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Creator
Simon, John, 1925-2019
Call number
*T-Mss 2007-014
Physical description
21.45 linear feet (55 boxes, 4 oversize folders). 772.4 megabytes (1871 computer files). 13 audio_recordings. 54 moving_image_recordings
Language
Multiple languages; English, German, Hungarian, French, Italian, and Swedish.
Preferred Citation
John Simon papers, *T-Mss 2007-014. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Repository
Billy Rose Theatre Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply

John Simon (1925-2019) was an American theater, film, literary, and music critic. The John Simon papers document his life and career through drafts of his criticism, dating from the 1960s to 2016, as well as correspondence and clippings regarding responses to his work from the press, the public, colleagues, and individuals whose work he was reviewing. The collection also contains audio and video recording of Simon's media appearances and lectures, and material related to Simon's education, personal life, and family.

Biographical/historical information

John Ivan Simon (1925-2019) was an American theater, film, literary, and music critic. Born in Yugoslavia, his father, Joseph Simmon, was Hungarian and his mother, Margaret Simmon (née Révész), was a member of Serbia's ethnic Hungarian minority.

Simon came to the United States at the age of fifteen. He received his bachelor degree in 1946 from Harvard University, and went on to earn a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Harvard in 1959. Simon was head of the Harvard Radio Workshop, a group that wrote and produced radio plays. During the 1950s, he also taught at Harvard and other universities.

Simon wrote and translated poetry, and was published in journals such as the Paris Review and the Quarterly Review of Literature in the 1950s.

From 1959 to 1961, Simon was the assistant editor of and a contributor to The Mid-Century, a journal published by the Mid-Century Book Society. He began working regularly as a critic in the 1960s. Simon wrote primarily on theater and film, but also on music, literature, language, and other cultural topics. In 1963, he published Acid Test, his first volume of criticism. He was drama critic for The Hudson Review from 1960 to 1980, for Theatre Arts in 1962, and for Commonweal from 1967 to 1968. In 1968, Simon became the theater critic for New York magazine, a position he held until 2005. He wrote film criticism for National Review from 1978 to 2001, wrote on theater and film for The New Leader, wrote book reviews for The New Criterion, wrote a regular column on language for Esquire in the late 1970s, and reviewed for Broadway.com in the mid-2000s. From 2005 to 2010, Simon was the theater critic for Bloomberg News. He then reviewed theater for the Westchester Guardian (2010-2016) until the closure of the newspaper, after which he published on his own website, John Simon Uncensored. Three retrospecive volumes of Simon's criticism were published in 2005 by Applause Books: John Simon on Film, John Simon on Theater, and John Simon on Music.

Simon's opinions, and the way in which he expressed them, often occasioned controversy. In 1969, the New York Drama Critics Circle voted to deny him membership (Simon later became a member). In 1977, the League of New York Theatres and Producers removed Simon from their list of suggested first night press, citing his use of profanity on a television talk show and his tendency to harshly critique the physical appearance of actors in his reviews; Simon was also accused of racism, sexism, and homophobia in his writing. His prescriptive approach to language drew both strong support and strong criticism from writers, readers, and linguists.

Simon received awards for his work as a critic, including the George Jean Nathan Award for dramatic criticism in 1970.

In 1992, Simon married Patricia Hoag, an actor, casting director, and theater teacher. He died of complications from a stroke in 2019.

Scope and arrangement

The John Simon papers (1892-2019) document Simon's career as a writer and critic, and his education, personal life, and family history. Simon's papers date from 1892 to 2019, though the bulk is from the 1940s onward. The collection contains Simon's writings, including reviews, lectures, essays, poetry, and notes; correspondence; professional papers such as calendars, contracts, and lecture programs; writings about Simon; personal and family papers; materials from Simon's education; photographs of Simon and his colleagues, friends, and family; awards; and sound and moving image recordings of his media appearances and lectures. Correspondence and clippings document the reception of Simon's work by readers, playwrights, screenwriters, actors, directors, and other critics.

The John Simon papers are arranged in five series:

  • Series I: Writings
    1942-2019
    7.58 linear feet (19 boxes). 769.1 megabytes (1797 computer files)

    This series holds John Simon's writings, and writings about Simon. Simon's writings consist primarily of reviews, essays, and lectures on the arts and cultural topics, dating from the 1960s to 2019. Simon wrote his articles by hand before typing them, and the collection includes his handwritten drafts with minor edits. Writings also include typescripts of articles and essays; word processing documents; transcripts and texts of lectures and papers; and clippings, printouts, and digital proofs of his work from New York, Esquire, The New Criterion, Bloomberg News, the Westchester Guardian, and other publications, as well as for his website. Most of the writings are arranged by subject, such as "theater," "film," and "music." There is also a large set of unsorted writings which includes criticism, poetry, and essays, as well as a transcript of an interview with Alan Ayckbourn.

    Notebooks and writing pads contain handwritten drafts of reviews and essays from 2007 to 2019. Some loose notes are also present. There are extensive notes on books that Simon was reading, some of which he reviewed, as well as a copy of Norman Mailer's Marilyn: A Biography, with Simon's notes. Simon's poetry dates from the 1940s to the 2000s, and includes his translations of poems by others. There is also a musical setting of several Simon poems by Phillip Ramey, titled Simon Songs.

    Writings about John Simon include copies of articles about or referring to Simon; published letters to the editor regarding his articles; interviews with Simon; reviews of his books; student papers written about Simon; and printouts of internet comments.

  • Series II: Correspondence
    1940-2019
    11.25 linear feet (27 boxes). 1.4 megabytes (26 computer files)

    Correspondence comprises letters to Simon from friends, colleagues, editors, and readers, and a small number of letters by Simon. Incoming letters contain reactions to specific reviews, discussions of films and plays and their critical reception, and responses to Simon's ideas about language and culture. Simon's outgoing letters are mostly responses to criticism of his work. Many of these can be found in a file labeled "Letters by John Simon," but copies of some of his outgoing letters can also be found scattered throughout the correspondence files. His letters to his parents can be found in his personal and family papers. Letters from readers date from the 1960s to the 2000s, and include printouts of emails and letters to the editor that were forwarded or copied to Simon. These letters often touch on contemporary social issues and cultural trends. Files labeled "Controversy" and "Contretemps" contain letters and clippings regarding various public debates and disagreements involving Simon, mostly dating to the 1970s; they also include a file concerning Simon's 1991 review of Norman Mailer's book, Harlot's Ghost. Unsorted correspondence files contain personal and professional letters from a range of Simon's friends, colleagues, and readers.

    Simon's frequent correspondents include actor Keith Baxter; author James Dickey; composer Ned Rorem; and critics Dwight Macdonald, Frank Noack, Digby Ricci, and Jörg von Uthmann. There are a number of letters, mostly in German, from Leni Riefenstahl; these were written in the 1990s and discuss Riefenstahl's health, her travels, her underwater film project, and a potential film adaptation of her memoirs. The correspondence includes enclosures sent to Simon by his correspondents, such as clippings sent to him by fellow critics, sheet music sent by Rorem, and photographs sent by Riefenstahl. Other friends or acquaintances with brief correspondence are Betty Buckley, Carol Burnett, Kaye Ballard, Ricardo Montalban, Yoko Ono, and Christopher Plummer.

  • Series III: Professional Papers
    1961-2019
    2.02 linear feet (8 boxes, 3 oversize folders). 2.0 megabytes (48 computer files)

    Professional papers contain biographies, resumes, publicity materials, programs for Simon's public appearances, press passes, calendars, teaching materials, letters seeking work, advertisements, a day planner, contracts, and awards. The calendars are from August 2006 to July 2009 and show the dates of films and performances, and the dates his reviews were posted online. Publicity materials are for Simon's lectures and writings. There is a small amount of material from drama courses that Simon taught, comprising notes and a syllabus. The awards include a 1990 "Dickie" Award for sexist film criticism from the National Women's Theatre, and a roll of paper printed with pictures of John Simon, intended to look like toilet paper.

  • Series IV: Personal and Family Papers
    1892-2019
    3.59 linear feet (9 boxes, 1 oversize folder)

    Simon's personal and family papers include his correspondence with his parents and official documents such as passports, citizenship papers, and naturalization papers. Correspondence is in Hungarian and dates mostly to the 1940s. A 1940 scrapbook containing images of movie stars is also present.

    Simon's education at Harvard from 1942 to 1959 is represented by his school papers on literature, a copy of his dissertation, and notes from his courses. There is also material concerning Simon's involvement in theatrical productions as a writer, actor, or director while he was at Harvard, including a notebook documenting meetings and productions of the Harvard Radio Workshop. Yearbooks from Simon's junior and senior years of high school are also present.

    Photographs in the collection include publicity photographs of John Simon, photographs of Simon at various professional events, and photographs of his family and his wife, Patricia Hoag. The earliest materials in the collection are photographs from Simon's family dating from 1892 to the 1920s, depicting his parents and other ancestors.

  • Series V: Audio and Moving Image Recordings
    1969-2015
    13 audio recordings. 54 moving image recordings

    The audio and moving image recordings hold Simon's television appearances and lectures, mostly from the 1980s to 2015. Many of the recordings are of his appearances on the television program Theater Talk, usually with other critics, discussing the current theater scene. Simon often appeared briefly on news or arts programs talking about particular theater productions or actors, including shows on the CBS network, and on foreign productions. One-off appearances include an episode of A Current Affair in which Simon watches and reacts to The Cosby Show; an episode of The Dick Cavett Show; and an episode of The Writer's Role in which Simon interviews Susan Sontag. There is also a recording of Simon's contentious appearances on David Susskind's television show in the early-1970s.

    Radio appearances include episodes of WNYC's Leonard Lopate Show. The lectures cover topics such as contemporary theater and the play Quartermaine's Terms. The recordings also hold video of Werner Klemperer's memorial, at which Simon spoke; and a video produced by Patricia Hoag for Simon's 65th birthday.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Donated by John Simon in 2007, 2010, and 2011, and by Patricia Hoag in 2020.

Revision History

Additions processed (boxes 46-55, oversize folders 3 and 4, and digital records) and audio and moving images described by Matthew Snyder in (2025.)

Processing information

Processed by Kit Fluker in 2014. Additions processed and audio and moving images described by Matthew Snyder in 2025.

Using the collection

Location

Billy Rose Theatre Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Access restrictions

Inquiries regarding audio and moving image materials in the collection may be directed to the Billy Rose Theatre Division (theatre@nypl.org). Audio and moving image materials may be subject to preservation evaluation and migration prior to access.