Odd Couple Essay Research Paper Themes and

Odd Couple Essay, Research Paper

Themes and characters are most often the key factors that

influence a writer’s work. Most of the time the author has no control

over this influence. This is clearly shown in Neil Simon’s play, The

Odd Couple. Not only is Simon’s own life depicted in his play, but

also the lives of those close to him, can be parallel to his work. Neil

Simon’s life is depicted in his characters and themes of his play, The

Odd Couple.

Marvin Neil Simon was born in the Bronx on July 4, 1927. His

father, Irving, was a salesman in Manhattan’s garment district; his

mother Mamie worked in Gimbel’s department store. The family moved to

Washington Heights, in northern Manhattan, when Simon was young.

Irving was an errant husband who occasionally abandoned the family

altogether, leaving Mamie, a frustrated and bitter women, alone to deal

with Neil and his older brother Danny. Eventually, the parents were

divorced, and Neil went to live with relatives in Queens. From an

early age, he exhibited a quick wit and an active imagination. He

loved films and was often asked to leave the theater for laughing to

loud. In high school, Simon was sometimes ostracized as a Jew, an

experience that would later inform his work. Meanwhile, he and his

brother began collaborating on comedy material that they sold to

stand-up comics and radio announcers. Simon graduated from DeWitt

Clinton High School in 1944 at the age of sixteen(Magill2216).

He entered New York University under the US Army Airforce

Reserve Program. Throughout his military career, he wrote for

many military newspapers. Discharged in 1946, Simon took a job in the

mail room at Warner Brothers in New York, where Danny worked in the

publicity department. The brothers were soon hired to write for

Goodman Ace of CBS, and over the next decade they provided material for

many popular comedians. During the summers of 1952 and 1953, they

wrote sketches for a professional acting company at Camp Tamiment, in

Pennsylvania.

At Camp Tamiment, Simon fell in love with a young actress named Joan

Baim, and the couple was married on September 30, 1953. Five years

later, Joan gave birth to a daughter, Ellen; a second daughter, Nancy,

was born in 1963(Magill2261).

2 In 1956, when Danny Simon moved to California to be a

television director, Neil stayed in New York and wrote for many

popular television shows. He also adapted broadway plays for

television. By the later 1950’s, however, he wanted more independence

than television writing could offer. He began writing a play of his

own. For three years, he wrote and revised his first full-length play,

Come Blow Your Horn. In 1965, Simon had a second smash hit with The

Odd Couple, which ran for two years and earned him his first Tony

Award(Magill2261).

In 1972, Simon faced an awful personal tragedy. His wife,

Joan, was diagnosed with cancer and after fifteen gruesome

months, she passed away. After twenty years of happy marriage, the

lost effected him deeply. Later that year, Neil met an actress named

Marcia Mason, who he later married. Although the marriage wasn’t as

special as it was with Joan, they had a good marriage that lasted nine

years.

In 1974, Simon received a special Tony Award for his

contributions to the American theater. In 1983, he received a

singular honor. The Nederlander Organization renamed a broadway

theater after him.

By the 1990’s, through four decades of diligent writing, Simon

had developed great skill and technique. With the monumental

output already behind him, he has claimed his position in the history

of American theater(Magill2262).

The Odd Couple was Neil Simon’s second and one of his most

successful full- length plays. It opens when Oscar’s Friday

night poker game is interrupted by the news that Felix, one of the

game’s regulars, has left his wife after sending her a suicide

telegram. When Felix arrives, his every move is interpreted as a

suicide attempt. Oscar calms him down and suggests he moves in with

him. But Felix is a hyper- allergic, fanatic for organization and

cleanliness, while Oscar is a cigar-smoking, compulsive slob. The

characteristics that drove each of them to leave their wives soon have

them at each other’s throats. Although, they still feel it is a good

idea to live with each other in order to save money for alimony and

child support. Oscar tries to loosen

3 Felix up by inviting the neighboring Pigeon sisters to

dinner. Oscar promises Felix that he will be home at seven o’clock to

help him with dinner, but casually walks in the door close to eight.

Not to mention the girls are also late, all of which results in the

dinner being destroyed. The party turns out a disaster, and the next

day Oscar kicks out Felix because of

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