All My Sons

All My Sons (1947), a drama by Arthur Miller. [Coronet Theatre, 328 perf.; NYDCC Award.] Joe Keller ( Ed Begley) is a manufacturer who has sold defective airplane parts to the government during the recent war and, as a result, a number of young pilots lost their lives in plane crashes. However, Keller has let the lion's share of the blame fall on his partner, who has been convicted and put in jail. Joe's son, Larry, was engaged to Ann Deever ( Lois Wheeler), the partner's daughter, but Larry, a pilot, has been reported missing. A letter from him, written before he disappeared, is uncovered saying that he learned from the papers what his father has done and was so ashamed that he has decided never to return from his next mission. Chris ( Arthur Kennedy), Keller's other son, shows the letter to his father, who recognizes that he has not only prompted his son's death but has killed the other pilots as well. Keller understands that in Larry's eyes “they were all my sons,” and in grief and guilt he shoots himself. Critical reaction to the Harold Clurman–Elia Kazan production was mixed, conservative critics like Howard Barnes writing in the Herald Tribune that the piece displayed “more indignation than craftsmanship . . . the offering merely stammers to a climax.” On the other hand, Louis Kronenberger, writing in the more liberal PM, spoke for others when he felt the play allowed Miller “to stand easily first among our new generation of playwrights.” A 1974 Broadway revival failed, but a 1987 mounting was a critical success, as was an Off‐Broadway production in 1997.