Found this comment--in, of all places, Commentary--Noel Coward on "Death of a Salesman":
Went to Death of a Salesman. I personally found it boring and embarrassing. . . . Lee Cobb overacted and roared and ranted. . . . The play is a glorification of mediocrity. The hero . . . is a cracking bore and a liar and a fool and a failure; the sons are idiots. To me these ingredients do not add up to entertainment in the theater.