Sebastian Venable
“Sebastian said, Truth is the
bottom of a bottomless well.”
—Violet Venable, Suddenly
Last Summer
Waldo Lydecker: How singularly innocent I look this morning.
Addison DeWitt: Hardly, my dear. Your face looks like a dead animal act.
Waldo Lydecker: Ah, charming to the last, my dear witty DeWitt.
(Waldo Lydecker pauses, lounging in his bathtub, composing his latest review for the New York Times)
Addison DeWitt: You can just put that poison pen down for a little bit, honey. Something has suddenly come to my urgent attention.
Waldo Lydecker: How can there be anything suddenly urgent to your failing drama critic career, my dear Addison. You’re a failure, let’s face it.
Addison DeWitt: What do you take me for?
Waldo Lydecker: I don't know that I'd take you for anything...
Addison DeWitt: Sebastian Venable showed up last night. He’s come out of the closet.
Waldo Lydecker: How tragic. He should’ve stayed invisible.
Addison DeWitt: He’s actually rather goodlooking.
Waldo Lydecker: My dear, either you were born in an extremely rustic community, where good manners are unknown, or you suffer from a common gay delusion that the mere fact of being gay exempts you from the rules of civilized conduct.
Addison DeWitt: That lovely old Madame Violet Sebastian witch, his mother, is all upset. Sebastian is blowing the cover off Violet’s fag-hag image of him being a closeted Poet.
Waldo Lydecker: I simply cannot stand morons like you any longer. If you don't don’t get out of my bathroom this instant I shall run amok.
Addison DeWitt: Come now, my dear. Everybody knows you and Sebastian were passionate lovers there for awhile.
Waldo Lydecker: I shall never forget the weekend Sebastian went invisible. A silver sun burned through the sky like a huge magnifying glass. It was the hottest Sunday in my recollection. I felt as if I were the only human being left in New York. For with Sebastian’s sudden, horrible invisibility, I was alone. I, Waldo Lydecker, was the only one who really knew him, and I had just begun to write Sebastian's story when…
Addison DeWitt: Save the sob story, Waldo. I’ve heard it a million times. Violet Venable having Sebastian lobotomized and all that. So Sebastian couldn’t be such a fag anymore.
Waldo Lydecker: Pass me that martini, will you, my dear. It’s so upsetting thinking about poor Sebastian Venable again that way.
Addison DeWitt: Still in love with him, I see.
Waldo Lydecker: Have you ever been in love?
Addison DeWitt: Eve Harrington once got a decent review outta me…
Waldo Lydecker: Sebastian was quick to seize upon anything that would improve his mind or his appearance. Sebastian had innate breeding, but he deferred to my judgment and taste. I selected a more attractive wardrobe for him. I taught him what clothes were more becoming to him. Through me, he met everyone: The famous and the infamous. His youth and beauty, his poise and charm of manner captivated them all. He had warmth, vitality. He had authentic magnetism. Wherever we went, he stood out. Men fell in love him; women envied him. Sebastian became infamous for his male beauty—as well as his forbidden desires. I did everything I could to please him—down there on my hands and knees.
Addison DeWitt: By stooping so low you only degraded yourself...
Waldo Lydecker: If you come a little bit closer, my dear Addison, I’ll simply drown you right here and now in this sudsy little bathtub, sweetheart.
“Sebastian said, Truth is the
bottom of a bottomless well.”
—Violet Venable, Suddenly
Last Summer
Waldo Lydecker: How singularly innocent I look this morning.
Addison DeWitt: Hardly, my dear. Your face looks like a dead animal act.
Waldo Lydecker: Ah, charming to the last, my dear witty DeWitt.
(Waldo Lydecker pauses, lounging in his bathtub, composing his latest review for the New York Times)
Addison DeWitt: You can just put that poison pen down for a little bit, honey. Something has suddenly come to my urgent attention.
Waldo Lydecker: How can there be anything suddenly urgent to your failing drama critic career, my dear Addison. You’re a failure, let’s face it.
Addison DeWitt: What do you take me for?
Waldo Lydecker: I don't know that I'd take you for anything...
Addison DeWitt: Sebastian Venable showed up last night. He’s come out of the closet.
Waldo Lydecker: How tragic. He should’ve stayed invisible.
Addison DeWitt: He’s actually rather goodlooking.
Waldo Lydecker: My dear, either you were born in an extremely rustic community, where good manners are unknown, or you suffer from a common gay delusion that the mere fact of being gay exempts you from the rules of civilized conduct.
Addison DeWitt: That lovely old Madame Violet Sebastian witch, his mother, is all upset. Sebastian is blowing the cover off Violet’s fag-hag image of him being a closeted Poet.
Waldo Lydecker: I simply cannot stand morons like you any longer. If you don't don’t get out of my bathroom this instant I shall run amok.
Addison DeWitt: Come now, my dear. Everybody knows you and Sebastian were passionate lovers there for awhile.
Waldo Lydecker: I shall never forget the weekend Sebastian went invisible. A silver sun burned through the sky like a huge magnifying glass. It was the hottest Sunday in my recollection. I felt as if I were the only human being left in New York. For with Sebastian’s sudden, horrible invisibility, I was alone. I, Waldo Lydecker, was the only one who really knew him, and I had just begun to write Sebastian's story when…
Addison DeWitt: Save the sob story, Waldo. I’ve heard it a million times. Violet Venable having Sebastian lobotomized and all that. So Sebastian couldn’t be such a fag anymore.
Waldo Lydecker: Pass me that martini, will you, my dear. It’s so upsetting thinking about poor Sebastian Venable again that way.
Addison DeWitt: Still in love with him, I see.
Waldo Lydecker: Have you ever been in love?
Addison DeWitt: Eve Harrington once got a decent review outta me…
Waldo Lydecker: Sebastian was quick to seize upon anything that would improve his mind or his appearance. Sebastian had innate breeding, but he deferred to my judgment and taste. I selected a more attractive wardrobe for him. I taught him what clothes were more becoming to him. Through me, he met everyone: The famous and the infamous. His youth and beauty, his poise and charm of manner captivated them all. He had warmth, vitality. He had authentic magnetism. Wherever we went, he stood out. Men fell in love him; women envied him. Sebastian became infamous for his male beauty—as well as his forbidden desires. I did everything I could to please him—down there on my hands and knees.
Addison DeWitt: By stooping so low you only degraded yourself...
Waldo Lydecker: If you come a little bit closer, my dear Addison, I’ll simply drown you right here and now in this sudsy little bathtub, sweetheart.
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