Professor Popinjay's Compendium of Perspicacity

A Non-Review by Professor Popinjay

(1968) (1998)

The Odd Couple is kind of a classic these days.

The first is your standard mismatched housemates story. It’s like an actually entertaining episode of The Real World. Oscar is a slob, Felix is a neat freak. Can they get along? These guys did it first, or first enough anyway.

The Odd Couple II is a years later sequel that focuses on an almost Romeo and Juliet joining of the families with the marriage of Oscar’s son with Felix’s daughter. Naturally hilarity ensues.

Both films are perfectly enjoyable. Niel Simon is an excellent comedy writer. No complaints, really. I don’t care for Jack Lemmon’s mouth in the second film but it’s a small thing. He was gratuitously crass in his old age.

It’s fun seeing John Fiedler, the original voice of Piglet, in a live action role. He was one of Oscar’s poker buddies.

Fun fact: The music for the original Odd Couple was done by Neal Hefti. Most would recognize his music from another show. I’ll give you a hint. DUH-nuh NUH-nuh NUH-nuh NUH-nuh BATMAAAAAN!!!!

Hanz Zimmer did the music for Odd Couple II. That blows my mind. I thought he only did epic films like Gladiator. Must have needed the money.

This also spawned a tv series with Tony Randal as Felix! I only saw a couple episodes but Tony is great as always. Mathew Perry played Oscar in a 2015 Odd Couple tv series. Never even heard of that one till now but it lasted three seasons! I’ll have to check these out eventually.

I fully recommend the films. If you have to see only one though, go with the first. It’s such a classic, everyone should see it.

Optional tangent:

I was in a high school production of The Odd Couple. I played Oscar, the slovenly one. It was great fun.

We were actually producing both the regular version AND the feminine version!

If you’re not familiar with feminine versions, I’ll explain. Often a theatre class finds itself with more females than males and as some stageplays are very male driven, it makes sense sometimes to reverse the gender roles. Some plays are even better regarded by modern audiences when this is done, such as the feminine version of William Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. My high school did that one too.

The feminine version of The Odd Couple is unique however. Whereas most feminine versions are performed using the exact same script as the regular version, Niel Simon actually re-wrote the entire stage play with women in mind. Not only that, he did so more than a decade after the original Odd Couple so the dialogue and jokes are a bit more fresh. It’s the superior version in my opinion.

Mind you this is not the story of Ashley and Gaby, Felix and Oscar’s respective wives. This is the story of Olivia and Florence, literal female versions of Oscar and Felix. Google’s AI generated response to “What are the names of Oscar and Felix’s wives?” insists Olivia and Florence are Oscar and Felix’s wives but that is incorrect. I’m not sure how AI thinks this kind of misinformation will perpetuate the downfall of mankind but I remain ever vigilant for the impending onslaught of the machines.

It was expected in our productions that the actors playing Felix and Oscar in the masculine version would take the part of Florence and Olivia’s dates in the feminine version and visa versa. This did not happen however. My parents came of the opinion that I would be engaged in two simultaneous plays and decided it was too much. I was not able to satisfactorily explain that, while I would be playing a lead role in one version, it would be a bit part in the other and it would be the same amount of practices either way. They wouldn’t have it.

In retrospect, I’m glad I didn’t take that part. While the “dates” in the masculine version were a couple of English birds, the “dates” in the feminine version were two Hispanic brothers. As there were no Hispanic students in the theatre class, the parts were played by white guys in brown makeup. No, thank you.

I recall a scene where I, as Oscar, was supposed to throw a plate of spaghetti into the kitchen. Of course, there was no kitchen, just a doorway that led backstage. So a stage hand would hold a board up to create a wall against which I could throw a plate with spaghetti on it. Well, when the time came, I absentmindedly spun the plate like a frisbee instead of putting it like a shot put. The plate barely hit the “wall” but the spaghetti went everywhere backstage, especially all over the stagehand. She was picking noodles out of her hair through the rest of the play.

Another mishap strangely involved food. During the poker scene I was supposed to grab a bag of potato chips in frustration and make a small mess that would end the scene with all the guys complaining. Not only did I grab the wrong bag (a full bag instead of one with just crumbs) I grabbed it by the bottom. This sent potato chips everywhere! Sad to say, I broke character for a second, surprised as I was by the epic spray of chips assaulting the present cast. After the curtain went down, it took so long for the director and the stagehand to clean up the mess, the audience started thinking we were having a second intermission. I think I know why I was cast as the slovenly one.

I wasn’t in every production we put on during my time in high school. Some I bowed out of, regretfully. Others I was just too busy to be involved with. It’s too bad too. I really enjoyed being in stage plays. I’d love to do it again. Maybe I will. Seeing a local theatre put on Ken Ludwig’s rendition of Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Orient Express” made me think I might be able to get involved again someday. Maybe.