In my high school’s production of “The Odd Couple,” I played Roy, one of slobby Oscar Madison’s poker buddies. No matter that I had to hitch the trousers with a belt and suspenders to make them stay up; I still got my laughs. “His refrigerator’s been broken for two weeks,” ran one of my lines. “I saw milk standing in there that wasn’t even in the bottle.” Pow! By then its author, Neil Simon, was surefire too: In 1966 he had four hit shows on Broadway at once.

Source: New York Times August 26, 2018 21:45 UTC