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71-511: The Sunshine Boys is an original two-act play written by Neil Simon that premiered December 20, 1972, on Broadway starring Jack Albertson as Willie Clark and Sam Levene as Al Lewis and later adapted for film and television. The play's protagonists are Al Lewis and Willie Clark. Lewis and Clark were once a successful vaudevillian comedy duo known as the Sunshine Boys. During the later years of their 43-year run, animosity between
142-521: A Play) and Arkin (Best Direction of a Play), and Albertson won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Performance (and was nominated for a Tony as well). Al Hirschfeld memorialized the legendary starring performances of Jack Albertson as Willie Clark and Sam Levene as Al Lewis, the original Broadway stars of The Sunshine Boys , by creating an iconic caricature for The New York Times on December 13, 1972. Titled "Don't Poke With The Finger"
213-861: A Pulitzer Prize for drama with Lost in Yonkers . McGovern writes that "seldom has even the most astute critic recognized what depths really exist in the plays of Neil Simon." When Lost in Yonkers was considered by the Pulitzer Advisory Board, board member Douglas Watt noted that it was the only play nominated by all five jury members, and that they judged it "a mature work by an enduring (and often undervalued) American playwright." McGovern compares Simon with noted earlier playwrights, including Ben Jonson , Molière , and George Bernard Shaw , pointing out that those playwrights had "successfully raised fundamental and sometimes tragic issues of universal and therefore enduring interest without eschewing
284-404: A bad start, with the two getting into heated arguments over various aspects of the performance. However, thanks to the urging of Al's daughter, the two decide to go through with the performance. Willie and Al's dress rehearsal at CBS' studio is derailed by Al's aggressive habit of poking Willie's chest with his index finger and spitting at him every time he says a word that has a "T" in it. One of
355-477: A blend of "humor and pathos". Other critics were less complimentary, noting that much of his dramatic structure was weak and sometimes relied too heavily on gags and one-liners. As a result, notes Kopince, "literary scholars had generally ignored Simon's early work, regarding him as a commercially successful playwright rather than a serious dramatist." Clive Barnes , theater critic for The New York Times , wrote that like his British counterpart Noël Coward , Simon
426-713: A freelance writer, contributing to the New Statesman , the Daily Express , and The Spectator ; he also worked for the Greater London Council , until he was appointed the inaugural dance critic for The Times of London in 1961. In 1963, Barnes began writing for the New York Times , and moved to New York in 1965 to become their dance critic and drama critic. In 1967, many of his duties as drama critic were given to Walter Kerr , as
497-532: A humorous attitude ... do something to laugh until I was able to forget what was hurting. He was able to do that at the movies, in the work of stars like Charlie Chaplin , Buster Keaton , and Laurel and Hardy . "I was constantly being dragged out of movies for laughing too loud." Simon acknowledged these childhood films as his inspiration: "I wanted to make a whole audience fall onto the floor, writhing and laughing so hard that some of them pass out." He made writing comedy his long-term goal, and also saw it as
568-517: A musical version of Billy Wilder 's film, The Apartment . By the time of Last of the Red Hot Lovers in 1969, Simon was reputedly earning $ 45,000 a week from his shows (excluding sale of rights), making him the most financially successful Broadway writer ever. Simon also served as an uncredited "script doctor", helping to hone the books of Broadway-bound plays or musicals under development, as he did for A Chorus Line (1975). During
639-622: A playwright and his interest in breaking new ground." Simon's characters are typically "imperfect, unheroic figures who are at heart decent human beings", according to Koprince, and she traces Simon's style of comedy back to that of Menander , a playwright of ancient Greece. Menander, like Simon, also used average people in domestic life settings, and also blended humor and tragedy into his themes. Many of Simon's most memorable plays are built around two-character scenes, as in segments of California Suite and Plaza Suite . Before writing, Simon tried to create an image of his characters. He said that
710-455: A result, the family took in boarders, and Simon and his brother Danny were sometimes forced to live with different relatives. During an interview with writer Lawrence Grobel , Simon said: "To this day I never really knew what the reason for all the fights and battles were about between the two of them ... She'd hate him and be very angry, but he would come back and she would take him back. She really loved him." Simon has said that one of
781-407: A resulting urban flavor. Within that setting, Simon's themes include marital conflict, infidelity, sibling rivalry, adolescence, bereavement and fear of aging. Despite the serious nature of these ideas, Simon always manages to tell the stories with humor, embracing both realism and comedy. Simon would tell aspiring comedy playwrights "not to try to make it funny ... try and make it real and then
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#1732800903923852-528: A way to connect with people. "I was never going to be an athlete or a doctor." He began writing for pay while still in high school: At the age of fifteen, Simon and his brother created a series of comedy sketches for employees at an annual department store event. To help develop his writing skill, he often spent three days a week at the library reading books by famous humorists such as Mark Twain , Robert Benchley , George S. Kaufman and S. J. Perelman . Soon after graduating from high school, he signed up with
923-454: A wide variety of urban settings and stories. This creates a "sophisticated, urban humor", says editor Kimball King, and results in plays that represent "middle America". Simon created everyday, apparently simple conflicts with his stories, which became comical premises for problems which needed be solved. Another feature of his writing is his adherence to traditional values regarding marriage and family. McGovern states that this thread of
994-518: A writer when I'm writing a play, because of the tradition of the theater ... there is no tradition of the screenwriter, unless he is also the director, which makes him an auteur . So I really feel that I'm writing for posterity with plays, which have been around since the Greek times. Many of his earlier adaptations of his own work were very similar to the original plays. Simon observed in hindsight: "I really didn't have an interest in films then. I
1065-497: Is "the silent majority", many of whom are "frustrated, edgy, and insecure". Simon's characters are "likable" and easy for audiences to identify with. They often have difficult relationships in marriage, friendship or business, as they "struggle to find a sense of belonging". According to biographer Edythe McGovern, there is always "an implied seeking for solutions to human problems through relationships with other people, [and] Simon
1136-559: Is a full-length farce; in Jake's Women and Brighton Beach Memoirs he used dramatic narration; in The Good Doctor , he created a "pastiche of sketches" around various stories by Chekhov ; and Fools (1981), was written as a fairy-tale romance similar to stories by Sholem Aleichem . Although some of these efforts failed to win approval from many critics, Koprince claims that they nonetheless demonstrate Simon's "seriousness as
1207-510: Is a key influence on his work, although he is unaware of it when writing. For example, in the Brighton Beach trilogy, she explains, the lead character is a "master of self-deprecating humor, cleverly poking fun at himself and at his Jewish culture as a whole." Simon himself has said that his characters are people who are "often self-deprecating and [who] usually see life from the grimmest point of view", explaining, "I see humor in even
1278-485: Is a sad situation and how can I tell it humorously?" His comedies often portray struggles with marital difficulties or fading love, sometimes leading to separation, divorce and child custody issues. After many twists in the plot, the endings typically show renewal of the relationships. Politics seldom plays in Simon's stories, and his characters avoid confronting society as a whole, despite their personal problems. "Simon
1349-510: Is able to deal with serious topics of universal and enduring concern", while still making people laugh. McGovern adds that one of Simon's hallmarks is his "great compassion for his fellow human beings", an opinion shared by author Alan Cooper, who observes that Simon's plays "are essentially about friendships, even when they are about marriage or siblings or crazy aunts ..." Many of Simon's plays are set in New York City , with
1420-748: Is certainly the right of free men, but not so helpful when the life or death of a play is based on a critic's having the courage to say what he thinks now, not a month later in a ballet column; (9) he has little interest in learning the financial aspects of Broadway, to which he is central. Barnes was married four times, with the first three marriages, to Joyce Tolman in 1947, to Patricia Winkley in 1958, and to Amy Pagnozzi in 1985, ending in divorce; his fourth marriage, to Valerie Taylor, lasted from 2004 until his death. He had two children from his second marriage. Barnes died from liver cancer at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City on 19 November 2008. He
1491-521: Is never a victory." Another aspect of Simon's style is his ability to combine both comedy and drama. Barefoot in the Park , for example, is a light romantic comedy, while portions of Plaza Suite were written as "farce", and portions of California Suite are "high comedy". Simon was willing to experiment and take risks, often moving his plays in new and unexpected directions. In The Gingerbread Lady , he combined comedy with tragedy; Rumors (1988)
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#17328009039231562-610: Is recovering under the care of a nurse. Upon Ben's recommendation, he decides to move into an actors' retirement home in New Jersey. Al, concerned about Willie's well-being, makes a visit. When the two talk, it is revealed that Al will be moving into the same home as Willie. Neil Simon was inspired by two venerable vaudeville teams. The longevity of "Lewis and Clark" was inspired by Smith and Dale who, unlike their theatrical counterparts, were inseparable lifelong friends. The undercurrent of backstage hostility between "Lewis and Clark"
1633-509: Is simply interested in showing human beings as they are—with their foibles, eccentricities, and absurdities." Drama critic Richard Eder noted that Simon's popularity relies on his ability to portray a "painful comedy", where characters say and do funny things in extreme contrast to the unhappiness they are feeling. Simon's plays are generally semi-autobiographical, often portraying aspects of his troubled childhood and first marriages. According to Koprince, Simon's plays also "invariably depict
1704-807: The Army Air Force Reserve at New York University . He attained the rank of corporal and was eventually sent to Colorado . During those years in the Reserve, Simon wrote professionally, starting as a sports editor. He was assigned to Lowry Air Force Base during 1945 and attended the University of Denver from 1945 to 1946. Simon quit his job as a mailroom clerk in the Warner Brothers offices in Manhattan to write radio and television scripts with his brother Danny Simon , under
1775-495: The Brooks Atkinson Theatre . Simon took three years to create that first play, partly because he was also working on television scripts. He rewrote it at least twenty times from beginning to end: "It was the lack of belief in myself", he recalled. "I said, 'This isn't good enough. It's not right.' ... It was the equivalent of three years of college." Besides being a "monumental effort" for Simon, that play
1846-492: The Great Depression . His parents' financial difficulties affected their marriage, giving him a mostly unhappy and unstable childhood. He often took refuge in movie theaters, where he enjoyed watching early comedians like Charlie Chaplin . After graduating from high school and serving a few years in the Army Air Force Reserve , he began writing comedy scripts for radio programs and popular early television shows. Among
1917-479: The Lyceum Theatre , opening on December 8, 1997, and closing on June 28, 1998, after 230 performances. Directed by John Tillinger , the cast starred Jack Klugman as Willie Clark and Tony Randall as Al Lewis. A West End production of the play, starring Danny DeVito (in his West End debut)) and Richard Griffiths , opened on May 17, 2012, and played a limited 12-week season until July 28. Griffiths
1988-673: The 1970s, he wrote a string of successful plays; sometimes more than one was playing at the same time, to standing room only audiences. Although he was, by then, recognized as one of the country's leading playwrights, his inner drive kept him writing: Did I relax and watch my boyhood ambitions being fulfilled before my eyes? Not if you were born in the Bronx, in the Depression and Jewish, you don't. Simon drew "extensively on his own life and experience" for his stories. His settings are typically working-class New York City neighborhoods, similar to
2059-459: The 23rd Floor , among others. His work ranged from romantic comedies to serious drama. Overall, he received seventeen Tony nominations and won three awards. Simon also adapted material originated by others, such as the musical Little Me (1962), based on the novel by Patrick Dennis ; Sweet Charity (1966) from the screenplay for the film Nights of Cabiria ( 1957), written by Federico Fellini and others; and Promises, Promises (1968)
2130-560: The Broadway production to star in the first U.S. National company, they were replaced by Lou Jacobi as Al Lewis on February 12, 1974, and Jack Gilford as Willie Clark on October 30, 1973. Jacobi performed the role of Al Lewis for 72 performances. Sam Levene, the original star, is credited with performing the role of Al Lewis 466 times in the original Broadway production before headlining the first U.S. national tour. Tony Award nominations went to Simon (Best Play), Albertson (Best Actor in
2201-474: The Park . These earned him royalties of $ 1 million a year. His professional association with producer Emanuel Azenberg began with The Sunshine Boys and continued with The Good Doctor , God's Favorite , Chapter Two , They're Playing Our Song , I Ought to Be in Pictures , Brighton Beach Memoirs , Biloxi Blues , Broadway Bound , Jake's Women , The Goodbye Girl and Laughter on
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2272-457: The Theater , Ballet Here and Now , Dance Scene USA , Inside American Ballet Theatre , as well as biographies of Tennessee Williams (1975) and Rudolf Nureyev (1982). The British writer was known for his "lively and enthusiastic approach to criticism" which contributed to an upswing in dance criticism in New York City media. Writing for Variety , Gordon Cox said Barnes "helped nurture
2343-748: The audience with sparkling "zingers", made believable by Simon's skillful writing of dialogue. He reproduces speech so "adroitly" that his characters are usually plausible and easy for audiences to identify with and laugh at. His characters may also express "serious and continuing concerns of mankind ... rather than purely topical material". McGovern notes that his characters are always impatient "with phoniness, with shallowness, with amorality", adding that they sometimes express "implicit and explicit criticism of modern urban life with its stress, its vacuity, and its materialism." However, Simon's characters are never seen thumbing their noses at society." Theater critic John Lahr believes that Simon's primary theme
2414-484: The caricature references the finger poke running gag and Willie Clark's resentment over having been constantly and aggressively poked during the show and for 43 years by Al Lewis played by Sam Levene. The 1972 production of The Sunshine Boys marked the beginning of Neil Simon's long association with producer Emanuel Azenberg, who produced all of Simon's original Broadway plays and musicals that followed. Clive Barnes , The New York Times chief theatre critic, reviewed
2485-418: The comedy will come." "When I was writing plays", he said, "I was almost always (with some exceptions) writing a drama that was funny ... I wanted to tell a story about real people." Simon explained how he managed this combination: My view is, "how sad and funny life is." I can't think of a humorous situation that does not involve some pain. I used to ask, "What is a funny situation?" Now I ask, "What
2556-540: The comic mode." She concludes, "It is my firm conviction that Neil Simon should be considered a member of this company ... an invitation long overdue." McGovern attempts to explain the response of many critics: Above all, his plays which may appear simple to those who never look beyond the fact that they are amusing are, in fact, frequently more perceptive and revealing of the human condition than many plays labeled complex dramas. Clive Barnes Clive Alexander Barnes CBE (13 May 1927 – 19 November 2008)
2627-459: The conversion of his works. Simon wrote screenplays for more than twenty films and received four Academy Award nominations—for The Odd Couple (1969), The Sunshine Boys (1975), The Goodbye Girl (1977) and California Suite (1978). Other movies include The Out-of-Towners (1970) and Murder by Death (1976). Although most of his films were successful, movies were always of secondary importance to his plays: I always feel more like
2698-499: The explosion of the form in Gotham in the 1970s." Regarding television, Barnes once wrote: "It is the first truly democratic culture, the first culture available to everyone and entirely governed by what the people want. The most terrifying thing is what people do want." The Daily Telegraph noted that Barnes sometimes wrote four reviews a day, possibly because New Yorkers were "greedy for his brand of pithy English open-mindedness." He
2769-443: The following reasons for this: (1) He has no ear for American speech; (2) he cannot deal with American drama; (3) he prefers, in all ways, English theatre to American theatre; (4) he would find it not at all ignoble if Broadway were to become primarily an importing agent; (5) he prefers ballet to theatre; (6) he is a smart ass; (7) he enjoys glorifying himself publicly through his position; (8) he changes his opinions constantly, which
2840-456: The grimmest of situations. And I think it's possible to write a play so moving it can tear you apart and still have humor in it." This theme in writing, notes Koprince, "belongs to a tradition of Jewish humor ... a tradition which values laughter as a defense mechanism and which sees humor as a healing, life-giving force." During most of his career, Simon's work received mixed reviews, with many critics admiring his comedy skills, much of it
2911-544: The importance of these two writing jobs to his career: "Between the two of them, I spent five years and learned more about what I was eventually going to do than in any other previous experience." "I knew when I walked into Your Show of Shows , that this was the most talented group of writers that up until that time had ever been assembled together." Simon described a typical writing session: There were about seven writers, plus Sid, Carl Reiner , and Howie Morris ... Mel Brooks and maybe Woody Allen would write one of
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2982-405: The latter were Sid Caesar 's Your Show of Shows (where in 1950 he worked alongside other young writers including Carl Reiner , Mel Brooks , Woody Allen , Larry Gelbart and Selma Diamond ), and The Phil Silvers Show , which ran from 1955 to 1959. His first produced play was Come Blow Your Horn (1961). It took him three years to complete and ran for 678 performances on Broadway . It
3053-490: The legendary team on which “The Sunshine Boys” is partly based." Arkin said "Jack (Albertson) and Sam (Levene) would have these terrific yelling matches". "It used to scare hell out of everybody until we realized that it meant nothing. They were mock battles, completely without anger. They're consummate professionals.” Albertson interjected: "There is a “chemical” between the two". “He knows what I think; and I know what he thinks,” Albertson told The New York Times . “Sam and I have
3124-468: The monogamous family runs through most of Simon's work, and is one he feels is necessary to give stability to society. Some critics have therefore described his stories as somewhat old fashioned, although Johnson points out that most members of his audiences "are delighted to find Simon upholding their own beliefs". And where infidelity is the theme in a Simon play, rarely, if ever, do those characters gain happiness: "In Simon's eyes," adds Johnson, "divorce
3195-592: The ones in which he grew up. In 1983, he began writing the first of three autobiographical plays, Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983), which would be followed by Biloxi Blues (1985) and Broadway Bound (1986). He received his greatest critical acclaim for this trilogy. He received a Pulitzer Prize for his follow-up play, Lost in Yonkers (1991), which starred Mercedes Ruehl and was a success on Broadway. Following Lost in Yonkers , Simon's next several plays did not meet with commercial success. The Dinner Party (2000), which starred Henry Winkler and John Ritter,
3266-496: The original Broadway production on December 21, 1972, stating: " The Sunshine Boys is probably Mr. Simon's best play yet. It deals with a subject very dear to the playwright's heart—vaudeville. Willie Clark is an almost retired vaudeville comedian. His heart is willing, but his lines are failing. His agent is his nephew—long‐suffering and much‐loving. But even a potato‐chip commercial has not gone well, and any actor who cannot crunch potato chips has got to be on his way out." Regarding
3337-677: The original Broadway stars, Barnes stated: "Jack Albertson as the heart stricken comic never puts a line wrong. He is always pathetic but never enough to make you cry. Lovely. His acerbic partner, Sam Levene, is as tough as vintage chewing gum, and yet with a sort of credible lovability." Jack Albertson and Sam Levene won unanimous rave notices for their legendary starring performances in the original Broadway production of The Sunshine Boys even though before The Sunshine Boys went into rehearsal Albertson and Levene were strangers. Director Alan Arkin recalled in an interview with The New York Times , "Now they work as collaboratively as did Smith and Dale,
3408-562: The other sketches ... everyone would pitch in and rewrite, so we all had a part of it ... It was probably the most enjoyable time I ever had in writing with other people. Simon incorporated some of these experiences into his play Laughter on the 23rd Floor (1993). A 2001 TV adaptation of the play won him two Emmy Award nominations. His first Broadway experience was on Catch a Star! (1955); he collaborated on sketches with his brother, Danny. In 1961, Simon's first Broadway play, Come Blow Your Horn , ran for 678 performances at
3479-563: The paper's editors were concerned by the level of influence amassed by one person holding both roles. In 1978, after being asked to fully divest of his role as a drama critic, he was hired by the New York Post , which allowed him to cover both mediums. He remained with the Post for the next thirty years, continuing to write there until a few weeks before his death. Barnes authored and contributed to numerous books related to theatre and
3550-570: The partners grew to the point where they ceased to speak with each other. Eleven years prior to the events of the play, Al retired from show business, leaving Willie struggling to keep his career afloat. Willie, now an old man struggling with memory loss, reluctantly accepts an offer from his nephew Ben, a talent agent, to reunite with Al for a CBS special on the history of comedy. Willie and Al meet in Willie's apartment to rehearse their classic doctor and tax collector sketch . The reunion gets off to
3621-593: The performing arts, particularly dance. These include four volumes of 50 Best Plays of the American Theatre , nine series of Best American Plays (with John Gassner ), American Ballet Theatre: A 25 Year Retrospective (with Elizabeth Kaye), the foreword to Masters of Movement: Portraits of America's Great Choreographers (by Rose Eichenbaum), Ballet in Britain Since the War , New York Times Directory of
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#17328009039233692-538: The play Star Spangled Girl , which was a box-office failure, was "the only play I ever wrote where I did not have a clear visual image of the characters in my mind as I sat down at the typewriter." Simon considered "character building" an obligation, stating that the "trick is to do it skillfully". While other writers have created vivid characters, they have not created nearly as many as Simon did: "Simon has no peers among contemporary comedy playwrights", stated biographer Robert Johnson. Simon's characters often amuse
3763-446: The plight of white middle-class Americans, most of whom are New Yorkers and many of whom are Jewish, like himself." He has said, "I suppose you could practically trace my life through my plays." In Lost in Yonkers , Simon suggests the necessity of a loving marriage (as opposed to his parents'), and how children who are deprived of it in their home, "end up emotionally damaged and lost". According to Koprince, Simon's Jewish heritage
3834-405: The reasons he became a writer was to fulfill a need to be independent of such emotional family issues, a need he recognized when he was seven or eight: "I'd better start taking care of myself somehow ... It made me strong as an independent person. I think part of what made me a comedy writer is the blocking out of some of the really ugly, painful things in my childhood and covering it up with
3905-432: The running gags in “The Sunshine Boys” involves Willie's resentment over having been constantly poked in the chest by his partner's all‐too‐emphatic forefinger in the course of their countless routines on stage. Willie cries, “I had a black and blue hole in my chest. He gave me the finger for 43 years!” As Al walks off the stage in regret, Willie has a heart attack as a result of his agitated state. Two weeks later, Willie
3976-451: The same thing in the play. If one of us blows a line, the other covers. Frankly, I blow more lines than Sam does.” The two pros were able to cover lines as they each knew the play, not just their roles. New York Post Theatre Critic Richard Watts Jr. observed "Jack Albertson and Sam Levene offer the best team acting since Gielgud and Richardson in Home". The play was revived on Broadway at
4047-733: The same time and, in 1983, he became the only living playwright to have a New York theatre, the Neil Simon Theatre , named in his honor. Neil Simon was born on July 4, 1927, in The Bronx , New York City, to Jewish parents. His father, Irving Simon, was a garment salesman, and his mother, Mamie (Levy) Simon, was mostly a homemaker. Neil had one brother, eight years his senior, television writer and comedy teacher Danny Simon . He grew up in Washington Heights , Manhattan, and graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School when he
4118-549: The tutelage of radio humorist Goodman Ace , who ran a short-lived writing workshop for CBS . Their work for the radio series The Robert Q. Lewis Show led to other writing jobs. Max Liebman hired the duo for the writing team of his popular television comedy series Your Show of Shows . The program received Emmy Award nominations for Best Variety Show in 1951, 1952, 1953, and 1954, and won in 1952 and 1953. Simon later wrote scripts for The Phil Silvers Show , for episodes broadcast during 1958 and 1959. Simon later recalled
4189-433: Was "a modest hit". Simon's final play, Rose's Dilemma , premiered in 2003 and received poor reviews. Simon is credited as playwright and contributing writer to at least 49 Broadway plays. Simon chose not to write the screenplay for the first film adaptation of his work, Come Blow Your Horn (1963), preferring to focus on his playwriting. However, he was disappointed with the picture, and thereafter tried to control
4260-522: Was "destined to spend most of his career underestimated", but nonetheless very "popular". Simon towers like a Colossus over the American Theater. When Neil Simon's time comes to be judged among successful playwrights of the twentieth century, he will definitely be first among equals. No other playwright in history has had the run he has: fifteen "Best Plays" of their season. —Lawrence Grobel This attitude changed after 1991, when he won
4331-511: Was a turning point in his career: "The theater and I discovered each other." Barefoot in the Park (1963) and The Odd Couple (1965), for which he won a Tony Award , brought him national celebrity, and he was considered "the hottest new playwright on Broadway", according to Susan Koprince. Those successes were followed by others. During 1966, Simon had four shows playing simultaneously at Broadway theatres: Sweet Charity , The Star-Spangled Girl , The Odd Couple and Barefoot in
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#17328009039234402-626: Was an American playwright, screenwriter and author. He wrote more than 30 plays and nearly the same number of movie screenplays, mostly film adaptations of his plays. He received three Tony Awards and a Golden Globe Award , as well as nominations for four Academy Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards . He was awarded a Special Tony Award in 1975, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1995 and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2006. Simon grew up in New York City during
4473-544: Was an English writer and critic. From 1965 to 1977, he was the dance and theater critic for the New York Times , and, from 1978 until his death, the New York Post . Barnes had significant influence in reviewing new Broadway productions and evaluating the international dancers who often perform in New York City. Barnes was born in Lambeth , London, the only child of ambulance driver Arthur Lionel Barnes (1898–1940) and Freda Marguerite, née Garratt. After their divorce when he
4544-465: Was credited with having drawn attention to Nureyev and Baryshnikov , dancers who went on to attain great fame. The English writer was particularly good at identifying American talent and introducing artists like George Balanchine and Martha Graham to London audiences. In his book on Broadway, The Season: A Candid Look at Broadway , William Goldman called Barnes "the most dangerous, the most crippling critic in modern Broadway history." Goldman gave
4615-553: Was followed by two more successes, Barefoot in the Park (1963) and The Odd Couple (1965). He won a Tony Award for the latter. It made him a national celebrity and "the hottest new playwright on Broadway". From the 1960s to the 1980s, he wrote for stage and screen; some of his screenplays were based on his own works for the stage. His style ranged from farce to romantic comedy to more serious dramatic comedy. Overall, he garnered 17 Tony nominations and won three awards. In 1966, he had four successful productions running on Broadway at
4686-514: Was inspired by the team of Gallagher and Shean , who were successful professionally but argumentative personally. Other sources say this is based on Weber and Fields . Produced by Emanuel Azenberg and directed by Alan Arkin , the original 1972 Broadway cast starred Sam Levene as Al Lewis and Jack Albertson as Willie Clark, the vaudevillian comedy duo known as the Sunshine Boys; the play co-starred Lewis J. Stadlen as Ben, Willie Clark's nephew. When Sam Levene and Jack Albertson departed
4757-543: Was later replaced by DeVito’s “Taxi” co-star, Judd Hirsch . In a 2013 review of the Hirsch/Devito cast at the Ahmanson Theatre, Myron Meisel observed: It’s been more than 40 years since The Sunshine Boys first graced Broadway (with the still unimprovable Jack Albertson and Sam Levene), nearly as long in the tooth as the "Smith and Dale" sketch “Dr. Kronkheit and His Only Living Patient” was when this show
4828-492: Was mainly interested in continuing writing for the theater ... The plays never became cinematic". The Odd Couple (1968), was one highly successful early adaptation, faithful to the stage play but also opened out, with more scenic variety. The key aspect most consistent in Simon's writing style is comedy, situational and verbal, and presents serious subjects in a way that makes audiences "laugh to avoid weeping". He achieved this with rapid-fire jokes and wisecracks, in
4899-509: Was new. Simon fashioned a new, improved update on the routine for his fictional team of Lewis & Clark (Hirsch & DeVito), and his knowledgeable ear for what was then vintage and is now antique humor allows him to bring these anachronistic stylings into a then-contemporary comic setting without compromising the integrity of their original zingy ballsiness . Neil Simon Marvin Neil Simon (July 4, 1927 – August 26, 2018)
4970-521: Was seven, he was raised by his mother. Barnes was educated at Emanuel School in Battersea and St Catherine's College, Oxford . He served in the Royal Air Force for two years. Barnes began writing dance criticism in 1949, during his time at Oxford, and afterward, he was a writer and editor for Dance & Dancers , which he contributed to until its demise in 1998. In the 1950s, he was
5041-424: Was sixteen. He was nicknamed 'Doc', and the school yearbook described him as extremely shy. Simon's childhood was marked by his parents' "tempestuous marriage" and the financial hardship caused by the Depression. Sometimes at night he blocked out their arguments by putting a pillow over his ears. His father often abandoned the family for months at a time, causing them further financial and emotional suffering. As
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