February 11, 2005

Arthur Miller RIP
posted by Skrik 19 years ago
  • But I'm still not sure why Willy Loman had to die.
  • Dang. So is ANYONE still alive who banged Marlilyn? I mean...aherm. Sad to see him go.
  • that was my first thought too tenacious.
  • .
  • just heard this on the radio... it's been a rough year for losses so far. and yeah, I'm guessing there are gents alive who slept with Marilyn. (I think) her last photographer, Bert Stern, said that she basically used sex like a greeting card. I remember the interview, having trouble locating the source now (or confirming that it was him).
  • she basically used sex like a greeting card Incidentally, this is how I want my Valentines day to go.
  • I just realized that everyone who banged Cleopatra is dead now, too.
  • but how about everyone who's banged reincarnations of Cleopatra?
  • One of the twentieth century's greatest voices (and one of the greatest Marilyn bangers, also). Sad, sad loss.
  • . (LOOK HOW GAY I AM) Oh wait someone already did it.
  • My first thought upon hearing this was 'I bet Albee's happy about finally being the greatest living American playwright' I think that makes me a dramaturgy geek.
  • Miller on HUAC, from the Guardian, June 2000. Rest in peace.
  • How gay are you, ActuallySettle? Or did you mean that in a derogatory manner?
  • coppermac, I think he might be. Then again, ActuallySettle's sense of humor is so usually so puerile, one can never tell. On a slight tangent, I have a gay friend (who's happily attached to his partner, no major issues about his orientation) who uses the word "gay" in a derogratory way himself, on occasion. Sometimes I do get quite confused about political correctness.
  • arthur miller was gay?
  • MARILYN WAS A DUDE! OMG!!!111!!!!!ONE!!
  • Mommylap seems to understand why Marilyn Monroe married Arthur Miller. I sure as hell don't. Maybe he was the Evan Dando of playwrights back then. "It's a shame about Ray."
    I always feel like he understood who Marilyn Monroe wanted to be. This quote about her is just lovely and sad. ''To have survived, she would have had to be either more cynical or even further from reality than she was,'' he wrote. ''Instead, she was a poet on a street corner trying to recite to a crowd pulling at her clothes.''
  • Beautiful people want to be smart and smart people want to beautiful. That was how I always interpreted the relationship.
  • I recently read "The Crucible", i liked it even more that "Death of a salesman". Also read some lesser ones "Danger:memory" and "American Clock", still enjoyable though. Hooray for dramaturgical geeks!
  • "The Crucible" is his best, IMO. It's also the one that nearly ended his career (probably a big part of the reason why it's my favorite, the huge risk he took).
  • Beautiful people want to be smart My impression was that Marilyn was both smart and beautiful, so she saw a bit further than most other women in her position. I thought it was really more a "marriage of true minds" than matching smarts with looks. Just my two bits (^_^)
  • Just checking, Alnedra, but thanks for the tip. I dislike slurs in general, and believe it's important to challenge them to see what the intention was. Agreed, The Crucible is Miller's best work.
  • Yeah, amen to that MCT, he took a huge risk with the Crucible. And he did it in a way that transcended the times. I liked the play's dialog especially, he made it sound antiquated 17th century-ish and poetic at the same time. I remember a part in the play between the hero and his wife, where she subtly hints at a past infidelity of his. It was so well done, i had to go back and read it several times and wonder "How the heck did Miller accomplish that?" The only downside was that he altered some of the historical facts for literary reasons. (When authors do this, i wish they would add an epilog to say what they changed...like what Chester Brown did with his extensive footnotes in his history of Louis Riel).
  • My impression was that Marilyn was both smart and beautiful To correct then: beautiful people want to be SEEN as smart. I think maybe it bothered her that she was seen as just a blonde bimbo when she wasn't...
  • I'm sorry he's dead. I really am. But Arthur Miller, personally, through his New York agent, stopped my two-bit theatre company from performing The Crucible five years ago, by denying performance rights in Victoria to student theatre companies. Why? Because our interpretation was not to his liking. (we intended to play rock music and have modern costumes!) I should point out that this is AFTER his Australian agents had granted the rights. Arthur Miller was far too concerned with the primacy of HIS words. And I'll be damned if I mourn that.
  • Well, if there's anybody I'd grant the right to be a bit superior about the primacy of his words, it'd probably be Miller. Not saying he was in the right - I'm completely in favour of people being allowed to stage plays anyhow, anywhere, anywhy they want - but your, um, "interpretation" sounds like the kind of thing I'd need to see work several times before I'd believe it could possibly work. To quote Alan Bennett, quoting somebody else; "just play the text, not what it reminds you of". Anyway, come on - if you were that keen to perform his bloody play, rock music or no, you can surely find it within yourself to mourn the old genius a little bit - no?