Neil Simon: Hilarity All the Way to the Bank

The success of Playwright Neil Simon is not only incredible; it is awe-inspiring. He is only 42; yet his string of Broadway hits runs like a theatrical What's What: Come Blow Your Horn (1961), Little Me (1962), Barefoot in the Park (1963), The Odd Couple (1965), Sweet Charity (1966), The Star-Spangled Girl (1966), Plaza Suite (1968), Promises, Promises (1968) and Last of the Red Hot Lovers (1969). And now Last of the Red Hot Lovers has joined Plaza and Promises to give him three shows running simultaneously on Broadway.

And the money he has made, is making and stands to make is enough to prompt the Bank of America to build a memorial wing and name it after him. Variety estimates that in 1970 his gross income will reach a high of $45,000 per week, which comes to a cozy $2,300,000 a year. That estimate does not include film sales or screenwriting fees for adapting his plays.

Weekly royalties from two companies of Plaza Suite (one in New York, one touring) come to $6,000, according to Variety. And since the $118,000 investment in Plaza is all his, he gets a weekly profit of $3,000 in addition to royalties. He also demonstrated sublime self-confidence by financing Lovers, for $150,000, which could be paid off in ten weeks or so. Until then, it will bring him about $5,700 per week in royalties. Since he owns the Eugene O'Neill Theater, where the show is playing, he will receive the theater's share of profits. Thus, Variety figures, his Lovers take could be as high as $30,000 a week. And Promises brings him a weekly $4,000, while the London company is worth an extra $1,000 a week to him.

All of which means that Neil Simon is one of the most productive, prolific and profit-making playwrights in American history. Which is no joke to a guy whose first show-business job was in the Warner Bros, mail room for $30 a week. Through it all, Simon has been more than modest. "Money is no longer a major factor of life," Simon says simply, and without fear of contradiction. "I work to keep busy and because I enjoy the work." Who wouldn't?

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