The Brooklyn Eagle marks the occasion of what would have been former Brooklyn Heights resident Arthur Miller’s 96th birthday with a great article detailing the highlights of his life here.
Brooklyn Eagle: During his time in Brooklyn Heights, Miller “never gravitated toward a society of writers.” He was far more likely to explore the livelier neighborhoods just beyond the Heights. “I loved walking along the waterfront,” he recalled. “When I got interested in the longshoremen, I spent a lot of time in Red Hook around Columbia Street. There was a movement at the time to rid the union of racketeers … I knew a newly graduated lawyer involved in that struggle. There were lots of murders, bodies dropping into the river in concrete slabs. He called me. He thought I could get some publicity in the papers. Then I became a supernumerary of that movement.” Miller’s experience in Red Hook gave him the background for A View from the Bridge and the young lawyer furnished part of the characterization of Alfieri.
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