Kushner, Tony. Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1993. 119 p.
As with Amadeus, some other dramaturgical folks have already done much of my work for me: Angels in America glossary online.
Flackman: According to the OED, “A press agent; a publicity man,” or “more loosely, an apologist or supporter.”
“MARTIN HELLER, a Reagan Administration Justice Department flackman, played by the actor playing Harper.” (4)
Roy M. Cohn: According to Wiki, “Roy Marcus Cohn (1927-1986) was an American lawyer who came to prominence during the investigations by Senator Joseph McCarthy into alleged Communists in the U.S. government, especially during the Army-McCarthy Hearings. He was also a key figure of prosecution in the Rosenbergs trial. A highly controversial figure, he wielded tremendous political power at times.” He was, as the play has him, disbarred, in 1986, for “unethical and unprofessional conduct, including misappropriation of clients’ funds, lying on a bar application, and pressuring a client to amend his will”; the article also says that he did indeed die of AIDS and was popularly rumored to be homosexual.
“Roy M. Cohn, the character, is based on the late Roy M. Cohn (1927-1986), who was all too real…” (5)
Stanley Kunitz: According to Wiki, an American poet who lived from 1905-2006; he was Poet Laureate in 2000. The full text of the poem Kushner quotes to forward the play, “The Testing-Tree,” may be found here.
“In a murderous time/the heart breaks and breaks/and lives by breaking. –Stanley Kunitz, ‘The Testing-Tree.’” (8)
Yarzheit Candle: A candle lit on the annual anniversary of the death of a family member, which then burns for 24 hours, according to Jewish mourning customs. More on Wiki. Apparently, they can be lit at funerals, too?
“A prayer shawl embroidered with a Star of David is draped over the lid, and by the head a yarzheit candle is burning.” (9)
Schtup: “Slang for sexual intercourse.” Not volunteering the obvious synonyms, eh?
“ROY: Tell her I’m schtupping the judge.” (14)
Emma Goldman: According to FreeDictionary, Emma Goldman (1869-1940) was a “United States anarchist (born in Russia) who opposed conscription; was deported to the Soviet Union in 1919.” She was born to an Orthodox Jewish family, and Wiki says her work experienced renewed popularity in the 1970s. Wiki’s got a lot more about her life.
“LOUIS: My grandmother actually saw Emma Goldman speak.” (19)
“Little Sheba”: A reference to a lost dog, “Sheba,” in Daniel Mann’s 1952 film Come Back, Little Sheba, based on the play of the same name by William Inge. Here’s one of IMDB’s plot summaries: “For two decades Doc and Lola Delaney avoided coming to terms with what Doc considered a “shot gun” marriage. Lola lost the baby and gives a lot of her affection to Sheba, a dog that disappeared a few months before the film opens. Doc blames Lola for having to drop out of medical school and not becoming a “real” doctor. Until joining AA a year ago, his escape was alcohol. Then college student Marie rents a room in their home. Doc feels passion for the first time in 20 years. But Marie has two suitors her age. Lola — unaware of Doc’s emotions –becomes as interested in Marie’s future as if Marie were her daughter.”
“PRIOR: Call an animal ‘Little Sheba’ and you can’t expect it to stick around.” (20)
Shirley Booth: According to Wiki, Shirley Booth (1898-1992) was an award-winning American actress. Among many other roles, she played the female lead in Come Back, Little Sheba – the disappointed wife, Lola Delaney, who keeps calling for her dog, Sheba, to come back. Thus Prior’s reference.
“PRIOR: I did my best Shirley Booth this morning, floppy slippers, housecoat, curlers, can of Little Friskies; “Come back, Little Sheba, come back. . . .” (21)
Conran’s: Hm, looks like a line of houseware stores run by British designer Terence Conran. The furniture looks like kind of modern, trendy, modular stuff — right angles, smooth lines, stark colors that kind of thing. I guess Harper associates Conran’s with yuppies/worldliness/urban living or something?
“We’ll forget church teachings and buy furniture at . . . at Conran’s and become yuppies.” (23)
Hegelian: Refers to Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), a “German idealist philosopher who interpreted nature and human history and culture as expressions of a dialectical process in which Spirit, or Mind, realizes its full potentiality. His major works include The Phenomenology of Spirit (1807) and The Philosophy of Right (1821).” More at Wiki, o’course.
“LOUIS: . . . maybe a person who has this neo-Hegelian positivist sense of constant historical progress towards happiness or perfection or something . . .” (25)
“I’m ready for my closeup, Mr. DeMille”: One of the last lines of Billy Wilder’s 1950 film Sunset Blvd. Here’s IMDB’s synopsis of the film: “The story, set in ’50s Hollywood, focuses on Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), a silent-screen goddess whose pathetic belief in her own indestructibility has turned her into a demented recluse. The crumbling Sunset Boulevard mansion where she lives with only her butler, Max (Erich von Stroheim) who was once her director and husband has become her self-contained world. Norma dreams of a comeback to pictures and she begins a relationship with Joe Gillis (William Holden), a small-time writer who becomes her lover, that will soon end with murder and total madness.” The quote’s the end of a short monologue the delusional actress delivers to newsmen filming her as she’s being taken away (for murder, sounds like); in whole, the monologue runs: “And I promise you I’ll never desert you again because after ‘Salome’ we’ll make another picture and another picture. You see, this is my life! It always will be! Nothing else! Just us, the cameras, and those wonderful people out there in the dark!… All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up.”
“PRIOR (Alone, putting on makeup, then examining the results in the mirror; to the audience): ‘I’m ready for my closeup, Mr. DeMille.’” (30)
Lymphadenopathy: Literally, “disease of the lymph nodes,” often characterized by the swelling of the nodes. Wiki says generalized lymphadenopathy can be a first sign of HIV infection, prior to the onset of the actual full-blown immune-system failure of AIDS.
“HENRY: And you have pronounced swelling of glands in your neck, groin, and armpits–lymphadenopathy is another sign.” (43)
Candidiasis: “Infection by fungi of the genus Candida, generally C. albicans, most commonly involving the skin, oral mucosa (thrush), respiratory tract, or vagina; rarely there is a systemic infection or endocarditis” — that is, a yeast infection. Wiki says that life-threatening yeast infections usually occur only in severely immune-system-compromised patients — such as AIDS sufferers.
“HENRY: “And you have oral candidiasis and maybe a little more fungus under the fingernails of two digits on your right hand.” (43)
Walter Winchell: According to Wiki, Walter Winchell (1897-1972) was “an American newspaper and radio commentator who invented the gossip column at the New York Evening Graphic. He broke the journalistic taboo against exposing the private lives of public figures, permanently altering the shape of journalism and celebrity. He was a top gossip reporter, whose newspaper column and radio show could make or break a celebrity.” Also according to the article he was Jewish; associated with both major gangsters and J. Edgar Hoover; also (rather contradictorily) supported FDR; and (again contradictorily) supported McCarthy, McCarthyism, and the whole anti-Communist Red Scare shindig. Winchell’s gossip often, the article states, came from no credible source, and he carried on public feuds in his work; he faded into relative obscurity prior to his death.
“ROY: I’ve had many fathers, I owe my life to them, powerful, powerful men. Walter Winchell, Edgar Hoover.” (56)
Belle Reeve: Apparently a reference to the Tennessee Williams play A Streetcar Named Desire. The protagonist, a mentally-disturbed, alcoholic Southern belle, loses her Mississippi familial estate, “Belle Reve,” and travels to New Orleans, where her breakdown progresses further. Haven’t read Streetcar yet, which makes me a very bad theater student — but, Lord, I am not a Williams fan. The man beats his dead thematic horses into a pulp, and I can only take so many messed-up insular Southern families and “fragile beauties.” If you want to see a great one-line sum-up of Williams’ plays, watch Jim Carrey’s costume test as Count Olaf on the DVD of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events: “It is hot, and I am lonely.”
“BELIZE: Not to despair, Belle Reeve.” (59)
Lability: According to Merriam-Webster Online, “1. Readily or continually undergoing chemical, physical, or biological change or breakdown : unstable. 2. Readily open to change.”
“PRIOR: This is a very strange drug, this drug. Emotional lability, for starters.” (60)
Concupiscence: “A strong desire, especially sexual desire; lust.” Wiki seems to suggest that there’s a whole theological debate over the meaning and religious appropriateness of concupiscence — which would fit in with all the religious imagery of the play.
“PRIOR: And would you deny me this little solace–betray my concupiscence to Florence Nightingale’s storm troopers?” (61)
Ed Meese: According to Wiki, Edwin “Ed” Meese III (1931-)”served as the seventy-fifth Attorney General of the United States (1985-1988),” that is, during the Reagan administration. He was apparently repeatedly investigated for and accused of corruption, though nothing definite was ever uncovered, and was extremely loyal to Reagan.
“MARTIN: And Justice is the hub. Especially since Ed Meese took over.” (63)
Brahmin: “A member of a cultural and social elite, especially of that formed by descendants of old New England families,” taken from the Indian “brahman” or “brahmin,” “A member of the highest of the four major castes of traditional Indian society, responsible for officiating at religious rites and studying and teaching the Vedas.”
“ROY: The disbarment committee: genteel gentleman Brahmin lawyers, country-club men.” (66-67)
Sabrett Wagon: A streetside food cart in New York that sells Sabrett brand hot dogs. They all have blue-and-yellow umbrellas. Here’s the official Sabrett page, with a picture of a cart.
“A Sabrett wagon is selling hot dogs.” (69)
Pentamidine: “An antiinfective used as the isethionate salt in the treatment of pneumonia, leishmaniasis, and early African trypanosomiasis.” Which probably means that Prior’s being treated for a severe form of pneumonia, called pneumocystis pneumonia, which primarily effects immune-system-impaired individuals — like those with AIDS. More about the drug at Wiki; it doesn’t look at all like a friendly drug — lots of listed side effects.
“Prior is at the outpatient clinic at the hospital with Emily, the nurse; she has him on a pentamidine IV drip.” (89)
Jeane Kirkpatrick: According to Wiki, Jeane Kirkpatrick (1926-2006) was “an American ambassador and an ardent anticommunist. After serving as Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy adviser in his 1980 campaign and later in his Cabinet, the longtime Democrat turned Republican was nominated as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and became the first woman to hold this position. She is famous for her ‘Kirkpatrick Doctrine,’ which advocates U.S. support of anticommunist governments around the world, including authoritarian dictatorships, if they were not totalitarian and went along with Washington’s aims– believing they could be led into democracy by example. She wrote, ‘Traditional authoritarian governments are less repressive than revolutionary autocracies.’”
“. . . you know, Jeane Kirkpatrick for God’s sake will go on and on about freedom and so what does that mean, the word freedom, when she talks about it, or human rights . . .” (89)
Annie Hall: An Academy-Award-winning 1977 Woody Allen film. Wiki’s plot synopsis: “The film is set in New York City and Los Angeles. Allen plays Alvy Singer, a comedian obsessed with death, attempting to maintain a relationship with the ditzy but exuberant title character (played by Diane Keaton). The film chronicles their relationship over several years, intercut with various fantasy trips into each other’s history (Annie is able to “see” Alvy’s family when Alvy was only a child, and likewise Alvy observes Annie’s past sexual relationships). In the flashbacks showing Alvy as a child, we learn that Alvy Singer grew up in Brooklyn. His father operated a bumper cars concession. He claims the family home was located below a roller coaster on Coney Island. After several years, many arguments and many reconciliations, the two realize they are fundamentally different and split up. Annie moves in with a Hollywood record company executive (played by Paul Simon). Alvy eventually realizes he still loves her and tries to convince her to return with him to New York. He fails and, resignedly, returns home to write a drama about their relationship. Later, after they are able to meet on good terms as friends, Alvy ends the film by musing about how love and relationships are something we all require despite their often painful and complex nature.” Seems like Kushner carefully picked films to reference with themes similar to Angels‘ own themes/plot.
Payess: Also “payot,” “peyot,” “payos,” or “peyes”; the sidelocks or sideburns worn by Jews in accordance with Judaism’s laws regarding shaving.
“LOUIS: . . . And I feel like Sid the Yid, you know I mean like Woody Allen in Annie Hall, with the payess and the gabardine coat . . .” (91)
Louis Farrakhan: According to Wiki, Louis Farrakhan (1933-) is “the acting head of the Nation of Islam (NOI) as the National Representative of Elijah Muhammad. He is also well-known as an advocate for African American interests and a critic of American society. Farrakhan has been the center of much controversy, and critics have, among other things, said that his views are racist, homophobic, and antisemitic. Farrakhan denies these charges, and frequently insists that his controversial comments are taken out of context by critics.” The article has a section devoted to these remarks.
Ed Koch: According to Wiki, Edward Irving Koch (1924) “was a United States Congressman from 1969 to 1977 and the Mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989.” Koch is Jewish, and his sexuality has been a matter of public curiosity throughout his life — he has never married and refuses to discuss the matter, denying claims that he is homosexual. (He’s a supporter of gay rights, looks like; though it also looks like he’s been criticized for not addressing the New York AIDS crisis of the ’80s directly or quickly enough.) I’m guessing that Belize is citing him as racist because, in 1988, he publicly criticized presidential candidate Jesse Jackson, saying that Jews, in particular, should not vote for the allegedly anti-Semite Jackson.
“Hymietown”: According to Wiki, in a 1984 conversation with a Washington Post reporter, Jesse Jackson, at the time a presidential candidate, referred to New York as “Hymietown” — “hymie” is a racist slur term for a Jew.
Rainbow Coalition: According to Wiki, short for “National Rainbow Coalition,” a political organization created by Jesse Jackson during his 1984 presidential campaign “to demand social programs, voting rights, and affirmative action” for segments of the population neglected by Reagan’s policies. The name came from the title of the keynote address which Jackson delivered at the 1984 Democratic National Convention, in which he called for “Arab Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, youth, disabled veterans, small farmers, lesbians and gays to join with African Americans and Jewish Americans for political purpose.” The Coalition still exists, as part of Rainbow/PUSH, an organization founded by Jackson which combines two social activism organizations — the Coalition and Operation PUSH.
“BELIZE: ‘Most black people.’ That’s rascist, Louis, and I think most Jews . . .
LOUIS: Louis Farrakhan.
BELIZE: Ed Koch.
LOUIS: Jesse Jackson.
BELIZE: Jackson. Oh, really, Louis this is . . .
LOUIS: Hymietown! Hymietown!
BELIZE: Louis, you voted for Jesse Jackson. You send checks to the Rainbow Coalition.” (95)
In Love with the Night Mysterious: A fictional (that is, not real) novel — Belize is being facetious, mocking Louis. “In love with the night mysterious” is also a line from the Cole Porter song “So in Love” from the 1948 musical Kiss Me, Kate. It’s a very simple love song, but some of the lyrics seem to resonate with Angels relationships and themes: “So taunt me and hurt me / Deceive me, desert me / I’m yours ’til I die.”
“BELIZE: I’d swear that’s a line from my favorite bestselling paperback novel, In Love with the Night Mysterious, except I don’t think you’ve ever read it.” (96)
Democracy in America: Belize may just be throwing another made-up title out to mock Louis, but there’s also the possibility he’s referring to a real book — perhaps Alexis de Tocqueville’s two-volume 1835 and 1840 Democracy in America (the translated title), in which Tocqueville described American democracy as he saw it and, it appears, suggested that it worked in the U.S. because of “unique” American conditions and values (though he saw and predicted problems with the system, as well). More on the book at Wiki: here and here.
“BELIZE: You ought to. Instead of spending the rest of your life trying to get through Democracy in America.” (96)
Aleph: “The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.” Wiki has pictures and more on its significance in Judaism; the most relevant here is probably that it is begins each of the three words that make up the name God gives for himself in Exodus, when Moses asks it — translated usually as “I am that I am.”
“The book opens; there is a large Aleph inscribed on its pages, which bursts into flames.” (99)
The Nation: According to Wiki, the Nation is “a weekly U.S. periodical devoted to politics and culture, self-described as ‘the flagship of the left.’” Here’s its official page.
“ROY: They say terrible things about me in the Nation.” (108)
Ex-parte: “1. Law From or on one side only, with the other side absent or unrepresented. 2. From a one-sided or strongly biased point of view.”
“JOE: Roy, you were the Assistant United States Attorney on the Rosenberg case, ex-parte communication with the judge during the trial would be . . .” (108)
Zaftig: “1. Full-bosomed. 2. Having a full, shapely figure.”
“ETHEL ROSENBERG: You were heavy back then. Zaftig, mit hips.” (111)
