The American Spectator

p> A MASTER OF ENGLISH br> Re: Wlady Pleszczynski’s John Simon Says… : /p> p>In the 1970s, I worked for a publisher’s representative, one of whose clients was New York magazine, then edited by its founder, Clay Felker. John Simon was there as theater critic. I well remember how properly and thoroughly he skinned a theatrical presentation of the “poems” of Leonard Cohen. One such paid tribute to some woman who had caught Cohen’s eye with her “perfect ass.” That phrase became, of course, Simon’s headline for the review as a whole, and for Cohen. And it was perfectly illustrated with a cartoon of Cohen, monstrous tongue emerging from his mouth to lick his own face. br> — Lawrence Henry /p>

Right on, Wlady! I never cared much for Glengarry Glen Ross, the movie, even with the excellent performances by the actors, particularly Jack Lemmon and Al Pacino. Now I know why.

I followed your link to Simon’s review, and thence to the Archives where I spent a delightful hour or so reading Simon’s reviews. Then, for a comparison, I read a few reviews by Ada Calhoun, and in so doing discovered a fundamental truth about Simon’s writing: he literally takes the reader into the theater. Calhoun, in contrast, brings to mind James Thurber’s The Mail Animal. I refer to the protagonist’s immortal line when the ex-campus-big-wheel raves about reading Reader’s Digest: “Do you like bouillon cubes?”

Even Simon’s swan song had class. I can only assume that New York magazine’s reader base has declined in class, as has that of so many publications. Well, New York isn’t the bastion of class that it once was.