February 10, 1949: "Death of a Salesman" Premieres

Left to right: Arthur Kennedy, Lee J. Cobb

and Cameron Mitchell in the original 1949 production

February 10, 1949: Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman premieres at the Morosco Theatre in New York. Despite giving away the ending in the title -- containing a spoiler, as would be said today -- the play becomes a hit, and is considered one of the greatest stage plays ever written by an American.

Miller, 33 at the time of the premiere, set the play in his native Brooklyn, in what was then the present day, and subsequent play and film versions have kept the 1949 setting. Willy Loman is 63 years old, meaning he was born in 1886, grew up at the turn of the 20th Century, and has seen both World Wars, the Great Depression, and the start of the Cold War. It is not made clear that he, like Miller and so many other Brooklynites, is Jewish, but being a traveling salesman would be a common profession for Jewish American men of his generation. He is feeling his age, and has recently had some driving accidents. It does not yet occur to anyone that these are suicide attempts.

Willy is married to Linda, and they have 2 sons: Biff, a high school football star whose bad grades kept him from graduating and going to college; and Happy, who also hasn't gone to college. Neither has yet done anything with his life. Then again, Willy has never been anything more than a salesman (whose product is never disclosed), never having moved up in his company.

Willy tells his boss he wants to stay in New York, instead of being a traveling salesman. He is turned down, loses his temper, and is outright fired. A friend gives him money to pay off his life insurance premium, and Willy says he's worth more dead than alive. Biff has a business idea, and is also turned down.

Biff insists that he and his father are "a dime-a-dozen," meant to live ordinary lives. This angers Willy, who yells at him, until big tough Biff starts crying and hugs Willy. Willy takes this as a sign that he should go through with another suicide attempt, so that the insurance money (which wouldn't be given if it were known to be a suicide) can help his sons start a business.

At the funeral, Biff says he doesn't want to become a salesman like his father, but Happy says he will offer his services to his father's old company. Linda, steady as a rock through the whole thing, finally breaks down and tells Willy, in his grave, that she made the last payment on the house today.

The original production ran 742 performances. Lee J. Cobb played Willy, Mildred Dunnock played Linda, Arthur Kennedy played Biff, and Cameron Mitchell played Happy. The play won 6 Tony Awards, including Best Play, and Best Actor for Kennedy. It also won the Pulitzer Prize for Best Drama.

In Broadway revivals, Willy was played by George C. Scott in 1975, Dustin Hoffman in 1984, Brian Dennehy in 1999, Philip Seymour Hoffman (no relation to Dustin) in 2012, and, in an all-black version planned for 2022, Wendell Pierce. It was filmed with Fredric March in 1951, with Cobb for CBS in 1966, with Rod Steiger for the BBC in 1966, with Dustin Hoffman for CBS in 1985, with Warren Mitchell in 1996, and with Dennehy in 2000.

The Morosco Theatre opened in 1917, at 217 West 45th Street. It had previously hosted the 1st Broadway productions of Thornton Wilder's Our Town in 1938 and Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit in 1941. It would later debut Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955, Gore Vidal's The Best Man in 1960, and Woody Allen's Don't Drink the Water in 1966. It was demolished in 1982, and replaced by the Marriott Marquis Hotel.

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February 10, 1949 was a Thursday. Baseball and football were out of season. There were 3 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Minneapolis Lakers, 75-95 at the Minneapolis Auditorium.

* The Philadelphia Warriors beat the Indianapolis Jets, 108-87 at the Philadelphia Arena.

* And the Rochester Royals beat the Baltimore Bullets, 90-76 at the Baltimore Coliseum.

There was 1 game played in the NHL: The Chicago Black Hawks beat the New York Rangers, 3-1 at the Chicago Stadium.