Lost in Yonkers study guide contains a biography of Neil Simon, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. As the play begins, it is revealed that he recently lost his wife to cancer, and in paying for her to have treatment, he now finds himself with a massive amount of debt. After the death of his wife, he is forced to send his two sons to live with their grandmother, while he repays his large financial debts. In Lost in Yonkers, laughter is a medicine, a respite from the... Arty and Jay are the main characters in Part I. Lost in Yonkers is a terrific exemple of a dramatic Neil Simon. You thief!! A then Where Grandma is cold-hearted, unaffectionate, and undeniably "adult," Bella is sweet to the point of obliviousness, trapped in a perpetual childhood. says Arty. She is sometimes a bit off-center and is mentally challenged, but despite this she is also loving and protective of her nephews. She is serious and stern because her life has been difficult. When Grandma Kurnitz finally does emerge, she is at once intimidating and humanized, a relic of old-fashioned European seriousness. He is hiding out from Hollywood Harry, who wants what Louie stole and is hiding in his small black bag. The boys are left to contend with Grandma, with Bella and her secret romance, and with Louie, her brother, a small-time hoodlum in a strange new world called Yonkers. Bella's mission is to find a way to tell the family that she wants to marry Johnny, her equally slow movie theater usher boyfriend; the two could also use $5,000 of Grandma's hidden money to open their dream restaurant. He works as a "bag-man" for the mob. Maybe the reason I didn't was because I was afraid they'd learn something here that I tried to forget....". The boys remark on the fact that she allegedly beat her children when they were young, which is the cause of Bella's arrested development. For full extended monologue, refer to the script edition cited here: Neil Simon, Lost in Yonkers, in The Collected Plays of Neil Simon, Volume IV. This is a fairly standard opening for Simon, who often sees life through the wide-open eyes of teenage boys. The play won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Simon adapted his play for a 1993 feature film directed by Martha Coolidge, and starring Brad Stoll as Jay. The play tells his coming-of-age story. They have to move out of their home, leaving the children nowhere else to go. Particularly, the boys' anticipation of meeting with Grandma takes on a pressurized and doomed quality when their father tells them that they have to impress her so she will let them live with her. Soon enough, Grandma emerges from her bedroom and scolds Bella for being out so late and for going to the movies so much. Eddie: Jay's middle-aged father. Nobody else knows but you. Nobody else knows but you. Although Simon claimed not to have modeled adult characters such as Grandma Kurnitz and Aunt Bella after his own family members, Lost in Yonkers took inspiration from and may provide literary insight into the boyhood of one of America’s most popular and prolific playwrights. A coming of age tale that focuses on brothers Arty and Jay, left in the care of their Grandma Kurnitz and Aunt Bella in Yonkers, New York. He shows his honesty when he first meets grandma answering the question for the reason he wants to live there he says, "...because we have no place else to go." Despite their Grandma owning and operating a candy store, Jay and Arty don't like their new living situation as they're afraid of their Grandma, and find it difficult to relate to their crazy Aunt Bella, whose slow mental state is manifested by perpetual excitability and a short attention span, which outwardly comes across as a childlike demeanor. He insists on the "and a half". BELLA. Arty: Jay's younger brother, he is 13 "and a half" years old. She asks Eddie to stay too, telling him that Grandma is mean, but he tells her that they'll be fine and sends her to go lie down in the bedroom so Grandma can talk to the boys, but she wants to stay. The play takes place in the sparsely furnished living and dining rooms of Grandma Kurnitz’s apartment above Kurnitz’s Kandy Store in Yonkers, New York. He vas always dot vay...I buried a husband and two children und I didn't cry. Bella says they need $5000 to open the restaurant, but that Grandma won't give her the money. Character description, analysis and casting breakdown for Grandma Kurnitz from Lost in Yonkers Join StageAgent today and unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. Jay and Arty's mission becomes how to make money fast so that they can help their father and move back in together, which may entail stealing the $15,000 their Grandma has hidden somewhere. She asks the boys to keep her secret, then tells them that she wants to call the restaurant "La Bella Johnny." by neil simon. She goes on to say that ever since Eddie married the boys' mother, they never came around and that she turned them all against her. GRANDMA is so sharp she can smell the salt licked off […] She tells them that Johnny has a learning handicap like her, and that they plan to open a restaurant together. Immediately, she launches into a monologue about why she doesn't want them to live with her, that she doesn't like to talk and she works every day, and that they will not be happy there. You steal from your own mother? Their father sends them to live with their Grandma Kurnitz while he travels. Thief ! Their father sends them to live with their Grandma Kurnitz while he travels. Alec Heriford as Eddie and Ella Schnake as Bella in Lost in Yonkers. More of an observer than the rest of his family, he often goes with the flow of things, but also can be a little childish. When Grandma is done admonishing him, Eddie stands up to her, assenting that he was always a crybaby, but insisting that his late wife, Evelyn, did not turn him away from his mother, but only turned him towards "loving...caring...holding someone when they needed holding." Grandma, whom Eddie has avoided visiting and w… And Louie's mission is to survive the next couple of days. Lost in Yonkers, winner of the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, doesn’t skimp on the wisecracks. It takes place in the 1940s. The audience has heard a lot about her from different characters without ever having laid eyes on her, and the image that the other characters paint is not particularly flattering. He tells them that he's convinced Grandma, even though she was unsure about it, and that they have to be on their best behavior when Grandma comes out to talk to them. Finally, the Lost In Yonkers script is here for all you quotes spouting fans of the Neil Simon movie starring Richard Dreyfuss and Mercedes Ruehl. History Lost in Yonkers was first presented by Emanuel Azenberg at The Center for the Performing Arts in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, on December 31, 1990. In Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers, two young boys, Jay and Arty, are sent to live with their grandmother in 1942 after their mother dies and their father, Eddie, must take a traveling job to sell scrap metal in order to pay the family’s medical debts. He shows his honesty when he first meets grandma answering the question for the reason he wants to live there he says, "...because we have no place else to go." Oh and Grandma's hiding the money in the mattress the boys slept on was similar to Clyde the orangutan in Any Which way you can who put Philo's money under the bed of his mother while his mother desperately searched for it. According to the title of the work, Jay and Arty are "lost" in Yonkers. Lost in Yonkers is a play by Neil Simon. Jay and Arty’s mom dies and their father has to repay the financial debts so he travels selling scrap metal in order to repay the debts. The action is set in 1942, and the action follows Jay and Arty Kurnitz, brothers aged 15 and 13 respectively. Monologue from Lost in Yonkers Grandma Kurnitz (pg 35-36) You haff no place else to go. Start your 48-hour free trial to unlock this Lost in Yonkers study guide. Dot's vy you Vant to live vith . Neil Simon's Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning coming-of-age memory play, set in Yonkers in 1942, is a tale of family dysfunction at its best. Jay and Artie are two teenage brothers. Bella's beau Johnny, an unseen character in the play, was portrayed by David Strathairn. A very old and stern woman, an immigrant from Germany. Eddie treats her like she is a highly fragile object, preparing for the meeting between her and her grandsons with over-the-top care. They beg their father not to make them stay there, but he insists that it's for the best while he's gone. These competing priorities make for high stakes as well as high comedy. The boys are left to contend with Grandma, with Bella and her secret romance, and with Louie, her brother, a small-time hoodlum in a strange new world called Yonkers. What's her favorite thing in this room?" Professional. I didn't haff time...Dot's how I vas raised. In this section, the premise of the play is revealed, as we learn that Arty and Jay will be left behind with their eccentric and dysfunctional extended family while their father is away settling his debts. The scene ends with everyone else in shock, while Bella beams in excitement. She scolds Jay for having cried, asks them bluntly which one is smarter, and is vigilant about making sure that the boys will be clean and well-behaved. 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