Tenn on Judy Garland: Throw the Ball

Interview with Tennessee Williams

Conducted by James Grissom

New Orleans

1982

She told me once that she dealt with the pains of life--the myriad pains--as if it were a ball you toss around when you're bored. You know, throw the ball against the house until it drives your mother mad--or drives away the blues or the boredom. The pain, she told me, feeds the work, and the work is the ball you throw against the wall, against the world. So, you know, throw the damned ball against the wall. Sing, write, paint, wail, moan. Throw the damned ball.

©  2014  James Grissom