{"id":35640,"date":"2018-09-04T07:49:04","date_gmt":"2018-09-04T07:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/?p=35640"},"modified":"2018-09-04T07:49:04","modified_gmt":"2018-09-04T07:49:04","slug":"tributer-i-p-neil-simon-r-i-p","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/tributer-i-p-neil-simon-r-i-p\/","title":{"rendered":"TRIBUTE\/R.I.P.: NEIL SIMON, R.I.P."},"content":{"rendered":"

NEIL SIMON, R.I.P.<\/h1>\n

One of the most prolific playwrights\/screenwriters of all time left us recently. Even though Neil Simon was ninety-one years of age, his death still came as a bit of a shock. I\u2019ve always thought of him as sort-of immortal, perhaps because his works are such classics.<\/p>\n

\"NEIL<\/a>I met Neil several times over the years. I was surprised, as a young woman, when he accompanied some of our mutual friends to a couple of show business fetes, and I got to show him around. He was actually more fun than his public persona let on.<\/p>\n

In addition to having known Neil a bit, I spent a bit of time with two of his wives back in the day, so my heart goes out to them now. His two-time ex-wife, Diane, guest-starred on one of Mr. X\u2019s television series, and his widow, Elaine Joyce, used to date the star of that same show, so we socialized a bit back then.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a fan of many of Neil Simon\u2019s works, none moreso than the adorable musical comedy, Playing Our Song<\/em>. I loved it first on my own, but then Mr. X got offered the lead role on Broadway, after it had already played for a few years. He couldn\u2019t get out of his TV show in time to accept, but he did<\/em> agree to do the National Tour in Toronto, where his family lived.<\/p>\n

\"6efc17e1-dff1-419f-8d81-7f5484fcf246-AP_9704190355\"<\/a>And that experience meant that Neil Simon was responsible for one of the proudest moments of my life. I was backstage during one of Mr. X\u2019s early performances in his show, when I saw the executive producer of the show, Manny Azenberg, go into an office. I started to follow him to say hi, but then he got on the phone\u2026to Neil! I didn\u2019t want to intrude, so I hung back, and listened for when he would hang-up so I could go in to chat with him. I didn\u2019t mean to eavesdrop, but I was thrilled to hear him say about Mr. X, \u201cNeil, you should see this. This guy is great\u2014he\u2019s getting laughs where you didn\u2019t even write any!\u201d I couldn\u2019t wait to bump into Neil again to kvell over that I was Mr. X\u2019s girlfriend, because up until that point, I knew him just on my own. (And to Neil\u2019s credit, when we did<\/em> speak about it later on, he was happy<\/em> that Mr. X had found a bit of extra humor in his script, rather than being upset about it, as I assume other more egotistical playwrights might be.)<\/p>\n

I had not seen Neil for several years now, but, whenever his name is mentioned anywhere, in print or in conversation, I\u2019m always so pleased, and sort-of surprised, that I actually knew him!<\/p>\n

RIP, Neil Simon.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEIL SIMON, R.I.P. One of the most prolific playwrights\/screenwriters of all time left us recently. Even though Neil Simon was ninety-one years of age, his death still came as a bit of a shock. I\u2019ve always thought of him as sort-of immortal, perhaps because his works are such classics. I met Neil several times over<\/p>\n

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