Neil Simon

Marvin Neil Simon was born July 4, 1927 to Jewish parents. His childhood was a tumultuous one, with his father leaving the family eight times. In an interview with NPR, when discussing his father’s absence, Simon said: “…I’m sure a lot of my personality has been formed by that relationship. And it makes me somewhat insecure at times. And it’s why I think I fell back on writing possibly as a way of being able to support and survive for myself." Due to his father’s absence, Danny, Simon’s older brother by eight and a half years, became a father figure and mentor to Simon. They were writing partners early on in Simon’s career. 

Simon drew on his own life during his career as a playwright and screenwriter. His autobiographical play trilogy, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and Broadway Boundreceived critical acclaim. He won numerous awards throughout his career, including winning the Pulitzer Prize for his play, Lost in Yonkers. In 1983, a theatre in New York City was renamed after him.

Like many artists at the time, Simon attended analysis sessions as an adult. He explained in his autobiography that his first year of analysis was an exploration into the two sides of himself – the writer and the other (the person who doesn’t write). [This is explored in Simon's play, Jake's Women]. 

Simon sadly passed away on August 26, 2018 at the age of 91. The New York Times wrote that Simon’s name was “synonymous with Broadway comedy." Though this is true, demonstrated by what I would call Simon’s sarcastic and sometimes farce-like humor (such as in his play Rumors), his plays also have a dramatic touch to them. I found Lost in Yonkers to be a sad play, as well as my favorite of his, Jake’s Women, to be a particularly emotional one. Simon though still finds a way to incorporate humor even in the saddest of situations, which I think speaks very highly of him as a playwright, for even in the darkest of times there is still laughter.

[Neil Simon’s romantic relationships and his relationship with his mother, as well as his experience in analysis sessions, will be detailed more in an upcoming analysis of his play, Jake’s Women]. 

Works Cited

“About Neil Simon.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 29 Sept. 2015,

www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/neil-simon-about-neil-simon/704/.

Gross, Terry. “Playwright Neil Simon Explains Why He 'Just Always Wanted To Write'.” NPR, NPR, 28 Aug. 2018, www.npr.org/2018/08/28/642563231/playwright-neil-simon-explains-why-he-just-always-wanted-to-write.