Viewing page 4 of 25
This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.
[[2 pages]] [[page 1]] [[double-line]] [[2 columns]] [[column 1]] beating in Seattle. But you get older, you have more experience, you have more success and you learn to deal with those things." And the money? "Money means the same thing that it's always meant. It's the ability to do what you want to do in terms of work. Mostly it gives you a great deal of security, because after awhile if you have a certain amount of money you don't need any more than that. I still don't spend that much. I don't have hobbies like yachts. I have a terrific house in California and I play tennis and a can of tennis balls cost $2.80. Money means that you just don't have to worry about your next job. It means I can write the things I want to write. I remember when I worked in television [where he began collaborating with his brother Danny] I couldn't quit the jobs I really hated, like working on [[italics]] The Red Buttons Show [[/italics]], because it was bread and butter for my family. I used to think boy wouldn't it be terrific if I could stay home all day and write plays. So now I have that and that's what money affords." If success and money don't ruffle Simon, what about the critics? "They tend to confuse me," he says with not the slightest trace of animosity in his voice. "If you read Clive Barnes on [[italics]] California Suite [[/italics]], he loved the first, third and fourth plays; Martin Gottfried only liked the second. If you put their two reviews together you'd have a perfect review. A few years back after I'd had five or six hits, the critics started urging me to try to do something more meaningful. When I did, they said, "No, no, no give us the funny stuff again.' So if I tried to listen to the critics I'd learn that the critics want me to write a serious [[/column 1]] [[column 2]] meaningful play and the critics want me to write nothing but farces." Simon has written the books for three musicals--[[italics]] Little Me, Sweet Charity, [[/italics]] and [[italics]] Promises, Promises [[/italics]] and his next project will be a musicalization of his 1970 play [[italics]] The Gingerbread Lady [[/italics]]. Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban of [[italics]] A Chorus Line [[/italics]] fame are writing the music and lyrics, respectively, with Tammy Grimes set tentatively to star. Several years ago there were rumors that Simon had decided to abandon playwriting. "I was very upset with several newspaper people who were exaggerating these huge amounts of income I was making. There was no doubt that I was making a lot of money but they were quoting fantastic figures. I felt I should be writing for [[italics]] The Wall Street Journal [[/italics]] instead of being a playwright. I had been offered a teaching position by a New England college and I was toying with the lead. A reporter from the [[italics]] Post [[/italics]] called and I told him I was taking three years off to teach. The next day I decided against it, but it was already in print ... Anyway I don't know how you teach playwriting. I don't know how you pass on that information. It's basically a craft. I wrote [[italics]] Come Blow Your Horn [[/italics]] [his first play in 1961] twenty-five times from beginning to end. It was a good two-year college education in playwriting but it was the only way I could learn how to do it." His voice trails off. The idea seems to fantastic for him to comprehend. Clearly there are too many plays regurgitating in his subconscious for him to ever entertain such a notion. [[square]] [[/column 2]] [[line]] [[advertisement]] FOR GREAT RUSSIAN FOOD & DRINK COME SEE ME - IVAN THE LOVABLE. [[line drawing of a bearded man in an onion-topped hat riding a rooster]] AND ME TOO! The Russian Tea Room 150 WEST 57 (SLIGHTLY TO THE LET OF CARNEGIE HALL) CO 5-0947 American Express and other cards welcome [[/advertisement]] [[advertisement]] Cocktails and dining in the heart of the theatre district. Perfect for before or after the theatre. PUB THEATRICAL URIS Building * Concourse Level Broadway at West 51st * 581-7700 [[/advertisement]] [[/end page]]
