Prisoner of Second Avenue, The

Prisoner of Second Avenue, The (1971), a comedy by Neil Simon. [Eugene O'Neill Theatre, 780 perf.] Mel Edison ( Peter Falk) and his wife, Edna ( Lee Grant), have lived in their fourteenth‐floor apartment for six years, and New York City and its high‐pressure way of life are beginning to tell on Mel. He can hear not only the music the German airline stewardesses keep playing next door, but he can even hear “one car driving around in Jackson Heights.” When Mel loses his job because of downsizing, he goes to pieces, wandering about the apartment unshaven and in his pajamas while Edna joins the workforce. Heading for a nervous breakdown, Mel also starts to become paranoid that the city is against him. But when Edna loses her job and starts to fall apart, Mel finds the strength for both of them to face the modern world with optimism. Simon's ninth successive hit, it made a warm, human comedy out of the brutal, small materials of everyday life and even out of the seeds of tragedy.