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Arthur miller biography oh hello there this is willy loman if [Willy speaking]

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you haven't heard my name before well you must not be from New England they

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know me up and down there knock them dead and hartford anyway you're here to

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learn about Arthur Miller right so let's get to it [Willy points to Arthur]

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arthur miller was born in Manhattan in 1915 2 is the door and Augusta Miller

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Jewish immigrants from Poland Millers were quite wealthy until the stock [Millers stood in cue of people]

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market crash of 1929 Arthur's father had invested everything in the market and

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talk about a bad move after the crash the whole family was forced to move to

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Brooklyn Miller worked for two years to save money for college and eventually

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enrolled at the university of michigan in 1934 it was there that he began his [Arthur appears at University building]

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writing career and in 1940 he began his marital career he married his college

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sweetheart mary Slattery but married life didn't soften RT he was an

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unabashedly leftist no he never joined the Communist Party and if history has

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taught us anything it's that it wasn't a great idea to lean too far left during [Dalton Trumbo looking at Hollywood sign]

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this time period especially if you worked in film or entertainment while

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Miller's politics would soon come to the spotlight but not until he got his big [Arthur giving speech on stage]

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break in 1947 Miller's play all my sons became a huge hit

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winning the Tony and changing Miller's life but the best was yet to come

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Miller followed it up with death of a salesman the story of one mr. Willy

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Loman the play was a disillusioned look the flip side of the American Dream and

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won the Tony the Pulitzer and the Drama Critics Circle Award and sort of the [Arthur receiving trophies on stage]

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Triple Crown of place i'm not saying it was all because of his main character

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but well you know how can you not like this base

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well around this time Miller began having an affair with Marilyn Monroe yep [Arthur with Marilyn Monroe]

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the Maryland majandra just a little suggestion when choosing a mistress to

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keep on the dl maybe pick an orthodontist assistant or anybody other

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than the most famous woman in America well in 1953 Miller put out a

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little play called the crucible the play was set during the Salem witch trials [Crucible play appears]

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but it was pretty obvious what Miller was really getting at the house

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committee on un-american Activities led by Senator Joseph McCarthy was going on

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a similar witch hunt against Americans with suspected communist sympathies

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remember when I said Arthur Miller was left distal yeah that in his obvious

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allegory didn't exactly do him any favors withhold joe mccarthy Miller was

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called to testify for McCarthy and provide names of other communist [Miller testifying in court]

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sympathizers but he refused and was held in contempt of congress until the

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conviction was overturned the following year so slightly better outcome for him [Arthur appears in jail]

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than his crucial characters well at same time Miller's personal life was also

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heating up he divorced Mary Slattery and married [Arthur with Mary]

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Marilyn Monroe in 1956 unroasted by Miller during his dealings with

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government but well they ended up divorcing in 1961 yes Miller wasn't a [Marilyn visiting Arthur in jail cell]

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girl's best friend well in 1964 Miller wrote after the fall

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which started character with a slightly suspicious resemblance to Marilyn Monroe [Marilyn wearing a fake mustache]

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critics slammed him accusing him of exploiting her recent death but Miller

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insisted the resemblance was coincidental [Arthur sitting at a desk]

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well his crew died down after the fifties but he continued to write and

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remarried once more this time to photographer Inga Morath Arthur Miller

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prolific in writing and in weddings although Miller's plays never achieve [Arthur marrying Inge]

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the same level of success is his earlier work he never stopped writing releasing

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a play just a few months before his death on february 10th 2005 well in his

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later years Miller bemoaned the increasingly commercial aspects of

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modern theatre like there's too much money in theater really he felt that big [Arthur standing in a theater]

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budget feel good plays were pushing out social commentary at a time when it was

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still very much needed but I doubt we'll be seeing plays like the crucial again

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for quite some time and on a completely unrelated note I'm off to go watch mamma [Man stood on Broadway]

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mia on Broadway what? if you can't beat them join

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them

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