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Correction to This Article
A caption for two photographs with an Oct. 16 Style article about the presentation of the Mark Twain Prize identified actress Lucie Arnaz as Jane Kaczmarek.
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For Neil Simon, Great Reviews

Jason Alexander, left, Robert Klein, Jane Kaczmarek and Robert Redford join Mark Twain honoree Neil Simon. At right, Klein and Kaczmarek during an earlier skit.
Jason Alexander, left, Robert Klein, Jane Kaczmarek and Robert Redford join Mark Twain honoree Neil Simon. At right, Klein and Kaczmarek during an earlier skit. (Photos By Lois Raimondo -- The Washington Post)
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Amid all the joking and good cheer, a somewhat serious theme emerged on the red carpet before the show: Simon works awfully hard at making all that funny stuff funnier. Those who've worked with him attest to his doggedness with a script, writing and rewriting all the way through the last rehearsal.

"He works at it constantly," said Jason Alexander. When "Broadway Bound" was in previews at the National Theatre some 20 years ago, he said, Simon sat in the back of the room not saying much. One day, Simon got a brainstorm, and a 25-minute scene was vaporized from the play. "He's not only a great writer, he's a great cutter," said Alexander.

"Neil wrote his brains out," said Robert Redford, looking ever-tousled. When Redford and Elizabeth Ashley were rehearsing for the Broadway debut of Simon's second Broadway play, "Barefoot in the Park," in 1963, Redford said the playwright "took out pages on the spot. If something didn't work for him, it was gone."

(Redford said that he's stayed friendly with The Post's Bob Woodward, whom Redford played in "All the President's Men": "I'm seeing him tonight in a garage.")

Simon, in a brief conversation on the red carpet, confirmed that the rewrite lore is true. He said he once kept a play on the road for two years -- he wouldn't say which one -- until he'd tweaked it enough for Broadway. "It's the great good luck charm," he said. "I never think it's any good unless I fix it 10 or 20 times. And sometimes not even then."

In fact, Simon said he's currently working on a play called "Rewrite" about, well, you know.

A joke? Or for real?

"Both!" said the evening's honoree.


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