When I was in college a few years ago, I did a great deal of theatre work: acting, directing, and everything in between. At one point I was on the board of a non-profit theatre and probably spent days worth of my life reading scripts and finding interesting titles that hadn't been produced to death. One rainy afternoon, I was on a big Arthur Miller kick, and found there was one script that I couldn't locate on its own or in a standalone volume: Finishing the Picture.
Linda Lavin (l.) and Stacy Keach (r.) in the Goodman production of Finishing the Picture (2004)
Miller's final work, it was produced by the Goodman Theatre in the fall of 2004 shortly before his death. The play is interesting biographically for Miller, in that his last work was all about the disaster that was the making of The Misfits with then-wife Marilyn Monroe.
Ask anyone, you can't get a copy of it anywhere. It was never published. So I started digging for answers and eventually figured I should look up Miller's agency, since I wasn't getting anywhere otherwise. I had no idea who Sam Cohn was when I first found his name, but I did a fair amount of reading about him before I dialed the number.
"Sam Cohn's office," his secretary answered. I briefly explained I worked with a theatre company in Florida and was curious about performance rights to or requesting an updated copy of Arthur Miller's Finishing the Picture. "Hold for Mr. Cohn," she replied. This man is the hardest to get on the phone in all of show business, right?
"Sam Cohn," he said. I repeated the spiel I gave the secretary, and about three beats after I said "Picture," he sighed and barreled through saying "the play is not available for performance and never will be." Given the estate's distaste for anything that had to do with Marilyn Monroe, I figured it was worth asking, "What about plans for publication? Even if it can't be licensed for performance--"
"The play will not be published, not now, not ever. Good day to you."
That's all I got or ever would get out of Sam Cohn. After more reading about who he was, I decided to send a thank you note for having taken my call. It might seem odd to some, but I felt some old-fashioned gesture of respect was in order. I don't like the idea of people assuming I'm like all the other guys who ring up on the phone and sound twentysomething. I didn't expect a response or confirmation that he received it, and I didn't get one, but I'll be damned if it didn't feel good to hand-write, address, and mail a letter to Sam Cohn.
That said, if anyone reading has a copy or can get a copy of Finishing the Picture, I'd be eternally grateful. Email is linked