Danny Simon

Danny Simon (December 18, 1918 – July 26, 2005) was an American comedy writer and director best known for his contributions to early television sketch comedy, particularly as a writer on the landmark series Your Show of Shows starring Sid Caesar.^[1]^[2] Born in the Bronx, New York, he was the older brother of renowned playwright Neil Simon, with whom he frequently collaborated in the early stages of his career and whose works often drew inspiration from Danny's life and personality.^[1]^[3] Simon's writing credits spanned radio and television from the late 1940s through the 1980s, including shows like The Colgate Comedy Hour, Make Room for Daddy, The Carol Burnett Show, My Three Sons, The Facts of Life, and Diff'rent Strokes, where he worked alongside comedy luminaries such as Mel Brooks, Larry Gelbart, Woody Allen, Carl Reiner, and Neil Simon himself.^[1]^[3]^[2] In addition to writing, Simon directed several off-Broadway productions of his brother's plays, including multiple stagings of The Odd Couple—a work partly inspired by Danny's own slovenly habits and his roommate's fastidiousness during their early struggles in New York—and contributed to the development of the 1985 all-female Broadway version of the same play.^[2]^[3] He also conceived the idea for The Odd Couple, earning a one-sixth share of its royalties despite not receiving on-screen credit, and served as the model for characters in Neil Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor and Brighton Beach Memoirs.^[1]^[3] Later in his career, Simon transitioned into education, lecturing on comedy writing at the University of Southern California from 1980 to 1995 and conducting three-day seminars across the United States and abroad for 15 years, influencing a new generation of writers.^[1]^[3]^[2] Simon died in Portland, Oregon, at the age of 86 from complications following a stroke, survived by his son Michael, daughter Valerie, two grandchildren, and his brother Neil.^[1]^[3] Though often overshadowed by Neil's Broadway success, Danny's foundational role in television comedy and his personal influence on one of America's most prolific playwrights cemented his legacy in the entertainment industry.^[2]^[3]

Early Life and Family

Childhood and Family Background

Danny Simon was born on December 18, 1918, in the Bronx, New York City, to Jewish parents Irving Simon, a garment salesman, and Mamie (née Levy) Simon, a homemaker.^[4]^[5] As the eldest of two sons, he was approximately eight years older than his brother Neil, born on July 4, 1927.^[1] The family later moved to Washington Heights in Manhattan, where Danny spent much of his youth.^[5] The Simons' household was marked by modest socioeconomic circumstances, exacerbated by the Great Depression, during which Irving's job as a garment worker provided unstable employment and led to frequent absences from home.^[1]^[5] This instability contributed to a tumultuous parental marriage, with Irving described as feckless and occasionally mistreating his sons, creating an environment of emotional hardship that the brothers later drew upon for themes of resilience and humor in their comedic work.^[3]^[5] Mamie often shouldered the family's burdens, at times taking in boarders to make ends meet, while the boys shared a small bedroom amid these challenges.^[1] From a young age, Danny was exposed to vaudeville performances and radio comedy through family outings and home listening, which ignited his early interest in humor and writing.^[5] Shows featuring comedians like Milton Berle captivated him and his brother, providing an escape from their difficult home life and inspiring Danny to experiment with jokes and sketches even as a teenager.^[5] This foundational influence is reflected briefly in Neil Simon's later autobiographical plays, such as Brighton Beach Memoirs, which evoke the family's experiences.^[3]

Education and Military Service

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Simon did not attend college, opting instead to develop his comedy skills independently through immersion in scripts, live performances, and practical observation rather than structured academic programs.^[6] Simon served in the U.S. Army during World War II.^[6] After the war, he returned to New York City, where he transitioned to civilian pursuits, leveraging the era's opportunities for veterans to focus on writing without pursuing a traditional degree.^[3] This period marked the conclusion of his formal educational path, as he immersed himself fully in the burgeoning world of post-war entertainment.^[3]

Professional Career

Comedy Writing Collaborations

Following World War II, in the late 1940s, Danny Simon formed a writing partnership with his younger brother Neil, initially crafting radio sketches under the team name "Danny and Doc." Their early work included material for comedians such as Buddy Hackett, Jan Murray, and Phil Silvers, often performed on variety programs hosted by figures like Goodman Ace at CBS Radio.^[1]^[7] This collaboration marked Danny's entry into professional comedy writing, leveraging observations from their military service to infuse sketches with relatable, everyday absurdities.^[2] Transitioning to television in the early 1950s, the Simon brothers contributed to live variety shows, including Broadway Open House (1950), The Red Buttons Show (1952), The Jackie Gleason Show (1950s), and notably Your Show of Shows (1950–1954), where they joined a prestigious writing staff alongside Mel Brooks, Larry Gelbart, and others for Sid Caesar's NBC program.^[1]^[3] Their sketches helped define the era's high-energy broadcast comedy, with the brothers' contributions to Your Show of Shows earning acclaim for elevating the medium's narrative sophistication.^[2] The Simons' style emphasized character-driven humor over standalone jokes, featuring rapid-fire dialogue rooted in Jewish-American family dynamics and personal anecdotes from their Bronx upbringing, which resonated in the competitive, deadline-driven environment of live TV production.^[1]^[3] This peak collaborative period concluded around 1954, as Neil Simon increasingly focused on playwriting, prompting Danny to pursue independent projects.^[3]

Independent Writing and Directing

Following the end of his collaboration with his brother Neil Simon in 1954, Danny Simon established himself as a solo television writer, serving as head writer for NBC's The Colgate Comedy Hour during the mid-1950s. In this role, he oversaw sketch development and hired emerging talents like Woody Allen as a contributor.^[3] Simon continued his independent television work into the late 1950s and 1960s, writing episodes for ABC's Make Room for Daddy (later retitled The Danny Thomas Show), where he crafted comedic scenarios centered on family dynamics and the challenges of a traveling entertainer's life, as well as for My Three Sons. His solo contributions extended to variety and sitcom formats in later decades, including sketches for CBS's The Carol Burnett Show in the 1970s, which featured satirical takes on everyday absurdities, a teleplay for an episode of NBC's Diff'rent Strokes in the 1980s, focusing on intergenerational humor, and episodes of The Facts of Life.^[1] In addition to television, Simon contributed sketches to the Broadway revue New Faces of 1956, including the satirical "Madame Interpreter," which lampooned pretentious elements of Broadway culture and translation mishaps in theater productions.^[8] During the 1960s, Simon ventured into directing, helming multiple Off-Broadway productions of his brother Neil Simon's plays, including several stagings of The Odd Couple—a work partly inspired by their shared living experiences—where he offered feedback on dramatic structure and comedic timing to refine the works before their broader staging.^[1]^[2] Simon's transition from the collaborative, fast-paced environment of live television writing to the more solitary demands of theater proved challenging, as he expressed a preference for team-based creativity over individual script development, a shift exacerbated by the 1950s evolution from live broadcasts to pre-recorded formats that altered the immediacy of comedy delivery.^[3]

Comedy Teaching and Mentorship

In the later stages of his career, Danny Simon transitioned into education, establishing himself as a prominent instructor of comedy writing through workshops and seminars starting in the 1980s and extending into the 1990s. He lectured on comedy writing at the University of Southern California from 1980 to 1995, conducted private classes in Sherman Oaks, California, charging $250 per course, and offered three-day intensive seminars at colleges across the United States, as well as internationally in locations such as London.^[9]^[1]^[10] These sessions focused on building foundational skills in structure, timing, and character development, prioritizing teachable techniques over innate talent; as Simon explained, "I cannot teach talent, but I can teach technique and structure."^[1] Simon's pedagogy drew from his extensive experience in television comedy, incorporating hands-on methods to instill practical writing principles such as setup, reversals, and precise word choice. His approach emphasized that comedy could be systematically learned, much like any craft, and he often used real-world examples from classic sketches to illustrate key elements.^[11] This philosophy resonated with aspiring writers navigating the shift from live television variety shows to scripted sitcoms, where structured storytelling became increasingly vital amid the decline of unscripted, improvisational formats.^[12]^[3] Among his most notable students was Woody Allen, whom Simon mentored early in Allen's career during the 1950s on The Colgate Comedy Hour and later through formal instruction; Allen credited him extensively, stating, "Everything I learned about comedy writing I learned from Danny Simon."^[9]^[13]^[14] Simon's classes in Los Angeles and New York attracted a broad range of participants, including emerging television writers, and his influence extended to a generation adapting to the evolving landscape of broadcast comedy.^[3]^[10] Drawing briefly from his early career observational skills honed in live television production, Simon taught students to capture authentic human behaviors as the basis for relatable humor.^[13]

Personal Life

Marriage and Children

Danny Simon married Arlene Friedman in 1953 after meeting her at Camp Tamiment in the Pocono Mountains.^[15] The couple settled in New York, where they raised their family amid Simon's rising career in television comedy writing.^[15] They had two children: a son, Michael Howard Simon, born in 1956 in New York City, and a daughter, Valerie Jeanne Simon, born in 1959.^[15]^[16] Michael later pursued a legal career and was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2011 as a United States District Judge for the District of Oregon.^[16] Valerie worked as a graphic artist until her death in 2009.^[17] During the 1950s, the family navigated the demands of Simon's professional collaborations, including his work on shows like The Phil Silvers Show, while prioritizing parenting in their New York home.^[15] The marriage, which lasted nearly a decade, ended in divorce in 1962, strained by Simon's career relocation to California.^[15]^[2] Following the divorce, Simon maintained involvement in his children's lives through co-parenting arrangements, with Michael eventually moving to Portland, Oregon, and Valerie residing in Sherman Oaks, California.^[15]^[18] Public details on the marriage's inner dynamics remain limited, though accounts describe Arlene as initially supportive of Simon's creative pursuits during their early years together at the Tamiment resort.^[19]

Later Years and Relocation

In 1956, following the end of his writing partnership with his brother Neil, Danny Simon relocated to Los Angeles with his family to pursue television opportunities, where he contributed as a writer to shows such as Make Room for Daddy (later retitled The Danny Thomas Show).^[15]^[19] This move positioned him at the heart of Hollywood's burgeoning TV comedy scene, allowing him to work on established series while transitioning toward more independent projects.^[1] Simon maintained sporadic involvement in television writing through the 1980s, providing scripts and consultations for programs like Diff'rent Strokes, though his output gradually diminished as he shifted focus to teaching comedy writing seminars at the University of Southern California starting in 1980 and conducting workshops nationwide for over a decade.^[1]^[6] By this period, he had expressed a waning enthusiasm for active writing, stating in an interview that he had long realized he did not enjoy the process, preferring instead to mentor aspiring writers through structured classes that drew on his decades of experience.^[6] In April 2002, Simon relocated to Portland, Oregon, taking up residence at Rose Schnitzer Manor to be closer to his son Michael, daughter-in-law Suzanne Bonamici, and grandchildren Andrew and Sara.^[15] This move marked a phase of semi-retirement, where he enjoyed family time and took pride in his granddaughter Sara's budding interest in theater, while keeping ties to his mentorship legacy through occasional informal guidance.^[15]

Death and Legacy

Circumstances of Death

Danny Simon died on July 26, 2005, at the age of 86, at the Robison Jewish Health Center in Portland, Oregon.^[2]^[20]^[1] The cause of death was heart failure resulting from complications of a massive stroke he suffered on July 11, 2005.^[15]^[12]^[1] He was surrounded by family and friends at the time of his passing.^[15] A funeral service took place on July 29, 2005, at the Landau Chapel of Beth Israel Cemetery in Portland.^[15] A memorial service was planned for a later date in Los Angeles.^[15]

Influence and Tributes

Danny Simon's influence extended significantly into his brother Neil Simon's work, serving as the direct inspiration for the character of Felix Unger, the fastidious and neurotic roommate in the 1965 play The Odd Couple. This portrayal drew from Danny's own experiences during his early 1960s separation from his wife, when he moved in with theatrical agent Roy Gerber, another recently divorced individual, leading to comedic clashes in their shared West Hollywood home that mirrored the play's central dynamic.^[21]^[12] Elements of Danny's personality and life also appeared in other Neil Simon plays, including the older brother figure in Come Blow Your Horn (1961) and the Hollywood producer in one act of Plaza Suite (1968), reflecting their close sibling collaboration and Danny's role as a muse for Neil's comedic explorations of family and relationships.^[13]^[1] Upon his death in 2005, obituaries recognized Danny Simon as an unsung pioneer of television comedy during its 1950s golden age, highlighting his contributions to landmark shows like Your Show of Shows and The Colgate Comedy Hour, where he honed the collaborative sketch-writing style that defined the era. The New York Times noted his partnerships with talents like Mel Brooks and Larry Gelbart, crediting him with shaping the fast-paced humor that influenced subsequent generations of writers. Similarly, The Los Angeles Times praised his headwriting roles on series such as Make Room for Daddy, emphasizing his diligent approach to comedy as foundational to the medium's early development.^[2]^[1] Tributes from prominent figures underscored Simon's mentorship and personal impact. Woody Allen, whom Simon hired and taught at The Colgate Variety Hour, credited him unequivocally: "Everything I learned about comedy writing I learned from Danny Simon." Larry Gelbart described him as "among the best" of comedy writers, while Sid Caesar affirmed, "He knew his business, he knew comedy, and he worked at it diligently." These accounts portray Simon as a positive, indefatigable force whose optimism and humor-infused worldview inspired those around him.^[1]^[2] Simon received no major awards during his lifetime, his achievements often overshadowed by Neil's Broadway success, yet his comedy workshops at institutions like USC exerted a lasting influence on modern sitcom writing by emphasizing character-driven humor over mere punchlines. Through these seminars, he launched careers of numerous writers, fostering techniques that persist in contemporary television comedy, and earned enduring respect within industry circles as a foundational, if underrecognized, figure.^[6]^[1]