This Week

For Openers

•Hats Off To Simon

Couple also became a TV classic.
Simon writes plays that often
I touch on sex, marriage and mid-
s he faced 100 students at Wayne State
i die age — usually with a Jewish
University's Hilberry Theatre, Neil
backdrop.
Simon, 75, looked and sounded more
While most of his characters
like the funny guys my Uncle Sammy
I and stories are rooted in autobiog-
used to bring home than a legendary writer.
raphy, which inherently brings out
Which is what makes Simon so
his Jewish side, Simon still makes
refreshing.
his plays universal and inclusive.
For his contribution to the the-
Simon cut his teeth as one of the Neil Simon
ater, Simon was honored April 24
seven talented comedy writers
with the first Apple Award in
culled by Sid Caesar for his 1957 television show
honor of Sarah Applebaum
Your Show of Shows. Along with Woody Allen, Mel
Nederlander at the Fisher Theatre I Brooks and Fiddler on the Roof's Joseph Stein, Simon
in Detroit.
added intrinsically Jewish humor to prime time.
Earlier that day, he met in the
I Not bad for the Bronx-born son of Irving, a Jewish
SHARON
city with a group of Wayne State
traveling salesman, and his wife, Mamie.
LUCKERMAN students and the press. WSU
At his Hilberry appearance, Simon, who now lives
Staff Writer
President Irvin D. Reid intro-
in Los Angeles, was relaxed, gracious, down-to-earth
duced Simon as "the best living
and did not exude the modern ethos of "celebrity-
playwright in America."
dom" and wealth.
Among Simon's many awards
As he answered questions, a hint of his New York
are the Pulitzer Prize for Lost in Yonkers (1991) and
accent audible, he stretched out his legs and folded
four Tony Awards for plays that include The Odd
his arms across his chest.
Couple (1965) and Biloxi Blues (1985). Quite a few
• "No," he replied to a student's query. "It doesn't
of his works were made into films, such as
get any easier writing plays. But it does get deeper."
California Suite and Barefoot in the Park; The Odd
He never outlines his plays, he told another student.

A

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LEREV 7cha Quotables
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"I don't think of myself as part of

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or afraid to stand up for Israel.
And you must never, ever, grow
bitter, cynical or dark."

© 2002

etrottiewis news.com .

By Goldfein

) JN

hat is the only Jewish
holiday celebrated one
day later in Jerusalem
than elsewhere in the

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wewishmetiin

— Rabbi Eddie Feinstein of
Congregation Valley Beth Shalom in
Encino, Calif, speaking to children
at a communal gathering in the Los
Angeles area.

a melting pot. I don't feel melted.
I see myself as an individual, but
part of a bigger picture."

— Father Frank Kalabat of St.
Thomas Chaldean Catholic Church
in West Bloomfield, at a JACOB
(Jewish and Chaldean Opportunity
Builders) dinner hosted by the
Detroit Chaldean community
and Temple Israel.

world?

) What'
Harry

Each is more like a journey for him — he discovers
his characters and story line as he writes.
Currently, Simon is working on a revival of The
Odd Couple and has rewritten about 70 percent of
the dialogue. He's also one-third of the way
through a new play called Ghost Writer.
Several times during the first half-hour, Simon
called to his wife, actress Elaine Joyce, in the audience.
"Do you remember, Elaine, why I set The Dinner
Party [his Broadway play, 2000-2001] in Paris?"
She called back, "You wanted to take more
risks . . ."
"You're wrong, Madam," he said good-naturedly.
Among other things, he remembered aloud, he
wanted to make it more oblique, less like Los Angeles.
When asked about some early advice he got about
playwriting, Simon smiled and said: "The triangle
theory."
"You get the man up a tree in the first act. Throw
stones at him in the second, and get him back down
in the third," he said.
At the end of the WSU session, the moderator
called Simon the quintessential American, born on
the Fourth of July.
To me, Neil Simon was one of those smart, funny
guys from the old neighborhood who could trans-
: late the tsores (pain), joy and surprise of American
life into a repertoire of great stories. El

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Israel or be ashamed of Israel. You 1 7
must not be embarrassed by Israel

"If only the Palestinians would
put as much effort into building
Palestine as they have into the
destruction of Israel, peace would
happen, even without negotia-
tions."

"

"

— Southfield Isaac Barr, a pas-
sionate Zionist, quoting what a
young Israeli told him.

) Mideast Update

The latest news from the war-torn
Middle East.

www.jewish.com

Yiddish Limericks

My shvigger* once grudgingly said,
"I see that my ainikle's** fed.
You bake a good knish***
It's true. I just wish
3Your k'naydlach**** weren't heavy as lead."

— Martha Jo Fleischmann

THE BEST OF ORAPEJEWZ

GMAT SEEMS To BE THE PROBLEM?
/ WELL, PorroR, WE WERE AT

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mother-in-law

* * grandson's

** dough wrapped around potatoes or kasha
**** matzah balls

5/10
2002

11

