Rewrites: A Memoir Book

I've been reading lots of Neil Simon this summer. This may well prove to be one of your lighter four-star reviews out there. Neither much in the way of gravitas or backstage gossip involved, Rewrites is your basic angel-food cake of an "and then I wrote" autobiography. That said, fresh angel food cake is mighty tasty, and Neil Simon is nothing if not a prolific baker. I mean, here's a guy who has written a successful Broadway play and/or movie on an annual basis for nearly fifty years. That's not counting remakes or new productions of previous hits. This memoir may not have much to say about the human condition or much to explore from the author's own psyche ("After a while I stopped analysis because the present was a much pleasanter place to be than in the past," he notes at p. 225, which perhaps explains why Simon in this memoir stays for the most part rooted in time to his early playwriting, from his start with Come Blow Your Horn in the early 1960's until the tragic 30-something death of his first wife in the early 1970's from breast cancer). However, the book does offer a bunch of useful insight into the genesis and emergence of his first decade on Broadway which included hits like: Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, Sweet Charity, and The Sunshine Boys. Lots of backstage handwringing, line-, and plot-tweaking. Knowing what doesn't work and why is Simon's greatest self-described gift; you'd think writing comedy was easy or something.

Simon's his own harshest critic: he only likes 7 of his 20+ screenplays (despite four Oscar nominations, and I hope The Goodbye Girl makes his cut). He doesn't think film is his forte. He doesn't like his own film adaptation of Barefoot -- too stagey.

Simon's huge on ironic self-deprecation, though arguably the best bit of irony in the book arises tragically from life. Considering James "Jimmy" Coco, the Gleasonesque comedian and star for whom he wrote Last of the Red Hot Lovers ("He got all the best lines in the play because I thought they were what Jimmy would have said anyway.") Simon at p. 311 goes on to relate: "He was diagnosed years later as having throat cancer. He threw every cigarette he had in the world in the wastebasket and swore he would never touch another one if he could beat the cancer. Soon after, he found out the cancer diagnosis was wrong. He immediately went back to cigarettes and died a few weeks later from a heart attack."

I don't mean to falsely give the impression that the author plays this passage for laughs; in context it's a reflective observation, not a humorous one, but no less worth noting for all that it says of Simon's internal story-editor. Reading this book has motivated me to go back and read through Simon's published plays (I have volumes one through three in my personal library, but never read them cover-to-cover), and I intend to write here later about just how rewarding and delightful a read each of those are.

Simon's writing lies somewhere between lemonade and a good lager - perfect for a summertime, but with a great finish that glows well into the Fall. Of course, he's so prolific, his collected works should make boon companions for a very good year (or more).