Background on Arthur Miller
Which of his plays appeared on Broadway 50 years after his first Broadway play premiered?
Broken Glass, a play about an American Jewish couple's reaction to Nazi atrocities during World War II
What did he battle in 2004?
Cancer and pneumonia
Who did Rebecca Miller marry?
Daniel Day-Lewis
Who were Arthur Miller's children?
Daniel Miller (who had Downs Syndrome), Robert Miller (the producer), Rebecca Miller (the writer and film director), and Jane Doyle (his oldest child)
Which of Miller's plays won a Pulitzer Prize that met with enormous critical and popular acclaim?
Death of a Salesman in 1949
When did Miller write his first dramas?
During his college years
Why was Arthur Miller astonished when he attended one of Daniel's "overall plan of service" reviews?
He was blown away that Danny had been able to live out on his own
How many times has Miller been married?
Three; Mary Grace Slattery in 1940, Marilyn Monroe in 1956, and Inge Morath in 1962
Why did Miller write his play, The Crucible in 1953?
To warn against mass hysteria and to plead for freedom and tolerance
Which of Miller's works handled some aspect of waterfront work?
View From the Bridge
At what age did he and his family move from a large apartment in Harlem to a tiny house in Brooklyn and why?
When he was 13 because his father suffered business losses during the Great Depression
Did Miller let his son leave Southbury and live in a group home when he turned 17?
Yes
As a boy, did he show any interest in writing or reading literature?
a little interest
Why did Bigsby argue that Miller's reputation in the U.S. had been damaged?
Because the American public never forgot or forgave his Marxism
How many awards has Miller received for his writings?
A Pulitzer Prize, seven Tony awards, two Drama Critics Circle Awards, an Obie, and Olivier, the John F. Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Dorothy and Lillian Gish prize
What did Daniel possess at Southbury?
A little tiny transistor radio with earplugs
Who was Miller's girlfriend after Igne died?
Agnes Barley, a 33-year-old artist
What play did Miller write after his first play that received the Drama Critics' Circle Award?
All My Sons in 1947, which was about basic assumptions about our capitalistic society
What did Miller's feeling for history in his plays cause?
Americans bewilderment "The past is not dead, we carry the past with us. We are the past."
When/where did Daniel and Arthur meet for the first time?
At a conference on false confessions in Hartford, Conneticut on September 1995
Although his biographer, Christopher Bigsby, defended Miller, how was he still guilty of denial?
Even though he followed the medical advice that he was given at the time, he failed to visit his son regularly
When did Arthur Miller die?
February 10, 2005
What did he do after college?
He became associated with the theatre and wrote scripts for many radio shows
After saving money for college, what did Miller do?
He convinced the University of Michigan to accept him, even though he had never graduated high school, and he enrolled as a journalism student in 1938
What is meant by the statement that Miller was apathetic as a student?
He failed several subjects and showed virtually no interest in schoolwork
What did Miller learn from working his multiple jobs?
He learned about the life of the simple man of America who became the concern of many of his works
From where does Miller get inspiration for his writings?
He looks to the Greeks for inspiration, particularly Sophocles "I think the tragic feeling is evoked in us when we are in the presence of a character who is ready to lay down his life, if need be, to secure one thing-his sense of personal dignity"
What did he do with his time instead of writing or reading?
He played football, baseball, and other sports
How did Daniel react to seeing Arthur?
He ran over and embraced Arthur; they took a picture together; Danny was thrilled
Why was Miller cited for contempt of Congress?
He refused to identify writers believed to hold Communist sympathies "My conscience will not permit me to use the name of another person and bring trouble to him."
What did Miller discover while working as a common laborer for fifteen dollars a week?
The value of literature
What did Miller do with his time instead?
He worked at a variety of odd jobs for the next two years and while riding the subway to and from work, he read voraciously
How did Miller save money for college?
He worked for two years in a car-parts warehouse
How did Miller support himself at college?
He worked on the newspaper, got aid from organizations, and occasional prize money from his writings
What caused Miller to align himself with the theoretical possibilities of Communism?
His intense concern for the fate of the common man
Why was Miller not liked?
His name was tarnished as a man whose best years as an artist ended with the 1950s and who acted unforgivably by consigning his son, with Downs Syndrome, to an institution as soon as he was born
When did Miller honorably put himself on the line?
In his political activism
How did Southbury change from being one of the best schools in Connecticut for the disabled to being the worst?
It was understaffed and overcrowded; it had nearly 2,300 residents in rooms with 30 to 40 beds; many children wore diapers because there were't enough employees to toilet-train them; during the day they sat in front of the TV tuned to whatever show the staff wanted to watch; the most disabled children were lying on mats on the floor
Who were Miller's parents?
Jewish immigrants his father, Isidore, was illiterate and later became rich but lost everything in the Depression his mom was a women's clothing company owner
Although Miller never mentioned or visited his son, Daniel, what had he left him in his will?
Made Daniel a full and direct heir--an equal to his other three children
Where and when was Arthur Miller born?
New York City on October 17, 1915
Has there ever been a photograph taken of Daniel, Arthur's son?
No
Was Arthur Miller well liked?
No
Did Miller go to college at first?
No because his parents could not afford to send him to college
Did Daniel go to Miller's funeral?
No because not many people knew that Miller had a fourth child
When did Miller sign his last will?
On December 30
What is Miller considered today?
One of America's leading dramatists
What did many critics think about the play, The Crucible?
They failed to see the value of the play because it apparently aligned itself in a limited way with the current political controversy centered upon Senator McCarthy
Although there are mostly differences in Arthur and Daniel, in what way are they similar?
They were both naturally athletic
Where did Daniel go to school?
Southbury Training School in Conneticut
What was Miller's first Broadway play?
The Man Who Had All the Luck
Which of Miller's works drew from his experiences as a farmhand and incidentally starred his late wife, Marilyn Monroe?
The Misfits
What is a concern of many of his works?
The common man
What is the theme of Death of a Salesman?
The common man being defeated by a society, which drains the ordinary man of his energy and then drops him
What does Miller believe is best known to the common man?
The fear of being displaced or having our image of what/who we are destroyed
What motif did the play All My Sons introduce?
The haunting influence of a guilty past