Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman (1949), a play by Arthur Miller. [Morosco Theatre, 742 perf.; Pulitzer Prize, Tony, NYDCC Awards.] Willy Loman ( Lee J. Cobb) is a salesman who has seen better days, or at least lets himself believe he was once more appreciated by his employers. His life has been devoted to his work, his wife, Linda ( Mildred Dunnock), and his sons, Happy ( Cameron Mitchell) and Biff ( Arthur Kennedy). His boys are the apple of his eye, so he cannot see that they will probably never amount to much and that Biff has never gotten over his disgust at finding his father in a hotel room with a woman. At sixty‐three Willy loses his job then kills himself in an automobile crash, hoping his $20,000 insurance policy will resolve financial problems and give his boys another chance. At his funeral a neighbor characterizes Willy as “a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. And when they start not smiling back—that's an earthquake.” The long‐suffering Linda, informing her dead husband that the mortgage has finally been paid, can only sob, “We're free and clear. We're free.” John Mason Brown noted the “play is the most poignant statement of man as he must face himself to have come out of our theatre,” but added, “Mr. Miller's play is a tragedy modern and personal, not classic and heroic. Its central figure is a little man sentenced to discover his smallness rather than a big man undone by his greatness.” The Kermit Bloomgarden production boasted a superb cast, directed by Elia Kazan, and a landmark setting by Jo Mielziner that allowed one to view the Loman household through its skeletal structure and see the world encroaching on the home. The oft‐revived drama has seen some outstanding Willy Lomans, including New York versions with George C. Scott in 1975, Dustin Hoffman in 1984, and Brian Dennehy in 1999.