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The Birth of Rose Williams
Born in Columbus, Mississippi to Cornelius (a traveling salesman) and Edwina Williams (a southern belle). She was the first child of the three children. She was diagnosed with schizophrenia as a young women. Causing Tennessee Williams's relationship with Rose to affect him and impact his writing. -
The Birth of Tennessee Williams
Born in Columbus, Mississippi to Cornelius and Edwina Williams, he was the second child of three children. Tennessee Williams did not have a good relationship with his Father. As his Father was a heavy drinker while traveling and a violently abusive father at home. Williams was often protected by his Mother. -
Tennessee Williams Fell Sick
Tennessee Williams almost died from Diphtheria when he was only five years old. Diphtheria is a serious infection that causes difficulty in breathing, heart problems, and death. His case was so deadly that he was paralyzed from the waist down for nearly two years. During those two years, he would exercise his brain by reading and eventually writing his own little stories. It was his way of coping with confinement. -
Moving of The Williams Family
When Tennessee Williams was eight years old, his father was promoted to a job at the home office of an international shoe company in St. Louis. -
The Birth of Dakin Williams
Born In St. Louis, Mississippi to Cornelius and Edwina Williams. Dakin Williams was the third child of the three. The younger brother of Tennessee Williams. He was born a year after the Williams moved to St. Louis. -
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Attended High School
Tennessee Williams attended Soldan High School and University City High School during the 1920s. -
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The Great Depression
Lasting almost 10 years and affecting nearly every country in the world, it was marked by steep declines in industrial production and prices, mass unemployment, banking panics, and sharp increases in rates of poverty and homelessness. Williams's play "The Glass Menagerie" was set during the Depression.
https://www.britannica.com/story/causes-of-the-great-depression#:~:text=Lasting%20almost%2010%20years%20(from,rates%20of%20poverty%20and%20homelessness. -
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University of Missouri in Columbia
Tennessee Williams enrolled in journalism classes, yet he found it boring. He then started to participate in writing contests to earn experience and money. Williams would submit his poetry, essays, stories, and plays. His father pulled him out of school to make him work at the International Shoe Company factory. His dislike of the job helped Tennessee to write more stories per week.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_Williams -
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Washington University in St. Louis
Enrolled at this university, but soon dropped out after not winning a play contest. It is assumed that he dropped out due to personal issues. -
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Playwriting
Tennessee Williams wrote over 30 full-length plays and 70 one-act plays in his career. -
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University of Iowa in Iowa City
Tennessee Williams transferred and graduated from the University of Iowa with a B.A. in English. -
Name Change
Williams' name was originally Thomas Williams and then adopted the name Tennessee Williams as his pen name for his professional career as a playwright. -
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World War 2
Over the next six years, WW2 would continue to take and destroy. Once the war ended, the world went through a huge change. Williams's play "A Streetcar Named Desire" is a realistic portrayal of people and society undergoing change. This play was written after WW2 during the period of change. -
Rose Williams's Lobotomy
Because Rose's case of schizophrenia worsened, the prefrontal lobotomy was done when Williams was out at college. Rose was then forever institutionalized. -
The Glass Menagerie
Amanda Wingfield, a faded Southern belle of middle age, shares a St. Louis apartment with her son, Tom, and his older sister, Laura. Amanda yearns for the comforts and admiration she remembers from her days as a fêted debutante. She worries about the future of her daughter Laura, a young woman with a limp and a tremulous insecurity about the outside. Themes included were escapism, unfulfilled desire, reality, and etc. world.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Glass_Menagerie -
New York Drama Critic's Circle Award
The play "The Glass Menagerie" won the NY Drama Critic's Circle Award for Best American Play. -
A Streetcar Named Desire
In short, it's about a woman who comes to live with her sister and her sister’s husband. She eventually loses her grip on reality as she fails to get what she most desires. The theme included madness, homosexuality, the corruption of modern America, etc. He used the girls' dependence on men to expose and judge the treatment of women then.
https://study.com/learn/lesson/a-streetcar-named-desire-tennessee-williams.html#:~:text=A%20Streetcar%20Named%20Desire%20is,it%20is%20she%20most%20desires. -
Pulitzer Prize
The play "A Streetcar Named Desire" won the Pulitzer Prize for drama of the year. -
New York Drama Critics' Circle Award
The play "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" won the NY Drama Critic's Award for Best American Play. -
Pulitzer Prize
the play "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" won the Pulitzer Prize for drama of the year -
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
the play examines the relationships among members of Big Daddy's family, primarily between his son Brick and Maggie the "Cat", Brick's wife. The reason for that is that Brick had never slept with his wife since he was secretly gay. Big Daddy (the Dad) is unaware of the fact that he, himself, is dying from cancer. The themes are lies, unrequited love, sexuality, death, and regrets.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_on_a_Hot_Tin_Roof -
Death of his lover
Frank Merlo was Tennessee Williams's lover of 15 years. He was diagnosed with lung cancer and later died in 1963. After Merlo died, Williams fell into a deep depression and increased his abuse of drugs and alcohol. -
Tennessee Williams Hospitalized
Williams was hospitalized when he started to depend more on drugs and alcohol. He attempted to cope with his depression and insomnia. -
Memoirs
Memoirs is a well-detailed book about Tennessee Williams's life and his relationships with his family, drugs, alcohol, and lovers. Memoir also discusses his homosexuality. -
American Theater Hall of Fame
Four years before Williams death he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. -
The Death of Tennessee Williams
Williams died at the Hotel Elysée in New York City at the age of 71. The Chief Medical Examiner of New York City, Elliot M. Gross, reported that Williams choked on a plastic bottle cap that looked to be from a bottle of nasal spray or eye solution. The report was later corrected on August 14, 1983, to state that Williams had been using the plastic cap found in his mouth to ingest barbiturates. And had actually died from a toxic level of Seconal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_Williams