Arthur Miller 1915-2005

While I'm online, I will post some links about playwright Arthur Miller.  The picture above is of the author in 1949, the year that Death of a Salesman became such a hit.

Since Miller's plays were quite popular in the UK, the BBC has an excellent obituary.  You may also see clips of his plays at this site.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/233032.stm

The slideshow below gives you an idea of his career as well:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/4258123.stm

The Guardian's obituary provides more background:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2005/feb/12/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries

Here British directors give their thoughts on Miller's legacy:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/feb/12/arts.filmnews?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

The NY Times has collected its articles from the later part of his career:

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/theater/newsandfeatures/MILLER-REF.html

Or you may prefer to read Miller's own thoughts from 2001:

http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/miller/lecture.html

http://www.neh.gov/whoweare/miller/interview.html

Miller is also known for his short marriage to Marilyn Monroe.


Susan Doll's essay discusses The Misfits, a movie that Miller wrote for his wife towards the end of their marriage.

http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/marilyn-monroe-final-years3.htm

Another of Miller's most well-known plays is The Crucible, a play set during Salem's 1692 witch trials.  See this link for a review of a recent London production:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/jun/03/the-crucible-review

I'll close with a picture of 1910s New York City.  It's incredible to see how crowded the city streets were.

Historical Background for Death of a Salesman

Most of the pictures of 1940s Brooklyn that I've found so far are fairly urban.  The picture above is of trolleys somewhere in the borough (or section of the city).  Fewer people had cars, so more people took trolleys and the subway.  (Note that Willy has a car but Linda does not.)  Without television, movie theaters were common in most neighborhoods.  However, the rise of television would lead to the closing of many of these theaters.


Here is a picture of Ebbets Field where Biff played.  It is, of course, more famous for the Brooklyn Dodgers. 


In 1949, Jackie Robinson had already joined the Dodgers' major league team, thus beginning the process of integrating baseball.  Up until this point, no African Americans played in the major leagues. 


The following site will give you more of an overview of the 1940s:

http://kclibrary.lonestar.edu/decade40.html

For more information about 1949, see this site:

http://www.infoplease.com/year/1949.html

This timeline focuses on NYC in the 1940s:

http://bigapple.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/11/nyc-decade-by-decade19401949the-war-and-the-aftermath.html

Sometimes it is more fun to look at the smaller picture.  The site below contains reviews of restaurants and nightclubs from the 1940s.  I can't get over how inexpensive the restaurant meals and drinks are! 

http://www.tipsontables.com/

Fashion is always fun!

http://retro-fashion-history.com/html/1949_fashion_and_vintage_cloth.html

http://1940s.org/fashion/

http://www.murrayonhawaii.com/nolan/fashionhistory_1940mens.html


Or you may prefer cars.

http://www.anythingaboutcars.com/1940scars.html

http://www.pbase.com/rpdoody/classic_american_cars_of_the_1940s

Movies are always interesting. 

http://theendofcinema.blogspot.com/2008/06/movies-of-year-1949.html

http://www.filmsite.org/1949.html

Here is a link to a movie trailer from that era:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHeiNUbaG7o

Here is a "Hit Parade" of songs from 1949:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6R6QfBXwdkA

FYAmuse, here are some pictures of Brooklyn today:

 Here is a picture of a family in Brooklyn:

Or this picture:

Videos of Death of a Salesman

The picture above is from the original 1949 performance of Death of a Salesman.  Lee J. Cobb was Willy, Arthur Kennedy was Biff, and Cameron Mitchell played Happy.  Cobb later appeared in CBS' 1966 movie for television.  

See this link for a picture from that later production:  

http://www.broadwaydigitalarchive.com/catalog/view/33

The 1985 Death of a Salesman is harder to find, so I will send you a few other versions, starting with a 1951 version that Arthur Miller did *not* approve of!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVYlGsrSB4o

Avery Brooks starred in a 2008 production at Oberlin College.  (He and the director Justin Emeka are both Oberlin alums.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPnEFZJafjE

Starting with this YouTube, Brooks and Emeka discuss the production:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC4UUhUZRX8

In 2009, Charles S. Dutton played Willy in Yale Rep's version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJNaEDrtjug

Brian Dennehy played Willy in 2000.  This TV movie appeared on Showtime, another of our premium channels:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brdbM9YSCq4

These pictures are from a 2005 production, also starring Dennehy.  This production was staged at London's Lyric Theater.  I think that my sister-in-law may have seen either this version or an earlier one at the Goodman Theater in Chicago.

David Mamet argues that Death of a Salesman is a Jewish play:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2005/may/07/theatre.davidmamet

This version from 1996 is British and appeared on the BBC:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnTqlxajQ5Q

DC's own Arena Stage also had a version of Death of a Salesman as part of an Arthur Miller festival in 2008:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nYKpvtYPG4

The Ensemble Theater's 2008 version is here.  (This company is Australian.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSFXnXJrNqM&feature=related

I'll close with the Raven Theater Company's 2008/9 version.  This company is based in Chicago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAkKa0X73mw&feature=related

Final Study Guide for EN 230 -- Spring 2011

Below is the poster from the recent production starring Claire Danes.

And here are the plays that will be on the objective final (5/12):

We'll start with Pygmalion (with 1938 film and 1964 film of My Fair Lady):

 http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/189/Links_for_331_--_Pygmalion

Kelsey Grammar has recently performed the role of Prof. Higgins.  Kelli O'Hara was  Eliza.

Next is Miss Julie.  The picture below is from NYC company Theater Trouve's production from 2005.

http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/190

We returned to American drama with Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire.

For the video clips, see this link:

http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/191

For the reviews, see this link:

http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/194/Recent_Reviews_of_Streetcar

The picture below is from Andre Previn's operatic version of the play.  The performance below was in Turin.

We returned to European drama with Ibsen's Hedda Gabler.

For the video clips, see this link:

http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/192/Hedda_Gabler

For the reviews, see this one:

http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/193/Reviews_of_Recent_Productions_of_Hedda_Gabler

Here is an image from German director Thomas Schaubuhne's production of this play.

Trifles is our one play written by a woman.

http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/196/Trifles

Iowa Western Community College used this picture as inspiration for its production of Trifles.

We'll conclude with Waiting for Godot.  Here are a few links for you:

http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/198

http://worldlit2.multiply.com/journal/item/61/Waiting_for_Godot_at_the_Warehouse_Theater

All student presentations will be included on the objective final as well.  Aviva's presentation was on symbolism in A Streetcar Named Desire.  Leyla's presentation was on the deus ex machina in drama.  Below is a picture of the goddess Athena with Orestes in the Oresteia, one of the plays mentioned in Leyla's presentation.

Nadia's presentation on the actor's perspective and Stephen's perspective on Master Harold. . . and the Boys will also be on the final as will be any presentations done on May 12.

Below is a picture from an Oregon performance of Living Out, the play that Nadia starred in.

Waiting for Godot

Here are some versions of Waiting for Godot over the years.  The first was performed at Purdue University by The Classical Theater of Harlem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1NL9OvbwNc&feature=fvsr

For more about this company, see this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvJC_ULKC2M&feature=related

This television text version is from 1987, so it was done while Samuel Beckett was still alive.  In fact, it was filmed in Paris where he lived.  (By the way, although Beckett was born in Ireland and his first language was English, Waiting for Godot, like all of his works, was written in French.  Beckett was his own translator.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMz1-Kgz_DI

This next version is from 2001 and appeared on the UK's Channel 4 (as opposed to the BBC).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDjgThErfIM

Recently Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart appeared in Waiting for Godot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmiYSBJ54Io&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu_4z0AGgKo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anez-ch-OAE&feature=related

Was it a tragedy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm96MZS48lA&feature=related

Or a comedy?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktSU8As66LE&feature=related

The version below appears to be in Spanish

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90IIzQ7gIR0&feature=related

Interestingly, I can find many versions in Spanish but none in French!

A Taiwanese troupe recently performed Godot in Paris.

Read more about this performance!

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2011/04/28/2003501839

For more about McKellen and Stewart's version, see the links below.  Let's start with some articles from McKellen's own site:

http://www.mckellen.com/stage/godot/081031.htm

http://www.mckellen.com/stage/godot/index.htm

The Guardian's Michael Billington's review is below:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/may/07/waiting-for-godot-theatre-review

The Observer's Susannah Clapp disagrees:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/may/10/waiting-for-godot-haymarket?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

Bill Irwin and Nathan Lane performed Waiting for Godot in NYC:

http://theater.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/theater/reviews/01godo.html

Neil Genzlinger reviews The Classical Theater of Harlem's Waiting for Godot.  This version is set in New Orleans after Katrina.

http://theater.nytimes.com/2006/06/03/theater/reviews/03godo.html

Master Harold. . . and the Boys

I'm not sure if we are going to get to this play, but I thought that I'd post this entry while I'm up.  The picture above is from a 2003 performance with Danny Glover as Sam.  As you may have noticed in our book, Glover played Willie in the play's 1982 world premiere.

Recently, a film version was made of this play.  At one point, Glover was to appear in it, but he was replaced by Ving Rhames.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yS1Pl9VTZ_4

This year this play was performed at the University of Northern Alabama:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PC8NcGKJGvU

The version below is from Canada:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQOjFs1CyDE

Here you may watch more extended scenes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0fERVCMxtk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDRcx0N5IgE

Here is a link to a performance of another of Athol Fugard's plays:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoTJUKt_HzU&feature=related

Trifles

With Susan Glaspell's Trifles, we are examining women in modern drama with the following twist: the play was written by a woman (see the picture of the playwright above).

Here is a brief biography of Ms. Glaspell:

http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap8/glaspell.html#bio

For more information about her early 20th c. milieu, see this web site:

http://www.provincetownplayhouse.com/history.html

Minneapolis' Theater Unbound staged Trifles in 2005.  A scene from that production is pictured below:

LSU has staged this play as well.  Note that this video is of a rehearsal and that the sound quality may not be great:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFUaCXvIjY4

John G. Bilotta and John F. McGrew have created an opera based on Glaspell's play:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTIZ5TL1vaQ

Here are excerpts from film versions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpNuw0vFU5E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9EPnf1WXSE&feature=related

This picture is from a version staged at NYC's Ontological-Hysterical Theater:

Woo-hoo...here are some videos!

http://www.twoheadedcalf.org/shows/trifles/trifles.html

Let's look for a few reviews.  Unfortunately, many of the videos available are school projects.

Ah, here is Matthew A. Everett's review of Theater Unbound's production:

http://www.matthewaeverett.com/columns/detail.php?articleID=483

Alexis Soloski of The Village Voice reviews The Ontological-Hysteric Theater production:

http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-02-09/theater/on-the-creepy-feminist-drama-trifles/

Ken Jaworowski of the NY Times weighs in here:

http://theater.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/theater/reviews/02trifles.html?emc=e

A student-directed performance at Illinois' North Central College is discussed here:

http://northcentralcollege.edu/x46996.xml

For more reviews of other plays by Glaspell, see this site from Seton Hall:

http://academic.shu.edu/glaspell/Performances/performances.htm


The Santa Barbara Theater of the Air has created a podcast of Trifles:

http://theatre-of-the-air.com/WordPress/archives/4256

Right now a community college in Ohio is working on a version of Trifles.  Curiously enough, this school has just finished staging Pygmalion!

We'll conclude with a picture of the original 1916 production in NYC: