Simon, (Marvin) Neil

Simon, (Marvin) Neil (1927– ), American dramatist, a witty, prolific, and accurate observer of American marital and family relationships who once had four plays running simultaneously on Broadway. He began by writing sketches for revue, his first show for Broadway being Catch a Star! (1955); he collaborated on the sketches with his brother Daniel, with whom he also wrote his first play Come Blow Your Horn (1961; London, 1962). After the book of the musical Little Me (1962; London, 1964) came a string of successful plays: Barefoot in the Park (1963; London, 1965); The Odd Couple (1965; London, 1966), in which two heterosexual males—one fussy, one not—share accommodation; The Star-Spangled Girl (1966); and Plaza Suite (1968; London, 1969), three one-act plays set in the same hotel suite. He also wrote the book for two more musicals, Sweet Charity (1966; London, 1967) and Promises, Promises (1968; London, 1969). His last play of the 1960s was The Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1969; London, 1979) in which the three acts are concerned with a man's three unsuccessful attempts to commit adultery. Simon's success continued into the 1970s with The Gingerbread Lady (1970; London, 1974), a more serious play about an alcoholic cabaret star; The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1971), about the stresses of redundancy and New York apartment life; and The Sunshine Boys (1972; London, 1975), about a vaudeville team. He broke new ground in 1973 with The Good Doctor, a collection of sketches based on Chekhov's stories, and again in 1974 with God's Favorite, based on the Book of Job. Neither these works nor The Trouble with People … and Other Things, which he wrote in the same year with Daniel, were successful, but his popularity returned with California Suite (1976), constructed on the same principle as Plaza Suite, which was followed by the semi-autobiographical Chapter Two (1977; London, 1981), concerning a widower's second marriage, the book of the musical They're Playing Our Song (1978; London, 1980), and I Ought to be in Pictures (1980). The 1980s produced a trilogy about his youth: Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983; National Theatre, 1986), Biloxi Blues (1985), and Broadway Bound (1986); a female version of The Old Couple (1985); and Rumors (1988), more farce-like than his usual work.