John Simon let go!- Page 2

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 5/10/05 at 4:35pm

I will miss reading John Simon's reviews. As Michael Bennett said earlier, you read him for his vicious comments and assertive attitudes. I'll take Simon any day over a milquetoast like Jeremy McCarter.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 5/10/05 at 4:35pm

Playbill.com:


"Simon is known equally for his considerable erudition, his longevity as a critic (he is 79) and his vituperative style. His stinging reviews—particularly his sometimes vicious appraisals of performers' physical appearances—have periodically raised calls in the theatre community for his removal.

The timing of the firing is somewhat ironic. This fall, Applause Books will publish three volumes of Simon's collected works: one on his theatre writing, one on music, one on film.

Simon, who was born in 1925 in the former Yugoslavia, and never lost his Eastern European accent, was educated at Harvard. As a student, playwright Lillian Hellman hired him to do a translation of Anouilh's The Lark. Reportedly, she later refused to pay him because he had typed it in the wrong format.

He began by writing critiques for Commonweal and the Hudson Review. He also reviewed for New York's Channel 13, but was forced out in 1967 because the station considered his notices misanthropic.

Simon's reputation as an aggressive drama critic, with a tendency for acerbity, was forged early on. Joseph Papp wrote New York a letter in 1972 saying Simon suffered from the effects of "benevolent mother who undoubtably fussed all over her precocious offspring." Papp would in 1989 demand Simon's dismissal. Edward Albee—a frequent sparring partner—wrote in the New York Times in the mid-60s, "Mr. Simon's disapproval of my plays has been a source of comfort to me over the years and his dislike of A Delicate Balance gives me courage to go on, as they say." And Harvey Sabinson, of the League of New York Theatres and Producers (as the trade organization was then called) once likened him to "a sadistic guard in a Nazi camp."

In the most famous incident of retaliation against Simon's harsh words, actress Sylvia Miles, upon encountering the critic in a restaurant on Oct. 7, 1973, dumped a plate of food over his head.

Sometimes, even his fellow critics thought he went too far. In 1969, the New York Drama Critics Circle voted 10 to 7 to refuse him membership. The following fall, the body relented and allowed him in. In 1980, in another slap at the critic, an ad appeared in Variety, signed by 300 people, protesting his reviews as vicious and racist.

Simon took all of the above in seeming stride, often joking about the outsized reaction he provoked in the theatre community. And he was not without supporters. His fans applauded the obvious intelligence of his writing; the deep knowledge of the classics and of languages that informed his reviews (he was known to correct playwrights' grammar and word usage); and his bravery is expressing his opinions in no uncertain terms. The divided nature of his writings—part intellectual, part character assassin—was summed up in an essay by Robert Brustein, in which he referred to the "good John Simon" and the "bad John Simon."

Posted: 5/10/05 at 4:39pm

"In the most famous incident of retaliation against Simon's harsh words, actress Sylvia Miles, upon encountering the critic in a restaurant on Oct. 7, 1973, dumped a plate of food over his head."

I hadn't heard this before - I would have paid money to see that moment!

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/10/05 at 6:07pm

Simon always gave a really fresh point of view

Had I seen the spaghetti incident, I would have sent a bottle of champagne to her table

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 5/10/05 at 6:38pm

sometimes they were honest and good reviews. sometimes they were bitchy. i won't miss him, or i will in an odd way.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 5/11/05 at 2:23am

SO I guess he will have to start paying for his theatre tickets now, since he is no longer part of the "working press."

I never found his writing terribly insightful. He seemed interested only in drawing attention to himself.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 5/11/05 at 10:51am

My fav story still is the one where Joe Papp had him in a headlock @ a party & was beating the crap out of him. Robert DeNiro.?Duvall was there & pulled him off (eventually!) Papp's comment was "Mr.Simon's had this coming for a LONG time!!"

[Plum]

Posted: 5/11/05 at 10:55am

I think you hit on what really annoyed me about Simon (and annoys me about Riedel)- at some point it became more about him than about the show, just as with Riedel it's always been more about him than about any inside info he's trying to spread. And his defenders, by calling attention to his way with language, are just confirming that- whether you like his writing style or you hate his attitudes, Simon's reviews were becoming more about the legend of John Simon than about what he was actually reviewing. That's not entirely his fault- the people who dumped food on him and headlocked him chose to do so- but it isn't a good quality in a critic.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 5/11/05 at 11:55am

In Reidel's column in todays NY Post,it quotes David Mamet on Frank Rich & John Simon as "the syphillis & gonorrhea of the American theater". He does have a way with words

Updated On: 5/11/05 at 11:55 AM