His parents had a stormy marriage; his father (a garment salesman) abandoned the family frequently during Simon's boyhood, causing serious financial strain as well as emotional turmoil. "I think part of what has made me a comedy writer," Simon told Richard Meryman in 1971, "is the blocking out of some of the really ugly, painful things in my childhood and covering it up with a humorous attitude."
Following his graduation at age sixteen from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, Simon enlisted in the Army Air Force Reserve training program at New York University. In 1945 he was assigned to Lowry Field, Colorado, where he attended the University of Denver and worked as sports editor for the military publication Rev-Meter. Simon later used his experience in the army as material for Biloxi Blues (1985), the second play in his semi-autobiographical Brighton Beach trilogy.
After his discharge as a corporal in 1946, Simon launched his career in show business with his brother, Danny, writing comedy for producer/writer Goodman Ace of CBS. For the next decade Danny and "Doc" Simon (a nickname originating from Simon's childhood impersonations of the family doctor) collaborated in writing comedy sketches for radio (The Robert Q.
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