conductors on the street
cars--are they soldiers?
JULIE
Certainly not. They're conductors.
MARIE
Well, they have uniforms.
JULIE
But they don't carry swords or guns.
MARIE
Oh! [_Thinks it over again; then._] Well, policemen--are they?
JULIE
[_With a touch of exasperation._] Are they what?
MARIE
Soldiers.
JULIE
Certainly not. They're just policemen.
MARIE
[_Triumphantly._] But they have uniforms--and they carry weapons, too.
JULIE
You're just as dumb as you can be. You don't go by their uniforms.
MARIE
But you said----
JULIE
No, I didn't. A letter-carrier wears a uniform, too, but that doesn't
make him a soldier.
MARIE
But if he carried a gun or a sword, would he be----
JULIE
No, he'd still be a letter-carrier. You can't go by guns or swords,
either.
MARIE
Well, if you don't go by the uniforms or the weapons, what _do_ you go
by?
JULIE
By---- [_Tries to put it into words; fails; then breaks off
suddenly._] Oh, you'll get to know when you've lived in the city long
enough. You're nothing but a country girl. When you've lived in the
city a year, like I have, you'll know all about it.
MARIE
[_Half angrily._] Well, how _do_ you know when _you_ see a real
soldier?
JULIE
By one thing.
MARIE
What?
JULIE
One thing---- [_She pauses. MARIE starts to cry._] Oh, what are you
crying about?
MARIE
Because you're making fun of me. . . . You're a city girl, and I'm
just fresh from the country . . . and how am I expected to know a
soldier when I see one? . . . You, you ought to tell me, instead of
making fun of me----
JULIE
All right. Listen then, cry-baby. There's only one way to tell a
soldier: by his salute! That's the only way.
MARIE
[_Joyfully; with a sigh of relief._] Ah--that's good.
JULIE
What?
MARIE
I say--it's all right then--because Wolf--Wolf---- [_JULIE laughs
derisively._] Wolf--that's his name. [_She weeps again._]
JULIE
Crying again? What now?
MARIE
You're making fun of me again.
JULIE
I'm not. But when you say, "Wolf--Wolf--" like that, I have to laugh,
don't I? [_Archly._] What's his name again?
MARIE
I won't tell you.
JULIE
All right. If you won't say it, then he's no soldier.
MARIE
I'll say it.
JULIE
Go on.
MARIE
No, I won't. [_She weeps again._]
JULIE
Then he's not a soldier. I guess he's a letter-carrier----
MARIE
No--no--I'd rather say it.
JULIE
Well, then.
MARIE
[_Giggling._] But you mustn't look at me. You look the other way, and
I'll say it. [_JULIE looks away, MARIE can hardly restrain her own
laughter._] Wolf! [_She laughs._] That's his real name. Wolf, Wolf,
Soldier--Wolf!
JULIE
What kind of a uniform does he wear?
MARIE
Red.
JULIE
Red trousers?
MARIE
No.
JULIE
Red coat?
MARIE
No.
JULIE
What then?
MARIE
[_Triumphantly._] His cap!
JULIE
[_After a long pause._] He's just a porter, you dunce. Red cap . . .
that's a porter--and he doesn't carry a gun or a sword, either.
MARIE
[_Triumphantly._] But he salutes. You said yourself that was the only
way to tell a soldier----
JULIE
He doesn't salute at all. He only greets people----
MARIE
He salutes me. . . . And if his name _is_ Wolf, that doesn't prove he
ain't a soldier--he salutes, and he wears a red cap and he stands on
guard all day long outside a big building----
JULIE
What does he do there?
MARIE
[_Seriously._] He spits.
JULIE
[_With contempt._] He's nothing--nothing but a common porter.
MARIE
What's Liliom?
JULIE
[_Indignantly._] Why speak of him? What has he to do with me?
MARIE
The same as Wolf has to do with me. If you can talk to me like that
about Wolf, I can talk to you about Liliom.
JULIE
He's nothing to me. He put his arm around me in the carousel. I
couldn't tell him not to put his arm around me after he had done it,
could I?
MARIE
I suppose you didn't like him to do it?
JULIE
No.
MARIE
Then why are you waiting for him? Why don't you go home?
JULIE
Why--eh--he _said_ we were to wait for him.
[_LILIOM enters. There is a long silence._]
LILIOM
Are you still here? What are you waiting for?
MARIE
You told us to wait.
LILIOM
Must you always interfere? No one is talking to you.
MARIE
You asked us--why we----
LILIOM
Will you keep your mouth shut? What do you suppose I want with two of
you? I meant that one of you was to wait. The other can go home.
MARIE
All right.
JULIE
All right. [_Neither starts to go._]
LILIOM
One of you goes home. [_To MARIE._] Where do you work?
MARIE
At the Breier's, Damjanovitsch Street, Number 20.
LILIOM
And you?
JULIE
I work there, too.
LILIOM
Well, one of you goes home. Which of you wants to stay? [_There is no
answer._] Come on, speak up, which of you stays?
MARIE
[_Officiously._] She'll lose her job if she stays.
LILIOM
Who will?
MARIE
Julie. She has to be back by seven o'clock.
LILIOM
Is that true? Will they discharge you if you're not back on time?
JULIE
Yes.
LILIOM
Well, wasn't I discharged?
JULIE
Yes--you were discharged, too.
MARIE
Julie, shall I go?
JULIE
I--can't tell you what to do.
MARIE
All right--stay if you like.
LILIOM
You'll be discharged if you do?
MARIE
Shall I go, Julie?
JULIE
[_Embarrassed._] Why do you keep asking me that?
MARIE
You know best what to do.
JULIE
[_Profoundly moved; slowly._] It's all right, Marie, you can go home.
MARIE
[_Exits reluctantly, but comes back, and says uncertainly._]
Good-night. [_She waits a moment to see if JULIE will follow her.
JULIE does not move. MARIE exits. Meantime it has grown quite dark.
During the following scene the gas-lamps far in the distance are
lighted one by one. LILIOM and JULIE sit on the bench. From afar, very
faintly, comes the music of a calliope. But the music is
intermittently heard; now it breaks off, now it resumes again, as if
it came down on a fitful wind. Blending with it are the sounds of
human voices, now loud, now soft; the blare of a toy trumpet; the
confused noises of the show-booths. It grows progressively darker
until the end of the scene. There is no moonlight. The spring
irridescence glows in the deep blue sky._]
LILIOM
Now we're both discharged. [_She does not answer. From now on they
speak gradually lower and lower until the end of the scene, which is
played almost in whispers. Whistles softly, then._] Have you had your
supper?
JULIE
No.
LILIOM
Want to go eat something at the Garden?
JULIE
No.
LILIOM
Anywhere else?
JULIE
No.
LILIOM
[_Whistles softly, then._] You don't come to this park very often, do
you? I've only seen you three times. Been here oftener than that?
JULIE
Oh, yes.
LILIOM
Did you see me?
JULIE
Yes.
LILIOM
And did you know I was Liliom?
JULIE
They told me.
LILIOM
[_Whistles softly, then._] Have you got a sweetheart?
JULIE
No.
LILIOM
Don't lie to me.
JULIE
I haven't. If I had, I'd tell you. I've never had one.
LILIOM
What an awful liar you are. I've got a good mind to go away and leave
you here.
JULIE
I've never had one.
LILIOM
Tell that to someone else.
JULIE
[_Reproachfully._] Why do you insist I have?
LILIOM
Because you stayed here with me the first time I asked you to. You
know your way around, you do.
JULIE
No, I don't, Mister Liliom.
LILIOM
I suppose you'll tell me you don't know why you're sitting here--like
this, in the dark, alone with me--You wouldn't 'a' stayed so quick, if
you hadn't done it before--with some soldier, maybe. This isn't the
first time. You wouldn't have been so ready to stay if it was--what
_did_ you stay for, anyhow?
JULIE
So you wouldn't be left alone.
LILIOM
Alone! God, you're dumb! I don't need to be alone. I can have all the
girls I want. Not only servant girls like you, but cooks and
governesses, even French girls. I could have twenty of them if I
wanted to.
JULIE
I know, Mister Liliom.
LILIOM
What do you know?
JULIE
That all the girls are in love with you. But that's not why _I_
stayed. I stayed because you've been so good to me.
LILIOM
Well, then you can go home.
JULIE
I don't want to go home now.
LILIOM
And what if I go away and leave you sitting here?
JULIE
If you did, I wouldn't go home.
LILIOM
Do you know what you remind me of? A sweetheart I had once--I'll tell
you how I met her---- One night, at closing time, we had put out the
lights in the carousel, and just as I was---- [_He is interrupted by
the entrance of two plainclothes POLICEMEN. They take their stations
on either side of the bench. They are police, searching the park for
vagabonds._]
FIRST POLICEMAN
What are you doing there?
LILIOM
Me?
SECOND POLICEMAN
Stand up when you're spoken to! [_He taps LILIOM imperatively on the
shoulder._]
FIRST POLICEMAN
What's your name?
LILIOM
Andreas Zavoczki. [_JULIE begins to weep softly._]
SECOND POLICEMAN
Stop your bawling. We're not goin' to eat you. We are only making our
rounds.
FIRST POLICEMAN
See that he doesn't get away. [_THE SECOND POLICEMAN steps closer to
LILIOM._] What's your business?
LILIOM
Barker and bouncer.
SECOND POLICEMAN
They call him Liliom, Chief. We've had him up a couple of times.
FIRST POLICEMAN
So that's who you are! Who do you work for now?
LILIOM
I work for the widow Muskat.
FIRST POLICEMAN
What are you hanging around here for?
LILIOM
We're just sitting here--me and this girl.
FIRST POLICEMAN
Your sweetheart?
LILIOM
No.
FIRST POLICEMAN
[_To JULIE._] And who are you?
JULIE
Julie Zeller.
FIRST POLICEMAN
Servant girl?
JULIE
Maid of All Work for Mister Georg Breier, Number Twenty Damjanovitsch
Street.
FIRST POLICEMAN
Show your hands.
SECOND POLICEMAN
[_After examining JULIE'S hand._] Servant girl.
FIRST POLICEMAN
Why aren't you at home? What are you doing out here with him?
JULIE
This is my day out, sir.
FIRST POLICEMAN
It would be better for you if you didn't spend it sitting around with
a fellow like this.
SECOND POLICEMAN
They'll be disappearing in the bushes as soon as we turn our backs.
FIRST POLICEMAN
He's only after your money. We know this fine fellow. He picks up you
silly servant girls and takes what money you have. Tomorrow you'll
probably be coming around to report him. If you do, I'll throw you
out.
JULIE
I haven't any money, sir.
FIRST POLICEMAN
Do you hear that, Liliom?
LILIOM
I'm not looking for her money.
SECOND POLICEMAN
[_Nudging him warningly._] Keep your mouth shut.
FIRST POLICEMAN
It is my duty to warn you, my child, what kind of company you're in.
He makes a specialty of servant girls. That's why he works in a
carousel. He gets hold of a girl, promises to marry her, then he takes
her money and her ring.
JULIE
But I haven't got a ring.
SECOND POLICEMAN
You're not to talk unless you're asked a question.
FIRST POLICEMAN
You be thankful that I'm warning you. It's nothing to me what you do.
I'm not your father, thank God. But I'm telling you what kind of a
fellow he is. By tomorrow morning you'll be coming around to us to
report him. Now you be sensible and go home. You needn't be afraid of
him. This officer will take you home if you're afraid.
JULIE
Do I _have_ to go?
FIRST POLICEMAN
No, you don't _have_ to go.
JULIE
Then I'll stay, sir.
FIRST POLICEMAN
Well, you've been warned.
JULIE
Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.
FIRST POLICEMAN
Come on, Berkovics. [_The POLICEMEN exit. JULIE and LILIOM sit on the
bench again. There is a brief pause._]
JULIE
Well, and what then?
LILIOM
[_Fails to understand._] Huh?
JULIE
You were beginning to tell me a story.
LILIOM
Me?
JULIE
Yes, about a sweetheart. You said, one night, just as they were
putting out the lights of the carousel---- That's as far as you got.
LILIOM
Oh, yes, yes, just as the lights were going out, someone came along--a
little girl with a big shawl--you know---- She came--eh--from----
Say--tell me--ain't you--that is, ain't you at all--afraid of me? The
officer told you what kind of a fellow I am--and that I'd take your
money away from you----
JULIE
You couldn't take it away--I haven't got any. But if I had--I'd--I'd
give it to you--I'd give it all to you.
LILIOM
You would?
JULIE
If you asked me for it.
LILIOM
Have you ever had a fellow you gave money to?
JULIE
No.
LILIOM
Haven't you ever had a sweetheart?
JULIE
No.
LILIOM
Someone you used to go walking with. You've had one like that?
JULIE
Yes.
LILIOM
A soldier?
JULIE
He came from the same village I did.
LILIOM
That's what all the soldiers say. Where _do_ you come from, anyway?
JULIE
Not far from here. [_There is a pause._]
LILIOM
Were you in love with him?
JULIE
Why do you keep asking me that all the time, Mister Liliom? I wasn't
in love with him. We only went walking together.
LILIOM
Where did you walk?
JULIE
In the park.
LILIOM
And your virtue? Where did you lose that?
JULIE
I haven't got any virtue.
LILIOM
Well, you had once.
JULIE
No, I never had. I'm a respectable girl.
LILIOM
Yes, but you gave the soldier something.
JULIE
Why do you question me like that, Mister Liliom?
LILIOM
Did you give him something?
JULIE
You have to. But I didn't love him.
LILIOM
Do you love me?
JULIE
No, Mister Liliom.
LILIOM
Then why do you stay here with me?
JULIE
Um--nothing. [_There is a pause. The music from afar is plainly
heard._]
LILIOM
Want to dance?
JULIE
No. I have to be very careful.
LILIOM
Of what?
JULIE
My--character.
LILIOM
Why?
JULIE
Because I'm never going to marry. If I was going to marry, it would be
different. Then I wouldn't need to worry so much about my character.
It doesn't make any difference if you're married. But I shan't
marry--and that's why I've got to take care to be a respectable girl.
LILIOM
Suppose I were to say to you--I'll marry you.
JULIE
You?
LILIOM
That frightens you, doesn't it? You're thinking of what the officer
said and you're afraid.
JULIE
No, I'm not, Mister Liliom. I don't pay any attention to what he said.
LILIOM
But you wouldn't dare to marry anyone like me, would you?
JULIE
I know that--that--if I loved anyone--it wouldn't make any difference
to me what he--even if I died for it.
LILIOM
But you wouldn't marry a rough guy like me--that is,--eh--if you loved
me----
JULIE
Yes, I would--if I loved you, Mister Liliom. [_There is a pause._]
LILIOM
[_Whispers._] Well,--you just said--didn't you?--that you don't love
me. Well, why don't you go home then?
JULIE
It's too late now, they'd all be asleep.
LILIOM
Locked out?
JULIE
Certainly. [_They are silent a while._]
LILIOM
I think--that even a low-down good-for-nothing--can make a man of
himself.
JULIE
Certainly. [_They are silent again. A lamp-lighter crosses the stage,
lights the lamp over the bench, and exits._]
LILIOM
Are you hungry?
JULIE
No. [_Another pause._]
LILIOM
Suppose--you had some money--and I took it from you?
JULIE
Then you could take it, that's all.
LILIOM
[_After another brief silence._] All I have to do--is go back to
her--that Muskat woman--she'll be glad to get me back--then I'd be
earning my wages again. [_She is silent. The twilight folds darker
about them._]
JULIE
[_Very softly._] Don't go back--to her---- [_Pause._]
LILIOM
There are a lot of acacia trees around here. [_Pause._]
JULIE
Don't go back to her---- [_Pause._]
LILIOM
She'd take me back the minute I asked her. I know why--she knows,
too---- [_Pause._]
JULIE
I can smell them, too--acacia blossoms---- [_There is a pause. Some
blossoms drift down from the tree-top to the bench. LILIOM picks one
up and smells it._]
LILIOM
White acacias!
JULIE
[_After a brief pause._] The wind brings them down. [_They are silent.
There is a long pause before_]
THE CURTAIN FALLS
SCENE TWO
SCENE--_A photographer's "studio," operated by the HOLLUNDERS, on the
fringe of the park. It is a dilapidated hovel. The general entrance is
Back Left. Back Right there is a window with a sofa before it. The
outlook is on the amusement park with perhaps a small Ferris-wheel or
the scaffolding of a "scenic-railway" in the background._
_The door to the kitchen is up Left and a black-curtained entrance to
the dark room is down Left. Just in front of the dark room stands the
camera on its tripod. Against the back wall, between the door and
window, stands the inevitable photographer's background-screen, ready
to be wheeled into place._
_It is forenoon. When the curtain rises, MARIE and JULIE are
discovered._
MARIE
And _he_ beat up Hollinger?
JULIE
Yes, he gave him an awful licking.
MARIE
But Hollinger is bigger than he is.
JULIE
He licked him just the same. It isn't size that counts, you know, it's
cleverness. And Liliom's awful quick.
MARIE
And then he was arrested?
JULIE
Yes, they arrested him, but they let him go the next day. That makes
twice in the two months we've been living here that Liliom's been
arrested and let go again.
MARIE
Why do they let him go?
JULIE
Because he is innocent.
[_MOTHER HOLLUNDER, a very old woman, sharp-tongued, but in reality
quite warm-hearted beneath her formidable exterior, enters at back
carrying a few sticks of firewood, and scolding, half to herself._]
MOTHER HOLLUNDER
Always wanting something, but never willing to work for it. He won't
work, and he won't steal, but he'll use up a poor old widow's last bit
of firewood. He'll do that cheerfully enough! A big, strong lout like
that lying around all day resting his lazy bones! He ought to be
ashamed to look decent people in the face.
JULIE
I'm sorry, Mother Hollunder. . . .
MOTHER HOLLUNDER
Sorry! Better be sorry the lazy good-for-nothing ain't in jail where
he belongs instead of in the way of honest, hard-working people. [_She
exits into the kitchen._]
MARIE
Who's that?
JULIE
Mrs. Hollunder--my aunt. This is her [_with a sweeping gesture that
takes in the camera, dark room and screen_] studio. She lets us live
here for nothing.
MARIE
What's she fetching the wood for?
JULIE
She brings us everything we need. If it weren't for her I don't know
what would become of us. She's a good-hearted soul even if her tongue
is sharp. [_There is a pause._]
MARIE
[_Shyly._] Do you know--I've found out. He's not a soldier.
JULIE
Do you still see him?
MARIE
Oh, yes.
JULIE
Often?
MARIE
Very often. He's asked me----
JULIE
To marry you?
MARIE
To marry me.
JULIE
You see--that proves he isn't a soldier. [_There is another pause._]
MARIE
[_Abashed, yet a bit boastfully._] Do you know what I'm doing--I'm
flirting with him.
JULIE
Flirting?
MARIE
Yes. He asks me to go to the park--and I say I can't go. Then he
coaxes me, and promises me a new scarf for my head if I go. But I
don't go--even then. . . . So then he walks all the way home with
me--and I bid him good-night at the door.
JULIE
Is that what you call flirting?
MARIE
Um-hm! It's sinful, but it's so _thrilling._
JULIE
Do you ever quarrel?
MARIE
[_Grandly._] Only when our Passionate Love surges up.
JULIE
Your passionate love?
MARIE
Yes. . . . He takes my hand and we walk along together. Then he wants
to swing hands, but I won't let him. I say: "Don't swing my hand"; and
he says, "Don't be so stubborn." And then he tries to swing my hand
again, but still I don't let him. And for a long time I don't let
him--until in the end I let him. Then we walk along swinging hands--up
and down, up and down--just like this. _That_ is Passionate Love. It's
sinful, but it's awfully _thrilling._
JULIE
You're happy, aren't you?
MARIE
Happier than--anything---- But the most beautiful thing on earth is
Ideal Love.
JULIE
What kind is that?
MARIE
Daylight comes about three in the morning this time of the year. When
we've been up that long we're all through with flirting and Passionate
Love--and then our Ideal Love comes to the surface. It comes like
this: I'll be sitting on the bench and Wolf, he holds my hand
tight--and he puts his cheek against my cheek and we don't talk . . .
we just sit there very quiet. . . . And after a while he gets sleepy,
and his head sinks down, and he falls asleep . . . but even in his
sleep he holds tight to my hand. And I--I sit perfectly still just
looking around me and taking long, deep breaths--for by that time it's
morning and the trees and flowers are fresh with dew. But Wolf doesn't
smell anything because he's so fast asleep. And I get awfully sleepy
myself, but I don't sleep. And we sit like that for a long time. That
is Ideal Love---- [_There is a long pause._]
JULIE
[_Regretfully; uneasily._] He went out last night and he hasn't come
home yet.
MARIE
Here are sixteen Kreuzer. It was supposed to be carfare to take my
young lady to the conservatory--eight there and eight back--but I made
her walk. Here--save it with the rest.
JULIE
This makes three gulden, forty-six.
MARIE
Three gulden, forty-six.
JULIE
He won't work at all.
MARIE
Too lazy?
JULIE
No. He never learned a trade, you see, and he can't just go and be a
day-laborer--so he just does nothing.
MARIE
That ain't right.
JULIE
No. Have the Breiers got a new maid yet?
MARIE
They've had three since you left. You know, Wolf's going to take a new
job. He's going to work for the city. He'll get rent free, too.
JULIE
He won't go back to work at the carousel either. I ask him why, but he
won't tell me---- Last Monday he hit me.
MARIE
Did you hit him back?
JULIE
No.
MARIE
Why don't you leave him?
JULIE
I don't want to.
MARIE
I would. I'd leave him. [_There is a strained silence._]
MOTHER HOLLUNDER
[_Enters, carrying a pot of water; muttering aloud._] He can play
cards, all right. He can fight, too; and take money from poor servant
girls. And the police turn their heads the other way---- The carpenter
was here.
JULIE
Is that water for the soup?
MOTHER HOLLUNDER
The carpenter was here. There's a _man_ for you! Dark, handsome, lots
of hair, a respectable widower with two children--and money, and a
good paying business.
JULIE
[_To MARIE._] It's three gulden sixty-six, not forty-six.
MARIE
Yes, that's what I make it--sixty-six.
MOTHER HOLLUNDER
He wants to take her out of this and marry her. This is the fifth time
he's been here. He has two children, but----
JULIE
Please don't bother, Aunt Hollunder, I'll get the water myself.
MOTHER HOLLUNDER
He's waiting outside now.
JULIE
Send him away.
MOTHER HOLLUNDER
He'll only come back again--and first thing you know that vagabond
will get jealous and there'll be a fight. [_Goes out, muttering._] Oh,
he's ready enough to fight, he is. Strike a poor little girl like
that! Ought to be ashamed of himself! And the police just let him go
on doing as he pleases. [_Still scolding, she exits at back._]
MARIE
A carpenter wants to marry you?
JULIE
Yes.
MARIE
Why don't you?
JULIE
Because----
MARIE
Liliom doesn't support you, and he beats you--he thinks he can do
whatever he likes just because he's Liliom. He's a bad one.
JULIE
He's not really bad.
MARIE
That night you sat on the bench together--he was gentle then.
JULIE
Yes, he was gentle.
MARIE
And afterwards he got wild again.
JULIE
Afterwards he got wild--sometimes. But that night on the bench . . .
he was gentle. He's gentle now, sometimes, very gentle. After supper,
when he stands there and listens to the music of the carousel,
something comes over him--and he is gentle.
MARIE
Does he say anything?
JULIE
He doesn't say anything. He gets thoughtful and very quiet, and his
big eyes stare straight ahead of him.
MARIE
Into your eyes?
JULIE
Not exactly. He's unhappy because he isn't working. That's really why
he hit me on Monday.
MARIE