Neil Simon
Published on Nov 18, 2015
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Growing up, his family had many hard ships. With the Great Depression, along with WWII, and his parents, Mamie and Irving Simon, constant fighting. His father would even leave for long periods of time. Simon, and his brother, Danny, went from home to home. Neil Simon recalled that "the horror of those years wasn't that I came from one broken home, but five."
Bibliography
Simon spent his childhood in mostly theaters, childhood movies inspiring him to someday write comedy. One reason he became a writer was because of his need to be independent of such family concerns growing up. He wanted to " make a whole audience fall to the floor, writhing and laughing so hard that some of them pass out."
Neil Simon was born in 1927 in Bronx, NY
In 1944-45 he attended NY University.
In 1945-46 he transferred to University of Denver then proceeded to join the army, and write in the Army Camp Newspaper.
He married and remarried 4 times. Joan Brian (m. 1953-73), Marsha Mason (m. 1973-81), Diane Lander (m. 1990-98) and Elaine Joyce (m. 1999)
SOME TITLES
- Hairspray
- Bigfoot in the Park
- The odd couple
- The Heartbreak Kid
- The goodbye girl
The Odd Couple
One of Simon's most famous plays was 'The Odd Couple'. It starts out with a group of men playing poker in Oscar Madison's apartment, who is divorced. Felix Unger, who came in late, has just been separated from his wife. Fastidious and depressed, and none to tense, Felix seems suicidal. But, as the action unfolds, Oscar becomes the one with murder on his mind. When the clean freak and slob ultimately decide to room together, it becomes a comedy between the two pair, and the odd couple is born.
Because of the movie, this play became famous, along with the help of the television show. It was famous before but these two things made the popularity rise.
The protagonist of the play is Oscar Madison. When he offers to have Felix stay with him, Oscar shows compassion and is portrayed/ considered a caring character.
Simon listed no true character is the antagonist, but if there were one, it would be Felix because Felix tries to rearrange Oscar's apartment. Felix is best shown as a controlling character.
QUESTIONS
- How many broken homes did Simon say he came from?
- Who was the protagonist in the odd couple?
