It was frustrating not to use everything I knew. For example, in an earlier draft, I had Johnny Strasberg come out at the end and tell the audience what happened next, how his mother, Paula, had died of cancer, how his father had remarried and had acted in 'Godfather II' and opened a chain of acting schools and then, at the age of 82, died dancing in the chorus line of 'Night of 100 Stars' at Radio City Music Hall. It was all so symbolic. Listening to Mr. Brustein orate in his sonorous voice, one wishes he showed more flexibility when speaking about what he calls his esthetic principles. In fact, his play seems to be a traditional Jewish family drama.
Yiddish audiences love plays about wronged parents, especially if they end in reconciliation.
Odets and Arthur Miller come out of that tradition. O'Neill's great plays are family plays, too. I imagined past events from Lee's life that came out of my father's early life, because both men were immigrants and both had lived in the same neighborhood on the Lower East Side.