Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives, & Tennessee Williams

<b>Book Vs. Movie: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof</b><br /><b>The 1955 Play Vs. the 1958 Classic Film<br /><br /><br /></b>The Margos are feeling very Southern in this episode devoted to the work of <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/tennessee-williams-about-tennessee-williams/737/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tennessee Williams</a> and his personal favorite work--<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_on_a_Hot_Tin_Roof_(1958_film)" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cat on a Hot Tin Roof</a>. The 1955 play was based on his 1952 short story “Three Plays of a Summer Game” and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama during its Broadway debut. The story of the Pollitt family in the Mississippi Delta and their personal grievances and torturous secrets was considered incredibly raw and racy for the conservative 1950s. <br /><b><br /></b>The 1955 play was directed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elia_Kazan" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Elia Kazan</a> and starred future Dallas star <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Bel_Geddes" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Barbara Bel Geddes</a> as Maggie “The Cat” Pollitt and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Gazzara" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ben Gazzara</a> as Brick Pollitt. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burl_Ives" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Burl Ives</a> (“Big Daddy”) and Madeleine Sherwood (“Sister Woman”) would go on to star in the film adaptation in 1958. Bel Geddes and Kazan were nominated for the Tony Award in the original production, and the themes of homophobia, family bonds, and sexism excited audiences then and to this day. <br /><b><br /></b>The film was directed and adapted by Richard Brooks during a time known as the “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hays_Code" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Hays Code</a>,” which meant the homosexual yearnings expressed by Brick Pollitt (played by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Newman" tar