Theater Close-Up

The Gabriels: Hungry | Part one
Tony Award-winner Richard Nelson’s three-play cycle follows one year in the life of an American family in Rhinebeck, NY, during the 2016 presidential election. "Hungry" is part one. The trilogy was filmed at The Public Theater in March 2017 and stars Meg Gibson, Lynn Hawley, Roberta Maxwell, Maryann Plunkett, Jay O. Sanders, and Amy Warren. THIRTEEN areas viewers may stream the episodes.
TRANSCRIPT
>> You are about to see a play
as it was written
and performed onstage.
Some may find the language
or content objectionable.
Viewer discretion is advised.
Next, on "Theater Close-Up"...
>> Don't you feel like something
really bad is about to happen?
>> It's 2016, election year
in the life of one family...
>> We're all Gabriels.
>> ...the Gabriels of Rhinebeck,
New York,
where election anxiety...
>> She watches both MSNBC
and Fox News.
>> ... takes a backseat
to what's for dinner...
>> Ratatouille.
>> ...and their own lives.
>> I don't need help.
>> Join us when The Public
Theater production
of Richard Nelson's "Gabriels
Trilogy" begins with "Hungry"...
>> I want to vote
for Larry David.
>> ...on "Theater Close-Up."
>> What if our side were
to fall apart for some reason?
It could.
♪♪
[ Cheers and applause ]
>> Support for
"Theater Close-Up"
is provided by...
>> Welcome.
I'm Oskar Eustis, the artistic
director of The Public Theater.
I'm sitting tonight
in the Public's restaurant,
called The Library,
named in recognition
of the origins of this building.
First, a little about what has
come before us here.
The New York Times,
March 2, 1852 --
"One of the crowning features
of our City will be the Library,
now soon to be opened.
It was what she most needed.
It will tend to pour an element
of literature into our marts."
Built as the Astor Library near
Astor Place in Lower Manhattan
and opened in 1854,
our building
was one of the earliest
and largest free libraries
in America.
Its first president was
the author of "Rip Van Winkle,"
Washington Irving.
He felt so at home here,
he had his last
will and testament witnessed
in these alcoves.
Thackeray spent time here,
perched on a ladder.
The Prince of Wales visited.
Presidents Van Buren,
Fillmore, Pierce,
and Buchanan were guests.
Chester A. Arthur researched the
protocols of previous inaugural
ceremonies to prepare for his
own.
One month, and for several hours
every day,
a man whiled away his time
in these hospitable
reading rooms.
There was nothing in his
appearance to distinguish him,
when, suddenly,
the man disappeared,
and the next heard of him
was that he had become forever
infamous as the assassin
of President Garfield.
Louisa May Alcott, Walt Whitman,
Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain,
Henry James, Edith Wharton,
Henry Adams no doubt
passed through our front door.
On April 2, 1879,
Alexander Graham Bell
wrote to his wife, Mabel,
"I have been hard at work
at the Astor Library all day."
Just a stone's throw away is
Astor Place, the site
of the Astor Place Riots
in 1849, which were ignited
when the great English actor
William Charles Macready
and the great American actor
Edwin Forrest both chose to play
the same play,
"Macbeth," on the same night.
24 people died, and over
100 people were wounded.
By the mid- and late
19th century,
Astor Place was also the home
of the Cooper Institute,
where Lincoln gave his famous
Cooper Union Address,
bringing him to the attention
of the fledgling
Republican Party,
the speech in which he declared,
"Right makes might."
And it was the home
of the American Bible Society
and its giant printing presses,
which were to crank out
some 77 million Bibles.
Here where I now
sit became a center
for publishing and journalism,
for literature and study
in America,
a center for bookmaking,
book-buying, and book-reading
throughout the second
half of our 19th century,
here in what we, at the Public
Theater, today call home.
It is a rich and proud story,
and over the next two nights,
I will continue to share
snapshots of the history
of this extraordinary building
as it changed its uses
but never, ever its purpose --
to try and serve the very best
instincts of our citizens.
Tonight, you will find yourself
in our LuEsther Hall,
which was carved
out of the upper balcony stacks
of the original Reading Room.
You will be watching the first
play of Richard Nelson's
powerful trilogy
"The Gabriels,"
subtitled "Election Year
in the Life of One Family,"
performed by a company of some
of New York's finest actors
and designed by a team of
our most preeminent designers.
Tonight's play is called
"Hungry,"
and like all three plays,
it is set in the kitchen
of the Gabriel family
on South Street
in the village of Rhinebeck,
New York, which is 100 miles
due north of New York City,
a place The New York Times
once called
"The Town That Time Forgot."
Each of the plays opened
on the day it is set,
and none have been changed
since their openings.
"Hungry" takes place on Friday,
March 6, 2016.
So, we're in the middle
of primary season.
Super Tuesday was just earlier
this week,
after which, unsurprisingly,
Hillary Clinton
and, very surprisingly,
Donald Trump
solidified their status
as front-runners
for their respective parties'
nomination for President
of the United States.
It's been an oddly warm winter,
with very little snow.
Last night, Megyn Kelly,
still at Fox News,
conducted a debate among
the Republican contestants.
Bernie Sanders is hanging on,
having won the Colorado primary.
And, perhaps, a general anxiety
was just beginning to get a grip
on some of us.
And now..."Hungry."
♪♪
>> ♪ Her eyes are light and
clear ♪
♪ And fearless like Chicago
winds in winter ♪
♪ And her hair is never quite in
place ♪
♪ And the knees in her jeans
have seen better days ♪
♪ And she's no beauty queen,
but you love her, anyway ♪
♪ She's a wildewoman
♪♪
♪ Oh, she's gonna find another
way back home ♪
♪ It's written in her blood
♪ Oh, it's written in her
bones ♪
♪ Yeah, she's ripping out the
pages ♪
♪ Ripping out the pages in your
book ♪
♪ Oh, she's gonna find another
way back home ♪
♪ It's written in her blood
♪ Oh, it's written in her
bones ♪
♪ Yeah, she'll only be bound
♪ Be bound by the things she
chooses ♪
♪ Her smile is sneaky like a
fiery fox ♪
♪ Ooh-ooh
♪ It's that look that tells you
she's up to no good at all ♪
♪ Ah-ooh
♪ And she'll say whatever's on
her mind ♪
♪ Ah-ooh-ooh
♪ They're unspeakable things,
and she'll speak them in vain ♪
♪ And you can't help but wish
you had bolder things to say ♪
♪ She's a wildewoman
♪♪
♪ Oh, she's gonna find another
way back home ♪
♪ It's written in her blood
♪ Oh, it's written in her
bones ♪
♪ Yeah, she's ripping out the
pages ♪
♪ Ripping out the pages in your
book ♪
♪ Oh, she's gonna find another
way back home ♪
♪ It's written in her blood
♪ Oh, it's written in her
bones ♪
♪ Yeah, she'll only be bound
♪ Be bound by the things she
chooses ♪
♪ Yeah, she'll only be bound
♪ Be bound by the things she
chooses ♪
>> [ Clears throat ]
>> ♪ Hey-ey
♪ Hey-ey, hey-ey-ey
♪ Hey-ey
♪ Hey-ey, hey-ey-ey-ey
♪ Hey-ey
♪ Hey-ey hey-ey-ey-ey
♪ Hey-ey
♪ Hey-ey, hey-ey-ey-ey
♪ Oh, we're gonna find anoth--
[ Clock ticking ]
>> They're back, Mary?
>> What?
G-- I'm sorry.
I forgot you were here.
I'm sorry.
What did you say?
>> They just got back.
You asked me to tell you.
>> Oh.
Did you find something?
What did you find?
Oh, you found t-this.
They just published this.
It's mostly his old plays.
>> I remember him writing one
or two of those.
>> You do?
>> Mm-hmm.
>> In our apartment
on Cranberry.
>> Yeah, Karin,
we have a whole box of these.
We -- We don't even know
what to do with them.
You take it...
if you want.
Thomas would want you
to have one.
A memento.
>> You're still here, Karin?
I thought you had to go.
>> I do.
I-I have to go soon.
Thank you, Mary.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Thank you.
>> You all were gone
a long time.
>> Yeah.
>> Take off your coat.
>> No.
Now we're going to take a walk.
Joyce needs to get some air.
She's had it with her mom.
You want to come?
>> Nah.
>> She wants us to sneak
out the back.
George is coming.
>> So, how is the all-new,
remodeled Roosevelt Museum?
>> It's what it now is.
>> What does that mean?
>> What has Karin been doing?
I'm surprised she's still here.
>> She's been looking through
the bookshelves.
Whatever.
She's been doing it for hours
in the living room.
It's fine, Hannah.
>> You're baking bread.
>> I-I felt
like making something.
>> Karin's still here.
>> We were just talking
about that.
>> Is she staying for dinner?
>> No.
>> She's not?
>> No, she's not staying
for dinner.
I did not
ask her to stay for dinner.
>> Good.
So you can say "no."
>> I know how to say "no,"
Joyce.
>> I think you've done enough
for Karin today.
Karin
just said she was about to go.
>> I've hardly said five words
to her.
>> She didn't come to see you.
Where's my husband?
>> He's coming.
He's getting Mom comfortable
for her nap.
He's prying himself loose.
We're going for a walk.
Have you been out?
>> She doesn't want to go.
>> To the Stop & Shop.
How was the museum?
No, I want to know.
>> I wasn't as bothered
as Joyce and George.
>> They've really been
fucked up, Mary.
>> She's slightly exaggerating.
>> Only slightly.
I'm not even saying I was that
bothered by it...
[ Timer rings ]
...or even surprised.
Why should we be surprised
anymore?
Your timer went off.
>> I know.
>> It's not what it had been.
That's what I'm trying to say.
It's very different, and Thomas
would have really hated it.
He loved the Roosevelt Museum.
He loved the way it was,
but this
is the world we now live in.
>> Well, I'm happy
I didn't go, then.
I would like to remember
that museum
the way Thomas liked it.
>> Do you want any help?
>> Mnh-mnh.
What did they do to it?
>> The museum?
>> Yeah.
>> Everything.
You feel that they are pushing
things on you now,
like you can't think
for yourself anymore.
I'll bet that's what the Bush
libraries are like in Texas.
>> I bet the Bush libraries
are even worse, Joyce.
>> Mom seemed to
enjoy herself, though.
>> Did -- Yeah, good.
>> There's my husband.
>> Good. Let's go. Come on.
Let's -- Let's get some air.
>> Why is Karin still here?
>> She's not staying for dinner.
>> Let's go.
>> No, you go.
I'm gonna stay.
>> What?
Why? Mom in bed?
>> Not yet.
>> She taking her nap?
Are you kidding me, George?
>> Well, Joyce, she decided.
>> What has Mom decided?
>> She decided
she doesn't need a nap.
She says she wants to stay up.
>> No, I knew
this was gonna happen.
>> Joyce.
>> She's tired.
That's all that I mean.
I'm thinking of her -- I am.
>> I'm sure she is.
>> She looked exhausted.
She should be in bed.
Or am I wrong?
Tell me I'm wrong.
I had to help her up
the porch steps.
>> I think she just
lets us do that, Joyce.
>> She does let you do that.
>> I don't think so.
>> You want to tell her
to take a nap?
Go ahead and tell her.
I told her.
She's right in there,
in her chair.
>> I guess, then, we're not
taking a walk.
If Mom doesn't take her nap now,
she's gonna --
>> What? She'll --
Joyce, she -- she'll be fine.
>> Give me your coat.
I'll hang it up.
>> Mom looks
absolutely exhausted.
That's all I'm saying.
>> Well, I'm sure
today wore her out.
>> She had to see everything --
I mean, everything.
And we sat down on
every goddamn bench.
We must have been in there
for five hours.
>> She's old.
>> Thanks for that news.
Haven't been here like you,
so I --
>> No, I'm sure every time,
there's a bit of a surprise.
>> Got to come for Christmas,
Joyce.
>> She's just been here.
>> I have just been here.
Hang up your own coat.
She's not your servant.
>> Oh.
>> Don't put it there.
That's a chair.
There are hooks, the same hooks
that have been out
in that hallway forever.
>> Yeah, I know --
I know where the hooks are.
>> Give me the coat.
I'll hang it up.
>> Don't spoil him, Hannah.
>> Joyce.
>> The other night,
we're watching a film.
>> What?
>> Japanese.
>> No, I was joking.
>> And this guy
comes onto the film, and he
slips off his shoes, and his
wife hurries to get his robe,
and as he takes off his jacket,
he just drops it on the floor --
drops it.
>> I was teasing.
>> And the wife is standing
right there, so she has
to lean down and pick it up.
And George turns to me
and says, "See?"
>> Oh, for Christ's sake,
that's disgusting.
>> He was kidding.
>> Your wife's not your slave.
>> Then why tell the story?
>> Because it's funny.
>> Have you had any lunch?
>> Oh, we...
>> I think there are
still cold cuts.
>> ...ate at the Eveready.
>> Oh.
>> Even got a ta--
a booth right away.
>> Wow. Geez.
>> Yeah.
My brother loved
that Roosevelt Museum.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Thomas did some research
in that library, didn't he,
or am I wrong?
>> For his Roosevelt play.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> The last thing you're faced
with just before you leave --
There's a movie, and guess
whose voice is on it, Mary.
>> Uh...
>> Bill Clinton's.
>> You didn't let her guess.
>> Well, that's not FDR.
>> No.
>> It was a president.
>> I was gonna guess Hillary.
>> Not Trump?
>> You used to walk in there,
and you felt you were
in the presence of that man.
>> You should go,
see for yourself.
>> It's about what they want you
to believe, to think.
They feel they need to tell you
what to think, so, like,
you'll --
you'll vote for us Democrat.
It's not history anymore.
It's now just politics.
What the hell
happened to history?
>> So, if Mom didn't go upstairs
to take her nap,
where'd you leave her?
You know, she's probably
sick of us, too.
>> I doubt if your mother
is sick of you.
>> I mean --
>> Joyce.
>> Mom can't hear.
She can't hear if she's sitting
right next to you.
>> She was in her chair,
still in the living room.
>> Yeah, I peeked in.
She's talking to Karin.
>> At Karin is more like it.
So poor Karin got trapped.
>> It sounded like she was
telling Karin
about her voting for Roosevelt.
>> Is that even possible?
>> Who knows?
And why Karin?
'Cause she's polite
and still listens.
>> Hannah was telling us
at lunch you don't remember
actually inviting her.
>> I-I must have.
>> I don't think I've seen her
in decades.
>> She was at Thomas'
memorial in the city.
>> Well, I wasn't looking
for her then.
>> She was here in October.
Thomas asked Mary
to get in touch.
>> Did he?
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Oh. Maybe I knew that.
Are you okay with that?
>> She seemed really pleased
to be there this morning,
so we all did a nice thing.
>> I just -- I just felt
like making something.
>> Makes sense.
>> I wake up like that, too,
sometimes, but, then,
I don't make anything, do I?
>> Yes, you do.
>> I-I should put on
a fresh pot, Joyce.
>> No.
This one's still sort of warm.
I'm gonna buy
this house a coffeemaker.
They cost like 10 bucks.
>> Are you gonna stay
in my room tonight?
Your old room's full of crap.
>> I made up a bed
in George and Thomas' old room.
>> I don't care where I sleep.
Ooh, look.
She's escaped.
Good for you.
Good for Karin.
>> I wasn't escaping.
>> My sister's always joking.
>> Patricia wonders
if she could get a cup of tea.
I could do that, just tell me
where you keep the tea, Mary.
>> Karin, our mother means,
go and get her children and
make them come back in there.
That's what she means
by "cup of tea."
It's code, isn't it?
>> That is what
our mother means.
>> Sit down.
Join us.
>> You're safe in here.
>> What do you mean?
>> So, their mom voted
for Roosevelt.
>> At least five times.
>> I'm gonna make a new pot.
This isn't even hot.
>> Mary was surprised we got
a table
right away at the Eveready.
>> Unlike last night.
>> What happened last night?
>> We wanted to go
out to dinner.
>> Oh, no.
>> How rare is that?
>> Oh, I probably
should be going soon.
>> Well, do you have
to go already?
>> Well, I guess not,
but I-I'm not in the way?
>> No, no, no.
Of course not.
And, uh, Karin, all --
all those books there,
those were Thomas', too --
research for something.
I just thought they belonged
in here,
and, um, you'll see why.
Take a look.
>> Every place in
Rhinebeck Village packed
to the gills on Thursday night.
One place even laughed at me.
"Oh, we're usually booked out
from Wednesday."
>> In Rhinebeck?
>> Yeah.
>> When did that happen?
>> It happened.
When?
We don't know.
We never go out.
>> Yeah.
>> Joyce, Mom's
in there all by herself.
>> I'm almost done.
>> How much should I make?
Who's gonna want coffee?
>> Mnh-mnh.
>> Then what am I making it for?
>> Leave it.
We'll want it later.
>> Oh, Mary, I almost forgot.
Here. This is for you.
>> What? Oh, what?
What is it?
>> Presents.
>> A present? For me?
>> It cost like $2.
>> George.
>> We all chipped in.
>> Read it.
Read the title.
>> "Cookies for Eleanor."
>> They had a pile of them
at the Val-Kill gift shop.
>> I didn't know Eleanor
made cookies.
>> I don't think she did.
I think those are the cookies
she just liked to eat.
>> Joyce, Mom sees me every day.
>> Okay.
I'm feeling guilty.
Ugh. I'm ready.
Oh, give me strength.
>> Patricia said
she wanted a cup of tea.
>> Our mother, Karin,
never says what she means.
>> No, she doesn't.
>> Come on.
You're coming, too.
>> Uh, daughters-in-law
have been excused.
>> Who the hell excused you?
>> I think we did, didn't we?
>> Yeah, I think so.
>> Even ex-daughters-in-law,
Karin, stay with us.
Stay in here.
You won't regret it.
>> That doesn't seem fair.
>> Does to us.
We don't want to be in there.
>> No.
And we speak from experience.
>> What are you making
for dinner?
>> I probably shouldn't stay.
I don't know.
>> I-I was thinking ratatouille.
It's easy enough.
With pasta?
>> They've rented out
all of Wilderstein.
>> How --
How much does that cost?
>> Just rich people.
>> Hannah works for a caterer
in Rhinebeck, Karin.
>> When there's work --
weddings.
>> What's Wilderstein?
>> Well, it's this big,
old beautiful mansion.
It's a park now in Rhinebeck.
A lot of people here worked
really hard to restore it.
There's a lot of local
history there.
Mary, my boss said she heard
they first tried
to rent out the Roosevelt home.
They said they really wanted
to party in there.
What can I do?
>> How can I help?
I think it'll be fine.
I think I can do
what I was gonna do later --
tomorrow, even.
I just -- I can't stay too late.
Uh, when do you think you'll
eat?
>> Oh, an hour and a half
or something like that.
Is that too late?
>> No. No, that'd be fine --
perfect, even.
>> Good. That's good.
>> So, what can I do?
And it's all right?
You're sure?
>> Yes. Yes. Of course.
You'll need an apron.
Hannah, she'll need an apron.
You don't want to stain
that lovely blouse.
And, um,
we'll get you things to cut up.
>> I think I overdressed.
I thought maybe there'd be more
of a ceremony,
I guess, but it was perfect.
And I'd never been to something
like that before.
Hannah, thank you for the boots.
I left them in the mudroom.
Oh.
I like this.
I just hadn't realized
what a dope I am --
that there'd be a real walk
to the water.
I don't know what I would
have done without those boots.
>> Well, we had to get
to the water.
That was sort of the whole
point, wasn't it?
>> Mm-hmm.
>> What he wanted?
Thomas loved that river.
>> Mary, thank you
for letting me tag along.
It meant a lot.
>> So, uh, what needs
to be cut up?
Um, oh, Karin, I keep the onions
and the mushrooms
out in the mudroom.
And I just started doing that.
>> It's cool out there.
I should do that.
>> The refrigerator was
just getting too crowded.
>> Mine's a mess.
>> You wouldn't mind?
Just -- Just bring back
whatever you can carry.
That should be enough.
And, oh, they're in little
baskets,
and, also, tomatoes --
three or four tomatoes.
God only knows how good they are
this time of year
or where they're from.
There is enough food.
It's fine, Hannah.
>> Joyce said it was snowing
this morning
when she left the city.
>> We got nothing up here.
This is a crazy winter.
[ Piano playing ]
>> That's not my husband
playing.
>> You can tell that --
that it's Joyce.
>> Patricia's making her play.
>> Does she really need
to be made?
She never seemed
to need to be made.
>> See?
>> See?
What?
>> That it's your sister
playing the piano.
>> Oh. I'm sure I'm next.
Has Karin gone?
>> She's in the mudroom.
>> All right.
Mom wants her little, uh,
sherry glass.
She says you're always
hiding it, Mary.
>> I wash it, and I put it away
in the dining room.
It worked, too.
She took one to the home.
Top shelf, corner cabinet.
It's with the sherry.
>> Patricia's got her kids
waiting on her.
That always makes her happy.
>> Do I make coffee or not?
>> Who's gonna drink it?
So, all of Wilderstein?
>> Yeah.
>> How rich is that guy?
And who has their wedding
in early March?
'Cause there are other aprons.
>> This is fine.
I saw two tents,
a truck just to heat the tents.
All of us were guessing it
must be like his fifth wedding.
>> He's worse than Thomas.
So, what -- what are you serving
at this fancy wedding?
>> They're New Yorkers,
so they have their own food,
their own caterer --
New York food.
We just serve it.
Oh, I saw their chef.
He's wearing jeans
and cowboy boots.
It's fucking Dutchess County,
not "Deadwood."
New Yorkers.
>> Joyce is showing off now.
She said she hasn't touched
a piano in six months.
Right, Joyce, right.
>> Karin can stay for dinner.
>> Oh, good.
Good.
The more, the merrier.
>> How's this?
Is this enough?
>> Oh, God.
How many of us are we now?
It keeps growing.
Do you think
Patricia's gonna eat?
>> Yeah.
>> Mary, why all the apples
out there?
You must have like a bushel.
>> Well, I was, uh,
all set to make my apple crisp,
and then Joyce phoned up.
I think we should have a cake --
treat the day like
it's his birthday or something.
It's not Thomas' birthday.
It's sort of just the opposite.
And Joyce says,
"I'll pay for the cake."
>> Yeah, and has she paid
for the cake?
>> Sit down.
Sit, Karin.
>> You can still make your apple
crisp, Mary.
These look good.
Stop & Shop?
>> Adams -- Kingston.
>> Mary's apple crisp, Karin,
was always
Thomas' favorite dessert.
I can tell her that, right?
>> I-I didn't know that.
I never made it.
>> Mary's apple crisp --
only hers.
>> Of course.
>> Oh, oh, talk about
rich people, Hannah.
When Thomas was rehearsing
one of his plays in London,
um, there was this party,
and, um, I-I just remember
that -- I just keep
remembering stories and --
>> Of course you do.
That's normal.
>> And that party, it was hosted
by the Lord Mayor of London.
It was for the theater company
that was gonna do Thomas' play.
And, oh, here, we can put
the peelings in there.
>> You don't compost?
>> Mnh-mnh. No, we don't.
>> I thought everyone
in the country --
>> And, so,
Thomas went to this party.
It was a fundraiser
in the theater's lobby
after one of the shows,
and the Lord Mayor,
Thomas said, was drunk,
and he had this funny chain
kind of thing,
a-across his chest.
He wrote me
about that in the letter.
I just came across it last week.
I keep re-reading
a lot of his letters.
And, oh, oh, and the people
in charge of this party --
Get this.
>> Yeah.
>> They had asked the theater
if they could have some of
their younger members, by which,
I'm sure they meant "sexier."
>> Right.
>> You know, maybe they even
came right out and said that,
but members of their
acting company or actresses...
>> Of course.
>> ...if they could wear the
costumes from the show they'd
been doing that night at this
party for potential patrons.
Ask me what the show was.
>> What was the show?
>> "The Beggar's Opera."
Rich people --
It's another planet.
It's a whole other universe.
[ Piano playing up-tempo ]
>> Now, that's George.
He, too, has been practicing.
He knew they'd both
be asked to play.
>> How thin do you want me to --
>> Oh, just whatever.
I usually --
>> What? Tell me.
>> Any way.
>> Tell her.
She'd like to do it
as you'd like.
>> I will do it
any way you want, Mary.
>> A quarter inch?
>> Quarter inch it is.
>> Like that?
Like that.
Was that so hard?
>> So, some actors did wear
their costumes at this party,
and he wrote about it
in this letter.
And I just read it
again last week.
>> You said.
>> Oh, did I?
>> So, they come in these
19th-century beggar clothes,
their faces dirtied,
and all these drunks
from the city just looking down
the girls' dresses.
>> Grow up, men.
>> My boss,
she introduced me to...
[ Telephone ringing ]
George will get it.
...to the client, the groom.
And she told him
I worked Chelsea's wedding.
He was so impressed.
>> Did you really?
>> I just served.
>> That's how it would be.
>> So, he wanted to know
what kind of --
[ Ringing stops ]
George got it -- what kind of
wines Chelsea served.
>> What were they?
>> There's a winery
in Clinton Corners,
Clinton Winery, their wine.
Chelsea must
have thought it was cute.
>> Clinton Corners
is just down the road a bit.
>> So, the guy says,
"Do you think it's too late
for us
to get our wine from them, too?"
Now, I don't know what that
conjured up -- "The Clintons."
>> "I want what they want."
>> So, I get him
to order 30 cases,
and I call my friend
down at Clinton Corners
and tell her to charge the fools
three times
what they usually get.
>> No, good!
>> That's what they paid?
>> New Yorkers, Karin --
They don't know
what anything's worth anymore.
>> Mary, your daughter's
on the phone.
>> Oh, she called?
>> Yeah.
>> Give her our love.
>> I did.
>> Yeah, I will.
>> Tell her we missed her today,
but we understand.
She called.
[ Piano playing slowly ]
>> We just had lunch.
>> So, you're not going
to get hungry.
Ratatouille.
I think Mary is going to make
Thomas' apple crisp.
>> Ah, good!
>> That was one
of his favorites.
>> I know.
>> I just learned that.
From an earlier marriage,
her daughter?
I-I didn't know
Mary had a daughter.
>> She lives in Pittsburgh.
>> Yeah, from an earlier
marriage.
Joyce told Mom she hadn't
touched a piano in six months.
>> Did Patricia criticize
her playing?
What did she say?
I sometimes think your mother
doesn't hear.
Well, that was quick.
>> Yeah, she was busy.
She's gonna send an e-card.
I told her she didn't have
to do that.
>> There's some great e-cards
now.
What's her name --
Jacquie something?
>> How am I doing?
>> Good. Is that knife okay?
>> It's fine.
>> Yeah.
>> I'm glad she thought to call.
She's so busy.
It's nice to hear her voice.
You're not gonna be missed?
>> In there?
"Cookies for Eleanor."
>> A cookbook about
what Eleanor Roosevelt
just liked to eat.
Mary, there was a neat
display of everything
out of Eleanor's purse from,
I think -- was it the 1950s,
or was it when she died?
>> I don't know.
It was a clever idea --
inside the woman's purse.
>> Don't say anything
you'll regret.
Makeup, nail scissors,
Eleanor's handgun license.
>> What?
>> Yeah, who knew?
Eleanor Roosevelt packed heat.
>> She had a gun license?
>> Did you tell her
about finding the hair?
>> Mnh-mnh.
>> You said you wanted to tell
your daughter about that.
>> She was rushing
off somewhere.
>> She has a baby.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> I remember when I had Paulie,
I couldn't think
of anything else.
I missed birthdays.
Young mothers.
>> What hair?
I don't --
I don't think I know about this.
>> Should I tell him?
>> Mary found one of Thomas'
gray hairs inside a book.
It was
one of those on the bench there.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> She was trying to go
through his boxes.
What do you do
with something like that?
>> What do you mean?
>> A hair.
Well, Mary told me she first
almost threw it
in the wastebasket,
and then she thought
better of that and set it aside
on top of an unopened box.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> And then you got a phone call
or something
or had to go to the bathroom.
>> God.
>> Well, she comes back,
and she
opens up a few more boxes,
and about an hour later,
she remembers the hair.
She looks all around.
Can't find it anywhere.
She's opening the books.
She says to herself,
"It's just a hair.
Why am I crying about a hair?"
Happy ending, right?
When she's getting ready
for bed, on the shoulder
of her sweater, the hair.
So, now she's scotch-taped it
to an index card,
and she keeps it in her purse.
Is it still in your purse?
>> Yes.
>> A woman's purse.
>> It sounds like your sister
has stopped entertaining
your mother.
>> I'm not sure that's something
she knows how to stop.
Here it is.
>> Oh.
>> It doesn't smell.
>> May I see it?
Thomas' hair.
>> Where'd you go?
A phone rings, and you run away?
Your turn.
What are you doing?
>> Making ratatouille.
>> So, where is she now?
Where -- Where is Mom now?
>> Still in her chair, no doubt
still criticizing me.
>> But, Joyce, she hasn't been
criticizing you.
>> "Is that how you're going to
play it?
Is that how
you're going to play it?"
>> Grow up, Joyce.
>> Fuck you.
>> I thought
you sounded great, Joyce.
>> Yeah.
>> I've been practicing.
Don't tell my brother.
>> Karin can stay for dinner.
>> Good.
What is that?
>> One of Thomas' hairs.
Mary keeps it taped
to an index card in her purse.
>> Why?
>> I know your mother
really appreciates
your coming up today, Joyce.
>> Has she said that?
Has she actually said that?
>> I-I think so.
[ Piano playing slowly ]
>> "Tell me, Dear Reader,
do you often say to yourself,
in bitterness of spirit,
that it is a mistake
to educate girls into a love
of science and literature
and then condemn them to the
routine of a domestic drudge?"
>> When was this written?
>> 1884.
>> You think it's a woman?
>> It has to be a woman.
>> Marion Harland, a woman.
>> I think I'm cutting
these too thick.
>> Nope, that's great.
You're doing fine.
>> This was one
of Thomas' favorites.
>> It's what Mom wants.
That's what she's asking for,
because
Thomas used to play for her.
"A talk, as woman to woman --"
"Woman to woman."
There you go.
"An informal preface
to what I mean
shall be an informal book."
A woman talking to women
who's listened to other women.
>> God.
>> Ooh, Hannah,
I heard a joke this week.
>> Oh.
>> A girl tells her mother
about her new boyfriend.
The mom asks what he does.
And the mom is shocked --
"How can you go out with him,
someone who works for the NSA?"
And the girl just looks
at her mom, eyes wide open,
"But, Mom, he listens."
[ Laughter ]
>> That's funny.
>> My married friend
told me that.
>> Keep reading.
I don't think we read this part.
>> Mnh-mnh.
>> "My dear fellow housekeeper
and reader..."
>> That's us.
>> Yeah.
>> "...I have before me now a
picture of a wife and mother
in slatternly morning gown
at 4:00 in the afternoon,
leaning back in the laziest
and most ragged
of rocking chairs,
dust on the carpet,
on the open piano --"
Ah, I love that touch.
Her reader's home, all alone,
playing her piano.
I've been there.
Who hasn't been there?
"Dust on the mantel,
the mirrors,
even on her own hair."
>> No way.
>> "She rubbed the soft palm
of one hand with the grimy
fingers of the other
and with a sickly sweet smile
whines out, 'I have no talent
for housework!'"
These were all Thomas'?
>> Yeah, we were surprised, too.
>> Well, it must have been
research for something.
>> Yeah, I don't know what.
That whole pile there,
and I just thought they belonged
in the kitchen.
>> Mary found them in
a plastic box in Thomas' office.
>> All of them about cooking.
Why would my brother --
>> Did he start cooking?
>> No.
>> Thomas never cooked
when we were married.
>> No, he didn't cook anything.
Maybe pasta -- maybe.
That's what he always said
he could cook, if I hadn't made
anything or if I was busy.
"Oh, I-I can cook pasta."
>> Did he mean it?
>> I don't know.
I don't know.
>> You should have --
>> Tested him?
>> That would have been fun.
>> It would have been.
Oh, oh, boy, these onions,
Hannah.
>> He's written notes, like,
quotes from things
in the backs of some of them.
>> Thomas.
>> In the margins.
Come through.
One of them --
I think it's this one --
something about
how it is the one thing
everyone lies about.
>> What is?
>> What you eat
when you're alone.
>> Yeah, this is what he wrote.
"Everyone lies about what
they eat when they're alone."
Do you lie about that --
what you eat when you're alone?
I lie about that.
Mary thinks he just jotted
down things he'd find,
like something he'd heard
or said or remembered.
Oh, this -- "Human beings are
the only animals that transform
their food, that cook."
>> He underlines "cook."
>> "So it is one of the things
that makes us human beings."
>> Yeah, some birds --
don't they regurgitate
what they eat for their babies?
>> That's not cooking.
>> No, I guess not.
>> Well, you haven't tried
my cooking.
>> The first time
George wanted to cook for me,
he forgot to wash the lettuce.
>> Oh, God.
>> So you could hear the crunch
of the dirt as you ate.
Like, little bits of gravel.
I didn't say anything.
>> Do you think he even noticed?
I know my brother.
>> Next time, I offered
to wash the lettuce.
>> That was a very nice way
to handle that -- very generous.
>> I thought so.
>> I don't think
I'm that generous.
>> Listen to this --
"When I took --"
>> Thomas?
>> No, Marion Harland.
"When I took possession
of my first real home,
the prettily furnished cottage
to which I came as a bride,
so full of hope and courage,
after one day's investigation,
I knew
my lately hired servants..."
>> Mm.
>> She had servants.
"...knew no more about cookery
than I did,
or perhaps affected stupidity
to determine my capabilities."
>> That sounds like a nightmare.
That's why
I don't have servants.
>> "And I was too proud
to let them suspect the truth.
I shut myself up with my
'Complete Housewives.'"
I guess that's some book.
>> Hm.
>> It's not this book.
"I do not like to remember
that time!"
>> Poor thing.
>> "My wrestling begat nothing
but pitiable confusion,
hopeless distress,
and a three-day sick headache,
during which season I am
not sure that I did not
darkly contemplate suicide...
as the only sure escape from
the meshes that strangle me"?
>> I didn't read that far.
God.
>> This is Marion?
>> It's the author.
It's the introduction.
"Familiar Talk With My Reader."
>> I just read m-mostly
the recipes a-and his notes.
>> "At the height -- or depth --
of my despondency, a friend,
one with a great heart
and steady brain,
came to my rescue."
>> How --
>> "Her cheerful laugh
over my dilemma rings
down to me now,
through all these years.
'Bless your innocent
little heart!' she cried.
'99 out of a hundred cookbooks
are written by people
who never kept house
and the hundredth by a good cook
who doesn't know
how to express herself.'"
Rule number one --
"Compile a recipe book
for yourself."
>> Okay.
>> "And take your time."
That's good advice.
"Learn one thing at a time,
and when you have mastered it,
make a note on it,
never losing sight of
this principle,
you only learn by doing.'"
>> Wow.
>> Good.
>> Why wasn't she my mother?
>> There is nothing wrong
with your mother.
>> When I was like 13 or
something -- Did I ever tell
you this?
>> I don't know
what you're gonna --
>> It's Christmas morning,
and I unwrap
the fucking "Joy of Cooking."
>> Yeah.
>> "That's all you need,
dear heart," Mom says to me,
smiling her smile.
"All you need in life."
Well, thank you, Mom.
Thank you very much.
I'm ready for life now.
Bring it on!
>> Well, wasn't she
just trying to --
>> Mother.
>> I know.
>> I like "The Joy of Cooking."
>> I know what she means.
>> As if it were the gift
of life, Hannah,
and the way she hands it over,
like passing some torch
or an heirloom, my dowry.
>> Was it her copy?
>> No.
No, no.
Brand-fucking-new, like it was
the goddamn "Joy of Sex."
He stopped.
>> My mom gave me
"The Joy of Sex."
>> Oh, she didn't. No!
>> She sort of did.
She left her and Dad's copy
lying around.
>> On purpose?
>> That's what I think now.
>> At least she didn't hand it
to you, like it was something
incredibly valuable,
a mother-daughter event.
I don't think I even
opened it up.
>> Well, that must
have hurt her.
>> Well, I was 13.
She should know better.
>> Oh, 13 -- I hated that age.
My skin was like...
>> Another time.
I think I was like 17, trying
like hell to get out of here.
>> 17 wasn't much better.
>> I come into this very --
>> I thought that you and Thomas
got married
when you were like 19.
>> Oh, those were two completely
different universes, 17 and 19.
I mean, they were for me --
completely
and totally different planets.
>> We come into this
very kitchen,
and Mom is standing
right where you are, Karin.
She's holding a bowl,
mixing something.
She looks like a witch
mixing a potion.
>> I like your mom.
>> I like her, too.
>> No, I like her a lot.
>> For Christ's sake,
I'm telling a story.
Let me tell my story.
>> Okay. So, what happened?
>> She looks up at me from her
stirring -- gets that look.
We all know that look.
>> What's the look?
>> "What's wrong, Mom?"
I say.
I think I sounded concerned.
I tried.
I remember trying.
"I'm making my birthday cake,
dear heart."
It was the "dear heart."
>> Well, that's cute.
>> She's not your mother.
>> Her own cake --
you can't win that.
>> It was her birthday.
"Come on, Mom,"
I say, in my most perky way.
"I really don't think you should
be making your own birthday cake
on your own birthday."
>> You actually said that?
>> Yeah.
>> You know, you walked
right into it.
>> She's 17.
>> "Then who's gonna make it?"
Mom asks.
And -- And suddenly,
she's not crying anymore,
but she's all bubbly
and smiley and perky, too.
>> Joyce.
>> I'm being fair.
I'm not being unfair.
So, I start to see where
this is all headed.
>> Mm.
>> "Come on, Mom.
Can't we just buy a cake?
I'll go to that bakery
in Kingston
you like so much, okay?"
And she stops being bubbly
and smiley and perky.
And I'm standing right next
to your chair, Hannah,
right over there.
Both of my brothers
sit right there.
"Maybe they will make it."
>> So?
You make your mother a cake.
Good for you.
>> I have two brothers.
I'm with you.
>> Yeah, I make her
the goddamn birthday cake.
As I get going, I start
convincing myself that this
is really a special -- what? --
honor, my chance to shine,
maybe, to --
to show up my brothers.
So I work really hard
on that damn cake
right at this table, here.
I worked really, really,
really hard on it.
And when I'm finally done,
when she sees my great
effort, you know,
I present my cake to her,
wipe the sweaty hair out of my
eyes and wipe the sweat
off my goddamn zitty face,
Mom says to me, "Dear heart,
you worked so hard."
>> Oh, boy.
>> I know what she meant.
>> It's not how
she would have made it.
>> "Dear heart" is cute.
It's old-fashioned.
>> She didn't say that.
>> But that's what she heard.
>> Thanks, Karin.
>> The cake you asked Mary
to buy for today
was store-bought.
>> From Deisings.
You got it at Deisings?
>> It's from Deisings.
>> Thomas always
loved their cakes.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> At least I thought of that.
At least I did
something right today.
Should I keep reading?
>> Yeah, please.
>> Um...
"These notes were the first
of practical wisdom
and receipts I now
offer for your inspection."
She calls recipes "receipts."
"Never forget that you are
mistress of yourself."
>> Ah.
>> "Have faith
in your own abilities.
I take it for granted that you,
Dear Reader, are too intelligent
to share in the vulgar prejudice
against labor-saving machines."
She'd have a microwave.
I have a microwave!
>> I couldn't live without mine.
>> Mom knows they don't
kill you, right?
>> Your mother liked
what she had.
>> You don't have to keep
explaining my mother to me.
"Many excellent --"
You know, when I told Mom
that I had actually bought
a microwave for my tiny
Brooklyn apartment kitchen,
it was as if I'd robbed someone
or kicked a dog
or denied global warming.
"It's -- It's not wrong, Mom."
"It's wrong!"
Not in this century
or the last one.
Um...
"Many excellent housewives have
a fashion of of saying loftily,
'I carry all my receipts...'"
>> Recipes.
>> "'...in my head.
I never wrote out
one in my life.'
And so, you, if timid
and self-distrustful,
are smitten with shame --"
>> I have an aunt who does that,
my mother's little sister.
She says, "It's all in my head."
My mom told me not to believe
anything she said.
>> "My advice is just keep
the recipe book out of sight."
What a battle she's preparing us
for -- suiting us up
for some sort of a battle.
>> Yeah.
>> So we're not,
what, intimidated?
>> Times have changed,
thank God.
Haven't they?
>> Yeah, Thomas has the --
or had these friends.
>> Who?
>> Oh, he met them
with me later.
You probably wouldn't know them.
But you go to their apartment.
First, it's always incredibly
neat.
>> Then they have a cleaner.
>> Gosh, you're right.
>> And the kitchen --
a stove that just intimidates.
>> I hate those.
I really hate those.
>> She cooks while she talks.
She can do that.
While -- While cooking and --
and sipping wine,
she tells these funny and,
often, self-deprecating stories.
How does she do that?
Doesn't she have
to fucking measure?
And -- And she cleans pots
while cooking
and telling the stories
and sipping
the goddamn wonderful wine.
And almost every time,
she's in her goddamn bare feet.
>> Oh!
>> And I hated going there
for dinner.
>> It's the bare feet
that take it over the edge.
>> Yeah.
"Here I lay it down --
a few safe and imperative
rules for your kitchen."
>> Yes.
>> [ Laughs ]
>> What?
>> "Never stand when you can
do your work
as well while sitting."
>> We knew that.
>> Yay!
>> "It will sometimes happen
that, when you
have heated your pitch..."
>> What does that mean?
>> "... swabbed
your deck, or made your pudding,
the result is failure."
>> Uh-huh.
>> "No part of the culinary
education is more useful.
You have learned
how not to do it right, which is
the next thing to success."
I guess I'm closer
to success than I thought.
Um...
"However, should any such
mishaps occur,
do not vex or amuse your husband
and your guests
with the narration..."
In other words, don't tell them.
>> Hm.
>> Wait. I'm interested in this.
>> "...with the narration,
still less with visible proof
of the calamity."
So, hide it.
"Many a partial failure would
pass unobserved
but for the clouded brow
and earnest apologies
of the hostess."
>> This is about a lot
more than cooking.
>> Mm.
>> "Do not apologize!" --
exclamation mark.
"You will be astonished to find,
if you keep your wits about you,
how often even your husband
will remain
in blissful ignorance
that nothing has gone wrong,
if you do not tell him."
>> Do not tell him --
I've done that.
Any of you ever done that?
Ever happen to you?
>> Well...
>> I bet we've all done that.
Now we know there's nothing
wrong with doing that.
Can I see that book?
>> Someone penned in their
little recipes in the front.
>> Receipts.
>> Receipts, with pins,
like keepsakes.
>> Sweet.
>> "Common Sense In
The Household: A Manual
Of Practical Housewife-ery."
>> No, "wifery."
>> Wifery.
>> Yeah.
>> 1884?
This sat in someone's kitchen
for years and years.
>> Yeah, maybe generations.
>> Family cookbook.
>> Or like the family Bible,
or -- or maybe more revealing,
what goes on in the kitchen.
>> Mm.
>> This is Thomas' handwriting.
>> What?
>> "The discovery of a new dish
does more for mankind than
the discovery of a new star."
>> Hm.
That's lovely.
>> I like that.
>> Well, this is someone else's
handwriting, maybe the person
who gave the woman the book.
It's old-fashioned handwriting.
"Improve each shining hour."
>> I'll try.
>> Okay.
>> He was gonna write a story
about cooking.
>> Never --
>> Maybe a play.
>> "Never try experiments --"
more advice --
"when you have invited guests
for dinner."
>> Oh, well.
>> Sorry.
"Never risk the success
of a meal on a new dish.
So, introduce your experiments
cautiously
to your husband as by-play."
>> "By-play"?
It says that -- "by-play"?
>> "And never be too shy
of innovations."
>> What?!
>> "Variety is not only
pleasant, but healthy."
>> God.
>> "The pampered palate
will weary
of the same bill of fare."
This is about a lot more
than cooking.
>> Is there any wine, Mary?
I'd love a glass of wine.
>> Yeah, there's a half a bottle
in the door.
Smell it first.
>> Mom's asleep.
She fell asleep in her chair.
I couldn't get her
to go upstairs, Joyce.
I tried.
All right.
Yeah, it's fine.
Thanks.
Anyone else?
>> No, thanks.
>> No.
>> Not yet.
>> She insisted on looking
through
a couple of photo albums.
They're the ones just of Thomas.
>> I keep that album out.
>> It's a long day for her.
>> She was crying.
>> I thought your mom did great
this morning.
When you asked if she wanted
to help you scoop out
any of the ashes, I thought
she was going to lose it then.
>> It's good Mom's asleep.
She needs that.
>> These two big guys
knock on your mom's door.
She's alone.
>> I was out at the store.
>> It's not your fault.
>> Well, I should've been there.
>> She thinks it's her fault.
[ Timer rings ]
And these guys tell your mother,
right, that they're putting down
new asphalt on another driveway
just up the street.
>> How her driveway looks
dangerous and a lot of other
bullshit.
>> Yeah, someone could fall
and so forth -- lawsuits.
>> Yeah.
>> They say that?
>> To scare you, yeah.
>> Oh, and, by the way...
>> And, by the way, she is so
lucky because they are, right
now, just down South Street,
so that'll save Mom
a whole lot of money.
And, normally, they wouldn't
even be doing
this kind of work in December,
but it's been bizarrely warm.
>> Your timer.
>> They took advantage
of an old woman.
>> Shit.
She wrote a check?
>> Mom wrote the check.
They needed it right away.
Probably ran to the bank
to cash it.
>> And by the time Mary's back
from the store --
>> I was gone maybe 40,
45 minutes.
>> They're already
pouring the asphalt.
>> George thinks it won't last.
>> It won't.
You don't -- You don't do this
kind of work in the winter.
Even if it's warm for a few
days, it's just gonna crumble.
>> $7,400.
>> Shit!
Well, shit.
Does she have
that kind of money to just...
>> Check didn't bounce.
We were hoping it would bounce.
>> I didn't know anything
about this.
>> Well, you know, Joyce,
you haven't been here.
>> I have a phone.
A whole brand-new driveway
for $7,000?
I didn't even notice
a difference.
>> Ever since Thomas died,
Mom has seemed sad.
I mean, something happened.
>> Even before.
>> I suppose you always think
you're -- you're not gonna
live longer than your kids.
>> Do you need any help there?
>> Well, maybe in a minute.
>> We should thank Mary.
>> Why?
>> Why?
>> For this morning.
That was really
nice this morning.
I didn't think it would be
that nice, did I?
>> No.
>> I was telling Hannah
in the car, "I now think I want
my ashes to be thrown
in the Hudson, too."
No rush, please.
Though maybe next time,
Joyce, we could pick a season
when we don't have to chop
away at the goddamn ice?
>> There was no ice.
>> It was cold.
Mom got cold.
>> Well, we thought
we were waiting for spring.
>> Yeah, but Joyce is so busy,
unlike us country
folk who have nothing --
>> It's a business trip.
>> Oh, to Europe.
Well, twist my arm.
>> Karin, could you just
watch that for a minute?
All right, who wants to help
peel apples?
>> You're going to make
your apple crisp?
>> I also have peelers.
>> I will get the peelers.
She's going to make her
apple crisp.
That was Thomas'
favorite dessert.
>> I know.
>> We can also have cake.
We can have both.
>> Oh, Joyce, last month, Mom --
>> Oh, God.
>> No. Do you want to tell her?
>> What?
>> This is embarrassing.
>> Last month, Hannah drops
by here just as Mary and Mom
are running off
to the bank to send --
how much -- $600, right --
to our Paulie.
>> Why?
Where was Paulie?
>> We thought he was
in Washington
on his senior class trip, but --
No, you tell her.
You were here.
>> "There you are,"
your mom says
the moment I walk in.
"We've been trying to call you.
We're on our way to the bank
and then the post office.
Paulie's not on his senior
class trip.
He's in some trouble in Canada."
>> Canada.
>> Canada?
What are you talking about?
What?
>> Somehow, they knew our son,
her grandson, was on a trip.
>> Who?
>> How did they know?
>> I still think
it was just a lucky guess.
>> So, your mother
gets a phone call.
"Your grandson has crossed
the border and bought
an expensive computer,
and now he doesn't have enough
money to pay the duty,"
so the border people
are going to confiscate
this expensive computer
Paulie's bought unless we send,
right away, $600.
>> $600.
>> And Mary's saying --
As I walk in, Mary's saying,
"We're sending the money."
>> What was I thinking?
>> No, of course.
>> You were worried
about our son.
>> Paulie had called Mom?
>> No, sort of.
>> I don't understand.
>> Then I think to ask Mary,
"Did you actually talk to
Paulie yourself?"
No. No.
But your mother had,
and Patricia was like,
"Oh, Paulie's so upset."
So the three of us rush
to the bank to get the money
and then the post office
to wire a money order.
Meanwhile, I've called George
down at the shop.
He's trying to call Paulie
on his cell.
But you tell.
He leaves a message.
>> And I call the number.
>> In Canada that
we're supposed to call
after we've sent the money.
>> And a woman answers.
>> To tell them it's on its way.
>> And I -- And I ask to talk to
Paulie, tell her I'm his father.
And then,
I hear Paulie come on the line,
but the connection
is not real good --
a lot of static.
>> Yeah.
>> But I hear him say, "Hi, Dad!
Hi.
I'm okay.
I have a cold.
Are you sending the money?
Please send the money.
I need money."
When...
>> What?
>> When my cellphone rings.
And I'm still on the other line,
on the landline, with Paulie.
But on my cell, calling me back,
is Paulie.
He's in Washington with his
classmates
on his senior class trip.
>> I don't understand
the other --
>> The other one in Canada
was someone else.
>> Someone who happens to sound
like Paulie.
>> Well, with a cold
and a lot of static.
>> Yeah.
>> So, I asked that person,
"Who the --
Who the hell are you?"
He hangs up.
>> And then George calls me,
and we're still in line
at the post office.
Thank God there was a line.
>> Oh.
>> And says,
"Don't send the money.
It's a scam."
>> It's a popular scam,
we learned
from the state police.
They couldn't do anything.
And they -- they --
We figured Mom
had her picture in the paper.
>> Yeah, at the library.
>> As a -- As a volunteer
at the library, and they --
we figure they -- they saw that.
They look for old people.
Old people to them are like fish
in a fucking barrel.
It was the cop's word.
>> When you're scared,
you're vulnerable.
>> She is.
God, we are.
Now, Karin, I-I can do that now.
Thank you.
>> How's Paulie doing?
>> Well, he's applied
to 14 colleges,
so we're waiting.
>> It's like Chinese
water torture.
>> Yeah, every morning,
you wake up.
You watch your son ask himself,
"So, what am I worth?"
Parents shouldn't be forced
to watch that.
>> From Adams?
Those must be from Adams.
They look really good.
>> No, from the farmers' market.
>> Farmers' market?
>> They have it in the winter
now, too, in the town hall.
>> What's the name of the guy
on the news hour
that does the business?
>> Oh, Paul something.
>> Oh, yeah, I watch him.
>> I don't know.
>> The other day,
he's interviewing
some hedge-fund guy
who's a little defensive,
like, "Come on.
Are we really bad guys?"
And then, the guy
tries to explain.
He's like, "Look at those hyenas
and the vultures out there
on the savanna.
Are they bad guys?
You know, just because
there happens to be
a sudden boom in carcasses,
is that really their fault?
They're just taking advantage
of opportunities.
They're just hungry."
>> All of a sudden, Mom gets on
all these lists.
And now that she's in her --
her new place,
Mary gets all these phone calls.
We had no idea.
"I'm calling about
your credit-card accounts."
No, they're not.
"It's the IRS."
No, you're not.
>> "Congratulations.
You've just won something
or other."
No, you haven't.
"We're calling with very
important information
about your Medicare coverage."
No, they're not.
>> They want to pick over her
fucking bones.
And she won't show us
her checkbook, so we don't know
what she's been doing.
>> Yeah, well, Mary throws away
most of the solicitations
that come in the mail.
>> She still gets her mail here,
so I bring in a few things
so she doesn't
get too suspicious.
>> Well, you hear stories about
families and their parents,
and they fight like hell
with their kids about
moving into one of these places.
>> My father was like that.
>> She's made it so easy on us.
Bless her.
Bless her.
>> No, she -- she has friends
there,
people she's known forever.
>> Good for your mom.
You're lucky.
>> It's a nice place.
>> Yeah.
>> Very nice.
>> I know your mom's really
looking forward to showing you
her new apartment, Joyce.
>> You should go.
>> Of course I'm gonna go.
You don't have to tell me to go.
I'm gonna go after dinner.
>> Good.
>> I'm looking forward
to seeing it --
Mom's new life.
>> Good.
>> I know I should go.
You don't have to make me.
>> It's just a room,
so be prepared.
It's a nice room,
but it's not a house.
>> Yeah.
>> But she took stuff with her.
The -- The desk, some --
some rugs.
>> The love seat.
>> Oh, love -- the love seat
from the bedroom.
>> Mm.
>> Not much more would fit,
but she's trying
to make it a home.
It's just up East Market.
>> I must admit to being
very surprised
when you called to tell me.
I thought you must
have somehow made her.
Mom seemed to have an accident
at the diner at lunch, or am I
wrong?
>> No, it happened.
>> Yeah, we try not to make
a big deal about it,
'cause it embarrasses her,
but it happens.
>> Maybe she should
wear those adult --
>> She doesn't like
how she looks in them, Joyce.
She says they make her look fat.
>> Well, maybe we should insist,
just for her own sake.
>> She wears them
sometimes, Joyce.
She didn't today, 'cause she --
she wanted to look her best.
>> Is that Mom's car
still out in the drive?
I thought we were selling that.
When I was here in November, you
said you were gonna sell that.
>> Not yet.
>> It's just wasting money.
You're still paying
for the sticker, the insurance.
What --
Mom's not still driving, is she?
>> No, she's not really driving.
>> But she drove here
this morning, but we drive
her back at night, in the dark.
She doesn't drive in the dark.
She can't see, but we take
two cars, so...
>> George.
>> Joyce, you're right.
We agreed.
Mom just didn't agree.
>> What?
>> She said no.
We -- We thought the place
wouldn't allow it, didn't we?
We thought that would settle it,
but, hey, they do.
"It's independent living,"
they said.
"That's not our job."
>> She can barely turn her head.
She can't see
out the back window.
>> She can turn her head.
Can't she?
>> She's gonna kill someone.
She's gonna run over
some little kid.
I mean, you said you were
gonna do this.
You promised.
>> Mary, tell her -- Your mother
hardly drives anywhere.
>> To the Stop & Shop,
the library, to here.
>> There are trucks on Route 9
and school buses.
Mary, do you have any red wine?
>> Yeah, in the mudroom.
I keep the red out there.
>> Any particular --
>> They're all basically the
same, Joyce -- cheap.
>> So, Karin, you didn't have
to teach today?
>> Those are for the apple
crisp, George.
>> Not on Fridays --
no theater class on Fridays.
I don't know why.
>> Mary, quartered
and then halved again?
>> Yeah, sure.
>> Quartered and
then halved again.
Do it as she says.
>> So, long weekend, huh?
That's not bad.
Do you go back to the city?
>> Sublet my apartment.
>> I'm subletting mine
for the three months I'm away.
You have to.
Anyone else?
>> No, thanks.
>> I don't know how I had
the nerve to say
I could teach playwriting.
I could just hear Thomas --
"You're teaching playwriting."
>> "So, kids, make it up."
>> Is that clean?
>> It was in the dish rack.
>> I had no idea what to expect.
>> Well, I hope you expected
rich kids, Hotchkiss.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Some teacher got ill
all of a sudden, right?
Is that what happened?
That's what Mary said.
>> Uh, needed a body right away.
I am that body.
I was free, didn't have a job.
Probably the
10th actor they tried.
>> Karin's been teaching
at a school in New York.
>> Oh, I didn't know that.
>> Well, it's not
completely out of the --
>> Well, teaching acting.
It's not really a school.
I really don't know
what I'm doing.
>> Thomas used to tell
his students -- uh, when -- when
Thomas taught the --
>> When did Thomas teach?
I didn't know he ever --
>> He hated it.
>> No.
>> He hated it.
>> The school, not the kids.
>> He always told me
he would never teach.
>> He lasted maybe two years.
>> What about a salad, Mary?
Don't we need a salad?
>> Look in the fridge.
Check the lettuce.
It's been there a while.
Uh, let me get this right.
I heard him tell this
to a bunch of students when they
came to our house in New Haven.
There -- There are two questions
a playwright needs to answer --
two -- why did you write it?
And then, why should
we watch it?
That was it.
So, what does that mean?
>> Make it personal,
and make it matter.
I think I understand that.
>> Uh, is -- How's the lettuce?
>> I'll pull off
the brown leaves.
>> Yeah, I don't think
that's even been washed.
>> I'll wash it and pull off
the bad leaves.
>> Oh, and, Karin,
I just remembered this.
There was this little, um,
sign that he'd made
for himself that I just --
I keep remembering things,
all day.
[ Timer rings ]
>> Mm-hmm.
>> This was over his desk
in his office.
"Don't write words, Thomas.
Just try and write people."
>> So, tell them that,
whatever that means.
>> Actors love hearing
that kind of stuff.
Thomas loved actors.
>> He married one.
>> Mary, your bread.
>> Yeah.
>> "Cookies for Eleanor."
>> I liked going there today.
Let me see that.
>> Oh.
>> Oh!
That smells good.
I'm getting hungry.
>> Mmm.
>> It's a reflex.
>> Are you done?
>> I'm taking a break.
>> Just what Eleanor
liked to eat.
Good for her.
>> I think Eleanor Roosevelt was
the first woman I ever admired.
>> Really?
I didn't know that.
>> I think I was maybe in first
grade, and we all had to draw
a picture of someone we admired,
and everyone drew their father
or grandfather,
maybe their mother.
I drew Eleanor Roosevelt.
Of course,
I put her in a wedding dress.
>> Of course.
Women come from all over.
>> You mean to Val-Kill?
>> Oh, I know women
in the theater that have come up
just to Hyde Park,
just to see Eleanor's house.
>> I'm not surprised.
>> There's
a little wooden bridge.
>> Yeah, we saw that today.
>> Did the guard tell you
anything about this bridge?
>> No, she didn't, did she?
>> What -- What bridge?
>> I've been two or three times.
It's just before you get
to the house, and
it was made of wood on purpose.
>> What do you mean?
>> So, any automobile crossing
it would make a lot of noise --
thump, thump, thump!
Well, a friend of mine
told me this.
The guard there told her.
Thump, thump, thump!
So, all the women who lived
there with Eleanor,
the ones who made furniture,
would be warned that someone was
coming and so could stop doing
whatever they were doing.
>> Ah.
[ Laughs ]
>> It seemed to be a very
different group
that went to Val-Kill than to --
>> Than to Franklin's?
>> Did you notice that today?
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah, this one woman
was telling her woman friends --
>> I don't know what you're
talking about --
a woman trying to speak.
>> She was musing
that Val-Kill might be
the only real monument...
>> Oh, that.
>> ...if that's the right word.
>> No, that's not.
>> Official something to a woman
in all of the United States.
>> Betsy Ross in Philadelphia.
>> Yeah, that's what I was gonna
say.
>> That's for the flag,
not for the woman.
>> Maybe it's not true, but,
still, it feels like it's true.
>> Years ago, when we first
moved here,
Thomas and I went together.
>> What, to the Roosevelt home?
>> And he asked the guard
if he could take his wheelchair
up in the little elevator
that FDR
would pull himself up in.
>> Did they let him?
>> Oh, no, no.
>> Mary, anything
you don't want me to use?
>> Mnh-mnh.
>> You gonna keep the ramps
up outside?
I was surprised
to see the ramps are still up.
George built them.
>> Hm.
>> I'm, uh --
I'm ready to take them down.
I agree they're in the way.
>> Mm.
>> George is a carpenter.
>> I know.
>> That's been washed.
>> Why don't you let George
take those ramps away, Mary?
He could do it this weekend.
>> Oh, what if your mom, uh,
breaks her leg or something?
>> She doesn't live here now.
>> Well, when she visits.
Anyway,
there's no rush, is there?
>> No. Just tell me when.
I think
I'm gonna go check on Mom.
Mary just reminded me
that she's still here.
I almost forgot.
>> George,
you're just gonna wake her up.
She'll --
She'll call us if she needs us.
Why cause problems?
>> Those ramps are ugly.
Why don't you let George
get them out of your way?
That's not how Thomas would
want us to remember him, Mary.
>> So, how's your business?
How's work?
I haven't even asked.
>> Oh, he's been working on a --
a really -- a big job --
um, a whole dining-room
set, a table, and sideboard?
>> Some old tree fell
on a client's property.
>> What do you mean?
>> An ash -- 100-year-old ash,
at least, beautiful wood,
so they wanted everything
made out of their tree.
I've been drying all of it.
My whole shop is full of ash.
>> The client told George
how much they love that tree.
>> George makes
beautiful furniture.
>> I remember.
>> Yeah, you should peek
into his shop sometime.
>> I would love to.
>> He's already made
some of the furniture.
>> I have.
>> What?
>> George just finally met
the client
with the ash last week.
Up until then, they'd done
everything over the phone.
The client
closes his house in the winter,
but he's up here for something.
And he meets George at the shop,
and George has
worked out, finally,
you know, what he'll charge.
>> You didn't already have
a deal?
>> I talked to him.
>> Right away, the client's
negotiating.
But the price George has given
is exactly what George wants.
You know, he's worked
all that out -- what seems fair,
what makes sense,
what you can live with.
But the client just cuts
20% off, just like that.
I tell him, but that's
what he's used to doing.
Today, everybody assumes
everybody's
negotiating about everything.
Isn't that true?
>> Yeah, I suppose so.
>> Yeah, that's true,
even this job at the school.
>> I told him I'd take 5% off.
>> He'd already begun.
And the guy, of course,
sees this.
He's in the shop.
So the guy says to George,
"Okay, if you won't negotiate,
then fuck you.
Truck the wood
back to my house."
He'll get someone else
to make his fucking furniture.
George has been working
for months.
He's dried the wood,
cut the wood,
designed two tables,
proudly, you know,
built this coffee table
and showed it to the guy
when he arrived.
>> I'm sure it'll all work out.
This asshole just enjoys
negotiating, you know?
They do that instinctively now.
>> The guy's lawyer called.
"We want the wood."
>> Any of you guys
been up to Hudson recently?
>> Oh, my God.
>> Oh, my God.
>> I haven't been to Hudson.
>> What is happening to us?
Where do we belong?
>> My boss has a weekend place
up in Hudson.
She's always talking about
parties up there.
You know, when we were
growing up, that place was poor.
>> No one can afford
to live there anymore.
>> I know.
>> No one.
>> Saugerties.
Who'd have believed that?
>> Not me.
>> George has started
calling us --
the people who grew up here --
he calls us
the People of Brigadoon.
>> That sounds about right.
>> Do you watch the Channel 4
news and weather?
There, on the weather map,
most nights, Rhinebeck --
little bitty Rhinebeck
on the New York City news,
I guess so the weekenders know
what the hell to pack.
>> I'm sure that's why.
>> Oh, and this you'll enjoy.
Did I see a cucumber?
>> Yeah, in the back
of the fridge.
>> Next door.
>> Oh, God.
>> Well, that was a long time
ago.
>> What are you talking about?
>> You didn't grow
up here, Mary.
>> Yeah, so, one of these little
free weekly papers
that are around now.
>> Yeah, we had a decent local
paper here once upon a time.
>> Well, they just reprinted
last week an article.
It, back in the '70s,
printed excerpts.
I guess they found it amusing.
It had been
inThe Times Magazine.
Do you still have your copy?
>> Oh, if I do, it's on, uh,
top of the pile
to recycle in the dining room.
>> Your mother actually
remembered
the person who wrote it.
She lived next door
for about a year.
>> Who?
When?
>> Oh, you're too young.
>> She lived in --
Karin, in that house next door,
up the hill,
and she, oh, saw herself
as some sort of writer,
and she wrote about her year
in Rhinebeck
as a transplanted New Yorker.
I will show you.
>> Yeah, I think
I remember her, too.
>> What did she write?
>> A whole lot of crap.
>> Condescending shit.
How -- How cute we are,
how cute this --
this town is, its cute people,
how -- how unreal --
or like Brigadoon.
But she's from gritty,
real Manhattan,
and she comes here,
and it's quiet and still
and so scary!
>> Rhinebeck?
>> Why scary?
>> It's too clean!
It's too pretty!
>> "Like we're living on
the cover
of a 25-cent Christmas card --
the smooth whiteness of it all."
>> Whiteness.
>> Was she African-American?
>> No, she was a New Yorker.
>> And then she thinks
to herself --
oh, she's figured us out.
And read --
read that part to Karin.
>> Anything I can --
>> Mnh-mnh.
>> Read that to her.
>> No, she doesn't care.
>> No, I'm interested. I am.
>> I'll tell you where they are.
"The blotches and blemishes,
they're stashed away in their
'homes.'"
Read.
>> You want to read.
>> No, what the hell
is she talking about?
>> She --
Home -- "In their 'homes.'"
"Homes" is in quotes,
so I guess they're not real.
"Things are taken care of
in small towns
out of the 'goodness'
of people's hearts --"
"Goodness" in quotes, too.
>> Not real.
>> So, that's not real, either.
I guess that's fake goodness.
"Moves are made so that little
that's ambiguous remains
to taunt the intellect."
She's talking about Rhinebeck.
>> Why would they
republish something --
>> "It's a working man's town --
or was."
>> It still is, at least
on the weekdays in the winter.
>> "Good, solid, working-class
prosperity -- dinner at 5:00,
church on Sunday,
and bed before 9:30.
At school, the kids sing songs
from 'Mary Poppins'..."
>> We did not.
>> "...in voices sweet as
pipes.
And while discipline's assumed
and the walls are graffiti-free,
the children are taught
in the old-fashioned way,
as if nothing had happened
in the field of education
in the last 20 years."
>> God.
>> "Yet -- Yet, 25% who enter
Rhinebeck High don't finish.
Instead, they marry young."
Oh, oh, "In seven months,
I haven't seen one cripple,
albino,
Puerto Rican --
nothing to mar
the bland homogeneity of it all.
There are no visible poor."
>> Let me see.
>> Show Karin.
Karin, IBM had just closed
in Kingston, in Poughkeepsie --
three huge plants.
This town was dirt poor.
And this lady gets to live up in
that big house
on the hill for next to nothing.
>> $200 a month.
>> Dripping condescension of it.
Do they even hear themselves?
>> Are we just going to bitch
in front of Karin?
>> Oh, it's fine, really.
Go ahead and bitch.
I bitch all the time.
>> We work their land or --
or mow it.
We --
We keep up their properties.
We fix their houses
to make life comfortable
for them on their weekends
or their summer vacations.
>> Mm.
>> We build their furniture.
[ Laughs ]
>> My friend was
telling me the other day --
>> Oh, wait, wait, wait.
I can't hear.
What did you say?
>> A friend of mine was say--
Karin, I think he might teach
at the Atlantic
Theater School, too -- Henry.
>> Karin teaches there?
>> What's his last name?
I can't -- I forget.
>> But Henry...
>> Whatever my good friend's
name is,
he was telling me the other day
that friends of his, these days,
instead of having the ambition
to, say, open up a restaurant,
with all the banks and loans
and overhead, stuff like that,
he said, these days,
they're just going out and
getting themselves a food truck.
Like, that is the height
of their ambition now --
a food truck.
>> That kind of thing is getting
more and more popular.
>> For kids.
>> No, no, no, no.
>> Maybe Rhinebeck
needs a food truck.
Maybe you and Hannah
should start one up, you know?
Driving around
to the rich people's houses,
ring a little bell.
>> Beep, beep.
>> Make them a nice latte.
>> We're laughing now.
>> Cute little costumes,
both of you.
>> We went to an art show
at Bard last fall --
Thomas and me.
I think maybe it was one
of the last times
he ever went anywhere.
>> What was the art show?
>> It was very contemporary.
Didn't I tell you about this?
>> I don't think so.
>> That stuff on the floor,
videos, things that didn't make
a lot of sense to me?
We were being hip.
We were in this one room
when an elderly African-American
man comes in,
and he's wearing sunglasses,
and he has a white cane.
>> So, blind?
>> Yeah.
>> And leading him along or,
like, guiding him, I guess,
are these two very attractive
young white women,
18, 19 years old,
in very short skirts.
And it was an odd sight.
And Thomas, right away,
is curious.
And the three of them,
they just go from
art piece to art piece.
And the girls take turns
describing to the blind man
what they see --
the colors and shapes
and so forth.
And you -- you can't help
but hear
what they're telling him,
because they're speaking
just a little bit louder
than normal voices.
So everyone there hears them.
Oh, oh.
And you -- you can't help
but notice that,
sometimes, the women --
or most of the time,
the women would not really be
describing the art piece.
>> What?
>> Well, if, say, something were
yellow, they'd say it was red.
And they'd also add things
that weren't even there.
>> They were part of the show.
>> Yep.
>> Yeah, that's right.
George is right.
>> They're a piece of art.
>> That's what we figured out.
Who -- Who sees and who doesn't?
Who deceives,
and who is deceived?
Who is dependent on whom
and for what?
>> Mm.
>> Thomas loved it.
It was his favorite thing
in the show.
And, you know, he said that,
whenever he'd meet people,
you know, from Wall Street,
with a lot of money,
it was always like --
>> Who would Thomas meet?
>> I don't -- board members
of the theater that were gonna
do his show or --
I don't -- even just
like George's client,
just rich people,
really rich people.
You know, up here, some days,
you trip over them.
T-Thomas said that it's like
talking to someone who speaks
a whole other language
but uses the same words.
>> Yeah. Yeah.
>> I remember he said --
say one of these people
tells you that the sky is green.
But you look at the sky,
and it's blue.
What you see with your own eyes
is that it's blue.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> So, you say, "Well, what are
you talking about?
It's blue."
And when you finally get their
attention,
which is not always so easy,
he said, "It comes out
that they have just changed
the meaning of the sky,
and they think
it's their right to do that.
And you see," Thomas said,
"that is what
you're gonna be up against."
>> So, they're the young,
sexy girls in miniskirts,
and we're the old blind guy
being led around,
having everything
explained to us.
Yeah.
That sounds about right.
I think Thomas got that right.
>> Yeah.
>> Like, I can hear him
saying that, too.
>> Mary told me she didn't want
to go to the Roosevelt Museum
today, Joyce,
because that had been
one of Thomas' favorite places.
>> Isn't that why we went?
I thought that was why we went.
Am I wrong?
>> Because -- Is it okay?
Do you mind?
Can I tell them?
Mary's angry at Thomas now,
right?
Really angry.
When we were walking back up
the hill at the Mills Mansion
back to our cars,
Mary told me this --
how angry she is at him.
>> Because he's not here?
>> I think so.
>> It's not rational.
>> What is?
>> I can understand that.
I suppose I'm angry
at Thomas, too.
>> Left behind --
what it feels like!
But you would -- you'd think,
being a doctor,
I'd be a little bit
more rational.
So, could --
can we please talk
about something else?
No, I would really like to talk
about something else.
And, uh, George, I think --
yeah, I think I'd like a glass
of wine now, too, please.
>> Yeah.
And I'll join Mary,
but I want a nice glass, George,
a stem glass, a real wine glass.
>> I-I'm just using the --
>> I know what you use.
>> Yeah, me, too --
a nice glass.
>> Yeah, Mary, too.
>> I would like a damn nice
wine glass, George.
>> Our good glasses
are in the dining room.
>> Karin, wine?
>> No, thank you.
I'm driving, and I'm sure
the last thing you need is to
have to put me up for the night.
>> Well, we have room, don't we?
>> No, no, no, no.
>> There's plenty of room.
>> I always make too much pasta.
>> Well, you know, my mother
taught me how to measure it.
She had this trick.
It really works.
>> What trick?
>> What about a salad dressing?
>> Oh, can't we just have
some Paul Newman's?
>> Oh, no, no.
Uh, Hannah makes a very nice
salad dressing.
So, my mother had this trick.
>> Okay.
>> So, say pasta for two people.
So, you imagine that your hand
is wrapped around
a man's erect penis.
It looked like this.
That's how much pasta for two.
How much pasta?
>> Yeah, she showed me this.
It works.
I do it all the time.
>> Your mother taught me this.
>> Do what all the time?
>> So, if it's for five or six,
you just do it three times.
>> Your mother taught you that.
>> Yeah.
>> It works.
>> What?
>> Nothing, George.
>> Once I was measuring
the pasta out, just as my mother
had taught me, you know?
And she was there
in the kitchen,
and she looks over my shoulder,
and she says, very
disparagingly,
I thought, "Who have
you been going out with?"
[ Laughter ]
>> I don't under-- understand.
>> Mothers.
>> Oh!
>> The girl talk, George.
Never mind.
>> We went with Mom
to Bread Alone last week.
>> Oh, yeah, you told me this.
>> And Peter -- what's his
name? -- he's there.
Come on. What's his name?
You went to school with him.
So did you.
>> Peter --
>> What's Bread Alone?
>> It's a little coffee shop
on East Market.
>> It hasn't changed yet.
>> He paints houses now.
What's his name?
Why the fuck can't I remember
names anymore?
>> I can't, either.
>> Anyway, he starts telling us,
anyone in earshot,
his "History of Our Times."
That's what he called it.
>> It is funny.
>> What does that mean?
>> "Everything," he says --
"Everything can be traced back
to just one act."
>> And they weren't speaking in
anything
more than a non-whisper.
Everyone hears it
at Bread Alone.
>> Well, that's why everyone
goes there, Karin.
You really have to watch
what you say there.
>> Were you in the front?
>> We were in the front.
>> Peter what's-his-name is
telling us how,
"So much of what we now are
and what we have become
and what is happening to us
can be traced back
to just one act
during one pizza night
in a small kitchen area
right next to the Oval Office."
>> Bill and Monica.
>> We know this.
Do we want to hear about this?
>> "All of recent
American history,"
he says, "is traceable
to that one act of..."
>> Are we still fascinated
by this?
>> And he lowers his voice
so it's even deeper now --
"One act of fellatio?"
>> And Mom is
sitting right there.
>> And Peter what's-his-name
says it like it's a musical
note -- "Fel-lat-io."
>> George.
>> "Let us now see just what
directly results
from this late night of pizza
and -- and so forth
so many, many years ago."
>> And Peter what's-his-name
starts
listing every terrible thing
from the last 20 years.
>> So, he lets the "fellatio"
settle,
and then he begins his list --
impeachment.
>> Well, obviously.
>> Okay, no argument there.
Ending --
That law that kept the banks
from becoming casinos.
What was that called?
>> Glass something.
>> Oh, glass.
>> It's, um, Steagall.
>> Glass-Steagall.
Glass-Steagall.
>> What does that have
to do with...
>> That's what we all asked.
>> He explained --
Bill and Hillary were so worried
about going broke personally --
after all, didn't she say
they were dead broke? --
that's what they thought the
Republicans were really after.
>> And they were, they were.
>> Completely bankrupt them.
>> Of course they were.
>> So that's why, according to
Peter,
Bill felt he sure as hell was
gonna need some rich friends,
so, at almost the last second of
one of his last days of office,
with a stroke of his pen...
>> Banks can become casinos.
It's one explanation.
>> Then, that really rich guy,
Marc...
>> Rich.
>> That is his name.
>> Now, I should have remembered
that -- Marc Rich.
Bill helped out this
billionaire friend.
>> Hey, didn't Hillary
know his wife?
>> So, then, maybe later,
if Bill needed help...
>> Right.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Then, Gore lost.
>> God damn it, he won.
>> Well, now, he should have
won easily, but that's --
and look what we got --
Iraq.
>> Right.
>> The Great Recession, or,
as Peter calls it --
"The Casino Goes Bust
is all directly related,"
according to Peter,
"to some of those same changes
that Bill made for his new
Wall Street buddies."
So, Peter what's-his-name
begins to add it all up,
'cause there's the loss
of something like hundreds
of thousands of lives,
$3 trillion
or $4 trillion of treasure,
millions of homes underwater,
foreclosures, bankruptcies,
so forth, so on,
"all directly traced back
to that one night
of pizza and..."
>> Yeah.
>> "...you know what."
>> Did Mom understand
what he was trying to say?
>> You mean does your mother
know what the word "fellatio"
means?
>> I guess
that's what I'm asking.
No, I don't want to know.
>> Mom just kept
eating her salad, so I
don't know what she understood.
But Mrs. Howard -- she was
my fifth-grade teacher --
she must be 90 now.
She was a really mean teacher.
>> No.
>> At least, to me.
She was there, too.
>> Oh, I didn't tell you this.
>> She's still alive.
So, Peter what's-his-name
finishes that "one night
of pizza and fellatio,"
and for, like, a minute,
all of Bread Alone
is completely silent.
You just hear some guy behind
the counter grinding coffee.
And then, that's when
Mrs. Howard takes a sip of her
tea, wipes her lips,
and says, out loud,
to the whole silent room,
"Well, I just hope those two
got some pleasure out of it."
>> No, that's not
really funny, George.
Mrs. Howard is not well, George.
>> I didn't know.
Hey, Mrs. Howard
knows what it means.
>> Oh, and, Karin,
Peter what's-his-name --
he always puts up his own
hand-painted lawn signs
all over his front yard
about three months
before every election --
not for candidates, just for...
>> Ideas.
>> ...ideas.
>> Ideas.
>> You know, he's really
pissed off.
And I suppose it makes him
feel better.
>> It must not have been
a weekend at Bread Alone.
>> No.
>> Why? I don't understand.
>> Mary, what can I do?
>> We don't talk that way
in front of weekenders.
>> Could you stir the pasta?
>> Yeah.
>> Oh.
You know, Thomas said to me
once that --
I just remembered this.
I just keep remembering things.
>> What did he say?
>> What did Thomas say?
>> Thomas told me that,
years ago -- this is way
before the Civil War --
slaves were known to do shows,
sort of plays,
behind the cabins,
and just for the other slaves,
making fun of the masters.
It made them feel
not alone, he said.
It made them feel better.
I just thought of that.
This reminded me of that.
>> Yesterday, I was talking to
this sweet young math teacher --
23, 24.
She's new, too, this semester.
No one talks to her, either.
And she said she goes home
each night and watches both
MSNBC and Fox News,
just switches back and forth.
>> Oh, God. Don't do that.
Tell her not to do that.
>> And we found ourselves
asking each other,
"Who is supporting him?
Who are they?
Does any of this make sense?"
>> What are you --
>> The election.
>> We're just sitting in
the teachers' lounge,
and we both found ourselves
saying the same thing.
We're so damn
confused right now.
I want to feel better.
>> Our son keeps saying,
"Mom, feel the Bern!"
>> Yeah, I want
to be young again.
>> Paulie says he can still win.
>> He won Colorado.
>> I want to be young again.
>> This other teacher
was saying,
"What if our side were
to fall apart for some reason?"
I mean, think about that.
It's possible,
maybe very possible.
Think.
What would we be left with?
It's hard to fathom.
>> I don't want
to think about that.
>> I can't think about that.
Wait. I just realized
what you're saying.
Paulie can now vote?
>> Yeah.
>> Oh, my God.
I'm so fucking old!
Jesus.
>> What if our side were to fall
apart for some reason?
It could.
>> No, no, no.
>> No, I know women --
women of a certain age
who really dislike Hillary.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> I have at least two friends
who say they would never,
ever vote for her.
>> I want to vote
for Larry David.
>> Why didn't Warren run?
>> Last week, I-I went on a date
to this art show.
This relates to...
>> Hillary?
>> Well, I thought
it was a date,
and then it wasn't a date.
I'm always making that mistake.
It's so goddamn confusing.
>> Is it for you, too?
>> Can be, sometimes.
>> It was a folk-art show
in some little gallery.
He knew the owner.
Oh, and this isn't what I was
gonna tell you,
but I just remembered.
There was this big, wooden,
carved sign from,
I think, the early 1800s.
It was hanging from the ceiling,
a -- a sign for some old inn
of the Angel Gabriel.
With his horn.
And we're all Gabriels.
I kept the name --
certainly is a better stage name
than "Smith."
>> Is that why you kept it?
>> Sort of.
But what I wanted to say was,
a needlepoint caught my eye
of Lady Liberty.
It was over 200 years old.
It was made just after
the Revolution.
And what was so surprising
is that, in this needlepoint,
Lady Liberty, she wasn't
pictured as some ideal woman,
you know, on a cloud...
>> Yeah, right.
>> ...holding a flag with young
and firm, pointy breasts.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Shapely legs,
the way she usually is.
>> The way men paint her.
Georgie.
>> I am not a Neanderthal.
>> As some idealized goddess.
No, this Lady Liberty --
She's just kind of normal.
>> What do you mean?
>> Real.
She looked sort of like us,
you know?
She had a little weight on her.
The dress wasn't sexy.
It was practical.
And she even -- get this --
was of a certain age.
>> Wow.
>> A woman made
that Lady Liberty.
>> Obviously.
>> I thought, "How interesting.
Just after the Revolution,
all that had just happened,
and liberty,
for this artist, was, what,
not some abstract ideal,
but instead, perhaps,
just a self-portrait.
>> Right.
>> Or maybe a sister or a friend
modeled for it.
I really would like to see a
woman president in my lifetime.
>> Amen.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> See what that feels like,
see if that makes any difference
whatsoever -- you know,
someone who looked like us.
>> But is she that woman?
>> I understand.
Fair question.
>> Maybe it's no longer right
to ask that question.
Maybe we
should stop asking that.
>> Sometimes, I look at Hillary,
and I see just a fraud.
>> I know. I know.
>> When I'm catering,
I listen to the people,
the guests, talk to each other
about their causes
and doing good things,
and I think they really mean it.
I think they want to do good.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> You know?
But then you hear them
talk about...
>> What?
>> You just get the feeling,
like, listening to them talk
to each other,
that they really believe
they deserve all they've got --
you know, somehow earned it.
So, they want to do good,
and they deserve to be rich.
Is she like them?
>> Chelsea's in a $10 million
apartment.
>> But, no.
>> I think it's a house.
Why does she laugh so much?
>> Hillary?
>> It just doesn't
sound real when she laughs.
>> Well, maybe that isn't
put on.
That might be her.
>> I know someone
with a laugh like that.
It can be real.
>> Fucking Zephyr Teachout.
>> What?
>> She's running up here
for Congress.
>> I voted for Zephyr Teachout
against Cuomo.
I thought she seemed real.
>> Mm-hmm. What?
>> Karin, she's rented a house
in our district,
and she's running
to be our congresswoman.
She's lived here for like
six months on the weekends.
I thought she was a good woman.
>> She still could be.
>> One more weekender, Joyce.
They not only want to take
our land
and get us working for them,
now they think
we should make them our voice.
Can't we speak
for ourselves anymore?
Aren't we allowed
even that anymore?
>> Still, Hillary is a woman.
>> But is that enough --
to be a symbol?
>> Obama.
>> No.
>> He's been more than a symbol,
hasn't he?
>> After last night,
I would vote for Megyn Kelly.
>> If she were not a Republican.
>> If she were not a Republican.
>> Did you watch that?
How could you watch that?
>> Well, it was Hannah's fault.
>> I went to bed.
>> It sort of feels
to me like we --
we're all just about
to jump off some
crazy high cliff, doesn't it?
>> Yeah, it does.
>> Jump or be pushed.
>> Shouting, "What about us?
What about us?!"
>> It's like a movie.
We're just watching this movie.
>> Are we in it?
>> Like a dream, a dream
where there are recognizable
pieces of things
but put together in ways
that seem so strange.
>> Mm.
>> Don't you feel
like something really bad
is about to happen?
>> To us?
>> God, it's gonna be a really
long eight months.
>> Well, but don't give up.
>> Why are you smiling?
>> Please, don't give up.
That's what Thomas would say
to me.
I remember, after one
especially bad day --
and I was feeling hopeless --
and by now, he was
pretty hard to understand,
but this time,
or this day, he speaks really,
really clearly.
And he sits right here
in his chair.
>> Oh, this was Thomas' chair.
>> And he says to me,
"Don't give up.
Just don't give up.
Things do happen.
They do, Mary."
So, do we believe him or not?
[ Indistinct singing ]
I mean, hard to watch and, uh,
yeah, frustrating.
Sometimes, I-I do mostly think
of myself
as a pretty good person.
Believe me, sometimes, I had
thoughts, not pretty thoughts.
Maybe I even said
things to Thomas
sometimes out of frustration.
I won't tell you what they were.
But I am sorry that I did.
But then, one day,
Thomas is making his way
from his chair to the desk,
just from there to there,
just right in here.
And when he's gone maybe
two feet in like five minutes,
I just can't watch anymore,
so I put on some music.
It was something my daughter
had sent me.
>> You know about this?
>> I'd had music on before,
but nothing had ever happened --
no miracle.
But this time, Thomas,
all of a sudden,
begins to just walk
across the kitchen like normal,
like, in normal time.
And he picks up something from
the desk, and he just --
he begins to walk back.
I stop the music.
He --
So I put on another CD
and another and another,
and some work, and some don't.
We have no idea why.
No one knows why.
I don't know why.
There -- There are these
theories about Parkinson's.
Anyway, I just kept adding
to this list of Thomas' music,
and that is...
[ Timer rings ]
...all that's on that iPod now.
It is just the music we found
that Thomas somehow,
for some reason, could walk to.
>> ♪ Hey-ey, hey-ey-ey
>> Why?
>> ♪ Hey-ey, hey-ey-ey
♪ Hey-ey
♪ Hey-ey, hey-ey-ey-ey
♪ Hey-ey
♪ Hey-ey, hey-ey-ey-ey
♪ Hey-ey
♪ Hey-ey, hey-ey-ey-ey
>> George.
>> Oh, yeah.
Um, Mary, let me --
>> What?
>> I can...
>> Oh, thank you.
>> ♪ Hey-ey, hey-ey-ey-ey
>> Bowls or plates, Mary?
>> I think plates.
>> ♪ ...by the things we
choose ♪
>> Karin, you want to help me?
>> Where?
>> I'll show you.
The cabinet next to the highboy
in the dining room --
the white set, right?
>> Mm-hmm.
There are, um,
some lovely napkins,
and we haven't used them
for a while,
not since your mother moved.
I was thinking we'd use them
tonight.
It's a special night, and -- and
they're just out in the cabinet.
I just happened to see them.
>> You think Mom's gonna be
joining us?
How many does that make us,
then?
>> We better wake her up.
If we don't try and wake her up,
she'll be very upset.
When does she get to see you,
Joyce?
>> So, that's six of us, right?
Do we have enough silverware
that matches?
>> Does it matter?
>> We used to.
>> These are nice.
They're old.
>> What?
>> Yeah, your mother found them
down in the basement when
we were packing up her things.
>> I don't even remember these.
>> Oh, she thinks they're from
Austria, from relatives.
>> Uh, Thomas' postcards.
His bookmarks --
>> Yeah, what is that one?
>> The one of a --
a woman hanging laundry?
>> Oh, yeah.
He -- He always loved pictures
of people doing simple things.
You know, I remember a woman
with a broom and another --
someone writing a letter,
you know, Hammershoi.
Do you know him?
His "Women With Their Backs
to Us."
Chardin -- those two
were his favorites.
Don't know why.
>> The blue tablecloth, Mary,
that's special, right?
>> That -- That's good.
>> I took that one out.
>> Mary was just saying today
is special.
>> So, we'll put the blue
one on.
Do you want me to do that?
I can do that?
What else can I take?
>> Salad dressing.
>> Mary.
>> Yeah.
>> I was looking out your
dining-room window at your --
at your backyard just now.
>> In the dark.
>> You can't see much now.
You're right.
But I remember coming up here
and visiting
so many years ago, and --
and seeing that stream.
>> Landsman Kill.
>> Crystal Lake.
Thomas always used to say to me,
after one of our visits back
here, how lucky he was to grow
up in Rhinebeck.
>> You know, she's been
just fine, hasn't she?
No problem at all, Hannah.
She seems a little lonely.
>> She's thinking
of staying the night.
>> I don't think so, no.
>> No. She said she had to get
right back.
>> She just told me -- She said
she's thinking about it.
She said she's very tempted.
She thinks you invited her,
Mary.
>> Did I do that?
>> Mary.
>> Did I?
>> I'm gonna go wake up Mom,
unless you'd rather, Joyce.
>> Fuck you.
>> Yeah.
Maybe she's not even hungry.
>> Oh. Oh, Hannah, I know that
you got -- or maybe it was
George -- but that you got my --
reminded my daughter
to call me today.
Yeah, what did you do?
Did you call her?
Did you text her?
Thank you.
I appreciate it.
And don't tell George
that I know.
You -- I'm -- I'll --
I'll put the apple crisp
in while we eat.
>> That was really --
I would really like to sit down
with Mom sometime
and just ask her things.
>> What things?
>> Maybe when I get back.
You know, when I'm back
from London, I'll spend
more time up here with Mom.
>> I think your mother
would really like that, Joyce.
Don't you, Mary?
>> I know she would.
>> Today at the museum --
please don't hate me
for saying this, and don't tell
George this, either --
she kept touching me,
and I know she so wanted me
to touch her back.
But I find that really
hard to do.
I don't like touching her.
I know that's awful.
>> What would you want
to ask her?
>> All kinds of things.
Some of them are just so stupid.
>> What?
>> It was, like, one time,
she lost her wedding ring,
and she told us she found it
because she dreamed it was
outside next to the stream,
under the weeping willow.
So, the next morning, you know,
still in her nightgown,
she put on boots
and went out into the rain,
and -- and there was her ring,
right where she had dreamed it.
Did she make that up?
But she always knows, moments
before any of us calls, who's
calling.
>> That's what she says.
>> I feel like I'm 14 years old
when I'm in this house.
You're awake.
She's awake.
>> Mom was just telling me
a story about
when Thomas was a little kid.
I'd never heard that.
>> I just remembered it.
I don't know why.
>> Because of today, Mom --
what we did this morning.
Thomas' ashes.
>> Maybe.
>> What story, Patricia?
>> You're cooking.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> You should have let me help.
>> It's all ready, Patricia.
>> What plates are you using?
>> The white ones.
>> What story, Mom?
>> You want to sit down?
She just woke up, so...
>> I thought we were eating...
>> We are, Mom.
>> ...dinner in the dining room.
>> Yes, where else?
>> Karin, Patricia, Thomas'
first wife.
She came for today.
We invited her, our guest.
>> Been here all day.
>> And she might stay the night.
>> You told me about voting
for Roosevelt, Patricia.
>> I just woke up.
What can I do?
>> I think we have everything
under control, Patricia.
I think dinner's ready.
>> And you two like each other?
>> I-I was the third wife,
Patricia.
There's one in between us,
and we both hate her.
>> What -- What can I take in?
>> What story, Mom?
What story?
>> Give me something.
>> What can she take?
>> I think we're fine.
>> No, Thomas -- Thomas was
about 2 years old
and still in diapers, and Mom
was alone for some reason.
And she's -- you're taking
some-- taking him
somewhere on an airplane, right,
but you don't remember where?
And this was the '50s,
so a propeller plane.
>> Where's the good silverware?
>> What's the good silverware,
Mom?
This is the only silverware
I ever remember you using.
>> Patricia, that is our good
silver.
>> Is it?
>> And they're up in the air,
and Mom smells that Thomas
has pooped in his diaper,
so she goes to pick him up off
the seat to take him down
to the bathroom to change him.
And Thomas pulls his hand away,
gets in the aisle, and somehow
rips off his shit-filled diaper
and begins running down
the aisle, swinging it.
>> Oh, my God!
>> Thomas' shit
flying everywhere.
>> I could have killed him,
and for one minute,
I opened up my magazine
and pretended he wasn't mine.
That didn't last long.
You soon realize you don't have
any choice.
We don't have another good
set of silverware?
>> I think we got rid of
those years ago, Mom.
>> Well, I thought,
because of today.
>> I know.
It's gone.
It's gone.
>> Everybody, take something.
I'm finishing up Thomas'
apple crisp.
>> Well, what can I do?
I want to do something.
>> Mary, maybe I could
stay the night.
Let me think.
>> Here, Patricia.
You can take this in.
Wait. Let me wipe it off.
Karin.
>> What time
is your train tomorrow?
>> Early.
>> I got the wine
and the water pitcher.
I don't think I had any lunch.
I forgot to have lunch.
>> I haven't even asked.
What is the show
you're designing in London?
>> I'm not the designer.
I'm the associate.
My boss is busy.
"Die Fledermaus."
>> She's just the assistant,
George.
>> Thanks, Mom.
>> The costumes for that
would be fun.
Yeah, you'll have fun.
London is always fun.
>> Here, Patricia.
You can carry this in.
I have your arm.
>> I don't need you
to hold my arm.
I don't need help.
>> Mary, salt and pepper.
>> I'll get it.
>> Patricia.
>> You know what I like to do
when I travel?
>> Here. Let me help you.
That is a lot to carry.
>> When do you travel now, Mom?
>> To foreign countries.
I like to visit
their grocery stores.
I find that so interesting.
You should try that.
What do they have that we don't?
What's the same?
>> I'm not sure, Mom,
I'll have time
for grocery stores.
>> Here, Patricia.
Let me help you.
>> Joyce can help me.
Joyce, take my arm.
>> Mary, I've got the pasta.
>> How long will you be gone?
>> Oh, not that long.
George and Hannah are here
and Mary.
>> Mary is going to move
to Pittsburgh.
>> I know.
>> Her daughter lives there.
>> I know.
>> She has no one left
to take care of here.
>> Mom.
I'll bet you'll hardly
even notice I was gone.
>> I doubt that.
>> Okay, Mom.
I got you.
I got you.
Hold on to me.
I am coming back, you know?
I will be back.
Are you hungry, Mom?
>> Your apple crisp.
♪♪
>> ♪ Her eyes are light and
clear ♪
♪ And fearless like Chicago
winds in winter ♪
♪ And her hair is never quite in
place ♪
♪ And the knees in her jeans
have seen better days ♪
♪ And she's no beauty queen,
but you love her, anyway ♪
♪ She's a wildewoman
♪ Oh, she's gonna find another
way back home ♪
♪ It's written in her blood
♪ Oh, it's written in her
bones ♪
♪ Yeah, she's ripping out the
pages ♪
♪ Ripping out the pages in your
book ♪
♪ Oh, she's gonna find another
way back home ♪
♪ It's written in her blood
♪ Oh, it's written in her
bones ♪
♪ Yeah, she'll only be bound
♪ Be bound by the things she
chooses ♪
♪ Her smile is sneaky like a
fiery fox ♪
♪ Ooh-ooh
♪ It's that look that tells you
she's up to no good at all ♪
♪ Ah-ooh
♪ And she'll say whatever's on
her mind ♪
♪ Ah-ooh-ooh
♪ They're unspeakable things,
and she'll speak them in vain ♪
♪ And you can't help but wish
you had bolder things to say ♪
♪ She's a wildewoman
♪ Oh, she's gonna find another
way back home ♪
♪ It's written in her blood
♪ Oh, it's written in her
bones ♪
♪ Yeah, she's ripping out the
pages ♪
♪ Ripping out the pages in your
book ♪
♪ Oh, she's gonna find another
way back home ♪
♪ It's written in her blood
♪ Oh, it's written in her
bones ♪
♪ Yeah, she'll only be bound
♪ Be bound by the things she
chooses ♪
♪ Yeah, she'll only be bound
♪ Be bound by the things she
chooses ♪
♪ Hey-ey
♪ Hey-ey, hey-ey-ey-ey
♪ Hey-ey
♪ Hey-ey, hey-ey-ey-ey
♪ Hey-ey
♪ Hey-ey, hey-ey-ey-ey
♪ Hey-ey
♪ Hey-ey, hey-ey-ey-ey
♪ Hey-ey.
♪ Hey-ey, hey-ey-ey-ey
♪ Hey-ey
♪ Yeah, we'll only be bound
♪ Be bound by the things we
choose ♪
♪ Hey-ey, hey-ey-ey-ey.
♪ Hey-ey
♪ Hey-ey, hey-ey-ey-ey
♪ Hey-ey
♪ Hey-ey, hey-ey-ey-ey
♪ Hey-ey
♪ Yeah, we'll only be bound
♪ Be bound by the things we
choose ♪
♪ Hey-ey, hey-ey-ey-ey
♪ We will only be bound
♪ By the things we choose
>> I hope you enjoyed tonight's
presentation.
You can also watch this and
other plays on
thirteen.org/theatercloseup.
I'm Neal Shapiro.
See you next time.
♪♪
[ Cheers and applause ]
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"Theater Close-Up"
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