Miller recounts his first viewing of A Streetcar Named Desire in New Haven, his friendship with director Elia Kazan, and the powerful impact of the original production, especially Marlon Brando’s performance. The 1947 New York production opened at the Barrymore Theatre on December 3, directed by Elia Kazan and produced by Irene Selznick, featuring Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski, Kim Hunter as Stella Kowalski, and Jessica Tandy as Blanche DuBois, with scenery and lighting by Jo Mielziner and costumes by Lucinda Ballard. Blanche DuBois arrives at the Elysian Fields flats in New Orleans, seeking her sister Stella Kowalski. She is let in by neighbor Eunice, reunites with Stella, and the two exchange heated dialogue about Blanche’s lost plantation Belle Reve and Stella’s marriage. Stanley Kowalski returns home with friends Steve and Mitch, meets Blanche, and begins to assert his dominant, crude presence. Stanley interrogates Stella and Blanche about the loss of the plantation Belle Reve, citing the Napoleonic code and demanding to appraise Blanche’s furs, jewelry and clothing. Blanche reveals a box of papers showing that Belle Reve was lost through mortgage debts and hands the documents to Stanley. Stella announces she is pregnant and prepares to leave for a drug‑store. The poker night guests arrive, and the household prepares for the party. During the poker night, the men (Stanley, Steve, Mitch, Pablo) play cards while Stella and Blanche arrive; Blanche reveals she is a high‑school English teacher from Laurel, and Mitch is a plant worker in the precision‑bench department caring for his sick mother. Tensions erupt as Stanley violently assaults Stella, leading to a chaotic fight, Stanley’s temporary incapacitation, and his desperate calling of Eunice for his “baby.” Stella is revealed to be pregnant; she and Blanche clash over Stanley’s cruelty and discuss a desperate plan to solicit money from the wealthy oilman Shep Huntleigh. Stanley returns home in the morning with packages, unaware of the women’s conversation, and embraces Stella, while Blanche continues to protest his brutish nature. Blanche writes a frantic letter to Shep Huntleigh, anxiously rehearses her flirtations, and confesses her fears about aging and losing her allure; Stanley continues his aggressive posturing while a violent argument erupts between Eunice and Steve. Blanche briefly kisses a newspaper collector who stops by for a subscription, and later Mitch arrives with roses, raising Blanche’s hope for rescue. Blanche and Mitch spend the late‑night hours together after an outing to the Lake Pontchartrain amusement park. Mitch shows a plaster Mae West statuette, reveals his membership in the New Orleans Athletic Club, discloses his weight (207 lb) and height (6′1½″), and tells Blanche that his mother is gravely ill and expected to die soon. He mentions that Stanley and Stella have gone out with Mr. and Mrs. Hubbell to a midnight preview at Loew’s State. Blanche, exhausted, confides a traumatic backstory: she is a low‑paid summer schoolteacher who came to New Orleans for financial reasons, and she recounts a past marriage that ended in a suicide at Moon Lake Casino, detailing the night’s chaotic events and the shooting of “Allan.” Stanley spreads scandalous rumors about Blanche’s past in the town of Laurel—her fame at the Flamingo hotel, a high‑school expulsion after a scandal with a seventeen‑year‑old boy—and declares he has bought a bus ticket to force her to leave on Tuesday; he also reveals Mitch is his longtime friend from the engineering plant and bowling team, and Stella prepares a birthday cake with twenty‑five candles for Blanche. Blanche leaves a phone message for Mitch and receives a Greyhound ticket back to Laurel; Stella, pregnant, asks Stanley to take her to the hospital after a violent confrontation. Mitch arrives at Blanche’s apartment late at night; their dialogue reveals that Mitch has heard rumors about Blanche’s past from a merchant named Kiefaber, Stanley, and a man called Shaw. Blanche confesses a series of desperate affairs after Allan’s death, acknowledges lying about her reputation, and briefly proposes marriage, which Mitch rejects, saying she isn’t clean enough for his mother. A blind Mexican flower‑seller appears briefly, offering “flores para los muertos.” Mitch leaves in panic; Blanche collapses, crying “Fire!”