From Ted Fitzgerald

Ted Fitzgerald:

Arthur Miller, RIP.

His passing should be noted.

I can't add to anything you can read over the next day or so, except that DEATH OF A SALESMAN, ALL MY SONS and THE CRUCIBLE have never been more relevant or important. I think a good teacher can drive Willy Loman's story home to kids of all circumstances.

O'Neill and Tennessee W. may have hit a few more balls out of the park, but if I had to pick one American play, just one, as the best, the most important, the most timeless, its SALESMAN. And I think you all are on the same wavelength.

But it's depressing how many obits focus first on Miller's marriage to Marilyn Monroe, then on his work. But, what else is new in Bushamerica?

Ted

Memorable lines from Athrur Miller's Death of A Salesmans (AP)
-- "A salesman has got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory."
-- "After all the highways, and the trains, and the appointments, and the years, you end up worth more dead than alive."
-- "Be liked and you will never want."
-- "I don't say he's a great man. Willy Loman never made a lot of money. His name was never in the paper. He's not the finest character that ever lived. But he's a human being, and a terrible thing is happening to him. So attention must be paid. He's not to be allowed to fall into his grave like an old dog. Attention, attention must be finally paid to such a person."
--"You don't understand: Willy was a salesman. And for a salesman, there is no rock bottom to the life. He don't put a bolt to a nut, he don't tell you the law or give you medicine. He's 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. And then you get yourself a couple of spots on your hat, and you're finished. Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory."es from Miller plays
-- "Never fight with a stranger, boy. You'll never get out of the jungle that way."
 

 



 





"The Crucible"
-- "I have not moved from there to there without I think to please you, and still an everlasting funeral marches round your heart."
"A View from the Bridge"
-- "I am inclined to notice the ruin in things, perhaps because I was born in Italy." 

© Copyright 2005 Associated Press.