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| Jack Albertson, Lewis J. Stadlen, Sam Levene. (Photos: Martha Swope.) |
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| Lee Meredith, Sam Levene, Jack Albertson. |
One more in a long
line of hit comedies by Neil Simon, Broadway’s undisputed king of laughter, The Sunshine Boys set the Broadhurst
Theatre rocking with its yock-a-minute proceedings. Most critics were delighted
that Simon had provided a serious undertone to the nonstop joking by depicting
with unexpected pathos two wonderfully observed former vaudevillians, Al Lewis
(Sam Levene) and Willie Clark (Jack Albertson). Lewis and Clark are now old,
the latter living in semi-retirement in a seedy Upper West Side Hotel, the
former staying with his daughter’s family in the placid suburbs of New Jersey.
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| Lewis J. Stadlen, Sam Levene. |
For 43 years Lewis
and Clark were a leading comedy team in the vein of Weber and Fields or, more
recently, Smith and Dale, but after a farewell performance on the Ed Sullivan
Show eleven years earlier they stopped talking to one another. Acrimony had
always plagued their relationship, and it does so now as well when Clark’s
nephew (Lewis J. Stadlen), an agent, attempts to reunite them for a TV special
on the history of comedy. This effort brings the old sparring partners back
together again for another bout of insults and frustration as they rehearse
their old burlesque doctor skit (reminiscent of Smith and Dale's Dr. Kronkheit routine, sexy nurse (Lee Meredith) and all). Rancor once again intrudes,
however, leading to Willie suffering a heart attack. The live act is subbed for
by an old film of it but the pair are brought together when they both retire to
the Actors Home in New Jersey to play out their final days.
“[I]ts qualities are
so evident, so deft, so effortless that while some people will wish for even more,
everyone will be satisfied,” wrote Clive Barnes. Among the many similarly satisfied
were Harold Clurman: “the play is funny. The audience laughed, I laughed, you
will laugh”; Douglas Watt: “shrewdly balanced, splendidly performed, and rather
touching”; and Edwin Wilson: “not the sunniest play around, but it is without
doubt the funniest.” Less tickled critics included Jack Kroll, who thought
Simon was “back to his true form, the anthology of gags disguised as a play,”
and John Simon, who insisted that whatever play lay dormant in the subject
could not “survive burial under 10-gags-10-a-minute.”
Esteem for the
skillful performances of Albertson and Levene as the crusty old cynics could
not have been greater. “Jack Albertson never puts a line wrong. He is always
pathetic but never enough to make you cry. Lovely,” chirped Clive Barnes. Of
Levene, he said that he was “as tough as vintage chewing gum, and yet with a
sort of credible lovability.”
Jack Gilford took
over as Clark in October 1973, with Lou Jacobi joining as Lewis in February
1974. Many geriatric actors—like Walter Matthau and George Burns, who starred in
the 1975 film version,
or Woody Allen and Peter Falk who did the
1996 TV remake—went on to play Lewis and Clark over the years in countless
regional, stock, foreign, and amateur performances. The Sunshine Boys was nominated for a Best Play Tony, Jack
Albertson was nominated for Best Actor, Play, and Alan Arkin was nominated for
Best Director, Play. Albertson also won a Drama Desk Award. With the show’s
success under his belt, Emanuel Azenberg went on to produce all of Simon’s
subsequent plays.
