Today In History

A Streetcar Named Desire 1951 Set in the French Quarter of New Orleans during the restless years following World War II this is a story of Blanche DuBois, a fragile and neurotic woman on a desperate prowl for someplace in the world to call her own. Blanche explains her unexpected appearance on Stanley and Stella's (Blanche's sister) doorstep as nervous exhaustion. This, she claims, is the result of a series of financial calamities which have recently claimed the family plantation, Belle Reve. Suspicious, Stanley points out that "under Louisiana's Napoleonic code what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband." Stanley, a brutish man, is as territorial as a panther. He tells Blanche he doesn't like to be swindled and demands to see the bill of sale. This encounter defines Stanley and Blanche's relationship. Starring roles are played by Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh, Kim Hunter, and Karl Malden.