Blitzstein was found severely beaten on the island of Martinique (he
had travelled there while in a writer's slump while writing a play on
the Sacco and Vanzetti trial). After being taken to a hospital, he
managed to identify his attackers as Portuguese sailors (by their
uniforms), but Blitzstien died of his injuries in his sleep that night.
He was a child prodigy in music who, later in life, became an avowed
leftist, and wrote several pieces of "agit-prop" musical plays,
including "The Cradle Will Rock" and "No For An Answer".
The first performance of his play "No For An Answer" featured a
then-unknown actress and singer named Carol Channing, who would later
go onto fame as a stage and screen star.