Composer Artisan: Comedy is a natural art of this composer of plays.

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Product Description

A winning combination of touching personal memories and reflections, anecdotes about the writing life, and hilarious stories about some of the biggest names in the entertainment business, "Rewrites" is "one wonderful read" (Larry King, "USA Today"). Serialized in "Reader's Digest" of photos National print publicity. Radio promo. 25-city drive-time radio tour. .

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #386698 in Books
• Published on: 1998-04-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Amazon.com Review
After serving an apprenticeship under Sid Caesar and Phil Silvers in Los Angeles, Neil Simon returned to New York at age 30 to embark on a career as a playwright. Some 35 years and three dozen plays later, the most successful comedy writer in the history of the American stage is still at it. In Rewrites, Simon reflects on his career, his relationship with his older brother and mentor Danny, and the loss of his wife Joan to cancer. Along the way, he reveals the price he has paid for his achievements: "I felt like I had stopped relating to people as friends, relatives, acquaintances.... Instead they turned into my victims, as I ripped their private souls from their being, feeding my hunger, my insatiable desire to use them in my writings, in my plays, in my thoughts."

From Publishers Weekly
Simon has built his playwrighting career by creating funny, indelible characters. Who can forget Oscar Madison and Felix Unger? This illuminating memoir, which takes Simon into the 1970s, reveals his creative influences, as well as his personal triumphs and tragedies. He is brutally honest in describing his bouts with writer's block, and he's not afraid to admit that directors and actors have often helped him complete some of his most endearing plays. He confides, for instance, that the third act of The Odd Couple went through numerous rewrites and was salvaged only after director Mike Nichols suggested Simon not set the act in the middle of a poker game. Simon's forthright account of his work with Bob Fosse on Sweet Charity illustrates how two immensely talented individuals can work through their differences to create a highly successful show. Anecdotes about actors Simon has worked with make for particularly entertaining copy, and his description of George C. Scott's erratic behavior while he starred in The Gingerbread Lady shows how a playwright's success can hinge on the whims of a troubled actor. However, many digressions, though humorous, distract from the story at hand. Simon's account of his family and personal life beyond the theater lacks resonance, particularly when dealing with his experience with psychotherapy?the only section of the book written in the third person. While this memoir won't bring down the house, in general it's a well-told tale by a man whose talent, diligence and luck have made him Broadway's shining son. 100,000 first printing; Reader's Digest Condensed Book; Fireside Book Club main selection; first serial to Reader's Digest; author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Famed playwright Simon complained recently about this condensation, saying during a segment on C-Span, "They abridged the life out of" [the book]. Much is omitted, for sure, but what remains is vintage Simon and better than no recording at all. He describes quirky show folk and his willing but exhaustive efforts in revising his plays, which include Come Blow Your Horn, Barefoot in the Park, and The Odd Couple. Simon's own soft-spoken reading underplays his witticisms?he is not an actor, after all?but lends authenticity to the narrative, especially during the section wherein he talks about the tragic death of his beloved wife, Joan. We get highlights of his life and career from only 1957 to 1973, however. Playgoers and Simon enthusiasts will enjoy Rewrites. A good choice for biography and theater collections.?Gordon Blackwell, Eastchester, N.Y.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Customer Reviews

A "must read" for playwrights
This book is more than the interesting story of the first part of Neil Simon's life. It's also a very practical guide to being a playwright. Simon discusses creating his first success, "Come Blow Your Horn." He had eighteen rewrites before he showed it to anybody but his wife! He also discusses the lucky breaks he got when the play first opened. But the real meat of the book for the working playwright is the play writing tips he sprinkles throughout the book. "If somebody leaves the room, where does he go?" "Character is the foundation of the play." "An audience won't believe what you don't believe." "We need to see a character change, not just know that he's changed." "Adversaries need to be equal." Be alert as you read--Simon usually drops these gems in a discussion of problems he had working on a specific script. Face it, if you pay attention, there's a lot you can learn from the most successful playwright since Shakespeare.

The Creative Process of Becoming a Playwright
The insights in this book about becoming a successful playwright make the book more than a five star work. I do not remember reading or hearing a better discussion of what comedy is and should be about.

The book also has many beautiful insights into how to be and have a wonderful spouse. Those scenes from a marriage are often well worth restaging in your life.

This book is a fascinating series of skits, sketches, and one liners masquerading as a memoir. Although Mr. Simon was (with difficulty) able to transcend his training as a gag and sketch writer to learn playwriting, he made little attempt to learn autobiography for this book. Instead, he fell back on his most natural way of communicating, the humorous story. That approach provides the reader with the unexpected bonus of many funny stories and good laughs.

The time period covered is Mr. Simon's life from age 30 to 46, with occasional visits to his earlier years. You will never read or watch a Neil Simon play in the same way after reading this memoir. You will find yourself in closer touch with the bittersweet parts of these comedies as a result . . . and with your own innermost self.

If you have seen or read Chapter Two, you already knew that Mr. Simon had lost his first wife to cancer at a young age. What I did not realize is what an overwhelmingly tragic event this was for him. The marriage had been a magnificent one for two people who were deeply devoted to and supportive of one another. In a sense, the comedy in this book is simply there to heighten your ability to appreciate the real subject, the tragic loss. The jokes are like the gravediggers' scene in Hamlet, to relieve the heaviness of the ultimate atmosphere.

Mr. Simon is very candid in this memoir. He describes having his brother help him hire a lady who rented by the hour for his first sexual experience, having once asked his wife for his freedom (and then changing his mind 5 minutes later as she calmly went along), and a lot of very bad business decisions. He also describes the psychological problems that could plague him and others on Broadway. He also describes things using the "f" word a lot that offends many people.

Perhaps the most revealing parts are the ways that he mines every memorable encounter in his life into a play. It is as though playwriting is his way to get control over his fear of life.

As a writer, I was riveted by his detailed description of how he came to write Come Blow Your Horn as his first play, and to learn his craft through many painful rewrites. No one would ever have gone through what he did if you knew what was coming. Mr. Simon's very great dislike of Hollywood was a powerful spur into playwriting that drove him relentlessly. In the process, he brilliantly describes the insights that others shared with him, and that he learned. He became addicted to having people read the material aloud, so that he could hear their reactions. As soon as that occurred, he could ruthlessly edit and rewrite material -- even "forgetting" what he had written originally to write something better rather than trying to fix flawed approaches. Apparently, Mr. Simon's genius is that he rewrites much better than he writes. Interesting.

After you finish enjoying this book and giving it a symbolic standing ovation, I suggest that you create a similar outline of your life as a memoir that focuses on your most formative period. How did you get where you are today (for better or worse)? What does that mean? How could someone (including you) learn from this experience?

Mr. Simon had few regrets in his life. The deepest one was not telling his younger daughter, Nancy, that her mother was dying. What are you holding back now that you will regret someday?

Honest and funny autobigraphy
I enjoyed reading Neil Simon's account of his early successes as a writer. His story is one of a man who seems to have everything fall into place almost too easily until late in the book when personal tragedy strikes and he writes of his wife's illness and death.
As one would expect from such a prominent figure in the theater his book is filled with entertaining anecdotes regarding various actors and theater people. Simon comes across as a sincere and very regular guy who has the talent to take what he observes in himself and others and transform it into priceless comic material.
This is an enjoyable read for anyone who is even a casual fan of his work.