SIMONSON ON SIMON. The rejoicing over John Simon's departure from New York continues with Robert Simonson's Playbill remembrance of Simon's run-ins with Sylvia Miles, Joseph Papp, Edward Albee, Lillian Hellman, and the New York Drama Critics Circle. Plus, there's a likening of Simon to "a sadistic guard at a Nazi camp" and a reference to a Robert Brustein essay that posited the co-existence of a "good John Simon" and a "bad John Simon."

Simon sniffed that even though he expected his dismissal, "I didn't think it was a very good birthday present." (His 80th is apparently just around the corner.) New York could have at least tossed in an in-depth exit interview with Mistress Rebecca Winter, "the actress who brings your dreams to life." Bad, bad John Simon!