Odd Couple :: essays papers

quaint CoupleThemes and characters are most a lot the key factors thatinfluence a writers work. Most of the time the author has no controloer this influence. This is clearly shown in Neil Simons play, TheOdd Couple. Not only when is Simons own life depicted in his play, butalso the lives of those taut to him, can be parallel to his work. NeilSimons life is depicted in his characters and themes of his play, TheOdd Couple.Marvin Neil Simon was born in the Bronx on July 4, 1927. Hisfather, Irving, was a salesman in Manhattans garment district hismother Mamie worked in Gimbels department store. The family moved toWashington Heights, in Union Manhattan, when Simon was young.Irving was an errant husband who occasionally abandoned the familyaltogether, leaving Mamie, a bilk and bitter women, alone to dealwith Neil and his older brother Danny. Eventually, the parents weredivorced, and Neil went to live with relatives in Queens. From anearly age, he exhibited a quick wit and an active imagination. Heloved films and was often asked to leave the theater for laughing toloud. In noble school, Simon was sometimes ostracized as a Jew, anexperience that would later inform his work. Meanwhile, he and hisbrother began collaborating on comedy material that they sold tostand-up comics and wireless announcers. Simon graduated from DeWittClinton High School in 1944 at the age of sixteen(Magill2216).He entered bran-new York University under the US Army AirforceReserve Program. throughout his military career, he wrote formany military newspapers. Discharged in 1946, Simon took a job in themail room at Warner Brothers in New York, where Danny worked in thepublicity department. The brothers were soon hired to write forGoodman Ace of CBS, and over the next decade they provided material formany popular comedians. During the summers of 1952 and 1953, theywrote sketches for a professional person acting company at tent Tamiment, inPennsylvania.At Camp Tamiment, S imon fell in love with a young actress named JoanBaim, and the couple was marry on September 30, 1953. Five yearslater, Joan gave birth to a daughter, Ellen a second daughter, Nancy,was born in 1963(Magill2261).In 1956, when Danny Simon moved to California to be a television receiver director, Neil stayed in New York and wrote for manypopular television shows. He also adapted broadway plays fortelevision. By the later 1950s, however, he precious more independence