The History of The Odd Couple
Posted on February 17, 2015 at 8:00 am
“The Odd Couple” is coming back to television, starring “Friends'” Matthew Perry as the slob and writer/actor Thomas Lennon as the neatnik. The long-running television series starred Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. There have also been versions with a black odd couple, a female odd couple, and even an animated cat and dog odd couple.
But before that, it was a Broadway play and then a movie starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon
Neil Simon, the most successful comic playwright of the last half-century, wrote the play based on his brother, comedy writer Danny Simon, who moved in with a friend following his divorce. It may also have been inspired in part by Mel Brooks (who was a writer with both Simon brothers on Sid Caesar’s “Show of Shows”). He also briefly lived with a friend following a divorce. Danny also inspired characters in his brother’s other plays, including “Plaza Suite,” “Laughter on the 23rd Floor,” and “Brighton Beach Memoirs.”
Matthau and Lemmon are ideal as Oscar and Felix, and the movie is well worth putting in your Netflix queue.
The true story of the US Civil War’s first all-black volunteer company, fighting prejudices of their own Union army and battling the Confederates, with brilliant performances by Denzel Washington (who won an Oscar), Morgan Freeman, and Matthew Broderick as the white officer who truly believed all men were equal.
The obstacles to education and professional advancement kept Vivien Thomas (Mos Def) from medical school, but he was a pioneer in heart surgery.
Writer Alex Haley told the story of his own family going back to the capture of one of his ancestors from Africa to be sold into slavery in this historic miniseries.
A slave rebellion led to an historic Supreme Court case that addressed fundamental notions of personhood and inalienable rights.
This documentary about the Brown v. Board of Education case that transformed American schools and culture has interviews with lawyer Thurgood Marshall (who later became the first black Supreme Court justice) and others involved in the case.
Denzel Washington is mesmerizing in this story of the incendiary leader and his journey from complacency to activism to understanding.
This PBS documentary covers the Civil Rights movement from the murder of Emmett Till to the march in Selma. There is also an excellent sequel.
Angela Bassett stars as the Civil Rights activist whose refusal to give up her seat on the bus electrified the nation.
The name of this history-making couple was really Loving. Their inter-racial marriage led the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the laws against miscegenation in 1967. When the lawyers asked Mr. Loving what he wanted them to tell the Court, he said, “Tell them I love my wife.”
This documentary tells the story of photographer Art Kane’s 1958 iconic photograph of all of the great jazz musicians of the era.
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This exquisite wordless story about a boy and a snowman is bittersweet (their time together is limited) but exhilarating.
Olaf is the most adorable movie snowman ever, with a disposition that can only be described as sunny.
This charming short by Pixar shows what happens when a snowman tries to escape his snowglobe.