"Once you start compromising your thoughts you're a candidate for mediocrity." This is said to Matthew Broderick's wannabe writer character in the barracks in the big screen production of "Biloxi Blues." That line is the first thing that came to mind - verbatim - upon hearing that playwright Neil Simon passed away. And I saw that movie over 30 years ago. That's how profound an effect that one line had on me.
Then there was also Felix Unger's courtroom take-down: "Assume? When you assume you make an Ass of U and Me." Beyond that I once saw Henry Winkler and the late John Ritter on Broadway in Simon's "The Dinner Party," equally brilliant.
Most of these Simon creations are known by the average American, but how many of you can honestly say you recall this short-lived gem from 1982, "The New Odd Couple?"