Josh Alan Friedman collection on Bruce Jay Friedman

2018-2021

Bruce Jay Friedman was born on April 26, 1930 in New York City. After graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, Friedman studied journalism at the University of Missouri and served for two years in the United States Air Force, where he wrote for the military publication Air Training. He sold his first short story, "Wonderful Golden Rule Days," to The New Yorker in 1953. Friedman then worked as a writer and editor for Magazine Management, which published men's adventure magazines.

By the 1960s, Friedman had become known for social satire. His first two novels, Stern (1962) and A Mother's Kisses (1964), addressed antisemitism and insecurities among middle-class Jewish families. He edited the 1965 anthology Black Humor, one of the first American books devoted to black humor as a literary genre, and a style with which Friedman became closely associated. His subsequent works, including the plays Scuba Duba (1967) and Steambath (1970), similarly combined humor with religion, race relations, death, and other topics.

Beginning in the late 1970s, Friedman turned his attention to film. He wrote or co-wrote the screenplays for Stir Crazy (1980), Doctor Detroit (1983), and Splash (1984). Additionally, two of Friedman's short stories, "A Change of Plan" and "The Lonely Guy's Book of Life," were adapted by writer Neil Simon for the films The Heartbreak Kid (1972) and The Lonely Guy (1984), respectively.

Friedman continued to write novels, plays, and short stories for the rest of his life. His later novels include The Current Climate (1989), A Father's Kisses (1996), and Violencia!: A Musical Novel (2002). His 1995 play, Have You Spoken to Any Jews Lately?, was performed at the American Jewish Theatre in New York City. In 2012, Friedman published 3.1 Plays, a collection of old and new theater pieces. He also wrote several short story collections, such as Three Balconies (2008). Friedman's memoir, Lucky Bruce: A Literary Memoir, was published by Biblioasis in 2011.

Friedman was married to Ginger Howard from 1954 to 1978. They had three sons: Josh, Kipp, and Drew. In 1983, Friedman married Patricia O'Donohue, with whom he had a daughter, Molly. Friedman died on June 3, 2020 at his home in Brooklyn, New York after contracting neuropathy several years earlier.