All My Sons

All My Sons
Written by	Arthur Miller
Characters	Joe Keller Kate Keller Chris Keller Ann Deever George Deever Frank Lubey Lydia Lubey Jim Bayliss Sue Bayliss Bert
Original language	English
Setting	The Kellers' yard in late August, 1946
IBDB profile

All My Sons is a 1947 play by Arthur Miller. The play was twice adapted for film; in 1948, and again in 1987.

The play opened on Broadway at the Coronet Theatre in New York City on January 29, 1947, closed on November 8, 1947 and ran for 328 performances. It was directed by Elia Kazan (to whom it is dedicated) and won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, beating Eugene O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh. It starred Ed Begley, Beth Miller, Arthur Kennedy, and Karl Malden and won both the Tony Award for Best Author and the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play.

Background

Miller wrote All My Sons after his first play The Man Who Had All the Luck failed on Broadway, lasting only four performances. Miller wrote All My Sons as a final attempt at writing a commercially successful play; he vowed to "find some other line of work" if the play did not find an audience.

All My Sons is based upon a true story, which Arthur Miller's then mother-in-law pointed out in an Ohio newspaper. The story described how a woman informed on her father who had sold faulty parts to the U.S. military during World War II.

Henrik Ibsen's influence on Miller is evidenced from the Ibsen play The Wild Duck, where Miller took the idea of two partners in a business where one is forced to take moral and legal responsibility for the other. This is mirrored in All My Sons. He also borrowed the idea of a character’s idealism being the source of a problem.

The criticism of the American Dream, which lies at the heart of All My Sons, was one reason why Arthur Miller was called to appear before the House Un-American Activities Committee during the 1950s, when America was gripped by anti-communist hysteria. Miller sent a copy of the play to Elia Kazan who directed the original stage version of All My Sons. Kazan was a former member of the Communist Party who shared Miller's left-wing views. However, their relationship was destroyed when Kazan gave names of suspected Communists to the House Un-American Activities Committee during the Red Scare.

Characters

Joe Keller - Joe, 60, was exonerated after being charged with shipping damaged plane (p-40s) cylinder heads out of his factory during WWII, inadvertently causing the deaths of 21 pilots. For three and a half years he has placed the blame on his partner and former neighbor, Steve Deever. When the truth comes out, Joe justifies his actions by claiming that he did it for his family. At the end of the play he kills himself in a sad attempt to rid his family of the problems he has caused them and perhaps also to stop Kate from hating him.

Kate Keller (Mother) - Kate knows that Joe is guilty but lives in denial while mourning for her younger son Larry, who has been MIA for three years. She refuses to believe that Larry is dead and maintains that Ann Deever - who returns for a visit at the request of Larry's brother Chris - is still "Larry's girl" and also believes that he is coming back.

Chris Keller – Chris, 32, returned home from World War II two years before the play begins, disturbed by the realization that the world was continuing as if nothing had happened. He has summoned Ann Deever to the Keller house in order to ask her hand in marriage, but their obstacle becomes Kate's unreasonable conviction that Larry will someday return. Chris's idolization of his father results in his devastation when he finds out the truth about what Joe did.

Ann Deever - Ann, 26, arrives at the Keller home having shunned their 'guilty' father since his imprisonment. Throughout the play, Ann is often referred to as pretty, beautiful, and intelligent-looking and as "Annie". She had a relationship with Larry Keller before his disappearance, and has since moved on because she knows the truth of his fate. She hopes that the Kellers will consent to her marriage with Larry's brother, Chris, with whom she has corresponded by mail for two years. Ann soon finds out that the neighbors all believe that Joe is guilty, and eventually finds out the truth after a visit from her older brother George. Ann is the knowledge-bearer in the play: finally, unable to convince Kate that Larry is gone forever, Ann reveals a letter from Larry stating his intention to commit suicide having heard of his father’s imprisonment.

George Deever – George, 31, is Ann’s older brother: a successful New York lawyer and WWII veteran, and a childhood friend of Chris. He initially believed in his father’s guilt, but upon visiting Steve in jail, realizes his innocence and becomes enraged at the Kellers for deceiving him. He returns to save his sister from her marriage to Chris, creating the catalyst that destroys the Keller family.

Jim Bayliss – Jim is a successful doctor, but is frustrated with the stifling domesticity of his life. He wants to become a medical researcher, but continues in his job as it pays the bills. He is a close friend to the Keller family and spends a lot of time in their backyard.

Sue Bayliss - Sue is Jim's wife: needling and dangerous but affectionate, she too is a friend of the Keller family, but is secretly resentful of what she sees as Chris's bad idealistic influence on Jim. Sue confronts Ann about her resentment of Chris in a particularly volatile scene, revealing to Ann that the neighbors all think Joe is guilty.

Frank Lubey – Frank, 32, was always one year ahead of the draft, so he never served in World War II, instead staying home to marry George's former sweetheart, Lydia. He draws up Larry's horoscope and tells Kate that Larry must still be alive, because the day he died was meant to be his 'favorable day.' This strengthens Kate's faith and makes it much harder for Ann to reveal the letter to her.

Lydia Lubey - Lydia, 27, was George's love interest before the war; after he went away, she married Frank and they quickly had three children. She is a model of peaceful domesticity and lends a much-needed cheerful air to several moments of the play.

Bert – Bert is a little boy who lives in the neighborhood; he is friends with the Bayliss' son Tommy and frequently visits the Kellers' yard to play "jail" with Joe. He only appears twice in the play. The first time he appears, his part seems pretty unimportant, but the second time he appears his character gets more important as he sparks a verbal attack from mother when mentioning "jail," which highlights Joe's secret.

Unseen characters

Larry Keller - Larry has been MIA for some years at the start of the play, however he has an effect in the play through his mother's insistence that he is still alive and his brother's love for his childhood sweetheart. Comparisons are made in the story between Larry and Chris with their father describing Larry as the more sensible one with a "head" for business. At the end of the play, Ann reveals a letter written by Larry pronouncing him committing suicide out of shame for what his father did.

Steve Deever - ("Herbert Deever" in the 1948 movie) George and Ann's father. Steve is sent to prison for the shipping of faulty parts - a crime which he and the successfully exonerated Keller committed.

Deever does appear in the 1948 film, in an additional scene not found in the play. In this scene, Chris goes to visit Herbert in prison, where Herbert reveals the truth about what Joe Keller did.

Synopsis

Act I

The stage directions describe the Keller home as situated in an American suburb. It's roughly August 1946. The house is comfortable and well-kept, as is the yard. Downstage left stands an apple tree stump. The trunk and branches are toppled beside it. Joe Keller is in his yard reading the want ads. He's a self-made businessman of about sixty. Doctor Jim Bayliss, his neighbor, is about forty. He's reading the paper too. Joe's neighbor on the other side, Frank, enters. He's 32. The neighbors chat about the weather and the want ads. Frank notices the felled tree. It was struck by lightning in the night. He observes how strange it is that the tree planted in memory of Larry was struck down in his birth month. Larry is Joe's son. He would have been twenty-seven this August, which Frank remembers because he's working on Larry's horoscope. What Frank is trying to figure out – at the request of Kate, Joe's wife – is whether the day on which Larry was reported missing was his "favorable day," when, astrologically speaking, odds are he wouldn't die. This piques skeptical Jim's interest – he doesn't buy it. Talk turns to Annie, a young woman who used to live next door. She's visiting the Kellers and is upstairs asleep for now. Jim makes a quip about how the block could use a pretty face. Just then his fat wife enters, nagging him about a patient's phone call. Frank's wife Lydia comes in, also curious about Annie. Is she engaged? She was Larry's betrothed. Chris Keller enters. He's 32. He starts reading the book section. Joe and Chris start to talk about Larry's tree when eight-year-old neighbor Bert enters. He's Joe's "deputy" and tattles on some of the other kids on the street. He asks to see the jail Joe keeps in his basement, but Joe won't let him. Bert exits; talk turns back to the tree. Mom saw it last night, says Chris. She was outside when it broke, then she came in and cried. Kate Keller still believes Larry is coming back, even though it's been three years. Chris thinks they should puncture the illusion; Joe wants to keep it intact. Chris sits his dad down. Listen up, pop, he says – I'm going to propose to Annie. But Mom still thinks she's Larry's girl. Chris threatens to leave town – and the family business – if his father doesn't encourage his mother to support this marriage. Joe is shocked. Kate enters, a woman in her early fifties. She's happy the tree blew down, because it affirms for her that Larry is still alive. They were in a rush to memorialize him with that tree. Kate and Chris tiptoe around a discussion of Annie. Kate doesn't want to acknowledge that Chris might be courting her. Kate recalls a dream she had about Larry last night. When she heard the wind, she imagined it was Larry flying by in his fighter plane. Kate turns to Joe and wags her finger at him: they shouldn't have planted that tree. They gave up too soon. When Chris exits to get his mother an aspirin, she turns on Joe. Chris better not be planning to propose to Annie. Joe says he doesn't know anything more than she does – an outright lie. Kate wants Joe to believe with her that Larry will come back. He asks her to calm down. They're again interrupted by Bert, who brings up the jail. Kate reacts sharply, telling him there is no jail there. Ann enters from the house. She's beautiful and beautifully dressed. She's been living in New York. When Chris shows his admiration for Ann, Kate comments lightly that she has put on a little weight. Ann remarks on the little changes in the neighborhood: trees, a missing hammock. She's introduced to Jim, who now lives in her old house. When Ann mentions Larry, Kate is relieved. Eventually she asks Ann directly if she's waiting for Larry. Ann says no. Frank enters and dispels the tension. A little small talk, and then Frank mentions Ann's father. He's in prison. Ann is sensitive; she wants to know if the neighbors still talk about her father and his crime. Chris and Joe say no. Ann remembers the neighbors screaming "Murderers" at her father, Steve, and at Joe. In a long monologue, Joe recalls the day he was cleared of the crime. He and Steve had been accused of selling cracked cylinder heads to the Air Force, causing twenty-one planes to crash. Joe was exonerated; Ann's father was imprisoned. When Joe returned home, he walked down the street with defiance and pride. He suggests the same for Steve when he's released. Ann admits that neither she nor her brother keep in touch with their father anymore. They blame him for knowingly shipping out faulty parts, resulting in the death of so many American pilots. She wonders aloud whether this was responsible for Larry's death. That really sets Kate off. Ann should never say that again. Keller tells his version of the story. There was a mad rush for parts, and when the cylinders came out cracked, cowardly Steve just decided to send them out. He was afraid that Joe and the military would be displeased with the mistake, so he kept quiet about it. Chris breaks in. He just wants a change of subject. So they talk about steak and champagne instead, and Keller exits. The long-awaited proposal occurs. Chris asks; Ann says yes. Now they just have to figure out how to tell Kate. Chris has something to get off his chest. It's about the war. Leading a company, he lost all his men. Then he returned to the States and felt that nobody noticed; that the sacrifice of the men who died meant nothing substantial to the people at home. He has survivor's guilt. Chris feels as though he doesn't deserve life and doesn't deserve her. Ann sets him straight – he does deserve her. And he better kiss her right now. Joe interrupts them. There's a phone call from George, Ann's brother. Chris tells Joe the news of his engagement to Ann. But Joe is preoccupied with this phone call. He's afraid George will want to open up his father's case again, and that Ann is on his side. Ann emerges. George is coming there to settle something. He wouldn't say what. This rattles Joe and Kate. Kate tells Joe to be smart.

Act II

It's the same evening, at twilight, and Chris is chopping down the rest of Larry's tree. Kate comes out and asks him to watch out for Joe and her when George arrives. She also wants him to ask Ann to leave with George. Chris still avoids telling his mom about the engagement. Ann comes out and has a brief exchange with Chris. She wants them to tell Kate immediately. Sue emerges from the house next door. Over a glass of grape juice, she lets it all hang out for Ann. Number one, Ann should move elsewhere when she marries Chris. Number two, everyone on the block still thinks Joe is guilty. Ann gets totally freaked out. She asks Chris to assure her that Joe is innocent. He does. Joe comes out and after some good-old-boy ribbing, tells Ann he'd like to set George up with some of his local lawyer friends. He's trying to mend fences in light of their marriage, he says. Then Joe ups the offer. He'll give Steve a job when he gets out of prison. Chris doesn't like the idea, thinks it looks bad. But Joe believes they should forgive Steve and help set him up. Jim arrives. He has George in the car. He warns Chris that George is angry and vengeful, and plans to take Ann home. George enters. He's described as a man of about Chris's age, but pale and on the edge of his restraint. He's wearing a dirty shirt. George meets Sue, who invites him to come over and see how they changed the house he lived in. He declines. He notices everything that's changed about the block. George has just been to visit his father, who's shrinking. He launches into why he came. Ann will not marry Chris, son of the man who destroyed their family. Filled with regret for turning his back on his father, George tells Steve's version of the broken cylinder story. In short, over an untraceable phone call, Joe told Steve to cover up the cracks and just send them out. It's not a story Ann and Chris haven't heard. They heard it in court. George says that anyone who knows Steve and Joe knows the truth – that Joe was guilty. It was only because Chris believes in Joe that George did, turning his back on his father. George is trying to take Ann away. Things get really heated – then Kate comes out. This makes things hard for George. He really likes Kate. Kate mothers him, gives him juice, promises to feed him. George has to leave on the 8:30 train. Kate insinuates that he's taking Ann with him. Lydia comes out. She and George used to have a thing. He's sad that she's shacked up with Frank and has three babies now. Kate says she told him so. Now she wants him to move back, get a job through Joe, and find a girl. Joe enters. Some awkward small talk and then they start talking about Steve. Joe puts out the offer of a job. George doesn't think his dad will accept; he hates Joe's guts now. Acting friendly, Joe brings up another instance in which Steve failed to gracefully take the blame. Ann has called a cab. But Joe invites George to stay for dinner. He's just happily accepting when Kate makes a slip. She says Joe hasn't been sick in fifteen years. But the lynchpin of Joe's story was that the flu laid him up on that fateful day – which is why Steve is the only one in jail. George doesn't let Kate's slip pass. He's on the attack. Frank comes in with the horoscope. It implies Larry is alive. This is just what Kate wants to hear. George is leaving, and Kate openly directs Ann to go with him. She even packed her bag. Chris is furious. He tells George to go. Ann does too. But she exits to see him off. Finally, Chris tells his mother he plans to marry Ann. She refuses to accept that. For her, Larry is alive. Larry is alive, because if he's dead, his own father killed him… Now it's out. Chris is totally, totally floored. His father is guilty. Joe tries to explain himself. He's a man of business. What could he do? He was building a business for his sons. Chris attacks him, calling him lower than an animal. He weeps.

Act III

It's the middle of the night. Kate is out in the yard. Chris is missing. Jim comes back from a house call. He confesses to Kate that he has always known Joe is guilty. He tells her not to worry; Chris will come back. He'll figure out how to compromise and come back. Jim offers to go look for Chris. Joe comes in, upset that Jim is in his business. Kate's had about enough of her husband. She tells him that, if Chris comes back, Joe should offer to turn himself in. Joe can't believe this. His family wanted money and so he made money. Now they are turning on him. Kate explains that, for Chris, there's something bigger than the family. Joe can't understand that perspective. He's defined by his family. Ann emerges. She has her own agenda. She won't do anything about Joe's guilt, but she demands that Kate admit to Chris that Larry is dead. She wants to get on with her life. Kate refuses. Ann must leave her alone. Ann gets nuclear. She has a letter from Larry. She hadn't wanted to share it, but Kate leaves her no choice. Chris shows up. He apologizes to Ann for being a coward, for suspecting his father and doing nothing about it. He wants to put him in jail now, but doesn't feel like he can. Ann tries to comfort Chris. She doesn't expect him to do anything about Joe. But, in reality, she does. Joe comes out defensive. He tells Chris to throw his money away, if he thinks it's so dirty. He's no worse than any other man in the world. Chris knows that. He just thought Joe was better. Ann gives Larry's letter to Chris. In it, Larry confesses that he plans to kill himself because of his father's guilt. Joe gets it. He says he'll turn himself in. He goes inside. Kate still wants Chris to give it up. But he wants to go through with it, just to teach them that they have to understand there are wider consequences for their actions. A gunshot is heard inside. Chris goes to check, then comes back out. Joe has killed himself. Kate tells him to not blame himself.

Timeline of events in the play

The precise date of events in the play are unclear, however it is possible to construct a timeline of the back-story to All My Sons using the dialogue of the play. The play is set in August 1946, in the mid-west of the USA with the main story set between Sunday morning and a little after two o'clock the following morning.

• Autumn 1943: Joe allows Steve to supply the USAAF with faulty cylinder heads which causes the planes to crash.
• Autumn 1943: Twenty-one planes crash and Joe and Steve are arrested
• November 25, 1943: Larry crashes his plane off the coast of China having read about his father's imprisonment
• 1944: Joe is released from prison
• Saturday midnight in August 1946: Ann arrives at Keller home
• Sunday 4am in August 1946: Larry's memorial blows down
• Sunday morning in August 1946: George visits Steve
• Sunday morning in August 1946: Opening of the play

Links to Greek tragedy

Arthur Miller’s writing in All My Sons often shows great respect for the great Grecian tragedies of the likes of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. In these plays the tragic hero or protagonist will commit an offence, often unknowingly, which will return to haunt him, sometimes many years later. The play encapsulates all the fallout from the offense into a 24 hour time span. During that day, the protagonist must learn his fault and suffer as a result, and perhaps even die. In this way the gods are shown to be just and moral order is restored. In All My Sons, these elements are all present; it takes place within a 24 hour period, has a protagonist suffering from a previous offense, and punishment for that offense. Additionally, it explores the father-son relationship, also a common theme in Grecian tragedies. Ann Deever could also be seen to parallel a messenger as her letter is proof of Larry's death.

In Joe Keller, Arthur Miller creates just a representative type. Joe is a very ordinary man, decent, hard-working and charitable, a man no-one could dislike. But, like the protagonist of the ancient drama, he has a flaw or weakness. This, in turn, causes him to act wrongly. He is forced to accept responsibility - his suicide is necessary to restore the moral order of the universe, and allows his son, Chris, to live free from guilt and persecution. Arthur Miller later uses the everyman in a criticism of the American Dream in Death of a Salesman, which is in many ways similar to All My Sons.

Arthur Miller quotation on All My Sons

At the start of Arthur Miller's Collected Plays he commented on his feelings on watching an audience's reaction to a performance of his first successful play:

The success of a play, especially one's first success, is somewhat like pushing against a door which is suddenly opened from the other side. One may fall on one's face or not, but certainly a new room is opened that was always securely shut until then. For myself, the experience was invigorating. It made it possible to dream of daring more and risking more. The audience sat in silence before the unwinding of All My Sons and gasped when they should have, and I tasted that power which is reserved, I imagine, for playwrights, which is to know that by one's invention a mass of strangers has been publicly transfixed.

- Arthur Miller describing an audience's reaction to All My Sons^{[citation needed]}

1948 film

Main article: All My Sons (film)

In 1948, All My Sons was turned into a film. Edward G. Robinson played Joe Keller, Burt Lancaster Chris Keller, Mady Christians Kate Keller, and Louisa Horton Ann Deever. It was directed by Irving Reis and gained two award nominations, Best Written American Drama and The Robert Meltzer Award for the film's co-writer Chester Erskine.

In the film, Steve Deever is renamed Herbert Deever, and makes an onscreen appearance, played by actor Frank Conroy.

1987 film

All My Sons

In 1987, All My Sons was made into a made-for-TV film. This version is more faithful to Arthur Miller's original play than the 1948 film version. The main roles are James Whitmore who plays Joe Keller, Aidan Quinn is Chris Keller, Michael Learned as Kate Keller and Joan Allen who plays Ann Deever. This version was directed by Jack O'Brien. Unlike the 1948 version, this version refers to George's father as Steve as in the play rather than Herb or Herbert.

Other adaptations

In 1950, Lux Radio Theater broadcast a radio play of All My Sons with Burt Lancaster as Joe. The play was adapted by S. H. Barnett and, in an interesting twist, featured the character of Steve Deever in a speaking role.

In 1958, the play was adapted for television by Stanley Mann and directed by Cliff Owen. This production starred Albert Dekker as Joe Keller, Megs Jenkins as Kate Keller, Patrick McGoohan as Chris Keller and Betta St. John as Ann Deever.

In 1998, L.A. Theatre Works put on an unabridged radio production for broadcast on Voice of America and NPR. This recording is widely available on CD and as a pay-per download.

2008 Broadway production

A Broadway revival began previews at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on September 18, 2008 and officially opened on October 16, 2008. The limited engagement ran through until January 4, 2009. Official site

The production starred Tony Award winner John Lithgow, Academy Award winner Dianne Wiest, Tony Award nominee Patrick Wilson, and Katie Holmes, in her Broadway debut. The other featured actors were Becky Ann Baker, Christian Camargo, Jordan Gelber, Danielle Ferland, Damian Young, and Michael D'Addario. It was directed by Simon McBurney. According to his biography, McBurney's "work on the production of All My Sons grew out of a meeting with Arthur Miller in 2001, shortly after the playwright saw the New York premiere of Mnemonic."

The creative team consisted of scenic and costume design by Tony Award nominee Tom Pye, lighting design by Paul Anderson, sound design by Christopher Shutt and Carolyn Downing, projection design by Finn Ross, and wig and hair design by Paul Huntley.

Some controversy surrounded the production, as the internet group Anonymous staged an anti-Scientology protest at the first night of preview performances in New York City (due to cast member Katie Holmes).

The cast dedicated their performance on September 27 to the legendary actor, Paul Newman, who died the day before.

2010 London (West End) production

David Suchet and Zoë Wanamaker (both stars of the British TV series Agatha Christie's Poirot) starred in a revival production at the Apollo Theatre in London's West End. Suchet played Joe Keller and Wanamaker played his wife Kate. The production also featured Jemima Rooper as Ann Deever and Stephen Campbell Moore as Chris Keller. The show ran from May until September 11, 2010.

2011 NAPA Repertory Theater Pakistan

NAPA in collaboration with National Bank of Pakistan presented an Urdu adaptation of the play by Babar Jamal and directed by Rahat Kazmi starring Talat Hussain at Art Council of Pakistan, Karachi

2011 Matrix Theatre Los Angeles

Running from October 22nd thru December 18th, this production, directed by Cameron Watson, includes a multi-racial cast featuring Alex Morris, Ann Gee Byrd, A.K. Murkadha, Linda Park, James Hiroyuki Liao, Anita Barone, Taylor Nichols, Maritxell Carrero and Armand Vasquez.

See also

• Arthur Miller
• Hollywood blacklist

External links

1947 play

• All My Sons at the Internet Broadway Database
• All My Sons Study guide for GCSE exams
• American All My Sons guide exploring themes
• Information on Arthur Miller's influences
• All My Sons - All My Sons plot summary and character descriptions from StageAgent.com
• The social and historical context of the play
• Essay on All My Sons

1948 film

• All My Sons (1948 film) at the Internet Movie Database
• All My Sons (1948 film) at the TCM Movie Database

Trivia: In 1950, the stock units from the "Kellar home" sound stage sets were reconstructed on the new Colonial Street. In 1964, Universal studios tour guides called the sets the "house used in the movie Desperate Hours (1955)" (Kellar home). The home was used in the TV Series "Delta House" (1979). Today the sets are located on Wisteria Lane - 4347 Wisteria Lane.

• Colonial Street 1950 to 1981)

1986 film

• All My Sons (1986 film) at the Internet Movie Database
• All My Sons (1986 film) at the TCM Movie Database

2008 play

• All My Sons (2008 play) at the Internet Broadway Database
• All My Sons on Broadway Official Website
• Essay contrasting the play with the 2008 US elections, from James Moran, the Dublin Review of Books