‘The Man Who Had All the Luck’ and ‘All My Sons’

Abstract

When Arthur Miller began his career in the early 1940s, there were no subsidised theatres, no permanent repertory companies, no avant-garde, not even the alternative commercial theatre that later developed ‘Off-Broadway’. Professional theatre was confined almost entirely to New York City, and there it was in the hands of commercial managers. The key figure in the business of presenting plays on Broadway was not the writer nor the director (and certainly not the actor) but the producer. Like a buyer in a large department store, the producer was responsible for putting the merchandise on display. He found the script, hired the director, raised the financial backing, rented the theatre, and generally supervised the budget. His reasons for undertaking these various responsibilities were almost purely monetary. His overriding, if not his only, purpose was to make a profit for himself and a substantial return for his backers.