Editing Neil Simon (section)

== Writing career ==
=== Television ===
[[File:Neil Simon NYWTS.jpg|thumb|Simon in 1966]]
Simon quit his job as a mailroom clerk in the [[Warner Brothers]] offices in [[Manhattan]] to write radio and television scripts with his brother [[Danny Simon]], under the tutelage of radio humorist [[Goodman Ace]], who ran a short-lived writing workshop for [[CBS]]. Their work for the radio series ''The [[Robert Q. Lewis]] Show''  led to other writing jobs. [[Max Liebman]] hired the duo for the writing team of his popular television comedy series ''[[Your Show of Shows]].''  The program received [[Emmy Award]] nominations for Best Variety Show in 1951, 1952, 1953, and 1954, and won in 1952 and 1953.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.emmys.com/shows/your-show-shows |title=Your Show of Shows |website=Television Academy |access-date=2019-12-31}}</ref> Simon later wrote scripts for ''[[The Phil Silvers Show]]'', for episodes broadcast during 1958 and 1959.

Simon later recalled the importance of these two writing jobs to his career: "Between the two of them, I spent five years and learned more about what I was eventually going to do than in any other previous experience."<ref name="Grobel" />{{rp|381}} "I knew when I walked into ''Your Show of Shows'', that this was the most talented group of writers that up until that time had ever been assembled together."<ref name="pbs">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/neil-simon/about-neil-simon/704/ |title=About Neil Simon |work=American Masters |publisher=PBS |date=November 3, 2000}}</ref>

Simon described a typical writing session:<ref>{{cite book |last=Grobel |first=Lawrence |chapter=Neil Simon |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oR40Fy74Z3sC&pg=PA381 |title=Endangered Species: Writers Talk About Their Craft, Their Visions, Their Lives |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0786751624 |pages=381–382}}</ref>

{{Blockquote |style=font-size: 100%; |text=There were about seven writers, plus Sid, [[Carl Reiner]], and [[Howard Morris|Howie Morris]]&nbsp;... Mel Brooks and maybe [[Woody Allen]] would write one of the other sketches&nbsp;... everyone would pitch in and rewrite, so we all had a part of it&nbsp;... It was probably the most enjoyable time I ever had in writing with other people.<ref name="Grobel" />{{rp|382}}}}

Simon incorporated some of these experiences into his play ''[[Laughter on the 23rd Floor]]'' (1993). A 2001 TV adaptation of the play won him two Emmy Award nominations.

=== Stage ===
His first Broadway experience was on ''Catch a Star!'' (1955); he collaborated on sketches with his brother, Danny.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Concise Oxford Companion to Theatre |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1996 |editor1-last=Hartnoll |editor1-first=Phyllis |chapter=Simon, (Marvin) Neil |access-date=October 18, 2011 |editor2-last=Found |editor2-first=Peter |chapter-url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ |name-list-style=amp}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/twentiethcentury0266unse |title=Twentieth-Century American Dramatists: Fourth Series |last=Ayling |first=Ronald |publisher=Gale |location=Detroit |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-7876-6010-9 |url-access=registration}}</ref>

In 1961, Simon's first Broadway play, ''[[Come Blow Your Horn]]'', ran for 678 performances at the [[Brooks Atkinson Theatre]]. Simon took three years to create that first play, partly because he was also working on television scripts. He rewrote it at least twenty times from beginning to end:<ref name="Grobel" />{{rp|384}} "It was the lack of belief in myself", he recalled. "I said, 'This isn't good enough. It's not right.'&nbsp;... It was the equivalent of three years of college."<ref name="Grobel" />{{rp|384}} Besides being a "monumental effort" for Simon, that play was a turning point in his career: "The theater and I discovered each other."<ref name="McGovern">{{cite book |last=McGovern |first=Edythe M. |title=Neil Simon: A Critical Study |url=https://archive.org/details/neilsimoncritica0000mcgo |url-access=registration |publisher=Ungar Publishing |year=1979}}</ref>{{rp|3}}

[[File:Neil Simon - Coleman - 1982.jpg|thumb|With [[Cy Coleman]] at piano rehearsing, 1982]]
''[[Barefoot in the Park]]'' (1963) and ''[[The Odd Couple (play)|The Odd Couple]]'' (1965), for which he won a [[Tony Award]], brought him national celebrity, and he was considered "the hottest new playwright on Broadway", according to Susan Koprince.<ref name="Koprince" />{{rp|3}} Those successes were followed by others. During 1966, Simon had four shows playing simultaneously at Broadway theatres: ''[[Sweet Charity]]'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.playbill.com/production/sweet-charity-palace-theatre-vault-0000009184 |title=Sweet Charity Broadway @ Palace Theatre - Tickets and Discounts |website=Playbill |access-date=August 31, 2018}}</ref> ''[[The Star-Spangled Girl]]'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.playbill.com/production/the-star-spangled-girl-plymouth-theatre-vault-0000009598 |title=The Star-Spangled Girl Broadway |website=Playbill |access-date=August 31, 2018}}</ref> ''[[The Odd Couple (play)|The Odd Couple]]''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.playbill.com/production/the-odd-couple-plymouth-theatre-vault-0000009599 |title=The Odd Couple Broadway |website=Playbill |access-date=August 31, 2018}}</ref> and ''[[Barefoot in the Park]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url =http://www.playbill.com/production/barefoot-in-the-park-biltmore-theatre-vault-0000001555 |title=Barefoot in the Park Broadway |website=Playbill |access-date=August 31, 2018}}</ref> These earned him royalties of $1 million a year.<ref name=45G/> His professional association with producer [[Emanuel Azenberg]] began with ''[[The Sunshine Boys]]'' and continued with ''[[The Good Doctor (play)|The Good Doctor]]'', ''[[God's Favorite]]'', ''[[Chapter Two (play)|Chapter Two]]'', ''[[They're Playing Our Song]]'', ''[[I Ought to Be in Pictures]]'', ''[[Brighton Beach Memoirs]]'', ''[[Biloxi Blues]]'', ''[[Broadway Bound]]'', ''[[Jake's Women]]'', ''[[The Goodbye Girl (musical)|The Goodbye Girl]]'' and ''[[Laughter on the 23rd Floor]]'', among others.<ref name="1997casebook" /> His work ranged from romantic comedies to serious drama. Overall, he received seventeen Tony nominations and won three awards.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2018/08/27/in-defense-of-neil-simon-revisit-a-voice-critics-appreciation-of-the-late-new-york-playwright/ |title='In Defense of Neil Simon': Revisit a Voice Critic's Appreciation of the Late New York Playwright |work=[[The Village Voice]] |access-date=August 31, 2018}}</ref>

Simon also adapted material originated by others, such as the musical ''[[Little Me (musical)|Little Me]]'' (1962), based on [[Little Me (novel)|the novel by Patrick Dennis]]; ''[[Sweet Charity]]'' (1966) from the screenplay for the film  ''[[Nights of Cabiria]] (''1957), written by [[Federico Fellini]] and others; and ''[[Promises, Promises (musical)|Promises, Promises]]'' (1968) a musical version of   [[Billy Wilder]]'s film, ''[[The Apartment]]''. By the time of ''[[Last of the Red Hot Lovers]]'' in 1969, Simon was reputedly earning $45,000 a week from his shows (excluding sale of rights), making him the most financially successful Broadway writer ever.<ref name=45G>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|page=1|title=Neil Simon's 45G-A-Week|date=December 24, 1971}}</ref> Simon also served as an uncredited "script doctor", helping to hone the books of Broadway-bound plays or musicals under development,<ref>{{cite news |last = Riedel |first = Michael |date = April 9, 2010 |url = http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/theater/simon_keeps_promises_1huvmUvGou8iJAWMeCTx0O |title = Simon keeps 'Promises' |work = New York Post }}</ref> as he did for ''[[A Chorus Line]]'' (1975).<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.berkshiretheatregroup.org/multimedia/btg-blog/69-btg-blog/276-a-chorus-line-the-story-behind-the-show.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131111172204/http://www.berkshiretheatregroup.org/multimedia/btg-blog/69-btg-blog/276-a-chorus-line-the-story-behind-the-show.html |archive-date = November 11, 2013 |title = A Chorus Line: The Story Behind the Show |work = BerkshireTheatreGroup.org |date = July 5, 2012 }}</ref> During the 1970s, he wrote a string of successful plays; sometimes more than one was playing at the same time, to standing room only audiences. Although he was, by then, recognized as one of the country's leading playwrights, his inner drive kept him writing:
{{Blockquote | style=font-size: 100%; | text=Did I relax and watch my boyhood ambitions being fulfilled before my eyes? Not if you were born in the Bronx, in the Depression and Jewish, you don't.<ref name="Konas" />{{rp|47}}}}

Simon drew "extensively on his own life and experience" for his stories. His settings are typically working-class New York City neighborhoods, similar to the ones in which he grew up. In 1983, he began writing the first of three autobiographical plays, ''[[Brighton Beach Memoirs]]'' (1983), which would be followed by ''[[Biloxi Blues]]'' (1985) and ''[[Broadway Bound]]'' (1986). He received his greatest critical acclaim for this trilogy. He received a [https://www.pulitzer.org/search/neil%2520simon Pulitzer Prize]<ref name="pbs" /> for his follow-up play, ''[[Lost in Yonkers]]'' (1991), which starred [[Mercedes Ruehl]] and was a success on Broadway.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/article/e8db781820aa410789d6630e5aa9df6d|title=Neil Simon, Broadway's master of comedy, dies at 91|date=August 26, 2018|website=AP NEWS}}</ref>

Following ''Lost in Yonkers'', Simon's next several plays did not meet with commercial success. ''[[The Dinner Party (play)|The Dinner Party]]'' (2000), which starred Henry Winkler and John Ritter, was "a modest hit".<ref name="auto"/> Simon's final play, ''[[Rose's Dilemma]]'', premiered in 2003<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pressconnects.com/story/entertainment/2018/09/05/cider-mill-stage-neil-simon-final-play-roses-dilemma-endicott/37714801/|title=Cider Mill cast stages Neil Simon's final play 'Rose's Dilemma' in Endicott|first=Chris|last=Kocher|website=Press & Sun-Bulletin|date=September 5, 2018|access-date=November 12, 2020}}</ref> and received poor reviews.<ref name="auto"/>

Simon is credited as playwright and contributing writer to at least 49 Broadway plays.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.playbill.com/personrolespage/person-role-page?person=00000150-ac7b-d16d-a550-ec7f3cd80003 |title=Neil Simon Broadway Credits |website=Playbill |access-date=August 31, 2018}}</ref>

=== Screen ===
Simon chose not to write the screenplay for the first film adaptation of his work, ''[[Come Blow Your Horn (film)|Come Blow Your Horn]]'' (1963), preferring to focus on his playwriting. However, he was disappointed with the picture, and thereafter tried to control the conversion of his works. Simon wrote screenplays for more than twenty films and received four [[Academy Award]] nominations—for ''[[The Odd Couple (film)|The Odd Couple]]'' (1969), ''[[The Sunshine Boys (1975 film)|The Sunshine Boys]]'' (1975), ''[[The Goodbye Girl]]'' (1977) and ''[[California Suite (film)|California Suite]]'' (1978). Other movies include ''[[The Out-of-Towners (1970 film)|The Out-of-Towners]]'' (1970) and ''[[Murder by Death]]'' (1976). Although most of his films were successful, movies were always of secondary importance to his plays:<ref name="Grobel" />{{rp|372}}

{{Blockquote | style=font-size: 100%; | text=I always feel more like a writer when I'm writing a play, because of the tradition of the theater&nbsp;... there is no tradition of the screenwriter, unless he is also the director, which makes him an ''[[auteur]]''. So I really feel that I'm writing for posterity with plays, which have been around since the Greek times.<ref name="Grobel" />{{rp|375}}}}

Many of his earlier adaptations of his own work were very similar to the original plays. Simon observed in hindsight: "I really didn't have an interest in films then. I was mainly interested in continuing writing for the theater&nbsp;... The plays never became cinematic".<ref name="Koprince" />{{rp|153}} ''[[The Odd Couple (film)|The Odd Couple]]'' (1968), was one highly successful early adaptation, faithful to the stage play but also opened out, with more scenic variety.<ref>{{Cite web |url = http://www.irishnews.com/arts/2018/08/31/news/cult-movie-neil-simon-s-classic-comedy-the-odd-couple-1418601/ |title = Cult Movie: Neil Simon's classic comedy The Odd Couple |last = McLean |first = Ralph |website = The Irish News |date = August 31, 2018 |language = en |access-date = August 31, 2018 }}</ref>