The Sunshine Boys

The famous vaudeville team of Al Lewis & Willie Clark, otherwise known as 'The Sunshine Boys', despite working together for 43 years could not stand each other.  More importantly they haven't talked since Lewis walked out on the team's final show 11 years ago leaving Clark, a die-hard New Yorker showman, to soldier on alone.

The attempt by Ben, Willie's nephew, to get the obstinate duo back together one last time for a CBS 'History of Comedy special' makes for "one of the great comedies by one of the great American comic writers"

The Author Neil Simon

Marvin Neil Simon was born in the Bronx on July 4, 1927, and grew up in Washington Heights at the northern tip of Manhattan. His writing career began when he joined the US Army and started to write for the Army camp newspaper.  After his discharge Simon returned to New York and with his brother Danny began writing comedy revues which were broadcast first on radio and then on television.  Writing for The Phil Silvers Show and Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows alongside the likes of Woody Allen, Mel Brooks and Larry Gelbart Simon received several Emmy Award nominations for his television work.

He then moved on to the stage where he had a remarkable string of hits which began with 'Come Blow Your Horn' and proved commercially profitable.  At times 5 of his shows were running on Broadway simultaneously, and his work from this time includes 'Barefoot in the Park', 'The Odd Couple', 'Sweet Charity', 'The Star Spangled Girl', 'Plaza Suite', 'Last of the Red Hot Lovers', and 'Promises, Promises'. The commercial sucess was soured only by the critics willingness to dismiss him as a mere "writer of gags."

Critical acclaim only followed later in his career, after Simon had moved to California following the death of his first wife.  (Later he married the actress Marsha Manson).  His autobiographical trilogy - Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983), Biloxi Blues (1985) and Broadway Bound (1986) - was followed by 'Lost in Yonkers' for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

During the course of his career, Simon has won three Tony Awards for Best Play (The Odd Couple, Biloxi Blues and Lost in Yonkers.) He has had more plays adapted to film than any other American playwright and, in addition, has written nearly a dozen original screenplays himself. He received Academy Award nominations for his screenplays The Odd Couple (1968), The Sunshine Boys (1975) and California Suite (1978). He has also been the recipient of the Antoinette Perry Award, the Writers Guild Award, the Evening Standard Award, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, the Shubert Award, the Outer Circle Award, and a 1978 Golden Globe Award for his screenplay, The Goodbye Girl.

The Play The Sunshine Boys

The Sunshine Boys, dealing with old age and its inevitable crisis, may not be the most popular subject for your average theater goer, but for me, it was the best work I had done to date. Structurally it was sound, and its character delineation was accurate. I spent my life growing up with these men. If they spoke in one-liners and punch lines instead of conversation, it's because it was the only language they knew. Spend a few afternoons around the Friars Club, a hangout for aging comedians and a pencil, a pad, and a discriminating ear will record for you some of the funniest and saddest dialogue you ever heard. A good play, The Sunshine Boys.

NEIL SIMON, Los Angeles, Nov. 7th, 1977