Diane and I and a group of our friends went to Desiderio’s Dinner Theater to see Neil Simon’s I Ought to Be in Pictures, a play from 1980.
The play begins with a knock on the door. Steffy Blondell (played by Lisa Hinca) opens the door and finds a 19-year-old girl, Libby Tucker (played by Reagan Zuber). Libby has traveled from New York City to West Hollywood to visit her father, Herb Tucker (David Lundy). Herb walked out on his wife, daughter, and son 16 years ago.
When Herb wakes up from his nap, he’s stunned that his daughter is in his bungalow. Herb has written scripts for movies and TV shows over those 16 years and now Libby–who has decided to be an actress and be in movies–wants her father to get her into the movie business.
While Herb is trying to get his head around this unexpected visit from his daughter, he has to deal with his girlfriend, Steffy, who works as a make-up artist for a major Hollywood studio (she has applied make-up to Meryl Streep’s face–Libby’s favorite actress!). Steffy and Herb have been dating for two years and Steffy, with her two children, wants more from Herb. Herb, of course, thinks things are Perfect.
Neil Simon puts Herb through the wringer as he has to deal with his teenage daughter–who speaks with her dead grandmother daily–and his wonderful girlfriend who is considering “moving on” if Herb can’t commit. On top of all of this, Herb contends with Writer’s Block.
Amid the comic moments in I Ought to Be in Pictures, there are some very moving moments as Herb realizes how much he has missed by being absent from his daughter’s life for 16 years. And, long-suffering Steffy, brought a tear to my eye when she tells Herb they are not getting younger and frivolous sex does not cement a relationship. She’s dating another guy.
I Ought to Be in Pictures is not top-shelf Neil Simon, but it was ideal for the Dinner Theater audience. Plenty of laughs as Herb’s world is turned upside down, some tears as the characters in this play grow closer, and a typical Neil Simon conclusion. Are you a Neil Simon fan? GRADE: B
Simon was almost omnipresent during my childhood and adolescence and seemed to be a “Tonight Show” guest every other week. I’ve only seen the film adaptations of his work but my impression has always been that he was a talented writer in need of a strong editor and/or director to clean up and sharpen his work. The Mike Nichols biography that came put a few years ago spent a good chunk of time on “The Odd Couple” and strongly implied that the play owed its success to Nichols who significantly tweaked it. I think many playwrights have a zeitgeist kind of relevance for a decade or two then, if they are lucky, settle comfortably into the dinner theater circuit and that’s not necessarily a bad thing as you indicate. Simon also probably wrote far more plays than he should have and I suspect that ultimately tarnished his reputation. I confess a soft spot for the film version of “Barefoot in the Park” largely because it has become sort of a late sixties movie artifact and because Jane Fonda is just effervescent in it. Remember the TV version that featured two African American leads? Kind of bold for 1970.
Byron, I’m convinced Mike Nichols improved THE ODD COUPLE. Here’s the Rotten Tomatoes list of Neil Simon films:
CREDIT
44% The Goodbye Girl Screenwriter – 2004
40% Laughter on the 23rd Floor Writer – 2001
28% 31% The Out-of-Towners Writer $28.5M 1999
27% 56% Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple II Producer $18.9M 1998
71% 77% Lost in Yonkers Screenwriter $9.1M 1993
10% 45% The Marrying Man Writer $12.4M 1991
71% 79% Brighton Beach Memoirs Writer $11.0M 1986
71% 67% Max Dugan Returns Screenwriter – 1983
80% 43% I Ought to Be in Pictures Producer – 1982
63% 74% Only When I Laugh Writer – 1981
70% 64% Seems Like Old Times Writer – 1980
50% 35% Chapter Two Screenwriter – 1979
50% 46% California Suite Screenwriter – 1978
68% 82% Murder by Death Screenwriter – 1976
71% 72% The Sunshine Boys Writer – 1975
67% 56% Plaza Suite Screenwriter – 1971
63% 70% The Out-of-Towners Screenwriter – 1970
82% 73% Sweet Charity Writer – 1969
98% 89% The Odd Couple Screenwriter – 1968
81% 79% Barefoot in the Park Screenwriter – 1967
80% 65% After the Fox Writer – 1966
Yes, but first… Jackie wants to know what you ate. We once went to one where they served food to people sitting in open convertibles, and then showed a movie.
As for Neil Simon, we’ve seen many of his plays over the years –
Barefoot in the Park (I think we saw Joan Van Ark)
The Odd Couple (can’t remember who we saw )
The Star-Spangled Girl (I remember Richard Benjamin, but don’t remember seeing Connie Stevens)
Plaza Suite (I believe we saw this on New Years Eve, starring E. G> Marshall and Maureen Stapleton)
Promises, Promises (musical)
The Prisoner of Second Avenue (I believe we saw Hector Elizondo & Phyllis Newman)
The Good Doctor (play with music, based on Chekhov’s short stories. Barnard Hughes, Marsha Mason)
God’s Favorite (based on Book of Job. Vincent Gardenia.)
California Suite (George Grizzard, who I once met. He lived in my Aunt Ruth’s building; and Tammy Grimes)
Chapter Two (Judd Hirsch & ANita Gillette)
They’re Playing Our Song (musical with book by Simon. Robert Klein & Lucie Arnaz in the Marvin Hamlisch/Carole Bayer Sager roles)
I Ought to Be in Pictures (Ron Leibman & Dinah Manoff – Lee Grant’s daughter. Relatively minor Simon but well worth seeing.)
Brighton Beach Memoirs (first in the trilogy – saw Jonathan Silverman, who replaced Matthew Broderick)
Biloxi Blues (Matthew Broderick, Barry “Call Me Tony?” Miller)
Broadway Bound (Silverman, Linda Lavin, Jason Alexander)
Lost in Yonkers (Irene Worth, Mercedes Ruehl)
Jeff, that’s an impressive list! I had a delicious Ribeye steak (with rice and asparagus). A lettuce and tomato salad was included. Diane had a pasta dish and the salad came with that, too. Dessert was a dish of pistachio ice cream (it was the night before St. Patrick’s Day so green ice cream was a treat!).
I’m not sure he’s written a better play (which I read well before seeing the film version) than COME BLOW YOUR HORN. I played Murray the cop in my New Hampshire high school’s production of THE ODD COUPLE, in rehearsals, but didn’t perform before an audience since my family relocated to Hawaii before the end of the school year.
Todd, COME BLOW YOUR HORN is another Neil Simon play I haven’t experienced. I’ll seek it out! Todd as “Murray the Cop” would be a performance I’d love to see!
Nice! Herb Edelman played Murray the Cop in the movie, He had been an actual cab driver when director Mike Nichols offered him the part of the telephone repairman in BAREFOOT IN THE PARK, a role he reprised in the movie version.
Jeff, thanks for that information! Too bad Todd missed his Big Break as Murray the Cop! Maybe Todd OUGHT TO BE IN PICTURES!
And Al Molinaro was Murray on the (first) TV series (they tried a black-cast TOC briefly, as well, some years later)(I don’t recall if there was a corresponding Murray on the terrible Saturday morning cartoon parody-of-sorts THE ODDBALL COUPLE). I would hit the stage as a senior in my Honolulu HS’s Shakespeare Festival three years later…knowing there was a good chance I would get yanked across the globe early was part of why I opted to try out for Murray.
COME BLOW YOUR HORN, as I recall it from reading it as a young teen, was autobiographical in large part, less schticky than much of his later work, and his first full-length play for the stage.
Todd, Neil Simon drew on his past in a number of his plays especially Brighton Beach Memoirs.
Indeed. But more nostalgic than CBYH.
I’ve seen a lot of them either as movies or as local productions of his work. I know he’s no longer well thought of, I enjoyed them all as good light fare, which is sometimes exactly what you want. THE GOODBYE GIRL and THE ODD COUPLE are my favorites.
Patti, I know plenty of critics consider Neil Simon a “light-weight” writer, but at his best–as in THE GOODBYE GIRL and THE ODD COUPLE–he could be funny and compelling.
I’ve enjoyed a bunch his plays! I did a scene from THE ODD COUPLE in a college theater class and got a rave from the teacher! The movie of PLAZA SUITE with Walter Matthau is especially appealing!
Bob, THE ODD COUPLE might be Neil Simon’s most successful play. It became a movie and a TV series. PLAZA SUITE is underrated.