Street Poker Meaning
Not on view
Date
1948
Classification
Paintings
Medium
Tempera and oil on linen mounted on composition board
Dimensions
Sheet (sight): 36 × 48in. (91.4 × 121.9 cm)
In poker, players form sets of five playing cards, called hands, according to the rules of the game. Each hand has a rank, which is compared against the ranks of other hands participating in the showdown to decide who wins the pot. In high games, like Texas hold 'em and seven-card stud, the highest-ranking hands win. Home Strategy Poker Terms Fourth Street Fourth Street In flop games, it is the fourth community card dealt (also known as 'the turn') and represents the third round of betting. The card in a round of betting for which only one new card is dealt or revealed. The street number identifies the number of cards each player has at that point in a stud game or the number of board cards that have been revealed in a community card game. EXAMPLE: 'Fourth street was the Jack of spades.' APPLIES TO: Online and Land-based Venues. By Mark Harlan, Chris Derossi. Part of Winning at Internet Poker For Dummies Cheat Sheet. If you’re an online-poker player, then you’re likely familiar with abbreviations that make Internet poker more enjoyable. At the very least, knowing online-poker abbreviations lets you know what people have to say about the poker prowess of the table (including what they say about you).
Accession number
85.49.2
Credit line
Mrs. Percy Uris Bequest
Rights and reproductions
© T.H. Benton and R.P. Benton Testamentary Trusts / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
In 1947, Thomas Hart Benton was commissioned by Hollywood producer David O. Selznick to create an original painting based on a scene in the film version of Tennessee Williams’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, A Streetcar Named Desire. The work was a gift for Selznick’s first wife, Irene, a theatrical producer responsible for bringing the play to Broadway in the same year. Poker Night captures the sexual tension and violent undertones in the relationships between Blanche DuBois, a down-and-out Southern belle (holding up a mirror), her sister, Stella (leaning over the armchair), and Stella’s husband, the hot-tempered, childlike Stanley Kowalski (wearing a white undershirt). It documents one of the play’s most dramatic and memorable moments, when Blanche taunts a drunk and angry Stanley with her petty provocations and refined airs.
Audio
Thomas Hart Benton, Poker Night (from A Streetcar Named Desire), 1948
Thomas Hart Benton, Poker Night (from A Streetcar Named Desire), 1948
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Kathryn Potts: As you look at this painting by Thomas Hart Benton, I think you can't help but be aware of the incredible sense of artificiality.
Narrator: Kathryn Potts is Associate Director, Helena Rubinstein Chair of Education at the Whitney.
Kathryn Potts: However, the theatricality of the painting is totally appropriate because what we're looking at is a scene from the theatre and these are actors on a stage. The play is Tennessee Williams's Pulitzer Prize winning A Streetcar Named Desire, which would later become a movie. This painting was painted on commission. It was intended as a surprise gift for Irene Selznik, who was the producer of Streetcar.
What's really interesting about the story, however, is that Jessica Tandy, who plays the Blanche Du Bois character was incredibly offended by the way that Benton portrayed her. She looks actually like she 'd be the prize contestant in a wet T-shirt contest. Her dress reveals more than it covers up. What's also interesting is that you compare the painting, as presented by Benton, to photographs that were actually made of the stage version of the play, Jessica Tandy never wore a dress like this. She in fact wore these kind of flouncy costumes with ribbons and bows on them, and southern-lady type hats, and she wasn't at all somebody who would have tried to catch the attention of Stanley.
And Benton kind of creates his own interpretation. And it was really this reason that Tandy as an actress felt that it was very inappropriate, and the way we would probably describe this today was that she felt that Benton was blaming the victim.
Thomas Hart Benton, Poker Night (from A Streetcar Named Desire), 1948
Thomas Hart Benton, Poker Night (from A Streetcar Named Desire), 1948
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Kathryn Potts: Al observar esta pintura de Thomas Hart Benton, creo que es imposible evitar la increíble sensación de artificialidad.
Narrador: Kathryn Potts es Directora Asociada y Presidenta Helena Rubinstein de Educación en el Whitney.
Kathryn Potts: Sin embargo, la teatralidad que observamos en la pintura es completamente apropiada, ya que se trata de una escena de teatro interpretada por actores en el escenario. La obra es Un tranvía llamado deseo de Tennessee Williams, que fue galardonada con un Premio Pulitzer y más tarde sería llevada a la gran pantalla. Esta pintura se realizó por encargo y tenía por objeto servir de obsequio sorpresa para Irene Selznik, productora de la obra teatral.
No obstante, lo que es interesante, en realidad, acerca de la historia es que Jessica Tandy, quien interpretaba el personaje de Blanche Du Bois, se sintió increíblemente ofendida por la manera en que Benton la retrató. De hecho, pareciera que se tratase de la ganadora de un concurso de camisetas mojadas. El vestido que lleva deja ver más de lo que cubre. Es interesante, además, que si uno compara la pintura, tal como la concibió Benton, con fotografías que se tomaron de la versión de la obra interpretada en escena, Jessica Tandy nunca llevó un vestido semejante. En realidad, usaba ese tipo de trajes con volados, cintas y moños, y sombreros de estilo sureño, y de ninguna forma habría intentado captar la atención de Stanley.
De alguna manera, Benton crea su propia interpretación. Y ese fue el verdadero motivo por el que Tandy, como actriz, lo consideró muy inapropiado. Hoy en día probablemente diríamos que ella sintió que Benton estaba culpabilizando a la víctima.
Exhibitions
By James and Komali:
Poker in The Streetcar Named Desire is a symbol used in a variety of ways. Firstly, it shows Stanley as an alpha male. The first game of poker introduces us to the characters of Mitch, Stanley, Pedro and Steve. The poker games is shown as a time for the men to bond, and is the way that they are able to recreate the brotherhood that they had during the war.
An example of Stanley as an alpha male is first given when Stanley decides that they will be playing the poker game at Mitch’s, without consulting with him first. When Mitch says this isn’t possible, Stanley tries to stay in command by telling Mitch to bring beer.
At the end of the play, we see Steve say that the game is seven-card stud. This is significant because it is the very end of the play, and shows two things. Firstly, it shows that the men are unfazed by the happenings of the night. The second effect of the line is that it pokes a little bit of fun at Stanley, in that it mentions a stud, which, when juxtaposed with what is happening between Stanley and Stella, shows Stanley’s character to a tee.
As soon as Blanche arrives, Stella goes and washes her face, to help herself calm down. Bathing as a major motif is used when something deceptive is going on. Each scene where a lie is being told, or a deception being woven has bathing in it.
Another thing that bathing does is show Blanche’s vulnerabilities, in that when she is bathing, she opens up and sings to herself, which seems to free her from her issues. The same thing happens directly after bathing, where she is a lot less awkward around people afterwards, which shows that bathing is what makes Blanche feel free.
Bathing also shows dramatic irony, because the audience knows that Stanley has found out the truth about Blanche and is telling a skeptical Stella, while Blanche is singing a carefree song.
Poker Cards Meaning
“Say, it’s only a paper moon, Sailing over a cardboard sea- But it wouldn’t be make-believe If you believed in me!” (120)
“It’s a Barnum and Bailey world, Just as phoney as it can be- But it wouldn’t be make believe If you believed in me.” (120)
“Without your love It’s a honky tonk parade! Without your love, It’s a melody played in a penny arcade…” (121)
Poker Terms And Meanings
She lives in a bubble of illusions.