Social Security

by Andrew Bergman

This hilarious Broadway comedy surrounds a married couple who are art dealers. Their domestic tranquility is shattered upon the arrival of the wife's goody-goody nerd of a sister, her uptight CPA husband, and her archetypal Jewish mother. They are there to try to save their college-student daughter from the horrors of living only for sex. The comic sparks really begin to fly when the mother hits it off with the elderly minimalist artist who is the art dealers' best client!

Genres: Plays

111 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1966

About the author

Andrew Bergman is a successful comedy screenwriter and occasional author of hard-boiled mysteries. After receiving a Ph.D. in American history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Bergman sold Tex X, a novella about a black sheriff in the old west, to Warner Brothers. The studio hired him to turn his story into a screenplay, as part of a team of comedy legends led by Mel Brooks and Richard Pryor. The result was Blazing Saddles (1974), which is widely regarded as one of the funniest films of all time.

After that early success, Bergman published the first two novels in a mystery series starring Jack LeVine, a hard-boiled Jewish PI. After The Big Kiss-Off of 1944 (1974) and Hollywood and LeVine (1975), he continued writing and directing films, producing such classics as Fletch (1985), The Freshman (1990) and Soapdish (1991). In 2001 he returned to LeVine in Tender Is LeVine. Bergman continues to live and write in New York City.

Reviews

[Brian McCann · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well- organized, highly enjoyable, mildly funny sitcom. It's the type of comedy that used to be produced often in New York that would be cost prohibitive today.

[Octavio Galvis Villegas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've just devoured it in one sit. Fascinating, up to date and very funny :)

[Ena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the portrayal of people at different stages in their lives, familial bonds crumbling and reforming. Answers the question: What makes us experience joy?