Theater Close-Up

The Gabriels: What Did You Expect? | Part two
Tony Award-winner Richard Nelson’s three-play cycle follows one year in the life of a family in Rhinebeck, NY, during the 2016 presidential election. "What Did You Expect" is part two. The trilogy, starring Meg Gibson, Lynn Hawley, Roberta Maxwell, Maryann Plunkett, Jay O. Sanders, and Amy Warr, was filmed at The Public Theater in March 2017. THIRTEEN area viewers may steam all three 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"...
It's two months till the 2016
election...
>> Everyone I know is scared.
>> ...and we're back in the
Gabriels' kitchen.
The family still misses their
late brother, son, husband...
>> He was so competitive.
>> He was a Gabriel.
>> ...even as they face money
trouble...
>> We're trying to sell what we
can.
>> ...and the news.
>> The election.
>> Makes me feel dirty.
>> Yeah.
>> Join us when
The Public Theater production
of Richard Nelson's
"Gabriels Trilogy" continues
with "What Did You Expect?"...
>> Things get better.
>> ...on "Theater Close-Up."
♪♪
♪♪
[ Cheers and applause ]
>> Support for
"Theater Close-Up"
is provided by...
>> Good evening.
I'm Oskar Eustis, the artistic
director of The Public Theater.
And I'm sitting in the
Public Theater's
Library restaurant,
named for the building's origins
as the Astor Library, one of the
first and largest public
libraries in America.
Built in 1854, an expansion
doubled its size in 1881, adding
a northern side where I now sit.
In the early 20th century, a
greater expansion was proposed,
and the Astor Library combined
with the Lenox Library to form
the basis for the new
New York Public Library
by Bryant Park, closing this
building for the first time
since its opening.
But it did not remain idle for
long.
In 1920, it became the home of
the Hebrew Sheltering and
Immigrant Aid Society
and remained as such for the
next 30-some years.
And so, here, in this space,
breathing this air, instead of
stacks of books, immigrants.
Instead of the quiet rustle of
pages, the bustle of life, of
hopes, of fears, and human
dignity.
The Times, May 8, 1938 --
"As never before, men and women
are besieging the offices of the
Hebrew Sheltering
and Immigrant Aid Society,
425 Lafayette Street,
attempting to find some means of
bringing their relatives from
Austria and Germany into this
country.
Men with long, white beards,
with bent backs stoically wait
for their number to be called
by the others interviewing each
person.
Well-dressed young men
resembling bankers and women in
sports clothes crowd the
reception rooms, anxious for the
help that may save their
relatives from further hardship.
Experts on laws and regulations
concerning immigration problems
are employed, ready to give free
help and counsel to those in
need."
November 27, 1940, The Times --
"The Hebrew Sheltering and
Immigrant Aid Society,
425 Lafayette Street,
gave 63,025 night shelter to
refugee immigrants and served
them 251,816 meals from
January 1st to October 31st,
it was reported yesterday."
They lived here.
They slept here.
They ate here.
And here, April 19, 1943,
The Times -- "The Hebrew
Sheltering and Immigrant Aid
Society will hold Seder services
for refugees temporarily staying
at its dormitories and welcomes
1,000 persons at headquarters,
425 Lafayette Street."
They prayed here...
and they even married here.
August 12, 1946 --
"Rachel Silverberg,
19 years old,
and Ben Zion Birkenwald, 21,
who survived the horrors of four
Nazi slave labor and death
camps, were married yesterday
at the Hebrew Sheltering
and Immigrant Aid Society,
425 Lafayette Street.
A wedding party for 150 persons
followed the ceremony."
As I said to you yesterday, this
is an extraordinary building,
which has lived many lives, had
many uses, but always the same
purpose -- to try and serve the
very best instincts of our
citizens.
Tonight, we return you to our
LuEsther Hall, which served,
we believe, as a dormitory for
many years.
You will be watching the second
play of Richard Nelson's moving
trilogy, "The Gabriels,"
subtitled, "Election Year in the
Life of One Family," performed
by an extraordinary company,
and designed by our finest
designers.
Tonight's play is called
"What Did You Expect?"
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."
For those of you who have yet to
see the first play, "Hungry,"
here's a little background.
"Hungry" takes place on
March 6, 2016, four months after
Thomas Gabriel's death and on
the day his ashes are released
into the Hudson River.
Attending are his widow, Mary,
his siblings, George and Joyce,
his mother, Patricia,
George's wife, Hannah,
and Thomas' first wife, whom he
divorced decades earlier, Karin.
Karin is the accidental
participant, having recently
moved to the area for a
temporary teaching job.
Joyce is visiting from her home
in Brooklyn.
The others all live in the small
village of Rhinebeck.
"What Did You Expect?"
takes place on Friday,
September 16, 2016.
We are now in the middle of the
general election.
Hillary Clinton has pneumonia.
The first debate between the
candidates is still 10 days
away.
The weather has cooled some
after a week of scorching heat.
All the country is now anxious.
"Play 2: What Did You Expect?"
[ Indistinct conversations ]
[ Conversations continue ]
[ Conversations continue ]
[ Conversations continue ]
[ Conversations continue ]
[ Conversations continue ]
[ Conversations continue ]
[ Conversations continue ]
[ Introduction to
"Don't Just Sit There" plays ]
♪♪
>> ♪ Don't just sit there
♪ Tell me what I wanna know
♪ What I wanna know
♪♪
♪ Don't just sit there
♪ Tell me what I wanna know
♪ What I wanna know
♪♪
♪ Did you find love?
♪ Have you found love?
♪ Did you find love
again? ♪
♪♪
♪ Did you find love?
♪ Have you found love?
♪ Did you find love again?
♪♪
♪♪
♪ Don't just sit there
♪ Tell me what I wanna know
♪ What I wanna know
♪♪
♪ Don't just sit there
♪ Tell me what I wanna know
♪ What I wanna know
♪♪
♪ Did you find love?
♪ Have you found love?
♪ Did you find love
again? ♪
♪♪
♪ Did you find love?
[ Piano playing ]
>> And the windows are lit up,
so you can clearly see through.
>> It's night.
>> It's night.
You can't hear the people
inside, of course -- you can
only see them.
A family's inside -- a child
asleep against a woman, the
mother.
Well, Thomas doesn't tell us
that, but it's obvious -- the
mother.
And a man -- the father,
and an old man -- whole family.
And they seem...at peace.
>> I-Inside the house.
>> Two men have come into the
back garden.
That's what the stage
represents -- the garden.
And they look back at what we,
the audience, see through the
lit-up windows -- the family in
their house.
And someone's drumming his
fingers on the table.
And the mother looks out.
And one of the men in the garden
says to the other, "She's
looking at us," but, no, no --
she can't see.
She's looking out into the dark.
I'm -- I'm just summarizing.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Sure.
♪♪
>> "What are we going to do?"
asks one of the men.
"Should I try and get the
father's attention?
Get him to come outside and tell
him that his young daughter has
just drowned?"
Then, watching the family, he
adds, "I have never seen a
happier household."
The other says, "No.
No, don't go to the window.
It's best to tell them about it
as simply as we can, as if a
commonplace occurrence.
And let's not appear too sad, or
they'll feel their sorrow must
exceed ours, and they'll not
know what to do.
Let's knock on the side door and
go in as if nothing has
happened.
Come with me."
And the other man resists.
"Why do you want me to go, too?
I'm a stranger here.
I was just passing by."
"Because...a misfortune
announced by a single voice
seems more definite and
crushing.
Alone, I'll have to say
something right away, the moment
I come in.
Together, I can...take my time,
say something -- how they found
her.
She was floating in the river,
her hands clasped.
We can blur the pain in
details."
Oh, I don't know why, but that
moves me -- "blur the pain in
details."
>> Yeah, I-I've done that, as a
doctor, with details.
>> The two men -- they --
they continue to talk like this.
What to do?
What can they do?
While all the while, we, the
audience, watch through the
window the family go about their
lives.
Amazing play.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> And Thomas -- he's -- he's
made a note to himself in the
margin here -- "Perhaps they
make a meal..."
[ Telephone rings ]
"...have a dinner."
>> [ Chuckles ]
>> "Must feel normal.
Make it normal."
>> Yeah, where's the page where
he circled everything in magic
marker?
>> Had you known this play?
>> [ Chuckles ]
There are so many, Hannah,
that -- Oh, here, right here.
Um, one of the men says,
"They are awaiting the night,
separated from us by only a few
poor panes of glass.
They think they are secure in
their life and do not dream that
so many others know more of it
than they."
And this is underlined --
"And -- And that I, a poor old
man..."
And Thomas writes in the margin,
"That's me. That's me."
[ Chuckles ]
"...a poor old man, am two steps
from their door, and hold all
their little happiness like a
wounded bird in the hollow of my
old hands and dare not open
them."
>> We stayed up most of last
night reading this.
>> Yeah, we did.
>> And one of the men in the
garden who's watching the family
says to the other that he'd seen
their daughter...
>> The dead daughter.
>> ...just this morning, that
she'd told him she was going to
see a friend on the other side
of the river, how -- how
beautiful she was, you know, her
lovely hair.
Here.
"The daughter was just living
this morning.
What she might have become, all
the friends she had.
Love inside their house now --
They're smiling."
>> [ Chuckles ]
>> "Someone is playing the
piano."
>> Playing the piano.
>> "Someone has said something
funny."
[ Chuckles ]
>> So, then, what happens?
>> Uh, before the old men get up
the courage to tell the family,
some people from the town bring
the body to the house,
and so, the family learns,
while, still outside, the two
men...
>> And, of course, we, the
audience.
>> ...they just see this through
the lit window without hearing
anything.
We -- We just watch everything
going on inside.
>> Finally, one of the old men
who's watching all this says --
and this is the last line of the
play -- "Look," he says.
"Look.
Their baby is still asleep."
The title is "Interior."
>> I didn't know Thomas did
translations.
>> Yeah, he did.
>> But he didn't -- didn't know
any languages, did he?
>> Oh, he worked with friends.
I-Is this enough?
>> I don't need more than five.
[ Chuckles ]
>> Oh, God, I peeled too many,
then.
I got carried away.
Uh, we can have these tonight
with the sausages.
We'll cook them together.
>> Can I see? Hmm?
>> From the French.
>> I was never any good at
languages.
>> That was just something he
got really interested in doing
right before getting sick.
I think, uh, he and his friends
both had plans to do a lot more.
>> Translations?
>> Yeah. And, oh, here --
these are his friends --
these two right in the front --
there, those two.
They -- They were the real
translators, he always said.
They'd done novels.
You wanted them cut small,
right?
A potato salad.
>> Oh, whatever.
It doesn't matter.
>> He puts a different picture
on each notebook.
>> Yeah, cut-up postcards.
>> Postcards.
>> What's that one of?
>> Their house -- this is the
house.
>> Once, the three of them --
>> Sorry.
>> Uh, the three of them --
Thomas and his translator
friends -- were sitting in the
friends' kitchen, and they were
working on their first
translation together.
They worked from the kitchen.
>> Mm.
>> I think I told you this.
And they'd been at it for, uh,
a couple of days.
And one of the friends said,
"Thomas, we have been
translating for much of our
lives."
And the friend said, "But you
just keep asking us one question
that we never, ever ask
ourselves when translating
novels."
>> What's the question?
>> Both: "Why?"
[ Laughter ]
>> Why what?
>> No, she -- she has that, too.
And Thomas said he had to
explain to his friends that,
with, um, a play, unlike a
novel, where you're -- you're
really just trying to get the
right words, but with a play,
what you're really trying to
translate are the author's
people.
>> I'm not sure I understand.
>> Well, the characters.
>> Yeah.
>> I understood that.
>> And so, that's why Thomas
said -- he kept asking his
friends, "Why does this
character say what he says" --
or -- or she says --
"and why now?
And why him and not her?" and so
forth, to translate the people.
>> Interesting.
>> Maybe -- Maybe I should start
our dinner.
>> Is that what you tell your
Hotchkiss kids?
>> [ Chuckles ]
God only knows what they hear.
God only knows what I tell
them -- whatever the hell comes
out.
>> Oh, oh, Hannah, I remembered
something else last night with
Karin.
>> What?
>> That actor --
>> Oh!
>> What he said by mistake.
>> This is funny.
>> What?
>> Yeah, it was the first play
of his that Thomas ever took me
to see.
We had just met.
I think it might even have been
the very first performance of
the play.
And, Hannah, there is a scene
where an uncle has to kill his
nephew.
And what was the name?
The nephew had a funny name.
>> Doesn't matter.
>> Okay, doesn't matter, but has
to kill his nephew in order,
he says, to, uh, save face?
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Yeah. I-I don't remember why,
but, uh, to save face.
But, anyway, the actor playing
the uncle was -- you know,
Thomas used to play squash with
him.
It's -- I think -- I just
remembered that.
But the actor, the -- the uncle,
he is supposed to say --
uh, I have to get this right --
he's supposed to say, "Come,
nephew.
Sit and let me save your face."
>> That's what he's supposed to
say.
>> Yes.
>> Okay.
>> So, "Come, nephew.
Sit and let me save your face."
But instead of this, the
actor -- the uncle said --
he said it really, really
loud -- said, "Come, nephew,
and let me sit on your face."
>> [ Laughs ]
>> And -- And all the other
actors on the stage -- they turn
their backs to the audience.
You just saw the shoulders go up
and down.
I didn't even notice it.
Thomas told me later.
[ Laughter ]
>> Oh. I've gone through
everything in this one, Mary.
Do you want me to get another?
>> Oh, a couple, if you can
carry them.
>> How late were you two up last
night?
>> Oh, it was her birthday.
>> Not everyone goes to bed at
10:00, Hannah.
>> I don't always go to bed at
10:00.
>> It was my birthday.
[ Piano playing ]
The theater, Hannah.
>> Hm.
>> I don't know the actors learn
their lines.
And it must get really hard as
they get older.
>> Yeah.
Are you okay with her?
>> Here?
She's paying rent.
>> She's going through all of
Thomas' stuff.
>> Well, it's not stuff, and
there's plenty of room.
And, um, I asked her.
S-She wasn't looking to stay.
She was gonna rent the place she
had last time.
She knows theater.
[ Telephone ringing ]
That -- That's a big help.
She's paying rent.
>> George will get it.
>> Well, um, he's giving a
lesson.
>> No, he'll get it.
>> You -- I remembered something
else last night, talking with
Karin.
Once, Thomas...
[ Ringing continues, stops ]
...was so pleased.
He had come across a listing of
titles of lost plays.
It was just the titles.
The plays didn't even exist
anymore.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> By some old, Irish writer
from the 19th century.
And somehow, they knew the
titles.
>> Probably some academic
compiled...
>> Yeah, I suppose.
And so, he reads me one title.
And he says, "Oh, I could make a
play from this."
And you know how he always loved
obscure stuff that no one else
knew about.
>> Yeah.
>> And he was so competitive.
>> He was a Gabriel.
>> So, he even starts to write
the play.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> You want to know what that
title was?
"Shakespeare in Love."
>> Oh, and then the movie comes
out.
>> Yeah, he -- Oh, he's real...
>> Oh, I didn't know this.
>> ...pissed off.
He's like, "That is my fucking
play!"
>> [ Laughs ]
>> And, actually, I tell him,
"It's the dead Irish guy's
play."
He says he's "gonna write it,
anyway!
Who the hell's gonna see the
stupid movie?!"
And so, we go to upstate to see
it.
>> Yeah, that's where George and
I saw it.
>> And it's been playing like
four weeks already.
We could still hardly get in.
>> We loved it.
>> Yeah, we couldn't even sit
together.
[ Chuckles ]
Uh, you said you wanted to see
my Moosewood recipe for potato
salad.
>> Oh, never mind.
I really don't care whether they
like it or not.
>> I doubt if that's true.
You still have your pride.
And, oh, I'm -- I'm gonna need
the mustard, too.
>> Do I still have my pride?
Are we so sure?
[ Chuckles ]
>> Oh, once, we were at
the Book Barn in Hillsdale.
>> You and Thomas?
>> Yeah. And, uh, he had this --
I didn't tell this to Karin --
I just remembered this
this morning.
He has this book open, and he
shows me an inscription written
inside to Helen or someone --
I-I forget -- "You deserve to
have a whole chapter devoted
just to you."
>> Sweet.
>> Guess what the title was --
"Bitch."
>> [ Laughs ]
>> Some novel.
>> Did he buy it -- Thomas?
>> I don't remember.
He didn't buy it for me.
>> Is this all the balsamic you
have?
>> You need more?
>> Oh, that's fine.
Can I have an onion?
>> Yeah, sure.
>> [ Clears throat ]
So, Karin's comfortable...
in the office?
>> Upstairs.
No complaints.
>> She's only been here a couple
of days, Mary.
>> Hannah.
>> I'm not sure I would want my
husband's ex-wife...
>> I didn't know George had an
ex-wife.
>> You know what I mean.
...digging through his old
things.
>> I don't think she's digging.
>> Dragging up.
>> I asked for her help.
It doesn't need to be dragged
up -- it's already there.
And she -- she knows the
theater.
She's an actress.
I'm fine, Hannah.
>> Probably Joyce on the phone.
>> Yeah, probably.
Oh, once, we were visiting
Patricia -- this is about --
I don't know -- almost 20 years
ago.
It was when we first got
married.
And we drive out to that little,
uh, shopping plaza on Route 9.
>> Across from the fairgrounds?
>> To the wine store there.
I don't know why he wants to go
to that wine store.
But there's also a mostly comics
bookshop there, too.
>> Yeah.
>> Well, it's gone now, but --
and they also had a few used
books along with the comics.
Thomas has to go, and so I wait
outside.
[ Chuckles ]
>> What?
>> He comes out with that huge,
stupid grin on his face.
>> Yeah, I remember that grin.
>> And he's got a book under his
arm.
He's like, "Come on.
Let's get in the car.
Let's go. Let's go."
[ Both laugh ]
Then we stop in front of the
fairgrounds, and he shows me the
book.
It's a beautiful jacket, in
perfect condition.
And he then explains to me --
And it was -- "Oh, it's only the
first printing that he allowed
his photo on the jacket."
>> Who?
>> Uh, the author.
"And that's why it was worth so
much."
And, um, you don't know about
this?
>> No.
>> This -- This is way before we
moved here.
But he paid like $4.75 for this
book.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> And he said he even felt
guilty cheating the guy in the
store.
And he kept it in a baggie in a
bookcase for about five years.
And then, he sold it to a dealer
in New York.
It paid for our trip to Europe.
"The Catcher in the Rye."
Oh, we could use that money now.
We should've kept it.
>> What should we have kept?
>> The --
>> What the hell...
>> Nothing, George.
>> ...have we thrown away now?
>> Was that your sister on the
phone?
>> Uh, y-yeah.
She picked up Mom.
They'll be here in a minute.
>> How long has Joyce been
there?
>> I don't know.
I didn't ask.
We're -- We're almost done.
>> Did Danny bring a check?
>> He forgot.
>> Uh, will you remind him to
ask his mother?
Do you want me to call her?
It's been over an hour.
He always goes over.
>> Not always.
>> Yeah, and he leaves time
between because he doesn't want
to keep anyone waiting.
I tell him, "No one does that --
no one."
Only George does that.
His lessons are supposed to be
for one hour.
Joyce called.
They'll be here in a minute.
>> There's a full moon.
>> Is there?
>> Yeah, it looks huge.
>> Wow.
>> Oh, must be 20, 30 notebooks
in this one -- and files.
>> How many boxes are left?
>> I don't know.
>> Mary was just telling me,
Karin, what a help you are,
because you know the names.
You know theater.
>> Mm.
>> [ Chuckling ] He didn't want
to be there.
Oh, God, Thomas could always
make that clear.
>> Oh, yes, he could. He could.
>> But this time, I stick to my
guns.
I-I'd taken a course in Greek
art in college, so I thought
it'd be interesting.
And -- And, after all, I had sat
through a 4 1/2-hour fucking
play in German, so I figured he
owed me this.
>> I agree.
>> "Go ahead and mope, Thomas.
Go ahead.
You're coming with me to this
goddamn museum."
>> Yep, fair is fair.
>> When were you in Berlin?
>> Oh, um, uh, 12, 13 years ago?
>> Don't ask me.
>> Thomas never took me
anywhere.
>> So, I am looking into this
glass cabinet at papyrus
fragments.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> And you push a button, and a
tray moves, and some of my
college education's coming back.
And then, I see this label --
"Theater."
So, I push this button labeled
"Theater."
"Thomas," I say, "Thomas!"
And he comes grudgingly over to
the glass cabinet, just as this
papyrus fragment moves slowly --
very slowly into view.
And it's got a description in
German and in English.
The only existing fragment of
this play, which is by
Euripides.
And so, "Mary!
It's by Euripides!"
[ Laughter ]
Oh, my God.
I'd actually found something
that -- that interested him.
You have no idea how hard that
was to do.
It was probably easier for you,
being an actress.
>> Obviously, it wasn't.
>> [ Chuckling ] Here.
Read that. Read that.
>> That's funny.
>> There. Read it.
>> "I am a woman, but I have
intelligence."
[ Doorbell ringing ]
They're here.
Wait. "I am a woman, but I have
intelligence"?
>> Mm-hmm.
>> It's the "but."
>> I know.
[ Doorbell ringing ]
>> Joyce.
>> So, um, there was just this
one papyrus fragment.
That -- That was all that was
left of this play, and I
remember Thomas being so excited
and was like, "It's Euripides,
Mary!"
And he was writing everything
down.
And he -- he said he could use
it for something, and I-I don't
know what.
Um.
Oh, yeah.
"In vain, it seems to me, do men
mock women, denigrate and speak
badly of us.
But the truth is, women are
better than men --
women are better than men,
and I shall prove it."
And that is where the papyrus is
ripped off.
Everything else is lost.
"Women are better than men."
>> Joyce is in the bathroom.
>> Did -- Did you hear that,
George?
>> Hear what?
>> Women are better than --
>> Never mind.
What's that?
>> Uh, Joyce -- probably stole
it from her boss' party.
It's nice wine.
>> How's Joyce?
>> It's screw-top.
That used to mean --
>> It used to.
>> Oh. It'll be good to have a
change -- something decent.
>> Is Joyce okay?
>> She had to use the bathroom.
I don't know.
[ Bell rings ]
>> And your mother?
>> Do you need any help?
>> No.
>> It's good Joyce is here.
She should be.
Your cookies.
>> Oh, I know.
>> This is interesting --
the phrase, or whatever it is,
"okay" -- the phrase "okay."
>> Yeah, we know the phrase
"okay."
>> Well, it comes from
"Old Kinderhook," the Van Buren
campaign for president.
Thomas wrote that down for some
reason.
Everyone uses "okay" all around
the world.
>> Kinderhook is just down the
road.
>> It's not that close.
>> Here's something else --
George Frederick Jones.
>> Uh, Joyce is gonna want
coffee.
I should heat that up.
And who's that, Karin?
>> How long has that been
sitting there?
>> I don't know.
>> Jones -- he seems to have had
a house in Rhinebeck near, uh,
Wilderstein.
I think what Thomas is saying --
Oh, this is where the phrase
"keeping up with the Joneses"
comes from.
>> Oh.
>> Rhinebeck -- this whole
notebook seems to be about
Rhinebeck.
>> Here comes Joyce.
>> Rufus Wainwright was born in
Rhinebeck.
>> Yeah.
>> Hey, Joyce. Hi.
>> My -- My hands all --
>> I'll give you a hug.
>> Just let me -- Karin's here.
>> I know.
Nice to see you again, Karin.
>> Back like a bad penny.
>> Don't say that.
>> Well...
>> Hannah, she's joking.
>> Here's Mom's car keys.
Why haven't we sold that car?
>> Well, when the sticker runs
out.
>> It's worth like nothing.
>> Nice top.
>> Thrift store -- I got lucky.
>> Where's Patricia?
>> She's coming. I behaved.
>> It's really good to see you.
>> Karin's rented the guest room
above the office.
>> George told me.
I always found it really spooky
up there at night, Karin.
>> Oh, me, too.
>> Don't tell her that.
>> Why is it spooky?
>> Nothing, Karin.
I-I'll heat up your coffee.
>> Oh, thanks.
Uh, any tea?
I'm drinking mostly tea now.
Any chai?
>> [ Chuckling ] No, no chai.
>> No chai.
>> When have we ever had chai in
this house, Joyce?
How -- How's Lipton?
I think we have some Lipton.
Will you settle for Lipton?
>> Yeah, that's fine.
I brought wine.
George grabbed it from me.
>> It's in the refrigerator.
It's waiting.
>> My boss bought cases and
cases of it, but rich Democrats
now don't drink that much
anymore.
[ Piano playing ]
They seem to be mostly young
guys watching their weight.
>> Mm.
>> Where's your mother?
>> Uh, taking off her jacket
very slowly.
[ Chuckles ]
Just one -- one last practice
piece, Hannah, okay?
>> George.
>> Danny's been working hard.
He's earned it -- listen --
on his own.
>> You tell him to ask his
mother about a check.
Danny's mom owes us a check.
Your brother keeps forgetting to
ask.
>> That sounds like my brother.
>> I'll heat up your water.
>> I can do that.
Mary, let me do that.
It smells good in here.
What is all this?
What are you doing?
>> Hannah is making stuff for a
picnic tomorrow if it doesn't
rain.
>> Picnic?
>> Even if it rains.
>> I can't remember the last
time I went on a picnic.
>> Yeah, the cookies.
>> Watch out for ticks.
>> [ Laughs ]
Any mug?
>> It doesn't matter.
>> Supposed to be nice tomorrow,
not crazy hot like last weekend.
The city was unbearable.
Is there honey?
>> Yeah, on the stove.
We keep it there now so it
doesn't get hard.
I read that.
>> George is almost finished.
Where do you want me to sit?
>> It's your kitchen, Mom.
>> Sit in your chair, Patricia.
This has now become your
mother's favorite chair.
>> Has it, Mom?
>> It has become that.
>> George's student seems to be
a very hard worker.
>> George is a wonderful
teacher, Joyce.
>> I know he is.
He taught me.
>> Mary's making your famous
sausage casserole, Patricia.
How often do we have Joyce to
dinner?
>> Not very often.
>> I come when I can, Mom.
Hey, I left my boss' car at
Mom's, and is it safe there?
>> Why wouldn't it be safe?
>> I don't know.
>> I'm glad you're feeling
better.
>> What?
You weren't feeling well, Mom?
You didn't even say.
>> This morning, your mother
said she had a headache.
>> I did have a headache.
>> Mom, that's Karin.
She's living --
>> I know.
I know who Karin is.
Hello, Karin.
>> Hi, Pat.
>> "Pat"?
>> Yesterday, your mother
remembered -- she said Karin
used to call her "Pat."
>> I just remembered.
>> Dad called you that.
>> Do you want some tea?
We're making tea now.
We're branching out.
[ Laughter ]
>> No, thank you.
>> I don't need tea.
Coffee's fine.
>> Mary, I can go --
>> No, no, no.
Wait for George to come back,
and then you can work in the
living room.
It's comfortable.
>> We all went out last night to
that new Indian in town for
Mary's birthday -- your mother,
too.
>> Sorry I missed your birthday.
>> It was a birthday.
>> There's a new Indian in the
village?
>> Yeah.
>> Not cheap.
>> It's Rhinebeck.
What did you expect?
So, why'd you go to the Indian?
>> It -- It's new.
We hadn't been.
>> Mary wanted to go somewhere
she hadn't been with Thomas.
Just opened in January.
Do you want another pillow,
Patricia?
Let me get you another pillow.
>> I used to make this meal on
Sunday nights, Mary.
>> So did I.
With Thomas.
>> So, what is all this stuff,
Mary?
>> Joyce, dear.
>> It's not stuff.
>> We have been going through
Thomas' old notebooks, seeing
what, if anything, we can sell.
>> Did you get to shake
Bill Clinton's hand?
>> He was there for like five
minutes.
I never even got near him.
>> You've had a very busy week.
>> Yeah, filling in.
Mary, why won't she drink water?
>> I don't know.
I'm not her doctor.
>> Do you want coffee, Patricia?
>> Do you want some, Mom?
They say she's all better now.
>> In one week, from pneumonia.
Mary?
>> [ Chuckling ] I'm not her
doctor.
>> I have a friend, a reporter.
He was at a reception with the
Clintons in D.C., I think.
And he took his wife.
And she told me that, when he
talked to her -- Bill --
you know, it's famous how you're
the only person in the room when
he talks to you.
She found that really creepy.
>> We're not blaming her for
that.
>> What do you need, Patricia?
>> She doesn't need to be waited
on.
>> Joyce is right -- I don't
need anything.
Thank you, Hannah.
>> If I met him, I don't know
what I'd say to him.
>> Met who, Karin?
>> Bill Clinton.
>> Ah. Oh.
>> But he's done a lot of good,
too.
Hasn't he?
Yeah, I-I remember him doing
good.
>> He always sounds so damn
convincing, and I always end up
so damn convinced.
>> What can I do?
Let me do something.
>> Uh, Hannah.
>> Chop up some parsley?
>> Sure. I'll do that.
I can do that.
>> But, Joyce, why do you have
to go back tonight?
>> You have to go back tonight?
>> You know that, Mom.
I told you.
Tomorrow's the millionaires for
brunch.
Last night, it was the
billionaires and their friends.
>> Mm.
>> And we think my boss wants to
be ambassador to something,
somewhere where people dress
really, really well and change
their clothes a lot.
>> [ Laughs ]
>> Gillibrand's coming
tomorrow -- that's the rumor.
>> I bet she's a lot of fun.
>> [ Laughs ]
>> That needs to be washed.
>> Yeah.
>> I need about a cup.
I think he's done.
Patricia, did George tell you?
We already got a nibble on the
piano.
>> Did we?
>> Yeah, someone from Bard,
a singer, so we had it tuned.
[ Chuckles ]
>> You had to.
My boss loaned all his
assistants these amazing
dresses.
>> Oh, what do you mean?
What dresses?
>> Just wanted you to look rich,
to fit in.
>> What was yours like, Joyce?
Was it very nice?
I'd like to see you in a nice
dress.
>> I wear dresses, Mom.
It was a big pattern of flowers,
sort of '50s, summery.
>> Probably something like you
used to wear, Patricia.
>> I'll bet you looked great in
it, too.
>> I think I did.
>> I'm sure you did, Pat.
>> It was a perfect neck for
me -- squared, thick straps --
perfect weight.
It moved, you know, when you
walked.
I felt great.
>> Do you want something to do,
Patricia?
>> Was there any dancing?
>> [ Chuckling ] No.
>> Joyce doesn't dance, Karin.
>> I dance, Mom.
I dance.
Why do you say that?
>> I thought you hated dancing.
>> I hated ballet class, Mom,
when I was like 8 years old.
>> That's what I remember.
>> Jesus. I dance.
>> I didn't know.
>> My boss had sandals for us,
too, waiting in our closets.
I looked mine up online.
Guess how much, Mom.
>> I have no idea, Joyce.
>> Over $1,000.
>> No, right.
>> Yeah, for a couple of thin
pieces of leather sewn together.
>> For shoes.
>> They weren't even
comfortable.
>> Who are these people?
>> Oh, my gosh.
>> There you are. Here he is.
Finished?
>> Danny will ask his mother for
a check.
He's been working so hard.
>> Good for Danny.
>> Joyce has been telling us
about her fundraiser -- her
boss' fundraiser for Hillary in
Hudson.
>> For very, very rich people.
>> Oh, I'm sorry I couldn't make
it.
I hope they understood.
Anyone else want water?
>> No, thanks.
>> No, thanks.
>> Joyce has to go back after
dinner.
She can't stay the night.
>> Yeah, I figured.
>> You sure you can't stay
tonight?
>> No, Mom.
>> She has another fundraiser
tomorrow, and Gillibrand might
be there.
>> What does she need money for?
>> Oh, for Teachout.
>> Mary.
>> No, God, please.
>> Yeah, thank you, Karin.
We shouldn't be too long.
>> Maybe I'll find a treasure.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you, Karin.
>> Thank you, Karin.
>> She lives here now.
>> I know.
>> Dinner's not for an hour.
>> You look really good, Mom.
>> Doesn't she?
>> What did you think of your
mother's new room?
>> I really liked it, Mom.
It didn't seem as crowded as I
thought it would feel with a
roommate.
It's cozy.
>> Was the roommate there?
>> And you didn't even know her
before, did you, Mom?
Well, I hadn't known that.
So...
Mom...what do you pay now?
How much a month?
Um, I think I need to start
there.
>> Uh, it's $4,500 a month now,
Mom.
>> It would have been more for a
single.
>> It was, and, now, that was a
big help -- her moving herself
into the double room cut off
about $1,000 plus a month.
>> And you did that yourself.
>> Yeah.
>> You lied and told us you
wanted company.
>> [ Chuckles ]
>> So, what exactly do you owe
them, Mom?
>> This young guy stopped Mary
the other day when she was
visiting your mother and said,
"Mrs. Gabriel, your
mother-in-law has no more than a
month left," and Mary thought --
>> Well, of course I thought.
>> He was from the business
office.
>> You'd think he'd find a
different way of putting it.
[ Laughter ]
>> He said the exact same thing
to me just now.
Soon as I got into Mom's room,
he came in, and he knew who I
was.
>> Yeah, you sign-- you signed
in, and they call back to the
office when any of us signs in
now.
>> So, Mom, you owe two months,
and now this month -- that's
about $13,000 and change to get
you through the rest of
September.
>> The next two weeks?
>> Yeah.
>> Do they kick people out of
there?
It's a home.
Do they really do that?
>> It's a business, Joyce.
>> Mom, the guy from the office
showed me some of your bills.
Have you seen them?
>> I think we have.
>> Guest meals -- what is that,
Mom?
>> It's mostly us.
You like to have us come to
dinner now and then, don't you?
And, uh, we can stop that.
That's our fault.
>> And breakfast in the room --
he said that's not part of
independent living.
>> You pay extra for that.
>> Your mother got a terrible
cold, Joyce.
Do you remember?
>> Yeah, we called you.
>> Yeah, she didn't want to get
dressed.
Uh, it was not some luxurious
indulgence.
Your mother's not like that.
You're not like that.
>> Mnh-mnh.
>> You know that.
>> Your mother knows what she's
done, and she's facing it.
>> [ Sniffles ]
>> Aren't you?
>> I think so.
I'm trying.
What do you want to say, Joyce?
>> Remember telling me, Mom,
"We women -- we have to be so
damn tough"?
Ever since George called, I've
been hearing you say that to me.
Oh, I remember you sitting me
down at this very table and
telling me to, "Be careful,
Joyce," and, "Watch out for
yourself."
But you never talked like that
to Thomas or George.
>> No, I didn't.
>> "Joyce, we women must be
responsible for ourselves, and
we mustn't let others go around,
cleaning up our messes."
That used to get me so angry.
>> I know.
I'm sorry, Joyce.
>> What are you gonna do, Mom?
>> We told your mother we're
ready to dip into Paulie's
college fund.
>> What?
>> Or some of it.
>> Are you crazy?
>> Some of it, to get through
this.
>> No, you can't do that.
You'd let them do that?
>> She -- She --
>> No, not that. Not that.
>> Well, some of the money was
even from your mother.
She gave it to Paulie for his
college.
>> She said she could afford it.
>> You're not doing that.
>> It's the only savings we
have, Joyce.
>> Mom, Dad's Social Security.
>> She only gets half.
She never really worked.
>> You worked.
>> Hannah checked, and her home
doesn't take Medicaid.
I mean, there are other places,
but even that...
>> Yeah, you should see them,
Joyce.
>> Hannah asked a friend who
knows about this stuff.
>> Well, she'd have to own
nothing, so you plan for it.
There are ways of planning for
it, but too late now, so...
You know, we're trying to sell
what we can.
>> Our first thought was to
mortgage this house.
>> Your house?
You'd agree to that?
>> I would.
>> But we can't, Joyce.
It's already mortgaged.
>> What are you talking about?
>> I don't know.
>> Well, Patricia, you mortgaged
it.
>> Dad paid off this house more
than 20 years ago.
>> But your mother mortgaged it
again.
>> She just hadn't told us.
>> When?
>> I don't know.
>> We don't know yet.
We don't know.
>> It's a different kind.
It pays you in installments,
right?
Isn't that how it works?
>> We thought that money, her
checks, was from investments.
>> But they've let her --
maybe urged her or suckered her
to borrow even more.
So now there's interest, too, to
pay back on that -- whatever
that is, we don't know yet.
>> We don't really know how much
of this house Mom owns anymore.
>> They make it so damn
complicated.
>> I-I learned about this
yesterday.
>> Oh, my God.
Mom, what were you thinking?
>> Joyce.
>> Your mother and George have a
meeting -- right? -- with these
mortgage people, the ones who do
these kinds of mortgages,
next Wednesday in Poughkeepsie.
>> And we'll find out then how
much we'll need to buy it back,
a payback of the -- what she's
been given -- borrowed --
the interest on that.
>> Fees -- the agent on the
phone told George, "Expect
fees."
>> What does that mean?
>> We don't know.
>> We need to talk to a lawyer.
>> Hannah and Mom have.
She signed the contract.
>> He went to high school with
George.
>> He did.
He didn't charge us anything.
>> Oh, Mom, how could this
happen?
>> George...I'm tired.
>> Hey, let me help you.
>> She doesn't need help,
Hannah.
>> Want to have a lie-down?
Gonna watch some TV on the
couch?
>> Joyce is right.
I don't need help.
>> Okay.
It's good to have Joyce here,
isn't it, Mom?
>> It is.
It always is.
[ Footsteps ]
>> George, if she's gonna watch
TV, she needs to remember to use
both channel changers.
>> Hannah, this is hard on her.
>> You know, Karin can help her.
Uh, Joyce, what if Hannah and I
rent out our house?
>> What do you mean?
>> Well, there's still a
mortgage, but it's not that big.
We could even take out another.
>> No, I told you I wouldn't be
comfortable with that.
>> Yeah, we'd start to pay off
Mom's debts with the rent money
from our house and any money
from the things we're trying to
sell -- her car.
>> It's worth almost nothing.
>> Well, we save by stopping the
insurance.
The piano, some -- there's
furniture.
Mom's got some jewelry.
>> Anything Karin and I find
that's worth anything.
>> So, Mom could come live here,
where she's comfortable.
>> She can do steps.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> She's still pretty healthy.
>> Right, and then, Hannah and I
would then live here with Mom
and look after her.
>> And Mary?
>> Well, I'll be moving to
Pittsburgh.
[ Chuckling ] No, not right
away, of course, just, uh, when
things start to feel too
crowded.
And Karin's just month-to-month.
She knows all about this.
>> So, I --
[ Clears throat ]
She doesn't even own her own
house anymore?
How did this happen?
>> At least part of it.
She...
[ Sighs ] We don't know yet,
but she doesn't know.
We'll know more on Wednesday.
>> Fuck!
>> Don't just say that.
Don't just say, "Fuck!"
We'll make it work.
But we hear you.
Hannah -- The last thing we
touch is Paulie's college, okay?
>> [ Chuckling ] Fuck.
How did this happen?
I remember when Paulie was
something like 10 hours old, and
you were holding up this little
booklet, saying, "Look, I'm
opening up Paulie's college
fund."
You were so damn proud.
>> With -- With like $5.
Oh, my God.
That was a great investment --
put the money in the bank, let
the interest just grow and grow.
What the hell ever happened to
interest from a bank?
[ Laughter ]
>> You all know I don't have any
money.
>> Oh, now, that's a surprise.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> "You have to be more
responsible, Joyce."
>> [ Chuckling ] Right.
>> "Grow up, Joyce."
>> Fuck you.
>> Yeah.
Everyone knows that, Joyce.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Everyone.
>> And the two girls I went
around Europe with -- I didn't
tell you this, 'cause I was
embarrassed, and please don't
tell Mom -- they have goddamn
trust funds.
So now I'm in debt to both of
them.
I thought we were gonna be
traveling on the cheap.
>> What do you need, Patricia?
>> She doesn't need to be waited
on.
She's not that old.
>> Pat would like her sherry.
>> Oh, a little sherry.
>> Do we still -- Do we still
have sherry?
>> Think it's that time.
>> Well, maybe just a little.
I haven't been buying it.
>> There it is.
>> And you can come back in now,
Karin.
I-I think we're finished.
Are we finished?
>> Find any treasures, anything
we can sell?
>> Not yet.
[ Footsteps ]
>> Are we finished?
For now?
>> Well, why didn't you tell me
about the house?
>> Joyce, he just found out
about that yesterday.
>> We'll know more on Wednesday.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Joyce, have, uh, have you
been following Paulie on
Facebook?
>> Of course.
>> So have we, every day.
[ Laughter ]
>> Does he know that?
>> No.
>> I cannot believe my nephew's
already in college.
>> You saw him graduate.
>> I know.
[ Laughs ]
>> Here's something that'll make
you laugh, Joyce.
T-Tell your sister about you and
Hannah taking Paulie to
Purchase.
>> Oh, I've heard this.
>> You have?
>> It's very funny.
>> She has?
>> You used to call Mom "Pat"?
>> No.
>> Oh.
>> No, I never did.
>> Tell -- Tell Joyce.
She could use a laugh.
>> Um.
>> You know, it was almost
California.
>> Yeah, I know.
You told me like 10 times.
>> Like, a state school.
Thank you, God.
Thank you.
>> What happened?
>> Well, they bring Paulie to
his dorm, and...
[ Chuckling ] Well, tell Joyce.
>> He didn't even want us to
help.
He wanted to say, "Bye, Mom and
Dad," in the parking lot.
But, fortunately, we had this
little refrigerator, so he
needed Dad to help carry it.
>> Three flights.
>> Oh, God.
>> So, we meet his roommate and
his roommate's parents.
They're sitting on the bed.
They weren't rushed away by
their son.
>> Well, I think they were just
oblivious.
That seemed that sort of...
>> Yeah, they were from some
fancy place in Connecticut.
>> You know? Ohh.
>> Oh, they'd heard of
Rhinebeck.
>> We were the thoughtful
parents.
>> "Oh, friends have weekend
places in Rhinebeck."
>> Yeah, I'm sure you were.
>> "The New Hamptons," they
called Rhinebeck, didn't they?
I didn't just dream that.
>> No, I've heard that.
>> I've heard that, too.
God.
>> I wasn't as bothered as you,
but...
>> I wasn't bothered -- just
what people think of us --
you know, Rhinebeck.
>> I hear the same thing.
It makes me cringe.
>> Mom, do you want to sit?
>> Do you want to sit in your
chair?
>> Are you sure you don't want
to sit right --
>> Patricia was telling Joyce
about taking Paulie to his
college.
>> Oh, that's a good story,
Joyce.
>> She already spilled that,
Patricia.
>> Uh, we quickly said our
goodbyes.
We were the good parents, who
could take a hint.
[ Chuckles ] And we -- we --
we leave his dorm, but before we
head home, Hannah wants to take
a little stroll...
>> No, not just me.
>> ...around the campus, to feel
what it's like, what it's going
to be like for "our little
Paulie."
>> Oh, come on.
That is not fair. You, too.
>> You all right?
>> And we -- And we find a bench
on a little path.
And Hannah and I -- we're
sitting out together, and --
and we just start to cry.
I mean, t-tears gushing out,
just gushing.
>> Oh!
>> Both of us on this bench.
"How we miss our boy!"
[ Laughter ]
I don't know -- all the crazy
things we were saying and saying
them out loud...
>> Yeah.
>> ...when, around the corner
comes a whole gang of college
kids.
And who should be right in the
middle of the gang?
>> No!
What were you two thinking?
It was his first fucking day on
his own.
>> You would understand better
if you had children, Joyce.
>> Mom!
>> I think Joyce...
>> No, Mom.
>> No, Joyce, I-I think what
your mother's trying to say is
that that's how she felt when
you went to college.
>> Uh-huh.
>> No, she told us that just the
other day, that, after you'd
gone, she slept in your bed for
about a week.
>> Did you know?
>> So, what did Paulie do?
>> Walked right past us,
pretended he didn't know who the
hell we were.
>> Joyce, he writes to his
publisher, saying he'll be done
with his new book within a
month.
The book is "Moby-Dick."
>> But he wasn't calling it that
then.
>> No, I think he was, Hannah.
It was "Moby-Dick."
>> It was an entirely different
book.
>> Now, Melville wants to take a
quick vacation up in the
Berkshires.
He's got relatives with a farm
near Pittsfield.
It's still there.
>> Is it?
>> Yeah, part of a golf course,
the clubhouse.
>> When, one day, while a few of
his literary friends from
New York are up visiting --
some writer, an editor --
Melville and his pals get
invited to a picnic.
And it's the route of this
picnic that we're gonna be
following tomorrow.
>> If it doesn't rain.
>> Even if it rains --
It rained then.
>> I don't want to go if it's
raining.
>> It's not gonna rain.
>> We're following the route of
the most famous literary picnic
in the history of American
literature.
>> [ Chuckling ] Well, I don't
know anything about this.
>> Well, he told us.
>> Why are you making that face?
>> The picnic where
Herman Melville first met
Nathaniel Hawthorne.
>> Why don't I know this?
>> Does anyone want...
>> No, thanks.
>> After this day, this picnic,
Joyce, Herman Melville will
throw away his nearly finished
book and start all over again,
and he will spend the next so
many months consumed with
rewriting, rethinking what we
now know as "Moby-Dick."
>> Mm.
>> Something happened that day.
What happened?
>> What about Joyce's wine?
Can we open that?
>> Yeah, I stole it.
Open it.
Mom got to have her sherry.
>> George?
>> So, this guy knows what
actually happened, then?
>> No, no.
>> I thought that's where this
was headed.
>> Of course not, no.
>> Stop making that face.
>> Now, ignore her.
Who knows what happened, Joyce?
No one does.
But something did happen, and,
tomorrow, we're gonna celebrate
that.
>> What's "that"?
What are you celebrating?
>> Before this picnic, Herman is
just a self-taught writer of
exotic sea tales.
After, well, he'll be different.
Something will have set him
free, and American literature
will be changed forever.
>> I've never read "Moby-Dick."
>> Neither have I.
>> I have.
>> Like, all of the characters
are men.
>> Well, it takes place at sea.
Of course there are men.
These all right?
>> Mm.
>> All right, we have no
description of the moment these
two actually met.
>> They should be clean.
>> Yeah, they're fine.
>> Find something, Mom?
>> This is all about Rhinebeck.
>> Mm.
>> Mom, Mom, should I keep
the -- I -- Joyce -- Joyce was
just asking me about the picnic.
Uh, so, Melville very much wants
to meet, uh, Hawthorne, who is
living now near Lenox.
>> Tanglewood.
>> Right. It's -- The house is
still there, on the grounds.
>> It's been rebuilt two or
three times.
>> We used to go to Tanglewood.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Why don't we go anymore?
>> Uh, Mom. Mom!
What are -- What are you doing?
>> I heard all about your picnic
last night, George.
Mary, may I borrow these?
>> Yes, of course.
>> Uh, they're all Thomas'?
>> Yes, they are all his.
>> Where are you going, Mom?
>> You okay?
>> To lie down, Hannah.
She's tired.
>> Go lie down on the couch?
>> Restless, like a ghost
haunting us.
>> Joyce.
>> I can say that.
She's my mother.
>> No, you can't.
>> It's a joke.
>> Joyce, last night, at the
restaurant, Patricia said to me
how very sorry she was, how she
fucked up.
>> Mom actually said
"fucked up" -- those words?
>> It's what she meant.
>> And how scared she was about
seeing you today, Joyce.
>> Scared of me?
>> Didn't you know that?
>> So, George, you were telling
me about this picnic.
So, what happens?
>> They don't know.
>> Well, I don't know anything
about this.
>> Melville and his family
living full-time now near
Lenox...
>> Uh-huh.
>> ...where he is trying to
avoid a woman in town named
Sedgwick -- also a writer,
best seller after best seller.
His sales pale in comparison.
He can't stand her.
>> He likes the gossip.
>> No, it's not gossip.
It's -- It's history.
So, Sedgwick's brother, um,
Hawthorne's Boston publisher,
Fields, and the
Dr. Oliver Holmes --
they're the other picnickers.
>> Mm.
>> And two women.
That's why I have to go.
>> The wife of the publisher.
>> Yeah, that's me.
She wore a blue silk dress.
I don't own a blue silk dress.
>> What are you gonna wear?
>> It's cotton.
It's blue.
>> Well, it sounds kind of fun.
>> Fuck you.
>> Any kind of hat?
>> I don't wear hats.
>> So, they drive together in --
in one carriage a few miles
south to the base of
Monument Mountain.
>> It's still there.
>> They unpack hampers of
food...
>> They're bringing antique
straw hampers -- I'm bringing
Tupperware.
>> ...and champagne.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> And then, they begin their
climb.
Listen, it's not that difficult
to walk.
The women are fine.
>> [ Laughs ]
>> They -- They follow a ridge,
right?
Nath-- Nathaniel, we know, was a
very...reserved man.
>> Mm.
>> So, he walks a little ahead
of the group, as the others, in
party mood, make up rhymes, and
puns fly in every direction.
>> Doesn't that sound like so
much fun?
>> Yes.
>> It gets the party going.
And, "So, tell me about life in
Concord," Herman asked his idol.
"Well," Hawthorne says, "with
Thoreau, you -- you just feel
embarrassed talking about
money."
Emerson, on the other hand --
he sued to get his share of his
first wife's inheritance.
He got bank and railroad stock
now.
And -- And Longfellow --
he's making 100 bucks a week
from "Evangeline."
>> So, they just talked money?
>> Well, according to George's
new best friend.
The guy worked on Wall Street.
>> And, somehow, Melville's arm
gets around the older man's
shoulders, and this surprises
everyone -- Nathaniel Hawthorne
did not like to be touched.
But the -- the picnickers
reached the summit, and our two
men sit apart and talk.
>> We don't know what about.
>> No. We know -- We know, from
letters, that Hawthorne tells
Melville that he has stopped
reading newspapers.
>> Was it an election year?
>> [ Laughs ]
>> They -- He -- They talk about
life insurance...
>> Mm-hmm.
>> ...and how America -- how --
how America, uh...
>> Tamed.
>> ...tamed its artists.
>> Oh.
>> Then, Melville suddenly
stands and runs out onto a
jutting rock and pretends to be
on the bowsprit of a ship,
hauling in imaginary ropes,
and shouting orders to --
into the wind, and every -- just
to make his new friend laugh.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> He's drunk.
>> And Nathaniel -- no one can
believe it when Nathaniel
follows his friend onto the
jutting rock and shouts to the
whole world that he's "found
the great carbuncle!"
>> What -- What is that?
>> Who knows?
>> And a thunderstorm sweeps
across the mountaintop.
>> Uh-huh.
>> The group finds, uh,
sanctuary under some protruding
cliff, but our two friends stand
together, soaked.
Lightning flashes, rolls of
thunder, rain whips, as the two
men shout into the dark sky.
>> What do they shout?
>> We don't know.
So, that's what we're doing
tomorrow -- George and me and
George's new rich friend and the
rich friend's rich friends.
Taste this.
Tell me what you think.
Doesn't that sound like a great
time?
>> You know, it could be fun.
>> I think it needs more
mustard.
>> So, you really don't know
what happened?
>> No. No one does.
>> We know...
>> Mm-hmm. That's good.
>> ...that, from that day on,
American literature --
>> I think she's heard enough.
>> How'd you meet this guy?
>> George met him in the
Millerton Diner.
>> He and his wife were sitting
in the next booth.
>> They have a weekend place up
here.
>> That diner -- it's --
it's near Hotchkiss.
I-I go there for lunch
sometimes.
>> That diner's authentic
country, if you're from the
city.
>> Well, it gets crowded.
>> We got to talking, Joyce, and
I said, "I spend my whole life
up here."
And he said how rare that was
these days to find someone
like -- Well, that...
>> Yeah.
>> ...was good to hear.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> And then, we got started
talking about the area and its
history, and he said he really
wanted one day to walk in the
steps of the most famous
literary picnic, which, of
course, as you know, happened
only a few miles from here.
>> [ Chuckles ]
>> I didn't know.
[ Laughter ]
Did you know?
>> No. [ Laughs ]
So, then, your new friend
invited you on his picnic?
>> Yeah. He's retired.
He's like 40 years old.
>> He's done all this research.
>> No, he has an assistant who
seems to have done most of it.
>> Mind if I do something?
I've just been sitting here.
>> No, you're finding treasure.
That's important.
>> The food they ate that day,
the poems they read.
>> They will eat whatever
tomorrow.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Karin, if you want, you can
help me cut up some vegetables.
Just let me wash some of this
first.
>> Your mother has a hummus mix.
God knows how old it is.
>> [ Chuckles ]
>> What the hell?
Who cares how old it is, as long
as it's easy?
He promised them hummus.
>> Did they eat hummus --
Hawthorne and Melville?
>> Did they, George?
>> We're gonna read the poems
tomorrow.
He's -- He has the original
books.
>> Wow.
>> Well, he's got a -- a book
dealer who finds him these
things.
>> Here. There are directions.
You can make it right in the
Tupperware.
I'll get you the Tupperware.
>> [ Chuckles ]
>> Oh, uh, last night, he told
me something -- he just learned
of -- listen to this --
when Herman goes to visit
Nathaniel a -- a few weeks
later, in Tanglewood...
>> It must have been off-season,
'cause the traffic gets really
bad.
>> ...Herman regales him with...
>> Regales.
>> ...r-regales him and
Mrs. Hawthorne with stories of
South Sea adventures.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> And Mrs. Hawthorne wrote a
letter about this and describes
the sex customs of the natives,
maybe his own experience of sex
with the natives.
And then, exactly nine months
later, Mrs. Hawthorne gives
birth -- nine months later!
>> Tell how you want me to...
>> Uh, it's a marinade.
Just cut 'em up.
>> You're saying that Melville
was the father of Hawthorne's
children?
>> No!
>> That's what I thought he was
saying, too.
>> No, it's the excitement of
his story.
>> That would be interesting,
if, uh...
>> He had sex with Hawthorne's
wife.
>> No, Melville did not have sex
with Mrs. Hawthorne.
>> Oh, good.
>> How --
>> We just know that.
>> How do -- How do we know?
>> We do. Forget it.
And please don't say things like
that tomorrow.
>> Tell your sister about his
weekend house.
>> What about?
>> I know, Hannah.
>> So, George's new best friend
bought this old house in
Stockbridge.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Very historic.
And, um, he's having people work
on it.
We're hoping George will be one
of the people working on it.
>> Okay, so you're networking.
Good for you.
>> Uh, that's not the only
reason.
>> That's why we're going.
George.
So, they buy this old house last
winter.
They've hardly lived in it.
They have some other houses,
too.
And the first thing he does is
hire scene painters --
like, theater people --
to paint each room in a sort of
scene, like a forest and a
castle.
>> [ Laughs ]
>> You told me.
It's funny.
>> You haven't been.
>> So, they work for months, and
then he and his wife arrive in
July from their house in Italy.
>> Uh-huh.
>> And they love it.
They love everything about it --
about it.
They -- They sit there in their
forest.
>> [ Laughs ]
>> They have drinks in the
castle.
He puts on monks-chanting music,
you know?
They love the feel of history.
>> Hannah. Hannah.
>> And then -- Oh, then, two
days later, the wife says,
"These rooms make me dizzy, like
I'm going to throw up."
>> And the painter's still
there?
>> Oh, yeah, my friend was still
there.
>> Yeah.
>> He was living above someone's
garage.
That's where he got put.
>> Yeah, so they then
paint over everything --
the same painters --
over all their work.
>> Oh.
>> Ohh.
>> You know, this time,
light blue, eggshell white.
And now they want bookcases,
floor to ceiling, built-in
cabinets -- you know, all
looking old -- really old,
that literary cabin look,
whatever the hell that means.
But it'll be a big job, you
know, probably take all winter
for a good, high-end carpenter,
so that's why we're going on
this picnic.
Tell her, George.
That's his plan.
Like, that -- he thinks he'll
get enough work for the year.
>> Pay for Mom what she owes.
Maybe she could even stay in
her -- her inn a couple more
months and start to pay off the
mortgage.
>> You're a good carpenter.
>> A job like this.
>> Of course, we can't be sure
what they're gonna pay.
>> Well, they don't just come
along every day.
>> Rich people often don't pay
well.
>> A job like this...
>> We know that from experience.
>> ...would be steady work for
at least the entire winter,
probably longer --
everything custom.
>> If it works out.
>> Tell her what you're really
worried about, Hannah.
>> What?
>> T-That his new friend is
really only interested in George
because George is a big guy...
>> No, I told you --
>> ...and he can help carry a
lot of the stuff for them up the
mountain.
>> I don't think that's true.
I don't think that's fair.
>> He's a strong guy, a local,
so, you know, like, on a
safari, carrying the baskets on
his head.
>> George is their porter?
>> All the other picnickers are
coming from New York City --
Manhattan.
Does he know you have a
pacemaker, George?
>> Does he? Does he, George?
>> No.
>> We're just their guests.
>> Are we?
>> I mean, George tells his new
rich friend that his wife does
catering.
Hannah, too, suddenly gets
invited on this picnic.
>> Yeah, and I get an e-mail
with a list of all the stuff
they want me to cook.
>> Well, are they paying you to
cater it?
>> No. No, of course not, Joyce.
>> What can I do?
>> Oh, uh...
>> I can help.
>> I think we have everything
under control, George.
>> I'm not helpless in the
kitchen.
>> Help your wife with your
picnic.
>> No, I don't want to get in
her way.
>> That's always a good excuse.
>> No, ignore your sister.
Here. Help with this.
>> Okay?
>> Okay, "Old Kinderhook,"
Rhinebeck.
>> Her guacamole.
>> You really gonna trust him
with that?
>> He cooks.
>> Follow that, George.
Ask if you have questions.
>> He cooks, Joyce.
>> It's not like...
>> So, what were you saying
about opera singers, about your
opera in London?
>> Oh, the singers' corsets,
Karin.
I really thought we were gonna
get big resistance to them.
>> Well, because of the...
>> But they took to the corsets,
like, no problem.
>> Well, did they think it
helped their singing?
>> The -- The diaphragm.
>> Yeah, yeah.
I thought maybe that, but, um,
the costume shop head --
she's been at the ENO, like,
forever.
And I'd happened to mention that
I was worried about the corsets.
After all, they must be terribly
uncomfortable.
>> Mm.
>> So, she said, "Joyce, how
comfortable are your high heels
or the hours spent putting on
your makeup?"
It's sexy. It's fun.
It makes you feel different,
like you're ready for something.
>> Yeah, it can make you feel
like that.
She's right, can't it?
>> You keep your vegetables,
Mary, in the...
>> In the mudroom.
>> You want help, ask.
>> He can find what he needs.
>> I mean, it can sometimes make
me feel that way.
>> Mary?
>> [ Chuckling ] What?
I'm sure.
>> She said, "I'll tell you
something that'll surprise you."
Do you know that tight lacing of
corsets -- that's where you
really pull the --
>> Well, I guessed that.
I know that.
>> Do you want to show him what
you want him to use?
>> No, he's fine.
>> She said women who did that
were seen by men as fast girls,
as women wanting to be educated,
asserting themselves --
you know, "meddlers" is what
they were called.
>> Who do they think they are?
>> They were just women wanting
to show off their power.
>> Oh.
Heels do that -- I know that.
>> [ Chuckles ]
>> Am I the only one?
>> No.
>> No.
>> So, a lot of the people --
the men who were against
corsets -- they tried to say
that their movement was about
freeing women from these
terrible bonds.
That was bullshit, she said.
They were just a bunch of
conservative men afraid of
women.
>> [ Chuckles ]
>> They encouraged women to wear
nice, loose dresses that
wouldn't call attention to
what's underneath.
>> The simple, loose dress.
>> Do you hear that, Hannah?
>> What?
>> She's always looking for that
simple, loose dress that she
can wear to a fancy party and
can also garden in.
>> Oh.
>> And I keep telling her,
"There is no such dress."
>> No. [ Chuckles ]
Here.
>> No, no. I-I like this one.
>> And these men spread rumors
about women and their corsets --
like, how, in order to wear them
so tight, they'd had their ribs
removed.
>> Yeah.
>> There are newspaper articles
that say that.
See, these men tried to turn
women into freaks.
Is this with crudités?
>> I got chips.
>> This is interesting.
Have you heard all this?
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Joyce has told us about her
trip...
>> Both: Moment by moment.
>> Okay. I'm boring you.
>> This one woman --
you told us this --
one woman got into
The Guinness Book of Records.
>> She had a 13-inch waist.
>> Oh!
>> That's like this.
This was in the '50s.
>> But that's anorexia.
That's not power.
>> I had patients with anorexia.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> My daughter went through
that.
>> You never talk about your
daughter.
I didn't know that.
>> Well -- Well, thank God she
got over that.
It -- It was awful.
Uh, my ex didn't have any idea
how to deal with her, and, uh,
I think it was maybe one of the
only times that he ever actually
called me for advice.
But, um, years later, someone
very wise had told me that the
anorexic -- she --
>> Is it only girls?
>> W-- No, no, no.
It can be boys.
It's way more girls.
But the anorexic --
she's just -- she's trying to
move some psychological stress
into a physical stress, because
that she thinks she can bear,
b-because it's physical.
>> Mm. [ Chuckles ]
It was -- This woman in the
costume shop gave me this
complicated explanation about
how clothes and sexual desire
are inseparable.
>> I think she was trying to
pick you up.
>> Oh! I agree, Joyce.
>> Maybe.
>> Ooh!
>> She was trying to pick you
up.
>> Sexual desire with a man --
she said there's obviously a
pursuit toward a single-minded
goal of, uh, happy release and
then collapse, and then, from
zero again.
>> Boy, is that true.
>> That sounds about right.
>> But with a woman -- and I can
just see her telling me this,
smoking her third cigarette in a
row.
>> You could smoke in the
theater?
>> We were in an alley alongside
the ENO.
But with a woman, it's all
entwined with what she is
thinking.
It's blended together, so,
potentially, there's always this
desire that is on tap.
>> On tap?
>> [ Chuckles ]
And that desire is what we
clothe.
>> You're doing great.
>> I know.
>> Our little "cookerer,"
helping out the women.
>> Ignore your sister.
>> [ Laughs ]
>> What?
>> She said women instinctively
know this.
>> That the desire is always on
tap.
>> I mean, we see the world
through this lens.
And that is why women make such
damn good costume designers.
>> There you go.
>> She was flattering you.
Did she know you were only the
associate designer?
>> She knew.
>> I-I see what she's saying --
the best costume designers are
women.
I think that has been my
experience.
>> Every piece of clothing can
mean something.
As designers, we try to control
or determine that meaning,
what's trying to be said, or --
or, better, what we're trying to
hide.
>> What the character's trying
to hide -- is that what you
mean?
>> I think so.
>> But I don't think I
understand.
>> Okay, Mary.
Say, um -- Say you're cast in a
play, and I'm costuming you.
>> I'd like to see that.
>> Be quiet.
>> Ohh!
>> I study the character you're
to play, and first, I-I ask,
"What is she hiding?"
'Cause that's a really good
place to begin.
But, then, I look to you, Mary,
the person, and I say the same
thing -- "What are you hiding?"
>> Y-You mean, what -- what
don't I like about myself?
>> That's part of it, of course.
>> You're a fucking costume
associate, not a psychiatrist.
>> Is there really much
difference?
>> Sometimes, there really
isn't.
>> Follow me around for a day,
Hannah.
No, go with my boss to a
fitting.
When she gets going, i-it's
transfixing.
>> The really good ones are like
that, Hannah.
>> The actor is trying to get
her to notice what the actor
wants her to notice and, also,
not notice what the actor is
trying to hide about herself,
what's underneath.
>> Yeah.
>> You know, my boss said the
other day, it's like, you know,
pulling up a mat or a rug that's
been outside for a really long
time, and, suddenly, there's all
this life underneath.
It's so much that we never see.
Instead, we seem to go through
life painting everything in
these broad, obvious brush
strokes.
Everyone is either this or that.
Just a lawyer -- she wears a
suit.
>> Yeah.
>> Right?
The -- The -- The jock --
she's in shorts.
But people are so much more than
that, she said, and so, of
course, much more interesting.
You know she can drive me crazy
sometimes.
>> Why don't you show Joyce what
I was reading to you this
morning?
>> Hm?
>> People are more than they
want us to see.
>> What?
>> Edith.
>> You should get it. Get it.
>> Are you sure?
>> What?
>> Yes.
>> What are you talking about?
>> Well, uh...
>> It's really hidden.
>> I've been working on a
one-woman show, Joyce.
>> Yeah, go. Just get it.
>> I-I left it in the living
room.
>> I think I saw it next to the
TV.
Oh, and check on Patricia.
>> Oh.
>> Edith?
>> You'll see.
It's a surprise.
I agree -- people are more than
what they want us to see.
>> Oh, I saw a show about fans
in Paris -- how there were codes
and hidden meanings -- an entire
language of fans in the
18th century.
>> A language?
>> Yeah, there were fans that
had, on one side, say, an
idyllic rural scene, fauna, and
on the other side, a naked
couple copulating, completely
pornographic.
>> [ Chuckling ] God.
>> And...?
>> So, the woman fanning
herself, if she were interested,
she would simply flip the fan
for an instant, showing the man
the other side.
And then, he would know.
>> George, your mother can't get
the television to work.
>> Oh, okay.
>> You need to use both channel
changers -- first the big, then
the little.
>> I can help.
No, the order doesn't matter.
>> I don't want to watch TV.
>> It doesn't? I thought it did.
>> No.
>> Here.
Mary.
>> Hmm?
>> His handwriting gets harder
to read.
>> Yeah, that happened,
Patricia.
I know. I know.
I got used to it.
I-I can read some of that to
you.
>> What can I do?
>> Um...the casserole's already
in the oven.
I think we're pretty much under
control, Patricia.
Hannah, do you need more help
with the picnic?
>> No, I think I'm fine,
Patricia.
>> Well, come sit with me, Mom.
You can watch me make guacamole.
>> Is this all right for Pat?
>> Is that an interesting thing
to watch?
>> Here. Join us.
Let me clear some space.
>> Here, here, here, here.
>> Joyce has been telling us
more about her trip to Europe.
>> Oh, I'd like to hear more
about that, Joyce.
>> Oh, what's to tell?
And Karin was just about to read
us something.
>> You know, we don't have to do
that.
>> What are you gonna read us?
>> [ Chuckling ] Mary.
>> Something from some Edith.
>> This is all right.
>> You okay, Mom?
>> Who's Edith?
>> Edith Wharton.
>> Oh, Mom, you've read her.
>> I have.
>> She lived in Rhinebeck for a
while.
Did you know her, Mom?
>> Hannah.
>> Uh.
Karin's going to do a play.
She's an actress.
>> I know.
>> It's a little...risqué.
>> Yeah.
>> Ooh, I'm interested.
>> Mary.
Well...
[ Sighs ]
You see photos of Wharton --
fur collar, prim, big hat,
picture of a proper lady.
All emotions, you know, pretty
much kept at a proper distance.
So, that's the woman that I was
planning on portraying.
But, then, I was telling Mary
and Hannah...
>> We found it funny.
>> ...that I came across this...
>> Something she wrote.
>> ...in the back of a
biography, never before
published -- probably, they
think, left unfinished.
Um.
I'll just read a little.
>> [ Chuckling ] What?
>> Oh, where should I start?
"The room was warm and softly
lit.
'Now, my darling,' Mr. Palmato
said.
She let herself sink backward
among the pillows.
Her lips were parted by his
tongue, her nipples as hard as
coral, but sensitive as lips to
his approaching touch.
His hands softly separated her
legs and began to slip up the
old path it had so often
traveled in darkness.
But now it was light.
She was uncovered.
And looking downward, she could
see her own parted knees and
outstretched ankles and feet.
And his hand -- As his hand
stole higher, she felt the bud
swelling and burst into bloom.
His subtle forefinger pressing
it, forcing its petals apart..."
>> [ Chuckles ]
>> "...and laying on their
sensitive edges a circular
touch --"
>> Are you okay with this?
>> Are you?
>> "Letting herself downward
along the divan..."
I just jumped a little.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> "...until her head was in
line with his middle, she began
to caress it with her tongue."
>> Ohh.
>> "She wound her caresses
deeper and deeper into the
thick, firm folds, until,
in a thrice..."
And that's the only thing that
makes it seem old -- "thrice."
"...in a thrice, it was
withdrawn, her knees pressed
apart, and she felt it descend
on her..."
>> Okay. Okay.
>> "...and plunge into the
depths of her thirsting body."
And that is a very good place to
stop.
>> [ Chuckles ]
Hannah.
>> It was funnier this morning.
>> You okay, Mom?
[ Chuckles ]
What?
You think you missed something?
Why are you so interested?
I'm really surprised.
>> Why wouldn't I be, Joyce?
>> There's a photo of her.
It's in the middle of the book.
It was taken the year she wrote
that.
She's nearly 50, and she looks
completely different than in any
of the other photos.
All that stiff stuff around her
neck is gone.
She shows some cleavage.
I mean, what she must have been
hiding inside.
>> Mm-hmm. Oh, Edith.
>> Yeah, when I just left med
school and was doing my first
residency, uh -- I still thought
that I'd end up doing research.
>> What are you --
>> Well, t-this relates to that.
>> [ Chuckles ]
>> You never talk about
yourself.
She never talks about herself.
>> I know.
>> That is not true.
I talk about myself all the time
to myself.
I was good at research, and I
like the order of -- of things,
how you start with "X," and you
just keep doing the experiment
over and over again, and it's
hard to get lost.
And I think I was scared of
that -- feeling lost.
>> I understand that.
>> I understand that, too.
>> There is an understanding.
>> This, uh, senior doctor is a
wise man.
And he said to me -- and no one
ever told me this in med school,
but he said, "Above all else,
Mary, besides paying close
attention to your patients,
listen to what is beyond or
behind what he says.
And then, try and enter into his
or her stories, or his or her
predicaments."
>> Mm-hmm.
>> And then, he said, "Try and
be them.
G-Get inside them."
And we were talking about how
you never know what's inside
people.
>> Oh.
>> And when I first met
Thomas -- this is now years
later -- one day, I tell him
about what this doctor had told
me and how what he had said had
changed my life, and it made me
understand the complexity of
being a doctor and -- and the
joy, this whole art of
observing.
And, oh, I told him about this
paper I'd even helped to write,
about how doctors can learn so
much about their patients by
just watching how they walk and
stand and sit, and Thomas said
to me, "Well, Mary, yeah, just
like theater."
[ Laughter ]
>> Well, that's what I was
saying about the...
>> Brother.
>> What about your license,
Mary?
>> I don't think she's done
anything about that.
>> Are you renewing your
doctor's license?
>> After five years, she thinks
they'll make her take all the
tests again.
>> You doing that?
>> Are you gonna do that, Mary?
>> Maybe, Ha-- Maybe, Hannah.
Maybe. I just -- I-I should
never...have let it expire.
It was so stupid of me.
I could be helping now.
>> You were taking care of
Thomas.
>> Yes, I know.
But now...
But, anyway, we were, um, we
were talking about, um,
watching people...
>> Mm-hmm.
>> ...and listening.
And Thomas and I once had the
great good fortune to meet a
very special man.
It was a doctor.
And I-I don't think I ever told
you about this, Hannah.
>> I don't know.
>> A neurologist.
And he -- he died last year,
God bless him.
And, uh, he had seen two of
Thomas' plays, and he, too --
he loved the theater, so he
agreed to see us.
And I thought that Thomas'
condition about being able to
walk to music was fairly unique,
but i-it's not.
Uh, there are plenty of other
examples with Parkinson's.
And -- But, anyway, so, we went
to his office.
It was in the West Village on
Horatio.
And we spent an hour or so
together.
And, God, how that man
watched -- I mean, that was art.
And, oh, when he died, someone
wrote about him that, as with
all the very greatest doctors,
his most essential clinical
instrument was his heart.
And that day with Thomas, this
great man took me aside, and he
told me -- "When you look at
those who suffer," he said, um,
"at those who have taken life's
hardest hits, try not to see
them as, in any way, diminished,
but, rather, as our warriors,
Mary, as our tragic heroes,
struggling across the abyss."
>> This book has your name,
George, in it.
>> That means nothing in this
house.
As a kid, George wrote his name
in everything.
Really nasty habit, wasn't it,
Mom?
>> I was like 6 years old,
Joyce.
>> Thomas got so fed up with
it...
>> You know, I don't think I
know this.
>> I do.
>> Thomas convinced George to
write his name in one of Dad's
Penthouse magazines.
>> Oh.
>> That -- That wasn't funny.
>> Yeah, not to you.
>> No, it really wasn't.
>> And that's why, Patricia, you
started calling it...
>> You still do.
>> "Put your George right
there."
You always say it whenever you
want someone to sign something.
>> I do?
>> Yes.
>> I didn't know that.
That's why.
>> Last night, with Mary's
birthday card -- "Put your
George."
>> Oh, that's what that was.
>> In -- In my family, uh, there
was an uncle who always said
things without thinking.
>> You had only one of those?
>> [ Laughs ]
>> Yeah. I'm maybe 12.
And he's visiting with my
parents.
And he comes out of the
bathroom, and he holds up to
me -- for some reason, to me --
an empty toilet roll.
And he says, "Mary! Mary!"
And I-I guess I'm supposed to go
get him a new roll of toilet
paper.
But all anyone else sees is my
uncle holding up this empty and
shouting, "Mary!"
And, for some reason, that was
funny.
And from that day on, an empty
toilet roll in my family will
forever be called a "Mary."
[ Laughter ]
Thomas loved that story.
You know, he even put it into
one of his plays.
>> [ Gasps ]
>> No, he did not call her
"Mary."
[ Laughter ]
>> Hey, maybe here's something.
Okay, t-this is interesting.
>> Mm.
>> It's an airmail letter from
the painter, Kitaj.
>> Who?
>> Yeah. Isn't he famous?
>> Kita-- Kitaj?
>> Yeah.
>> I know -- I know who that is.
>> Is that to Thomas?
>> No, no, wait.
Sandra -- she's obviously the
wife of this -- this painter.
He -- He blamed her death on his
critics.
>> Mm.
>> His fellow artists.
"I will always believe that her
stroke and death in one weekend,
thank God...
Personal hatreds towards me.
Savages.
I still break down after six
months, and to think she never
saw the Met show..."
>> Oh, yeah, he had a show at
the Met.
>> "...and the Kitaj flag flying
there."
Do you say it "Kitai" or
"Kitaj"?
I've heard both.
>> I don't know, but I-I know
his paintings.
>> I know them, too.
>> "The Met -- who could have
thought such a thing when we
were kids at Cooper?"
Oh, he's writing to old friends.
>> Cooper Union.
>> Sent from London, May 1995.
>> Where was this?
>> It's just in this book, in
this baggie.
>> He kept his valuable things
in these.
>> So, Thomas knew it was
valuable.
>> Ohh.
>> "We sure have our share of
tsuris."
That's a Yiddish word.
"The whole thing is monstrous.
My life has been hellish.
Sandra lit up everyone's life
with her beauty, both inside and
out.
My 10-year-old, Max --"
They had a son.
>> 10 years?
So, Sandra couldn't have been
that old.
>> "When the clouds part, let's
have a good cry together.
Meanwhile, I'd like to be with
Sandra, wherever she is, but Max
needs me, so I've become her,
as well as me.
Love and hugs and kisses, dear,
dear friends, ever, Kitaj."
Kitai -- Kitaj.
>> I think this is a clipping
about him from -- it looks like
The Times.
>> Yeah, that's The Times.
Is he still alive?
Do we know?
>> I think he died a couple of
years ago.
He was a very good painter.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Maybe even a great one.
May I -- May I see?
>> Okay.
>> Oh, this is Thomas'
handwriting.
Um, "A Kitaj..."
>> Kitaj.
>> "...Kitaj letter to good
friends, found inside the
Tate Catalogue of Kitaj's show
in a used bookshop/coffee shop
in New Haven."
>> [ Chuckling ] Oh.
>> What do you think it's worth?
>> Karin?
>> I know theater, but...
>> Well, it must be worth
something.
>> Yeah.
>> Handwritten.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> He's really well known.
>> Yeah.
>> It's like a peek into his
broken heart.
>> Yeah.
>> People collect that.
>> No, wait, wait, wait.
"Try to return to the son."
>> What?
>> Thomas wrote this --
"Try to return to the son.
Too private and too personal to
sell," and in caps,
"Please do not sell."
>> [ Scoffs ]
>> We're not selling that.
>> I don't think so.
[ Telephone ringing ]
>> Phone.
>> Mom.
>> I'll get it.
>> Let me come with you.
>> I'll get it.
>> Mom, let me get past you so
I can get the phone.
>> It's my house.
>> Well, I will -- I'll do some
research.
I'll see if we can find the son.
[ Ringing stops ]
>> I told Thomas he should put
this in a play -- one year,
watching the Tony Awards with
Thomas --
>> Where?
>> Uh, in Brooklyn.
This is, uh, sort of the same
thing as Mary the Toilet Roll.
We had a mouse problem, so
Thomas set a few traps under the
sink.
And we're watching the
Tony Awards, and...
What is the name of that show
where the guy sings
"I Am What I Am"?
>> Oh, um.
>> Anyway, we're at the climax
of the song.
I mean, the guy is singing full
out, "I am what I am!"
[ Piano playing ]
We hear, under the sink -- snap,
then, flop, flop, then, flap.
Whenever I hear the song, that's
what I hear.
>> It's the opera singer from
Bard.
She wants to --
>> Who's playing the piano?
>> What?
>> Who's playing the goddamn
piano, George, if you're not?
[ Music continues ]
Oh, fuck.
>> Mary.
>> No, shit.
>> Mom -- Mom's playing the...
What?
>> She thought it was Thomas.
She's been doing that.
>> Sorry.
He used to play this for me,
and it...
Shit.
[ Clattering lightly ]
Shit.
[ Utensil scraping ]
[ Faucet running ]
>> The, um...
The opera singer from Bard --
she wants to know if she can
come take a look at the piano.
And, uh, she's on her way into
Rhinebeck, anyway.
So, what -- what do I tell her?
I'll tell her --
I'll tell her --
I'll tell her she can come.
She asked if it's really a
Bechstein.
[ Scoffs ]
>> Upright -- Bechstein upright,
big price difference, we
learned, but it'll help.
Singer's eager.
>> Yeah.
>> Our sign's been up at Bard
for like two days.
>> It's just -- It's going
through the boxes, Hannah.
>> I know.
>> You open one box, and...
>> I know. I see that.
>> I should go in there and say,
"Um, Mom, is that how you're
going to play it?
Is that how you're going to play
it?"
>> Mary, I'd -- I'd go and see
one of Thomas' plays, and I'd --
I'd think, "Is that...me up
there, onstage?
Is that character me?"
Did you do that, too?
>> I-I don't know.
>> "So sounds like me."
>> You told me you did.
>> "So sounds like me, like --
like something I'd say."
And, of course, it's in a
completely different context --
in a play, spoken by a
character, but...
>> Well, she'll be here in a
little while.
>> Oh.
>> She wants to see what we've
got.
It's a Bechstein.
>> [ Chuckles ]
>> Is your mother coming back?
>> No, let's...let her alone
for a-a while.
[ Piano playing ]
>> We all played this.
We all learned to play this.
>> Yeah.
>> Thomas gave me a copy of this
when I visited last fall.
When Mary so generously...
>> Well...
>> ...invited me up here.
>> ...he asked me to ask you.
>> Thomas hardly could speak.
He had a pile of these on his
desk in his bedroom.
He gave me a copy.
Why did he have so many copies,
Mary?
>> Oh, he was always talking
about, uh, adapting that into
a play.
>> A play? Thomas?
>> [ Chuckles ]
>> He was trying to find someone
to give him money to do that.
>> Oh, I love the title.
"Wandering Star,"
Sholem Aleichem.
>> I don't know it.
>> [ Chuckles ] Oh, I've read it
now, uh, twice.
>> He wanted to make it into a
play?
>> Mm-hmm.
>> What -- What's it about?
Let me see.
>> Uh, two people -- a girl and
a boy.
They live in a shtetl over 100
years ago.
They're Jewish, and their
families have plans for them.
But the kids are in love, and
one day, this theater company
of, uh --
>> Oh, I knew there had to be...
>> Theater!
>> ...a theater company in there
somewhere.
>> Actors and singers come to
town, and then the kids --
they -- they run away with these
actors, but it -- it just so
happens that the -- the theater
company is fighting amongst
itself, and it splits.
One half goes off in one
direction, the other in another.
The boy with one, the girl with
the other.
They're separated right at this
point when they thought they
were gonna be together forever.
And years pass.
One is in Germany, the other
Paris.
Then London.
They write letters.
They never get delivered.
Their paths never cross.
He becomes a star actor, she a
great singer.
More years go by until, at the
peak of their fame, they each
learn that the other is going to
be in New York City, and they
plan to meet.
They meet at the zoo.
[ Chuckles ] A nice touch.
Each now is married.
Each has children.
They have and have had lovers,
and they both know, without
saying anything, that it's too
late for them now.
[ Piano playing ]
The end.
[ Chuckling ]
As I was reading this story --
Well, you can tell me if you
think I'm imagining this.
I-I can imagine things
sometimes, I know.
>> Can I see?
>> But the book is just a...
celebration of their searching
for each other and forgetting
each other, a celebration of
their faithfulness and their
faithlessness.
>> [ Chuckles softly ]
>> It's being human.
>> Was he, uh, able to write
anything in your copy, Karin?
>> Nope.
>> Too bad.
>> Remember when Thomas all of a
sudden decided he was Jewish?
>> Oh, God!
>> "George, I think we're
Jewish.
I've done the research."
>> Don't remind me.
>> You never knew where he was
going next.
>> He was searching.
>> For what?
"Thomas, what the hell are you
talking about?"
>> You got really upset, George.
Why did that upset you?
>> Joyce -- Joyce was upset.
>> He's telling us what we are.
He -- He would just go off
half-cocked.
>> He would just dream things
up.
>> Well, he was a writer.
>> We're not Jewish.
>> Well, I-I think he was just
trying to figure something out.
>> What? Figure out what?
No!
He was just being...
being -- yo-you know -- you know
what I mean.
>> No, I don't. What?
>> Romantic!
>> He's right. You're right.
>> Being Jewish is romantic?
>> No, that's not what I'm
saying.
>> Try telling that to someone
whose family --
>> No, he just wanted -- He
needed to feel different.
That's what I'm saying.
I mean, there's nothing wrong
with being Jewish.
Come on.
>> No, of course not.
>> "What am I? Who am I?"
I mean, that -- I really
disliked that side of him.
>> Me, too, to be honest.
>> Well, the way he explained it
to me was --
>> Oh, God.
Do we have to talk about this?!
>> He -- He said that he just
couldn't understand where all
this, um, importance that your
father and your mother placed on
being cultured -- Now, where did
that come from?
>> So, Jewish people...
>> No, that's what he said.
>> ...want to give their
children culture and education.
I know, Mary, but that is such a
cliché.
>> I don't know about any of
this.
>> It's a cliché.
>> Your relatives were farmers.
>> Well, why can't farmers --
>> Well, isn't there some truth
to that?
>> I have friends who are
farmers.
They read.
>> [ Chuckling ] Thomas was not
putting down farmers.
>> I-I think he was.
I-I live in the country.
>> So do I.
>> Okay, well, that's how --
that's how I tell it.
>> Well, George, I'm just saying
that I think that Thomas was
just trying to figure out why
he felt so different.
Is there something wrong with
that?
>> With feeling that? No.
But -- But how -- what about him
telling us all what we should
feel?
>> Oh, come on.
>> And who -- who we are?
He wasn't just talking about
himself.
>> Unh-unh.
Your grandpa was a mechanic
for rich people's cars.
Did, um, Thomas ever tell you
that?
>> No.
>> Well -- Well, I guess maybe
he just talked about --
>> He was ashamed.
>> What? No.
I don't think so.
>> Yeah.
>> No. Well, all right.
Maybe. Maybe he was.
But then he wasn't, and your
grandmother, she was a maid.
>> For the Astors, just up the
road here.
>> And your father, he was
given piano lessons at something
like --
>> No more than 5 years old.
>> And your grandparents didn't
play.
>> Yeah.
>> And, oh, the fiddle.
Your father played the fiddle.
So, where did that come from?
Tha-That's what Thomas was
asking.
Where the hell did he come from?
>> Mary --
>> Let her talk.
>> And at the Jewish Museum in
Manhattan -- I-I don't think we
told you about this, but Thomas
and I went once, and we came
across a plaque from, I think --
I think it was, um, Austria.
>> That's where our relatives
are from.
>> Yeah, listing the names of
Jewish soldiers from one village
who had died during World War I.
And one name was Gabrielski.
>> Oh, that --
[ All shouting ]
>> Where in Austria?
>> Oh, Thomas dragged Mary to
the ancestral village.
>> No, that was wife number two,
George.
That wasn't me. I wasn't there.
Oh, they made her wear a dirndl,
Karin.
I-I saw a picture.
"Where do I come from?
And, uh, where do I fit in?
And each day, why do I feel more
and more different?"
I don't think that deserves to
be mocked.
>> Well, I don't think George is
mocking the questioning, Mary.
Are you?
>> No.
>> No, it's just --
>> No.
>> It's the being told what the
answers are.
You know, our big brother was
always telling us what to do,
what everyone had to read.
I mean, he'd tell us what to
read and what to watch on TV.
"Quick! Turn on channel --"
>> No, he got excited about
things.
He wanted to share things.
For me, that was a good thing.
>> What hot actor to watch out
for.
>> Who we had to vote for.
>> What?
>> "Obama, George!"
>> What are you talking about?
>> Well, one --
>> We just talked about this on
the phone last week.
>> One time -- I'm telling you,
Mary, one time, when Thomas was
coming home --
>> It was, like, eight years
ago, so it was before he got
sick.
And I don't think you were with
him that time.
>> It was right -- right here in
this kitchen.
And Joyce was up visiting, too.
And Thomas tells all of us how
we had to vote for Hillary.
>> Yeah!
>> "The first woman," blah,
blah, blah.
>> "So exciting!"
>> I remember him saying that.
>> "I've heard her speak in
person."
He gets us all excited.
>> Mom starts shouting, "Get out
the bell.
Where's the bell?"
>> What? I don't understand.
>> Whenever the Gabriels start
talking politics --
>> Mom has a little bell you can
ring.
>> For time out.
>> Where is the bell, Mary?
It was always in the kitchen.
>> It broke.
The clanger broke.
>> During the conventions.
>> What?!
>> We had to throw it out,
Joyce.
>> And then, two months later,
Thomas is on the phone, "Ah,
forget Hillary.
It's Obama!
Oh, my God!
Have you been watching this guy,
his speeches?
Oh, my God!"
And I'd say, "Whoa. Whoa.
What -- What about Hillary?" I'd
say.
He'd say, "No, George.
Don't be stupid.
It's Obama, the first black..."
blah, blah, blah.
"I thought I'd never live to see
the day."
>> Well, I don't see, George,
why it is so wrong to keep
asking who you are.
Can't he ask that?
>> Well, he's not here to ask
anymore.
>> [ Chuckles ] No.
Yeah, no. He isn't.
[ Doorbell rings ]
And, uh, thank you for reminding
us, um, George.
That's -- I think that's the
singer.
>> Oh, that was quick.
>> George, shouldn't you be the
one --
>> No, no. I'll go.
I-I'll get it before Patricia
scares her away.
>> Mary, let George, please.
>> Okay, um, remember, you like
people to like you.
That's not good.
Don't give it away.
He's getting tougher.
He'll do fine.
>> She came right away.
She must be interested.
>> Yeah, she must be.
>> I think she was coming into
the village anyway.
It sounded like that.
Just checking it out.
>> Tricia gonna stay in there?
Where do we fit in?
Where do we belong?
Thomas was just asking that.
Why do I feel like a stranger in
my own country?
>> [ Chuckles ] I remember him
asking that right at this table,
here.
I think I know what he meant.
>> Are you sure you don't want
to be in there with him?
>> No.
He'll -- He'll be fine.
He will do fine.
>> Mary, think of what Thomas
would be feeling now.
>> Oh, no!
I don't want to think of that.
It's probably for the best,
Joyce.
>> Mary, this morning -- I think
Thomas would have liked this.
His warped sense of humor.
>> [ Chuckling ] What?
It wasn't that warped.
>> Well, George was talking to
one of the weekenders that he
does work for, a Democrat.
When did the rich people become
Democrats?
>> [ Chuckles ] I don't know.
>> How did that happen?
>> It just did.
>> And for some reason, he tells
the guy about his mom and his
problems -- the mortgage.
I don't know what he was
expecting, but the guy just
looks at him, looks him up and
down, at his jeans that are
ripped and his dirty hands, and
says, "I hope, George, you're
now not going to vote for him."
>> You're kidding?
>> Trump?
>> Yeah, that's what he said.
>> Oh, my --
>> George is looking for a
little sympathy.
That's what he got instead.
>> People are scared.
Everyone I know is scared.
>> So, what did George say back?
>> The guy hadn't paid him yet,
so nothing.
[ Piano playing ]
>> Oh, she's trying it out.
It sounds good.
>> Yeah, George got it tuned
today.
>> Yeah, Hannah said.
>> I wish I could just talk to
him right now, Mary.
>> Who? Thomas?
>> Yeah.
>> Me, too.
He'd just let me rant.
Thomas just let me rant.
Now it seems like we're all just
ranting along with everyone
else.
No one's listening.
Thomas listened.
There's no news anymore.
What happened to news?
It's all just screaming.
It's just fucked up everything.
Everybody I know seems fucked up
by it.
I would like to talk about that
with Thomas.
>> The election.
>> Yeah.
>> Makes me feel dirty.
>> Yeah, I-I can -- I can
understand that.
>> Filthy, like you just want to
wash it all off.
That's how I feel.
>> Who are we?
I think we all should be asking
that.
Is this really our country?
I mean, Thomas was always asking
that, too.
>> Last night, at the -- the
party with the billionaires --
you know -- you know I was
serving, and that's why my boss
wanted us up here -- just to
serve.
And I'd be standing next to some
rich person with my tray.
They don't look at you.
[ Piano stops ]
>> That's the job, Joyce.
Welcome to my life.
[ Chuckles ]
>> And I overhear this one woman
say -- and this is a quote --
"These days, Tony, I'm only
reading things that I agree
with."
[ Laughter ]
>> I could hear Thomas laughing.
>> Oh, maybe now they're talking
business.
[ Piano resumes ]
No.
>> There's a teacher at my
school.
She's pulled out the cable from
the back of the TV, just yanked
it out, and used pliers to snap
off that little metal pin that's
on the inside.
And she did that, she said, in
case she ever got tempted again.
>> Week after next, they debate.
We should watch that, shouldn't
we?
The debate?
>> Please be human, Hillary.
Please.
>> He won't be.
>> She's not human?
>> Paulie doesn't think so.
>> Well, getting sick is human.
>> Paulie's not alone.
>> Last night, everyone was
talking about how she's back on
the campaign trail.
She's looking great.
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Oh, she's gonna be on
"Jimmy Fallon," too, on Monday.
>> "Too?"
>> He was on last night.
>> You think she'll be human on
"Jimmy Fallon?"
>> He wasn't.
>> He let Fallon rub his hair.
>> That's now the criteria for
being human.
>> You watched "Jimmy Fallon?"
>> I woke up. I couldn't sleep.
This friend of mine in
the village, she owns a little
dress shop.
>> Oh, yeah.
I know who you mean.
>> I don't think you know her.
I don't know how she makes a
living, do you?
>> No.
>> Nothing special in her shop.
>> Oh, man.
Why don't they talk business
now?
>> Well, she hasn't left.
>> [ Sighs ]
>> Just very basic human stuff.
You know, nothing fancy for the
rich weekender, like exotic
olive oil.
>> Yeah, no, uh -- uh, $5 pieces
of chocolate that are this big.
You know, $5?!
>> Funny kids T-shirts --
"London, Paris, Rhinebeck."
[ Laughter ]
Just normal, real human stuff.
Anyway, whenever we see each
other now -- I just thought of
this -- she always says the same
thing, always with a smile --
"Hannah," she says, "what about
us?"
Thomas used to say that.
"What about us?"
>> Did he?
>> Just hear his voice, "What
about us?"
>> What I hear is him being
hopeful.
>> What do you mean?
>> Uh, just -- uh, Thomas was
always looking for something
hopeful.
>> Hence Obama.
>> Yeah, for about five minutes,
Joyce.
Anyway, that's one thing I
remember about my husband.
>> It's a gift.
Wish I had it.
>> Oh, me, too.
>> Me, too.
>> Yeah.
>> "Things get better, Mary.
You'll see.
Thing get better."
Some days, when I was tired, I'd
come home after a long day,
and he'd take one look at me and
he'd say, "Mary, things get
better."
I never said back what I was
thinking.
"But, Thomas, can't things
sometimes get worse?"
[ Water running ]
[ Water stops ]
[ Piano playing ]
>> I think that's George,
showing off to the opera singer.
That's not a good sign, is it?
Oh, you think I should go in
there?
>> I do. I really do.
>> Me, too. Go, go, go.
>> He'll want her to know he's a
musician, too.
>> How much are we asking,
anyways?
Did George have it appraised?
>> Uh, well, we -- we looked
online.
[ Clears throat ]
It's an upright, so $5,000.
>> [ Sighs ]
>> Oh, come on. That'll help.
Fingers crossed.
>> Think of all the cans of Coke
we spilled on that piano.
>> [ Chuckles ]
>> I almost broke my ankle on
its leg.
Thomas was chasing me.
One time, Mary, Thomas climbed
up and on it and sang
"Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your
Comb."
Then he fell off. [ Laughs ]
Mom and Dad were out somewhere.
They never knew.
Dad used to do the pedals for me
when I started.
And I'd sit on his lap, and I
would do the keys, once I could
reach.
[ Piano stops ]
>> One of the, uh, notebooks
Karin and I were looking through
last night -- a show Thomas was
writing about the piano.
A player piano, set in Russia.
He loved everything Russian.
>> [ Chuckles ] Yeah, he did.
>> I know.
>> There was a party, and the
piano, all on its own, starts to
play tunes that everyone knows.
"How does it do it?
"How does it know?"
And there's such a wave of
comfort.
Everyone at the party feels it,
um, being accompanied, I think.
>> Hmm.
Once, Thomas and I were driving
home from Tanglewood.
I was really young, and he took
me to some piano concert.
>> [ Chuckles ]
>> And, um, we got off the
Taconic, and on a parallel road,
we saw a house on fire.
You could see the frame of the
house through the flames.
Everything else was quiet, but
the -- the house was totally
engulfed.
We stopped and watched for a
while.
I was driving here from Hudson,
I suddenly remembered that.
>> Uh, dinner should be ready.
>> She's gone.
George went down $1,000.
Karin, will you please find
something else to sell?
>> Karin, she's joking.
>> Sorry.
>> Hannah, we're doing our best.
>> She told him there was
another Bechstein upright for
sale in Hudson
>> Mm, she was negotiating.
>> So...George went down $1,000,
and...she wrote a check.
I wonder what it's really worth.
You okay?
[ Alarm rings ]
>> Dinner's ready.
>> We heard you playing, Mom.
Can't remember the last time I
heard you play.
>> Are you all right, Patricia?
>> I was gonna go in there and
say, "Is that how you're going
to play it?
Is that how you're going to play
it?"
>> I don't understand, Joyce.
>> It's a joke, Patricia.
[ Piano playing ]
>> I'll put away the rest of
this picnic stuff, Hannah.
I'll put some of it in the
fridge.
>> She just kept saying, "Look
at that chip on that leg.
Look at that scratch."
>> She was negotiating.
>> We played on it.
We were kids.
What do you expect?
>> No, no, he did -- he did
okay.
Uh, Patricia, dinner's ready.
>> What can I do?
>> Uh, we'll eat in the dining
room?
>> I hope so.
>> Where else?
Here, Mom.
Why don't you put a top on this.
Be really careful.
Don't spill it.
George worked really hard on
that.
>> Sometimes, when Patricia
visits, we eat in the living
room.
>> Watch TV?
>> The TV's there.
>> No, not now. Not now.
Not while I'm eating.
>> I can't get the story about
the house on fire out of my
head.
>> I-I think George did a very
nice job on the guacamole.
Really nice.
>> [ Chuckles ] That doesn't
surprise me.
>> Me, neither.
>> Excuse me, Mom.
[ Piano stops ]
>> He's fine.
>> What's George gonna give his
lessons on, now the piano's
sold?
>> Oh, uh, he can go to his
clients' homes.
Um, most of them have keyboards,
right?
>> We still have our crap piano.
That's what he calls it.
He can use that with the
youngest kids.
They don't know the difference.
Let me help you put a top on it.
[ Piano playing ]
This is pretty much the first
thing any of us ever learned to
play...
[voice breaking] on the piano,
Karin.
Onthat piano, right, Mom?
Dad taught Thomas.
Thomas taught George.
George taught me.
>> Bread and butter?
>> Yeah, um...there's a new loaf
in the pantry.
You know, Thomas once tried to
teach me this?
Yeah, he -- he said he could
teach it to anyone.
Well, he met his match.
Now, you're wearing that scarf
that Joyce bought you in Paris.
I recognize that.
>> I am.
>> Yeah, that's very thoughtful.
I'm sure Joyce appreciates that.
>> Well, I found it at the
bottom of your drawer.
I put it on you.
>> [ Chuckles ] The scarf from
Paris, Patricia.
Nice that you're wearing that,
to have that.
>> Paris.
I'm lucky if I get to Kingston.
Is this Bread Alone?
>> Uh, no. Tops Friendly.
>> What's that, Mary?
>> They ate up the Rhinebeck
Stop & Shop.
>> [ Chuckles ]
Oh, Hannah, I almost forgot.
I was gonna tell George.
When I was in Paris...
>> Paris.
>> ...by Place de la Concorde,
there's a Avenue Gabriel.
>> Oh!
>> It runs right in front of our
ambassador's residence.
I like that it does.
I don't know why.
>> Maybe we'd belong there.
[ Chuckles ]
>> Another thing I saw in
Paris -- an advertisement in the
Metro.
It said, "Learn Wall Street
English."
>> What the hell's that?
>> I don't know.
Wall Street English.
And it just had a picture of a
guy screaming, just screaming
like...
It was really scary.
>> Joyce, last night, at my, uh,
birthday dinner, Patricia told
us about a TV commercial she
saw.
>> What commercial?
>> You said last night, he
actually --
>> A politician who's an actor.
>> Yeah.
>> You said last night he
actually was a senator.
>> Yeah.
>> Oh, you got to go to the
party.
>> [ Chuckles ] It wasn't a
party.
>> And, uh, he even ran for
president.
>> You said he had such an
honest face, Patricia.
>> He did have an honest face.
>> And he was advertising
mortgages on TV.
"Spend down your home."
That's where she said she got
the idea from.
He had a sexy voice.
[ Chuckles ] And an honest face.
>> I can set the table, Mary.
Pat, would you like to help me?
>> He had an honest face.
>> I'm sure.
>> Here, Patricia.
You can carry in the bread and
butter.
[ Chuckles ] You're not gonna
get away with doing nothing.
>> I want to be helpful.
>> She's teasing.
She's trying to be a Gabriel.
>> Pat, you can help me.
Uh, Mary, would you like
tablecloth or place mats?
>> Um, uh, place mats.
Tonight's nothing special.
>> And you're sure that you
can't stay tonight?
>> Mom, I can't. I'm sorry.
I can't.
>> You're staying.
>> I am, Pat. I live here now.
[ Piano stops ]
>> I can take some of this
picnic stuff back to our house.
>> There's also, uh, cold
cucumber soup.
We just had it Wednesday.
We -- We should take that out,
too.
George liked it.
He stopped.
>> Then we need soup bowls and
soup spoons.
I'm gonna go get George.
I don't think he thought it
would sell so fast.
>> I'll get the wine, Mary.
>> What about your nice bottle,
Joyce?
>> Oh, I think we drank all that
up.
[ Chuckles ]
Mary, I never told you what Mom
said to me right in front of her
new roommate.
>> What?
>> She goes, um, uh, she never
imagined she'd end up like this,
in a room that wasn't even her
own, and now they want to kick
her out of that.
And [chuckles] I bit my tongue.
The roommate's right there.
Mom, you're 82 years old.
You went and spent all your
money without telling us.
What the hell did you expect?
>> Pat, would rather we use a
tablecloth, okay?
>> Yeah. Wh-Whatever she wants.
It's her house.
>> What else can I do?
>> Patricia, I think we have
everything under control.
>> Where's George?
>> Um...
>> I'm here.
>> I will bet that, uh, Karin
could use your help with the
tablecloth.
>> I've got the vegetables,
Mary.
>> Did she hear me?
>> Take out the soup bowls,
Joyce.
>> What can I do?
>> Take out the soup.
We had it on Wednesday.
Mary said you liked it.
>> You okay, George?
>> And you?
>> Mm-hmm.
>> Mary said she used to make
this same casserole for Thomas
every Sunday night, too.
It's a Gabriel tradition.
>> But it's Friday.
>> He did good.
He did.
Hannah...
things get better.
I'll be right in.
[ Voice breaking ] Thomas,
dinner's ready.
[ Lucius' "Don't Just Sit There"
plays ]
>> ♪ Don't just sit there
♪ Tell me what I wanna know
♪ What I wanna know
♪ Don't just sit there
♪ Tell me what I wanna know
♪ What I wanna know
♪ Did you find love?
♪ Have you found love?
[ Applause ]
♪ Did you find love again?
♪ Did you find love?
♪ Have you found love?
♪ Did you find love again?
[ Applause continues ]
♪ Don't just sit there
♪ Tell me what I wanna know
♪ What I wanna know
♪ Don't just sit there
♪ Tell me what I wanna know
♪ What I wanna know
♪ Did you find love?
♪ Have you found love?
♪ Did you find love again?
♪ Did you find love?
♪ Have you found love?
♪ Did you find love again?
♪ In my heart, I know this
♪ In my heart I know this
♪ It's true
♪ True
♪ It's true
♪ It's true
♪ Did you find love?
♪ Have you found love again?
♪ Did you find love?
♪ Have you found love?
♪ Did you find love again?
♪ Tell me what I wanna know
>> 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 ]
>> Support for
"Theater Close-Up" is provided
by...
the Howard Gilman Foundation,
Bernard and Irene Schwartz,
the LuEsther T. Mertz
Charitable Trust,
and The Wilson Family.