Brighton Beach Memoirs (Author Biography)

Author Biography

Simon was born on July 4,1927, in the Bronx, New York. His father, Irving, worked as a garment salesman. Irving Simon’s job forced him to leave his family periodically during Simon’s childhood. Simon’s mother, Mamie, was forced to work during these periods in such places as Gimbel’s department store to support Simon and his elder brother Danny. After his parents divorced, Simon lived for a time in Forest Hills, New York, with relatives. From an early age, Simon displayed comic and writing talents, and his elder brother encouraged his efforts.

After graduating from high school in 1944, Simon attended several colleges, served in the Army, and taught himself to write comedy from books and imitating successful comics. After being discharged from the military in 1946, Simon was hired to work in the mailroom at Warner Brothers studios. Danny Simon already worked in the publicity department there. The brothers Simon were given an opportunity to audition as comedy writers, and they were immediately hired by Goodman Ace on the basis of their sample. The brothers worked as a comedy writing team for the next decade in radio and television.

Danny Simon decided to pursue a career in television directing in 1956, while Simon continued to write television comedy for several shows. He won two Emmy Awards for his television writing. But Simon felt restricted by television and began working on a play around 1959. Titled Come Blow Your Horn, Simon rewrote the play for several years. It was finally produced on Broadway in 1961 and was a minor success. Simon immediately began work on his next play, a comedy called Barefoot in the Park. The play opened in 1962 and was an immediate smash hit.

The success of Barefoot in the Park established Simon’s reputation as a playwright, and he began turning numerous plays. Almost all of them were moneymakers on Broadway. Many of his plays in the 1960s were straight comedies, including 1965’s The Odd Couple. By the late-1960s, Simon attempted to combine comedy with serious issues. These efforts were not always successful or critically well-received, especially 1970’s The Gingerbread Lady. After Simon’s wife Joan died in 1973, leaving him with two young daughters, Ellen and Nancy, Simon’s career temporarily floundered.

Simon remarried soon after his wife’s death, to actress Marsha Mason, and moved to California in 1975. He wrote both successful comedies, such as California Suite in 1976, and more serious plays that dealt with his personal turmoils, such as 1978’s Chapter Two(based on Joan’s death and his subsequent remarriage). His comedies were usually bigger successes, both critically and at the box office. By 1983, however, Simon was able to combine the comic with the serious in his semi-autobiographical Brighton Beach Memoirs, the first play of a trilogy. The result was acclaim from the audience and critics alike.

Simon continued to use Brighton Beach Memoirs’s main character in two more plays, each more successful than the last. Though plays written after the trilogy were not always as successful, Simon’s reputation as a gifted playwright was firmly solidified, and Simon continued to write Broadway plays well into the 1990s.