Comments on: “Attention Must Be Paid”

By: Katherine

Katherine — Wed, 16 Feb 2005 00:11:39 +0000

Out of all the Miller plays I only saw The Crucible in an amateur production ñ in England. I had no idea that it had any connection with McCarthy. I just thought it was a bit analysis on mass hysteria and potential nasty consequences, but nothing terribly original. After all, we in Europe are inured to witch trials. There were too many of them to count in our history. There is also vast literature covering the subject.

From what you all write, it does not look like I missed much.

It also demonstrates the importance of play critics and all analysts of the ìserious literatureî. Without them an uninitiated viewer/reader might miss the entire message that the author is trying to sendÖ

By: neo-neocon

neo-neocon — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 20:03:11 +0000

I understand those who object to the leftist underpinnings of the politics in “Salesman.” But the part that has always reached me about the play, and makes me love it despite its “message,” is something quite different–the poignant human element. What is so touching to me is that it is a story of thwarted love and hopes and dreams, and also one of family tragedy, despite great family love. The son Biff’s discovery of his father’s clay feet and his betrayal of the mother ends up causing the son’s own decline. I’ve always seen this as quite moving and tragic. I view “Salesman” as a particular and very emotional human story rather than a political tract, and certain great actors have managed to make the pathos in the story almost unbearable to watch.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 19:52:52 +0000

I was lucky enough to see Ride Down Mount Morgan with Patrick Stewart. I was pinned between my roommate at the time – who weighed in at a whopping 357 pounds – and a woman of similar bulk, so I wound up watching Act II from the standing room in the back of the theater. But it was a good play, if not great.

But why must everything be great?

From that day to this there hasn’t been a single girlfriend or wannabe girlfriend on whom I haven’t used the line “You’re beautiful against tall buidings”. And it works, believe it or not – IF your delivery matches Mr. Stewart’s.

Stopping on the street: “Ahhh, you’re beautiful against tall buildings!”

My fav among the living is Peter Schaffer, but I quote Mamet the most.

Why does Miller remind me of Saul Bellow?

PS: Is Teachout bashing the dead again? I can’t bear to look.

By: vegetius

vegetius — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 18:41:21 +0000

Jim in Chicago: I’ll second your recommendation

of “Barcelona” as the antidote. Just thinking about it brings a grin to my face.

“Dying is easy; comedy is hard.”

By: Kyda Sylvester

Kyda Sylvester — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 17:45:34 +0000

Oh, I don't know, Knucklehead. Like Terrye, I read plays when I was young but I gravitated more to George F. Kaufman. I thought You Can't Take It With You and The Man Who Came To Dinner were probably the funniest things I'd ever read in my (admitedly short) life. And that was long before I saw either film. I guess I'm more in the Teachout camp. Salesman is a fine play which I've enjoyed every time I've seen it performed, but I'll take a pass on most everything else Miller penned. Now, if you want to talk Tennessee Williams...

By: Brown Line

Brown Line — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 17:00:17 +0000

My wife and I were discussing Miller this morning, in response to Terry Teachout’s obituary in today Wall Street Journal. She has only read his work, and doesn’t think much of it. And I have to admit that on the page it can be pretty leaden. But for some reason, it plays so well! I recall seeing the great version of “Death of a Salesman” that Lee J. Cobb did for, I believe, Playhouse 90, back in the glory days of live television. It had an immediacy and power that I’ve not seen matched since. And the recent film of “The Crucible”, which Miller revised to snip out some of the more heavy-handed McCarthy allegories, is an excellent presentation of a powerful story.

I find it interesting that several of Miller’s plays have been successfully adapted as operas, most recently “View From the Bridge” with a score by William Bolcum. I guess that shows that Miller is not a great dramatist, but a great melodramatist – and I don’t mean that condescendingly, because melodrama is an art in its own right. It may be that Arthur Miller’s ultimate fate is to be the David Belasco of our day, a popular dramatist who’s remembered only because some great music was composed to libretti based on his work. But there are worse fates.

By: Knucklehead

Knucklehead — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 16:36:23 +0000

I take it Tony and Tina's Wedding doesn't count with this crowd, heh?

By: M. Simon

M. Simon — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 15:48:20 +0000

You want to get the American dream?

“Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House” Carry Grant.

Now there was a real salesman with an American dream.

By: Jim in Chicago

Jim in Chicago — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 15:44:22 +0000

Couldn’t agree more with M. Simon above.

I’ll add: for the antidote to “Salesman” see Whit Stilllman’s marvelous ode to the American salesman, and to America, “Barcelona.”

By: ricpic

ricpic — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 15:07:40 +0000

Oops. Should be portentous. Sorry.