1 page assignment theater class

Theatre 383 –Drama Into Film Instructor, Carole Wyand Pg. 1

BILOXI BLUES

Biloxi Blues is the second play of Neil Simon’s autobiographical trilogy that includes Brighton Beach Memoirs (1984), Biloxi Blues (1985) and Broadway Bound (1986).

Neil Simon wrote both the play and the screenplay. I heard him interviewed on public radio where he made the comparison of writing for the stage and for the screen. Basically, he said that for the stage the dialogue keeps evolving as he hears the actors speak it, and it becomes a very intimate experience between him and the actor; whereas in a film, he must edit the dialogue to suit a committee.

When a play is adapted to a film, most of the time we’ve found that the screenwriter edits, deletes or combines dialogue or even characters in the attempt to condense the material in order to allow the medium of film to tell the story. There are many examples in Biloxi Blues of the many differences inherent in adapting from film to screen.

Let’s start with the physicality of the compactness of a stage presentation versus the expansiveness of the screenplay. Basically, the play and screenplay open with the same scene. The main characters are on a train heading to Biloxi, Mississippi. In the play the scene is not true to reality, but is described on page 7 of the play script as: “All set pieces are representational, stylized and free-flowing”. In the movie we see the actual train, etc.

The play then goes on to introduce all the main characters. The major difference between the play and screenplay lies in the description of some of the characters. The playwright usually will describe his characters in more detail than the screenwriter will. In the play, so much of the story development and how we come to visualize the characters are through the playwright’s “painting” them through his descriptions. In the screenplay, the descriptions are briefer, broader, and allow for many different actors to play the various parts. For example, the description of Roy as smelling like a tuna fish sandwich is omitted from the actual screenplay.

(1) In the play, the transition from the first scene on the train to the second scene in the barracks is done with Carney’s singing. In the screenplay, the next scene occurs with the men arriving at the base. Because this is a movie, the writer takes advantage of the visual element of the film by taking the scene outdoors. This change fits nicely with Jerome’s line: “This is like Africa hot. Tarzan couldn’t take this kind of hot” (Simon, 1988, p.12).

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BILOXI BLUES

The line is more effective in the movie because we can actually see how hot it is in Mississippi.

In the next scene when we meet Toomey, the eccentric drill sergeant, Neil Simon has edited the speech he gives to the men. It’s basically the same except that certain sections have been omitted (page 14).

The tendency in adaptation is to condense. Another example is the backstory on Toomey, which is condensed for the screenplay. Long pieces of dialogue that work in the play need to be cut to work in the screenplay; this allows for a faster pace to hold the audience’s attention.

In this same scene, the dialogue between Toomey and Eugene is edited or condensed. Here’s a good example on page 15 of the play. When Toomey questions Eugene he says," In my twelve years in the army, I never met one goddamn dog face who came from 1427 Pulaski Ave. Why is that Jerome?” Eugene answers, “Because it’s my home, only my family lives there. I’m sorry, I meant I live in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn New York”. This exchange is interesting back-story, but it would only slow down the action of the screenplay. Backstory on Wykowsi being a furniture mover is also omitted, as well as Toomey’s reply, “That’s just what they need in the South Pacific, Wykowski. Someone who knows how to move furniture around in the jungle” (Simon, 1988 pg. 17). A very funny line I would have had a hard time deleting if I were the playwright. The back-story on Carney and the shoe store is also omitted.

As mentioned earlier, sometimes characters are combined, but in this case we see an interesting change from play to screenplay when Simon switches the man Toomey singles out to pick the men to do punishment from Private Carney to Eugene. This serves to immediately intensify Eugene’s role and problems as the protagonist. In the stage and screenplay, Neil Simon presents Eugene as the main protagonist and Toomey as the main antagonist; therefore, we have conflict! But how this is presented has been adapted for the screen. When the antagonist, Toomey, focuses on Jerome as the cause of the Platoons’ problem, the approach to presenting this situation differs from the play to screenplay. In the play, Toomey uses dialogue to single Jerome out: “As the sweat pours off your brows and your puny muscles strain to lift your flabby, chubby, jellied bodies, think of Private Jerome of Brighton Beach...Fate always chooses someone to get a free ride” (Simon, 1988 pg. 21).

In the screenplay, Toomey’s long speech is omitted. The screenplay uses action

as well as visual moments to stress the growing conflict within the platoon and their hatred of Jerome.

1. Screen Adaptation, Second Edition, by Kenneth Portnoy, Focal Press, 1998, pg.110-111

Theatre 383 - Drama Into Film Instructor, Carole Wyand pg.3

Biloxi Blues

The next scene (pg.22) is basically the same with the men getting their first taste of Army food. The major difference is that the scene in the screenplay is considerably shorter than the one in the play. Again, the emphasis of the play is placed more on Eugene and less on Arnold. The line from the play (pg. 28) where Arnold screams “I won’t eat slop…” is omitted from the screenplay. (2). The intention is to redirect the conflict away from the different members of the platoon, who collectively are the protagonists of the play, to one major protagonist, Eugene, in the screenplay. Not only does it help to focus the audience’s attention on the issue of the piece, but it also makes the story move at a quicker pace.

In the play the writer uses narration to talk about the scene involving men marching into the Mississippi swamp (pg. 28). In the screenplay the writer doesn’t talk about an event, he can show it by taking advantage of the visual element of film. In the screenplay the scene takes place during the day rather than at night, allowing the screenwriter to once again establish the oppressive heat and climate of the Mississippi backdrop that we saw earlier when the men arrived at the training camp. (3) In addition, by having Jerome whisper into Toomey’s ear regarding Wykowski’s push-ups, the writer is able to harken back to an earlier scene of the screenplay in which Toomey has had Jerome pick another man for push-ups. This change intensifies the protagonist’s problem and visually and structurally causes the action of the screenplay to continue to rise. The main way that Neil Simon has condensed or adapted his stage play for the screen is by omitting key speeches. He has edited longer individual speeches of some of the characters but has kept the relevant parts. Two key speeches by Toomey and Eugene are typical of the writer’s approach to dialogue in his adaptation. The first example is the speech involving the bet (the “fantasy game”) between the men in the platoon, when Eugene asks how each man would spend the last week of his life (pg. 32-38). In the screenplay, Simon omits the section about wiping out a Japanese In the screenplay, Simon omits the section about wiping out a Japanese battalion, getting a statue in Brighton Beach, and a junior high

school named after him. The second example (pg. 42) is the next scene when

Toomey confronts the men about he supposed theft of Wykowski’s wallet. (3)

Note, when adapting his own work, Simon shortens Toomey’s amusing speech, choosing to begin with the next key element that moves the story along, namely

Toomey asking the guilty party to confess. On pg. 45 (“How the hell do you think you can beat me?”) through pg. 46 (“I don’t think it’s necessary to dehumanize

a man to get him to perform”), The scene is also shortened in the movie. The interesting repartee between the two men is cut to make the scene move more quickly

2) Screen Adaptation, Second Edition, by Kenneth Portnoy, Focal Press, 1998, pg.112

(3) Screen Adaptation, Second Edition ,Kenneth Portnoy, Focal Press, 1998,

Theatre 383 – Drama Into Film Instructor, Carole Wyand pg.4

Biloxi Blues

ACT TWO follows the same adapting principles of opening up the scenes from the play, eliminating backstory, editing dialogue and switching dialogue by giving the words to another character.

The screenplay opens up the play with the scene of the men on their way to the whorehouse, rather than opening with them already at the whorehouse as in the play (pg. 50). The scene with Hennesey being arrested is also opened up (pg. 71).

Again, in the screenplay we lose backstory, this time about Carney and his girlfriend in Albany. (4) We lose information about Daisy’s family really being from Chicago and how her father got a job with a newspaper in New Orleans… This information adds depth to Daisy’s character in the play, but is unnecessary in the screenplay for the writer’s exploration of Eugene’s problem, which isn’t his relationship with Daisy but his conflict with Toomey. Toomey’s motivation for being a strong disciplinarian (he was spanked by his father) is also omitted from the screenplay. Again, it isn’t necessary for us to understand Toomey’s actions; it’s more important for Toomey to be eccentric and to act with no logical reason in the screenplay. His behavior reinforces the theme about the delicate balance of life during war, when events can happen for no explainable reason.

The final and most significant difference to me between the play and the screenplay is the ending. On pg. 81 of the play, Toomey confronts Arnold and threatens to blow out his brains. In the screenplay, Eugene replaces Arnold's character in this scene. (5) In the screenplay, it’s important for the protagonist to confront the antagonist in the climax scene, and, of course, to solve his problem.

Eugene does stand up to Toomey and experiences character growth when he realized how much he misses Toomey after Toomey is transferred tot he hospital. Eugene also grows when he realizes how his years in the Army were some of the best of his life.

The screenplay ends ironically, in that each man survived the war, yet they never make it to the war because the war ends before they have finished basic training! So instead of what happens to each man after the war (as in the play), the screenplay ends with a description of what happened to each man later in

his life. Eugene becomes a writer, Arnold becomes a lawyer, Wykowski develops stomach problems, and Carney becomes a teacher. Again, ironically Arnold becomes the most feared man in New York, especially by the Mob.

4. Screen Adaptation, Second Edition, Kenneth Portnoy, Focal Press pg. 114

5. Screen Adaptation, Second Edition, Kenneth Portnoy, Focal Press, pg. 114

pg.113