By Neil Simon - The Collected Plays of Neil Simon: Volume 1 (Reprint)

by Neil Simon

Since 1960, a Broadway season without a Neil Simon play has been a rare one. For more than thirty years, Simon's wry and astute observations on life, love, and the human condition have been making audiences laugh uproariously even as his beautifully realized characters touch their hearts. These five plays show Simon at the pinnacle of his extraordinary career. Rumors Come Blow Your Horn Barefoot in the Park The Odd Couple The Star-Spangled Girl Promises, Promises Plaza Suite Including the author's "How to Stop Writing and Other Impossibilities".

Genres: Plays, Fiction, Theatre, Drama, Humor, Comedy, Classics

Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Marvin Neil Simon was an American playwright and screenwriter. He wrote more than 30 plays and he received more combined Oscar and Tony nominations than any other writer. He was one of the most reliable hitmakers in Broadway history, as well as one of the most performed playwrights in the world. Though primarily a comic writer, some of his plays, particularly the Eugene Trilogy and The Sunshine Boys, reflect on the twentieth century Jewish-American experience.

Reviews

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Goodbye Girl by Neil Simon, author of The Heartbreak Kid http://realini.blogspot.com/2018/08/t...

9 out of 10





The Goodbye Girl has been a smash hit in 1977 when it was launched, the first romantic comedy to break the one hundred million dollars at the box office ceiling, winning for Richard Dreyfuss the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role (though he is probably better known for his part in the landmark Jaws, of which he talks in the excellent Easy Riders Ragging Bulls, with the delays, the eccentricity of Steven Spielberg, who convinced the executives with his…being normal, non-drinking, staying away from drugs, which was the plague of most other talent at the time, maybe even now) the youngest at thirty to be honored thus



More importantly, it has enthused and exhilarated me, a young man when I first saw it, and now, that I am at what Cicero (or some other sage from antiquity says, through the lectures of the majestic Andrei Plesu http://realini.blogspot.com/2014/05/o... who has a splendid conference with Dilema Veche, in which he takes on old age, advantages and shortcomings) called the maturity stage, I find that the first encounter with The Goodbye Girl seems a bit too enthusiastic

Richard Dreyfuss does shine in the part (he is excellent in Whose Life Is It Anyway http://realini.blogspot.com/2015/02/w... aside from Jaws) but he does not provoke the same exuberance, perhaps in part because I have read about King Richard III (‘now is the winter of our discontent turned into glorious summer by this Son of York and all the clouds that loured upon our skies in the deep bosom of the ocean buried’ does come a few times in the play, and these are among the most resplendent lines in literature, or at least until Chat GPT or some other concoction will come up with something even more sublime, if that is conceivable)



Elliot Garfield aka Richard Dreyfuss is to play Richard III and he has an artistic dispute with the director, the actor wants the king to have the hunchback, just like Laurence Olivier had played it, and some other deformities, while the outré director insists on the idea that Shakespeare was gay – there is the argument, sustained among others by the lines from the sonnet ‘a woman’s face with nature’s own hand painted, hast thou the master/mistress of my passion…’ and the result is indecision…

It is obviously meant to be amusing, and it is (or better said, it had been, when I was twenty or so, and found this new approach hilarious and enticing, while seen again yesterday, it appeared somewhat, or very gauche, maladroit) innovative for 1977, after all, it not only gained the Oscar for Dreyfuss, but it has also been nominated for Best Picture, Screenplay, Actress in a Leading and Supporting Roles…



The image of Richard III has been changed with the publication of the marvelous The Daughter of Time http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/10/t... by Josephine Fey, in which the central character is investigating…the crimes committed by the infamous, monstrous king centuries before, only to find that the suspect was in fact condemned by posterity on false evidence, or none at all, hence we have here a myth and the creation of a character that is loathed because of Shakespeare, principally…

Ergo, seeing Richard Dreyfuss aka Elliot Garfield mocking the poor Richard III appears to be less enchanting than on the first take, when I had been ignorant of the discovery detailed in The Daughter of Time – incidentally, this fundamental mystery novel sits at Number one https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/The... on the list of top 100 Crime Novels, as compiled by the writers in the genre – and the panache is lacking, the acting of the role of the king as if he was ‘an interior decorator gone wild’, with bizarre eccentricities has some appeal, but not that much



In fact, it could be construed differently, and if Elliot says at some point that the ‘gay community will crucify him’ or something like that, the film would not be produced today, or maybe it would, we have the example of Tar https://notesaboutfilms.blogspot.com/... the film with many nominations, wherein Cate Blanchet portrays a lesbian director who is complex, but has a very loathsome side, something we might have thought would be censored, for activists for minorities rights might reject the depiction of one who is a negative character and homosexual at the same time

As it is, there are various interpretations, and we could praise The Goodbye Girl for envisaging a William Shakespeare that was gay, at a time when that was more than frowned upon, and furthermore, exploring the notion that Richard III could be of the same orientation, have him grab others by their private parts, and overall, act as a drama queen, perhaps a bit over the top and finally antagonizing critics.



In the interpretation of this age, Shakespeare and Richard III would be ‘gender fluid’ – the co-winner of the Booker Prize for 2019 Girl, Woman, Other http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/06/g... by Bernardine Evaristo argues that gender is the biggest lie of civilization, or something to that effect, and we are introduced, at least those of us unaware, to concepts like ‘non gender, two spirits’ – however that would work, the performance in this 1977 film is exuberant, remarkable

Only it does not have the effect it had some decades back, when it all seemed so exciting and breaking barriers, which it probably did, only somehow, with the passing of time, it now looks dated, not archaic, or ancient, but still, it does not have the same impact…I looked back at the list of nominees, and Richard Dreyfuss was competing with Marcello Mastroianni, Richard Burton for the Oscar (there are Woody Allen and John Travolta, both controversial, the former for his relationships with much younger women, the latter for the role in Scientology) so I would rather have Mastroianni or/and Burton get the trophy…



Now for a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se



As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seven of Simon’s plays from the early sixties up to 1970. I wouldn’t call any of them genuinely bad but he does show a learning curve here – I wasn’t enthralled by “Come Blow Your Horn” or “The Star-spangled Girl” but the rest are pretty good.

[Leah W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why was I allowed to read Neil Simon at age 13? This is what happens when you let a child wander the adult stacks of the library. No wonder I went bad and moved from rural Oklahoma to the big city.

See also: "Annie Hall", Why was I allowed to view at age 12

[Elizabeth Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

So glad I found this collection at the library while searching for monologues a few years ago. I feel like I have a pretty good grip on Neil Simon’s work now. The introduction, “Portrait of the Writer as a Schizofrenic,” was also so good.

(PG rating)

[Kellen Quigley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I mean, it's some of Neil Simon's best work of his career. What more do you want?

[Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

This should be 3 1/2 stars, really, but then, it's an essential anthology. Now I’ve had volumes 1-3 of The Collected Plays of Neil Simon on my bookshelf for quite some time (and fair warning, I also discovered Volume 4 at the library), and as their thin acidic leaves turn yellow and brittle, it finally dawned on me that I’d better take them down to determine once and for all whether they were there to flesh out my ‘good intentions’ pile of never-read doorstops, essentially staking out space solely for thespian street cred or if they actually merited their place as cherished read-reads for sharing with my future self and other return visitors to my home library. Sure, it took Simon’s memoir Rewrites to goad me into pulling these down, but imagine my chagrin and delight to discover that I’m in fact already familiar with the contents of many of these plays! Well, there’s age for you.

The interesting thing (to me) about this, is that it’s not the plots that stayed recognizable to me, but rather many of the schticky passages and bits of bantering dialogue. Now it could be that I only browsed them earlier, or possibly that useful puzzle pieces of memory are dropping from my brain as I advance toward senility. But what does it say about the plays themselves that, taken as a chunk, they are susceptible to fading as much in hard copy as in the wetware of my mind?

The publication is also a bit of a hodgepodge as the chronology of works been disrupted (both within and between volumes). The musicals of the ‘60s are the most buttered out among the three books… not sure why that is… perhaps it took longer to clear the rights to the lyrics, perhaps as better-known works the publisher was hoping to spread out the ‘hits’ so to speak, or perhaps there was some other reason… or no reason at all. All this is worth noting, though, for those who might wish to approach these books as definitive statements on the order and evolution of the author’s output. That’s a logic that can only be deliberately imposed by the reader; the books themselves won’t help with this. Personally, I think it’s best to take these in as strikes your fancy; there doesn’t seem to be any logical intent to the way they’ve been assembled even within each volume. My rating of each of these tomes reflects an average of my ratings for the plays they contain, which were collected (more or less) in the chronological order of their writing and appearance on the stage.

Come Blow Your Horn – 3 stars; I find myself consistently struggling to remember this forgettable (if inoffensive) first effort, in which a 21 year old runaway comes of age while his 33 year old brother finally settles down and finds responsibility. There is some (minor) autobiography here regarding a coming-of-age initiation by his older, more socially-facile brother, who hired a prostitute to provide him with his first sexual experience, a humiliating ordeal which Simon revisits just as humorously elsewhere (most explicitly in Vol. 2’s The Good Doctor). According to Simon, Horn would have died had it not been for an assertive word-of-mouth marketing campaign, and he credits his first producer with his eventual career for that insight and confidence into how fine a financial line Broadway draws between failure and success.

Barefoot in the Park – 4 stars; fortunately for Simon, this next effort (as directed by Mike Nichols and starring a pre-Sundance Robert Redford) was a huge smash. Simon again draws on (and hyperbolizes) his personal experience of a newlywed couple’s first apartment. It’s funny, but a bit dated: features lots of Mad Men-esque drinking and its moral is pretty male-centric. For a heterosexual marriage to succeed, the wife’s job is to “make him feel important” and the husband’s reciprocal duty is to ask her to “Tell me how much to spend.” Ah, yes… just so we better understand why young adults in the ‘60’s were so ripe for liberation.

The Odd Couple – 5 stars; this is the one Neil Simon play everyone’s at least heard of, its popularity fueled not only by a successful film adaptation (Walter Matthau as cantankerous slob Oscar Madison w/ Jack Lemon in the fastidious neatnik Felix Unger role originally played by Art Carney), but by a long-running syndicated television series as well (Jack Klugman and Tony Randall, respectively, though the television scripts were inspired by Simon’s work and not written by him; in fact, thanks to the recommendations of one of string of dopey business managers, Simon didn’t even get paid for the lucrative series (or the film) beyond his original fixed licensing fee. This one is biographical, as well, in that it derives from what Simon saw when he visited his older brother and roommate in Los Angeles. Neil proposed that his brother use the material as a basis for a television sketch, but his brother deferred the plot device back, and the rest is cultural history.

The whole shebang is best summed up by the following famous exchange:

Felix: “That’s not spaghetti, it’s linguine.”

(Oscar hurls the plate of pasta against the wall of the kitchen.)

Oscar: “Now it’s garbage.”

The Collected Works, Vol. 3 has Simon’s own adaptation/re-make of the play called “The Female Version” in which all the gender roles are reversed (Chita Rivera and Sally Struthers apparently took the leads for the original performance, and a pair of suave, English-language mauling Spaniards replace the flighty British Pigeon sisters here). There are two things noteworthy about this change. The first is why Simon felt the need to rewrite any of the lines/situations at all. Everything remains parallel and the critical plot/comedic catharses remain (spaghetti/linguine, for example), only now the ladies are playing Trivial Pursuit instead of poker, and their tastes run more to diet soda and Dubonnet than beer and booze. It’s a bit surreal, and not a little sexist.

The other is that the original’s three act structure has been condensed to two (the third act becomes the third scene of the second act), which makes some of the character transitions seem a bit sudden. I think this says more about the changing mores of contemporary theater, than Neil Simon’s playwriting. Broadway’s two act arc as exemplified by Neil Simon’s later works is also distinct from Hollywood’s traditional three act structure of character & conflict introduction/conflict development toward pivotal moment of catharsis/climactic conflict resolution (as an intermission-less continuum). I’m not sure what to make of this structural difference, really, other than to suppose that audiences grow accustomed to different narrative experiences, in the same way that (at least subconsciously), regular concert-goers must expect an opening sonata-form movement (theme 1, theme 2/thematic development & bridge/thematic recap) in their symphonies.

The Star-Spangled Girl – 2 stars; swing and a miss! If I didn’t know this too had been inspired by real-life events, I’d have never believed it. However, this play was inspired by his getting to witness a heated argument at an after-party between Paddy Chayefsky and the wife of one of the original 7 astronauts whose identity at p. 240 of Rewrites Simon is no longer quite sure about. Be that as it may, Simon considered this a failure because he was too inexperienced (and lazy) to imagine the young conservative woman as anything other than a southern belle cartoon (as opposed to a flesh-and-blood Mary Matalin). I’m not so sure that's the whole problem here. While it's certainly true that Connie Francis’ interaction with liberal hothead Richard Benjamin lacks intellectual underpinning, far more critical is the fact that a mutual attraction sufficient to overcome mutual contempt lacks any motivation whatever, as does the whole of the play’s events (no one seems a bit perturbed or surprised that she should routinely have to literally beat back the unwanted advances of madcap-stalker (and Richard Benjamin roommate/literary collaborator) Tony Perkins. Still, this play does contain some of Simon’s funniest schtick:

Norman (smitten): “What could I do for her that’s very small and very personal?”

Andy: “How about brushing your teeth?”

(Norman checks his breath against his hand, recoils, and shrugs: clearly, it's an idea worth considering.)

Promises, Promises - 5 stars; 4 for the play itself and another for the Bacharach-David score. This is an adaptation of Billy Wilder’s film The Apartment, but really makes a nice companion to the Frank Loesser satire How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (especially if you imagine an ingenuous Matthew Broderick/Jerry Lewis type playing the lead). In Promises, the key to success is to let a lower-Manhattan apartment out to sex-starved execs. in exchange for career advancement. Bacharach-David’s only musical features I’ll Never Fall in Love Again and may be the only light romantic comedy to feature attempted suicide as a major plot device. Act I closes with a number that the page alone cannot do justice to. It’s Donna McKechnie doing Turkey-Lurkey Time , and while not fair in a book review, this seems as good as any excuse to promote Seth Rudetsky’s explanation of it. Promises, Promises is currently in revival with the effervescent Kristin Chenoweth (albeit not featured in this clip or song), I’d like to think on the strength of both recent Bacharach nostalgia and the popularity of this number’s inclusion in the aptly-named movie, Camp.

Plaza Suite – 3 stars, averaged out. This is the first of the “suite” trilogy of trilogies that includes California Suite (in Vol. 2, to which I link because Goodreads has erroneously ambiguated them as multiple editions, as opposed to the unique collections they are) and London Suite (in Vol. 4). As such, it showcases Neil Simon fetish for economy of both content and setting. The first economy is clearly practical in nature, by maximizing the viability of material for a playwright who creates his works free of written outlines. The downside of this approach can be seen in occasionally meandering stage action in which characters are more often better delineated than theme or conflict, and – as observed by Simon himself – a sheaf of unfinished manuscripts left to simmer in a desk drawer until such time as writer’s block or curiosity suffice to return them to the light. What better way to treat sketches of more extreme characters or situations unsuited to an entire evening than via anthology? Too, some comedic situations clearly are sufficient only to sustain a single act’s worth of action, better suited to service as a vignette in a theme-and-variations motif. However, running throughout almost all of Simon’s plays is a fetish for all action to take place in a single room. This makes for less expensive sets, of course, but Simon’s agoraphobia frequently drives conflict and plot, his characters repeatedly insisting that others come to their quarters, preferring room service and homemade meals to restaurants, and suffering nervous breakdowns which preclude their taking staged action for as much as a forecurtain walk in the park.

Plaza gives the audience three takes on marriage:
- A 2-star, rambling, unfunny on-paper indictment in which a 50-something couple’s 23rd anniversary is derailed by the husband’s inexplicable need for an affair. Perhaps more sense translates from the acting, since the dialogue is fairly vague (lots of words, little information).

- Next, a 3-star satire on a well-known stereotype, the Hollywood big-shot as insincere sexual predator, where a two-time loser at the altar seduces an all-too-willing star-struck former high school fling – herself martially unfulfilled – into a one-night stand.

- Finally, a short 4-star uproar schtick; the increasingly hysterical parents of a panicky bride-to-be try to coax her (unsuccessfully) out of the bathroom until the groom comes through with the winning solution, one that is riotously funny in its ironic banality. (I refuse to say what it is.)

Last of the Red Hot Lovers – 3 stars; another one that has all the longevity of your average theatrical twinkie. This one is definitely theme and variations. James Coco is a mid-life crisis schmo who tries and fails three times to have an affair in his elderly mother’s apartment while she’s out on errands. In Act I, the outcome is mutual awkwardness (because his target is too honest and earnest about what she came for); in Act II, it’s sheer farce (because she’s a vacuous pothead); and in Act III, it’s dramedy (because she’s clearly a depressive who mirrors his own self-loathing). So guess who he falls back on in the end? Can he even successfully bed his wife? Somewhat oddly, the entire plot is rehashed in a single extended monologue (see p. 653), a wholly unnecessary bit of déjà vu which invites the audience to see the play for the absurdity it is.

[Brian Hutzell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of these plays have not aged especially well; they clearly betray a 1960s mindset that would not pass the muster today. And though the back cover promises that these plays “make us laugh uproariously,” Simon’s writing is definitely bittersweet, with the bitter often overshadowing the sweet. Still, the man could sure compose dialogue!

[Dan Blackley · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the greatest play race ever, Neil Simon is one of the best at writing comedies. These are his early comedies in which I’ve directed three of them and I highly recommend them. Although some people might find them pass away. I think that they are still hold up true to audiences because people love to laugh.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Neil Simon is a master of showing human emotion. Whether it's funny, sad, hurtful, hopeful, he writes about it and makes his characters go through them all. Truly, the greatest playwright of our time.

[Raven Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

he definitely has a formula (jokes at the expense of women and minorities and maybe, this being generous, 3 different character types and plot scenarios)!

[Mauricio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Witty and funny, but I rather watch its movies than read play writing.

[Eden Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the JetBlackDragonfly book blog at www.edenthompson.ca/blog

I like Simon's wit, and The Collected Plays of Neil Simon, Volume 1 contains The Odd Couple, Plaza Suite, Barefoot In The Park, and The Last of the Red Hot Lovers - as well as The Star Spangled Girl. If you're looking for the great theatre comedies, this is a classic collection.

In Star Spangled, Andy and Norman run a failing anti-American magazine called Fallout. While they are trying to avoid being evicted, Sophie Raushmeyer knocks at the door. She's just moved in from Arkansas and is everything Fallout is not. She smells so good! Andy is smitten.
There's some hilarity and hijinks, but it's all about the lines, and this is full of one-liners. Obvious ones, ones I never saw coming, ones falling over the couch, ones on Mrs. MacKininee's motorbike.
It's warm and witty, and reminded me what a terrific writer Neil Simon is, one of the greats of the theatre. Even a slightly known, non-classic Simon, like The Star-Spangled Girl, still shines out. I was smiling while I read it, between laughing out loud.

I've always loved the film of Neil Simon's The Star-Spangled Girl.
Sandy Duncan and Tony Roberts tossing jabs. I knew Neil was with actress Marsha Mason, and I sought out her movies. Tony was in Annie Hall and Manhattan, and Sandy Duncan—has she played any un-perky roles? Mother of a serial killer on CSI maybe? No? The film came out in 1971 and wasn't a hit, so it may seem very dated and stilted now.

Neil Simon has written some great hits, but even with some misses, he has his own style. Like Woody Allen, he writes from life and is immediately identifiable.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's tough to rate an anthology, but I gave it a bump up from 3 or 3 1/2 stars simply because it's interesting to see the progression of his writing. It varies in quality from The Star Spangled Girl, which I had never heard of - and it turns out, for good reason - to The Odd Couple, which is very funny as it is on paper. (That is, funny without even needing funny actors to make the lines funny.)

I can't say I understand the love for Barefoot in the Park - am I the only one who doesn't love this play? - but even when the plays aren't great, they're at least pleasant to read.

For fans of Neil Simon or theater-goers in general.

[Greg Kerestan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Neil Simon influenced the modern sitcom more than anyone else- the rapid back-and-forth bickering, cleverly mundane turns of phrase, and wit that was Jewish in sarcastic, self-deprecating humor but WASP in delivery came to birth just about every modern trope and rhythm of television multicam comedy. The first volume of Simon's collected plays is full of masterpieces, "Barefoot in the Park" and "The Odd Couple" prominent among them. Some of the lesser-known works here are well worth mention, such as "Star-Spangled Girl," "Come Blow Your Horn" and "Promises, Promises," his libretto to a musical by Burt Bacharach.

[j_ay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most if not all of these surely work better on the stage (or screen), as comedy doesn't generally _read_ well. and some characters (liek Felix) come off as whiny and annoying...

Come Blow Your Horn ****o
Barefoot in the Park ***oo
The Odd Couple ***oo
The Star-Spangled Girl **ooo
Promises, Promises ***00
Plaza Suite **ooo
Last of the Red Hot Lovers **ooo

[Ahnnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful book thats full of humor and through each character you can see the personality shining through the words on the page. The book made me realize that writing plays are all about capturing scenes and writing them down. It's not hard but it's not easy -- all it takes is a tad of humor and a tad of skill in writing.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Neil Simon is hilarious. I used several exerpts from this book as pieces for my theatre class in college and scored myself an A. In general I prefer to see plays than read them, but this books is still worth it.

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yeah, he's funny.

[Sharone · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection is for the most part outstanding. I think The Star-Spangled Girl is generally underappreciated. Very few authors make me laugh out loud as consistently as Neil Simon.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very witty and entertaining collection of plays. Sometimes they felt more like writing exercises than actual plays, but no matter. I enjoyed them all!

[Tumpale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently, I like Neil Simon plays...huh.

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Standouts:

The Odd Couple - *** and a half
Come Blow Your Horn - *** and a half

[behsforensics]

Cutting is for Barefoot in the Park
By Neil Simon

Look at Little Me
Simon, Neil

[Jose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I dug it

[Aurora · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must for Simon film fans - a new perspective and heartier laughs.