Neil Simon (1927–2018)

Partisan Populist Polemic for Independents. I like that Simon opens the book with a note that if you are yourself a hyper partisan that thinks either side or the other is completely evil, this book isn't for you.

The things Simon discusses in this book are things that I know for a fact many, perhaps most, Americans have not thoughtfully considered - or even considered at all. Sure, some of them are hotter button issues than others, such as his decrying of Citizens United - a common complaint show more of the left yet a case which is misunderstood by most and even outright misinterpreted in this very text. But others are much more esoteric, largely only thought of when the person themselves gets hit by the problem, such as ballot access - a process by which the "two" Party System in the US actively limits, indeed even places extraordinary hurdles to, the ability for anyone other than themselves to get on the ballot for election for most offices in this country.

Ultimately, however, Simon has crafted a partisan populist polemic for Independents that while useful as a conversation starter has numerous flaws in reasoning - even while being very well documented in his statements. However, even then there are, in the infamous words of Mark Twain, "lies, damn lies, and statistics", and Simon's constant refrain that "60% of Americans support each of these initiatives" is a bit disingenuous at best. And I've seen some of the very polls he was citing, often used them in my own debates! (See below) Still, with the various issues he brings up, most of which won't be actively discussed by the various Presidential candidates or talking heads this year, this book deserves to be read and discussed even given its myriad flaws. Recommended.

With all of this said, allow me to note my own history, briefly, so that you can judge for yourself if I may fall into the trap of hyperpartisanship myself. I grew up as a Republican and voted in 2004 for Georgia's Defense of Marriage Act. By 2006 I was already fed up with "both" Parties and trying to find my own way. I began reading *every* Party's platforms and looking to what resonated most with me. I officially joined the Libertarian Party as a dues paying member the day after Barack Obama was elected President in 2008, and within 2 yrs I would: be a member of the Executive Committee of the Libertarian Party of Georgia, found a local affiliate (county Party) of the LP-Ga, run for nonpartisan rural small town City Council 2x, found a libertarian-leaning political blog, host the biggest event of the 2010 Georgia election cycle in terms of number of Statewide candidates present, be recognized 2x by the Georgia House of Representatives for my work in open government, video local County Commission and City Council meetings and put the unedited video on YouTube, run a Facebook group working for equal ballot access for Georgia citizens, serve as the Libertarian Party of Georgia's Legislative Director, recruit a Statewide candidate for the LP-Ga, and probably a few things I've forgotten about in the decade since. However, by 2012 I had left active political activism altogether, and when I moved to Florida in 2017 I officially registered to vote as "No Party Affliation" - the way Florida encodes "Independent" status. (No State I had previously lived in actually registered voters by Party.) show less

Neil Simon's memoir, REWRITES (1996), serves to support the theory that some of the best comedy is born of unhappiness and pain. Not that Simon really dwells on his childhood, but it does come out here and there how his father often deserted the family for months or more at a time, contributing little to their support, and this was during the hardest of times, the Great Depression.

This is a book filled with varied and strange backstage stories and show biz anecdotes, peppered liberally with show more famous names. Mike Nichols figured prominently in Simon's success, garnering at least four Tony Awards as best director in the early years of Simon's career as a playwright. Maureen Stapleton was his favorite actress.

The book's title is most apt, as Simon illustrates repeatedly how Broadway plays often survive solely because they can be constantly tweaked, rearranged, rewritten, and he was a shining example of a man able to think fast and "fix" a play that was floundering, often rewriting whole scenes in a corner during rehearsals.

Even given his early success, Simon was a man prone to panic attacks and claustrophobia, the latter problem probably caused by a "mother who tied me with a rope to my high chair," an understanding reached through psychoanalysis.

Simon tells of his 'mid-life' crisis, when he ALMOST made a terrible mistake (leaving his wife), but did not. And how he finally realized, after he turned forty, that "old people you know weren't always old ... They were once the way you are now, and inevitably you will eventually be like them, with others thinking you were always old." Some people never do figure this out, until it's too late.

But REWRITES is, perhaps more than anything, a love story and a tribute to Simon's first wife, Joan, his strongest and most constant supporter, who died from cancer at age forty. Her final illness is described with such wrenching honesty that it left me nearly in tears.

My only complaint, which really isn't one, is that it ends with Joan's death in 1973, when Simon was only forty-six, left with two young daughters, fifteen and ten. I couldn't help but wonder what happened then. (I checked Wikipedia and learned that Simon has been married three times since then.) But bottom line? This is a damn good book, a life story told well, honestly and unflinchingly. show less

This is like the highbrow version of Always Sunny. If you find neurotic New Yorkers breaking down and yelling over each other funny this is hilarious. The play unfortunately takes a pause to get serious and develop a message, without the screwball rapid fire dialogue and it actually suffers for it.

Some witty dialog but drastically poor work on the characters that go from an act one of too good to be true, to act two of too stupid to live, but all's well that ends well. I'm beginning to think that witty New Yorkers don't intrinsically interest me more than wealthy/upper class Brits. One has the zingers, the other the wardrobe, but I don't want to spend hours with either any more. In the copy I picked up from the library every God, Jesus, Christ & Goddamn were heavily crossed out in show more ballpoint, dimpling the pages. show less