Miller began writing while at 'U'

The 1930s witnessed a tremendous flourishing of creative expression on campus, despite the hardships of the Great Depression that surrounded the University at the time. Or, perhaps, it would not be too much to say that our "national tragedy," in Arthur Miller's words, inspired students to think, write and act like never before in the University's history.

Miller himself, before he became one of the greatest American playwrights was one of the leading figures on the campus cultural scene. When Miller arrived at the University in 1934, the Avery Hopwood Writing Awards Program was in full swing, and Miller went on to win two consecutive Hopwood prizes for drama.

Courtesy of Bentley Historical Library Arthur Miller played the role of Samson in "The Proud Pilgrimage," performed on campus January 1938 while he was a University student. Miller wrote his first play as a sophomore in 1936.

But for his first year and a half at the University, Miller was a journalism concentrator. Outside of classes, he spent most of his time working two jobs to pay his tuition - in a campus biology research lab, where he experimented on rats, and at The Michigan Daily, where he worked as a reporter and night editor.

Miller remained with the Daily throughout his college career. At that time, the campus was considered a radical enclave and more University students signed the anti-war Oxford Pledge than at any other college. The debate over issues like the Spanish-American War was fierce, and one of the campus media's frequent contributors - as well as the leader of the radical pacifist movement on campus - was future Michigan Gov. G. Mennen "Soapy" Williams.

In 1936, late in Miller's sophomore year, he made a fateful decision. He wrote his first play in his residence hall room over Spring Break, a project that took him six days. Miller did not find it a handicap that he had seen only two plays in his life and had no idea how long an act should be.

The play, "No Villain," was about a family quarrel about a garment factory strike. Based loosely on Miller's family, it won the Hopwood Award in a matter of months and was produced in Detroit in a revised version, retitled "Until the Dawn."

When Miller, who had now changed his concentration to drama, wrote another Hopwood-winning play during his junior year, he started to generate interest among New York producers, including the short-lived but legendary Federal Theatre Project.

Inspired by some weekends spent visiting Jackson State Penitentiary, Miller wrote a prison drama, "The Great Disobedience," his senior year. It finished second in the Hopwood program because some judges considered it "turgid."

Shortly after, Miller graduated with a University degree and moved to New York. He began his career working at the Federal Theatre Project and writing radio plays and was only a few years away from beginning the half century - and counting - during which his plays have held the world's stages.

Not a small accomplishment, considering the letter Miller had to write to the University president in order to be accepted at Michigan. The 19-year-old promised to prove himself academically in one year or accept dismissal. Fortunately for his fellow students and future audiences, the proof wasn't long in coming.

04-09-99