To Frankie, in Return for Sicily: Tennessee Williams and Frank Merlo | LGBTQ History
A playwright, a sailor, and fifteen years behind a white picket fence in Key West.
Tonight we travel to the life Tennessee Williams (1911 to 1983) shared with Frank Merlo (1921 to 1963), the Sicilian-American Navy veteran he met in Provincetown and found again in a New York deli in 1948. To the world, Frank was "the secretary." At home he ran their days, held Tennessee's hand through his fears, and took him to Sicily, a trip that became The Rose Tattoo, dedicated "To Frankie in return for Sicily." Years later, Tennessee said it simply: "He taught me life."
Along the way: egg salad under…
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