Neil Simon:
Master of the
American Spirit

"If Broadway ever erects a monument to the patron saint of laughter, Neil Simon would have to be it," wrote Time magazine.

The movies and television might consider America's most prolific and popular playwright a patron saint, as well.  He has written 28 plays and holds the record for the greatest number of hits in the history of American theater.  He has had more plays adapted to film than any other playwright, and additionally has written nearly a dozen original film comedies. He also helped define television comedy during the medium's legendary early days. In the theater, at the movies, and at home he has kept America laughing for more than 40 years and has been rewarded with four Tony awards, two Emmys, a Screen Writers Guild award, and a Pulitzer Prize.

What's his secret? The Concise Oxford Companion to American Theatre explains: "[Neil Simon] is a shrewd observer of human foibles and a master of the one-line gag."

Simon has also been praised for his unique way of exposing something real in the American spirit. Emanuel Azenberg, his long-time producer, simply suggests, "He genuinely loves the act of writing."

Marvin Neil Simon was born on July 4, 1927, in the Bronx, New York.  He grew up in Washington Heights, a product of a marriage that saw its share of turbulence.  After graduating from public school, he enlisted in the Army and began his career writing for an Army camp newspaper.  A week later, armistice was declared.

After his discharge from the service, he returned to New York and became a mailroom clerk for Warner Brothers' East Coast office.  Soon he was writing comedy revues with his brother Danny at resorts in the Poconos; then for radio, providing material for the likes of Tallulah Bankhead; and finally, for the new medium of television, where he helped make Phil Silvers, Jackie Gleason, Red Buttons, Garry Moore, and most notably, Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca, funny.

Caesar and Coca, of course, were the stars of Your Show of Shows, the nation's weekly variety show addiction from 1950-54, where the Simon brothers toiled alongside fellow budding talents that included Mel Brooks, Larry Gelbart, and Woody Allen.

But the theater was his destiny and it was there that he and Danny continued their partnership, contributing sketches to a couple of Broadway musicals in the mid-fifties. Eventually, Neil decided to strike out on his own.  After countless drafts, he completed a comedy about two brothers who don't want to take over their father's fruit business.  Come Blow Your Horn (1961) racked up 677 performances and hinted at a promising career for the young playwright.  Two years later, Barefoot in the Park, the story of a newly married couple’s trials and tribulations, fulfilled that promise, racking up 1,530 performances and launching a theatrical legend.

His brother would play a major role in Neil’s next project.  After his divorce, circumstances caused Danny to move into an apartment with another divorced man – a real-life situation that would eventually develop into his sibling’s most enduring hit.  Though Danny had begun writing a story himself, he encountered writer’s block and handed it off to Neil. The result was The Odd Couple (1965), which became a huge smash on Broadway and ran for two years.  A 1968 film version was equally successful and even spawned a popular television series.

Throughout the '60s and '70s, Simon would turn out hit after hit for the stage and screen, most of them depicting life in and about the environs of New York City -- Manhattan, Brighton Beach, Yonkers, Riverside Drive, Second Avenue, and Central Park West among them.  Think of the Simon canon -- The Odd Couple (1965), Sweet Charity (1966), Plaza Suite (1968), The Out of Towners (1970), Promises, Promises (1968), The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1971), The Goodbye Girl (1993), Chapter Two (1977) -- and you get a clear, sharp, and very funny picture of the people crazy and lucky enough to call New York home.

In the '80s, Simon produced his landmark autobiographical trilogy -- Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983), Biloxi Blues (1985), and Broadway Bound (1986) -- which chronicled his stormy childhood, Army days, and entry into show business.  Now Simon was not only getting the laughs, he was also getting the awards and honors.  In 1983, the famed Alvin Theatre in New York was renamed the Neil Simon Theatre, based upon the successful engagement of Brighton Beach Memoirs.  He crowned this streak with Lost in Yonkers, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1991.

Perhaps the secret to Simon's success is his ability, brilliantly displayed in those four plays but evident from the very beginning, to show us -- between, in, and around the funny lines -- the pain, aspiration, and sheer panic behind all those unforgettable characters.

He does indeed capture the true American spirit!

(Information provided from NJTheater.com & PBS American Masters)