SIMON, NEIL

SIMON, NEIL (1927– ), U.S. playwright. After working for television, Simon wrote his first successful comedy, Come Blow Your Horn (1961), which was followed by the book for the musical Little Me (1962), Barefoot in the Park (1963), The Odd Couple (1965), Sweet Charity (1966), and Plaza Suite (1968). Some of these were successfully adapted for the screen. Simon's play, God's Favorite (1975), based on the Book of Job, in which a "messenger from God" announces to a successful cardboard box manufacturer that his faith in God is to be put to test, was widely acclaimed. Very often, Simon bases his plays on autobiographical experiences and observations. Three plays from the 1980s, sometimes referred to as the "Eugene Trilogy," parallel the growth of Simon from teenager to successful writer. Brighton Beach Memoirs (1984) centers on Eugene Jerome, a Jewish adolescent growing up in 1930s Brooklyn. The characters, particularly Eugene's family, are taken from Simon's own childhood memories; Stanley, the brother whom Eugene idolizes, is based on Simon's brother Danny. Biloxi Blues (1986) follows Eugene's experience in army basic training during World War II. Away from his family and his Brooklyn neighborhood, he is confronted with fellow trainees from a variety of locales and backgrounds. Eugene also finds time to fall in love, lose his virginity, and confront an apparently psychotic drill instructor. In short, he grows up in this play. Broadway Bound (1987) relates Eugene and Stanley's attempt to break into comedy writing. The dissolution of their parents' marriage becomes fodder for their comedy sketches. At the end of the play, Eugene leaves home when his writing career takes flight, the boy at last becoming a man. He wrote more comedies, among them The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1972), The Sunshine Boys (1973), The Good Doctor (1974), Rumors (1990), Jake's Women (1993), and Laughter on the 23rd Floor (1995), a play based on his time as one of Sid Caesar's television comedy writers. His Plaza Suite (1971) and Chapter Two (1979) were made into films, as were The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975) and The Sunshine Boys (1975). He wrote the screenplay for The Odd Couple II (1998), a sequel to his play. His other writing includes the memoirs Rewrites (1996) and The Play Goes On (1999). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: R.K. Johnson, Neil Simon (1983); S. Fehrenbacher Koprince, Understanding Neil Simon (2002); E.M. McGovern, Neil Simon: A Critical Study (1979). (Robert L. DelBane (2nd ed.)