Researching "The Appeal"
Review of the Penguin Classics paperback edition (2000) of the 1947 original.

I was curious to read Arthur Miller's All My Sons while I was also reading Janice Hallett's mystery novel The Appeal (2021), as a amateur company's production of the play forms the background to most of the events in the novel.

I looked over the initial cast list in The Appeal (there are some changes which happen by the time of the actual performance, but those would be spoilers) and I have to say that there doesn't seem to be many clues that would have helped to solve the novel's mystery. e.g. The Appeal culprits are not the All My Sons culprits, The Appeal whistleblower is not the All My Sons whistleblower etc. One role is perfectly cast though, but that would be a spoiler.

The Fairway Players
All My Sons by Arthur Miller
Cast List
Kate Keller played by Helen Grace-Hayward
Joe Keller played by John O'Dea
Dr. Jim Bayliss played by Kevin MacDonald
Frank Lubey played by Kel Greenwood
Sue Bayliss played by Sam Greenwood
Lydia Lubey played by Paige Reswick
Chris Keller played by Barry Walford
Bert played by Harley MacDonald
Ann Deever played by Sarah-Jane MacDonald
George Deever played by Nick Walford - excerpt from pg. 9 in The Appeal

Regardless of that, All My Sons remains a devastating theatrical work about the ethics of manufacturing, the American dream, war profiteers, self delusion, family secrets and survivor guilt. It is no wonder that it was the breakthrough theatrical work for Arthur Miller after his initial failures.

See photo at https://elsimagico.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/arthur-kennedy-karl-malden-beth-m...
A photograph of the original 1947 Broadway production used for the cover of the Penguin Classics edition with the actors Arthur Kennedy as Chris Keller, Karl Malden as George Deever, Beth Merrill as Kate Keller (Mother), Ed Begley as Joe Keller and Lois Wheeler as Ann Deever. Image sourced from Wordpress and casting details from the Internet Broadway Data Base.

Trivia and Link
All My Sons has been adapted twice for major English language film releases and several times for foreign language TV movies. The first major film adaptation was in 1948 directed by Irving Reis and starred Edward G. Robinson as Joe Keller and Burt Lancaster as Chris Keller. You can see the entire movie on YouTube here. The second major film adaptation was in 2011 directed by Robert Delamare and starred David Suchet as Joe Keller and Zoe Wanamaker at Kate Keller. It was a filmed version of the 2011 UK West End theatre revival from which you can see some excerpted clips on YouTube here.

The rock group Twenty One Pilots took their name from the reference in the play All My Sons to the number of fatal crashes caused by the faulty airplane parts manufactured by the plant that Joe Keller ran. Group member Tyler Joseph discusses this background in various quoted interview excerpts at Wikipedia here. ( )

This is a review of the LA Theatre Works radio play (Julie Harris 1998), which is a fantastic audio production originally broadcast on NPR. The play itself left me stunned in terms of how quickly things went from surface ideal to tragedy in a single day, at the speed of a plane crash, or factory assembly line, sometimes things go terribly wrong. Only missing is "Dramatic Squirrel" as revelations pile on. By the end you know what will happen before it does, a bit over the top juvenile. This was his first successful play, he was only 26 when he conceived it. The dialogue is awesome and leaves a lot to think about. Acting on your own behalf versus the greater good seems to be the main rift. ( )

Update: 22 Nov

I'm listening to an interview with David Suchet just before he goes on to the stage to do this play. He talks about how to keep fresh and eager and new for every performance of a long-running play. I imagine, he says, that there will be just one person, just one who has never been to the theatre before and I play to that person. He wants to give the most wonderful experience to that person.

Oh David. If you only knew. I sat there watching you in this play a few months ago and sitting next to me was a 12 year old boy who had never been to the theatre before. Nearby was his 14 year old sister. James was engrossed throughout. Lou loved it too. You couldn't have been more inspirational or given these two kids a better introduction to theatre.

I wish you knew what a great gift you bestowed upon them.

---------------------


I feel like I've had more of my fair share of a certain type of phone call, the one telling you somebody is dead. Twice over the last few years they've been a great shock, the closest of friends, one cooking, one vacuum cleaning, alive one moment, dead minutes later.

But today I've had the All My Sons experience and I can see already how it is worse. The police rang up earlier, enquiring after a missing person, when had I last talked to him. On Saturday evening, I said, a flurry of smses. They knew that, actually, because they had his mobile phone and that is how they contacted me.

The other person in his house had filed a missing persons report today. I'm guessing the same person he had a big fight with on Saturday evening. He told me he was going out to behave badly...aka get drunk, get laid was my interpretion. I begged him to come over, straight away, 4am, whenever, he knew he'd be totally welcome. It's horrible being beholden to somebody you are fighting with. He promised me he'd talk to me the next day. Since then I've smsed and emailed him and left a message on his mobile, rather pointless since it isn't with him. His passport was with his phone, so he hasn't gone far.

This is a grown man, the chances anything bad has happened to him aren't good. But, then, at some point in the evening he was a vulnerable, unhappy, drunk man.

I'm sure I'm not going to have to wait years to find out the ending, unlike the poor parents in the play. But still, I've been thinking the worst things. Not to mention just how angry I'm going to be with him when he turns out to be alright...which I'm sure is going to be the case. But still...

There is a good version of All My Sons on in London at the moment - well, it was on a month or so ago. You get to see David Suchet (who makes me weak at the knees) and a surprisingly good Zoe...the one from My Family. That inexplicably popular show where one can only regret that the fabulous Robert Lindsay doesn't move on to a show called Without My Family. Zoe is his dreadfully irritating wife. Suchet outweighed her in terms of whether I went, but she did a more than competent job as the wife. It's a great role as with the blindest of faith she waits for her son. I'm only at day one...and he's not my son, just a friend. But still...

---------------------------------

Update.

He's back and I'm so cross with him, I can scarcely yell how cross. How dare he. How dare he make me a murder suspect. When the police first rang me and said I was the last known person to speak to him, I blurted out 'But it wasn't me, I didn't kill him, I have an alibi, I was - ' and I realised what I'd done. 'Oh no, officer, you want to know why I've mentioned an alibi. I mean no innocent person would think of having an alibi, and I don't even know when for, honestly, officer, I have no idea WHEN he was murdered....I mean you are going to arrest me now aren't you, precisely because I have an alibi. For whenever it was.' I ended lamely. The policeman let me panic until I'd run out of things to say. 'We are all suspects, ma'am,' he said gravely. I asked him if he meant that philosophically or literally. He said that was a very interesting question. Well, we got talking, and one way or another, he asked me out as soon as the case is officially closed and I'm no longer a suspect. I said couldn't it be like The Bill and he dates me especially because I'm a suspect. He said this was real life ma'am. Of course. Real life. What was I thinking.

And then there is this: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/72532730

------------------------------------------------- ( )

Update: 22 Nov

I'm listening to an interview with David Suchet just before he goes on to the stage to do this play. He talks about how to keep fresh and eager and new for every performance of a long-running play. I imagine, he says, that there will be just one person, just one who has never been to the theatre before and I play to that person. He wants to give the most wonderful experience to that person.

Oh David. If you only knew. I sat there watching you in this play a few months ago and sitting next to me was a 12 year old boy who had never been to the theatre before. Nearby was his 14 year old sister. James was engrossed throughout. Lou loved it too. You couldn't have been more inspirational or given these two kids a better introduction to theatre.

I wish you knew what a great gift you bestowed upon them.

---------------------


I feel like I've had more of my fair share of a certain type of phone call, the one telling you somebody is dead. Twice over the last few years they've been a great shock, the closest of friends, one cooking, one vacuum cleaning, alive one moment, dead minutes later.

But today I've had the All My Sons experience and I can see already how it is worse. The police rang up earlier, enquiring after a missing person, when had I last talked to him. On Saturday evening, I said, a flurry of smses. They knew that, actually, because they had his mobile phone and that is how they contacted me.

The other person in his house had filed a missing persons report today. I'm guessing the same person he had a big fight with on Saturday evening. He told me he was going out to behave badly...aka get drunk, get laid was my interpretion. I begged him to come over, straight away, 4am, whenever, he knew he'd be totally welcome. It's horrible being beholden to somebody you are fighting with. He promised me he'd talk to me the next day. Since then I've smsed and emailed him and left a message on his mobile, rather pointless since it isn't with him. His passport was with his phone, so he hasn't gone far.

This is a grown man, the chances anything bad has happened to him aren't good. But, then, at some point in the evening he was a vulnerable, unhappy, drunk man.

I'm sure I'm not going to have to wait years to find out the ending, unlike the poor parents in the play. But still, I've been thinking the worst things. Not to mention just how angry I'm going to be with him when he turns out to be alright...which I'm sure is going to be the case. But still...

There is a good version of All My Sons on in London at the moment - well, it was on a month or so ago. You get to see David Suchet (who makes me weak at the knees) and a surprisingly good Zoe...the one from My Family. That inexplicably popular show where one can only regret that the fabulous Robert Lindsay doesn't move on to a show called Without My Family. Zoe is his dreadfully irritating wife. Suchet outweighed her in terms of whether I went, but she did a more than competent job as the wife. It's a great role as with the blindest of faith she waits for her son. I'm only at day one...and he's not my son, just a friend. But still...

---------------------------------

Update.

He's back and I'm so cross with him, I can scarcely yell how cross. How dare he. How dare he make me a murder suspect. When the police first rang me and said I was the last known person to speak to him, I blurted out 'But it wasn't me, I didn't kill him, I have an alibi, I was - ' and I realised what I'd done. 'Oh no, officer, you want to know why I've mentioned an alibi. I mean no innocent person would think of having an alibi, and I don't even know when for, honestly, officer, I have no idea WHEN he was murdered....I mean you are going to arrest me now aren't you, precisely because I have an alibi. For whenever it was.' I ended lamely. The policeman let me panic until I'd run out of things to say. 'We are all suspects, ma'am,' he said gravely. I asked him if he meant that philosophically or literally. He said that was a very interesting question. Well, we got talking, and one way or another, he asked me out as soon as the case is officially closed and I'm no longer a suspect. I said couldn't it be like The Bill and he dates me especially because I'm a suspect. He said this was real life ma'am. Of course. Real life. What was I thinking.

And then there is this: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/72532730

------------------------------------------------- ( )

Update: 22 Nov

I'm listening to an interview with David Suchet just before he goes on to the stage to do this play. He talks about how to keep fresh and eager and new for every performance of a long-running play. I imagine, he says, that there will be just one person, just one who has never been to the theatre before and I play to that person. He wants to give the most wonderful experience to that person.

Oh David. If you only knew. I sat there watching you in this play a few months ago and sitting next to me was a 12 year old boy who had never been to the theatre before. Nearby was his 14 year old sister. James was engrossed throughout. Lou loved it too. You couldn't have been more inspirational or given these two kids a better introduction to theatre.

I wish you knew what a great gift you bestowed upon them.

---------------------


I feel like I've had more of my fair share of a certain type of phone call, the one telling you somebody is dead. Twice over the last few years they've been a great shock, the closest of friends, one cooking, one vacuum cleaning, alive one moment, dead minutes later.

But today I've had the All My Sons experience and I can see already how it is worse. The police rang up earlier, enquiring after a missing person, when had I last talked to him. On Saturday evening, I said, a flurry of smses. They knew that, actually, because they had his mobile phone and that is how they contacted me.

The other person in his house had filed a missing persons report today. I'm guessing the same person he had a big fight with on Saturday evening. He told me he was going out to behave badly...aka get drunk, get laid was my interpretion. I begged him to come over, straight away, 4am, whenever, he knew he'd be totally welcome. It's horrible being beholden to somebody you are fighting with. He promised me he'd talk to me the next day. Since then I've smsed and emailed him and left a message on his mobile, rather pointless since it isn't with him. His passport was with his phone, so he hasn't gone far.

This is a grown man, the chances anything bad has happened to him aren't good. But, then, at some point in the evening he was a vulnerable, unhappy, drunk man.

I'm sure I'm not going to have to wait years to find out the ending, unlike the poor parents in the play. But still, I've been thinking the worst things. Not to mention just how angry I'm going to be with him when he turns out to be alright...which I'm sure is going to be the case. But still...

There is a good version of All My Sons on in London at the moment - well, it was on a month or so ago. You get to see David Suchet (who makes me weak at the knees) and a surprisingly good Zoe...the one from My Family. That inexplicably popular show where one can only regret that the fabulous Robert Lindsay doesn't move on to a show called Without My Family. Zoe is his dreadfully irritating wife. Suchet outweighed her in terms of whether I went, but she did a more than competent job as the wife. It's a great role as with the blindest of faith she waits for her son. I'm only at day one...and he's not my son, just a friend. But still...

---------------------------------

Update.

He's back and I'm so cross with him, I can scarcely yell how cross. How dare he. How dare he make me a murder suspect. When the police first rang me and said I was the last known person to speak to him, I blurted out 'But it wasn't me, I didn't kill him, I have an alibi, I was - ' and I realised what I'd done. 'Oh no, officer, you want to know why I've mentioned an alibi. I mean no innocent person would think of having an alibi, and I don't even know when for, honestly, officer, I have no idea WHEN he was murdered....I mean you are going to arrest me now aren't you, precisely because I have an alibi. For whenever it was.' I ended lamely. The policeman let me panic until I'd run out of things to say. 'We are all suspects, ma'am,' he said gravely. I asked him if he meant that philosophically or literally. He said that was a very interesting question. Well, we got talking, and one way or another, he asked me out as soon as the case is officially closed and I'm no longer a suspect. I said couldn't it be like The Bill and he dates me especially because I'm a suspect. He said this was real life ma'am. Of course. Real life. What was I thinking.

And then there is this: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/72532730

------------------------------------------------- ( )