Talk:S. J. Simon

Comic novels

Comic novels, ok. Wonder whether Simon & Caryl Brahms were British comedy writers or British humorists (or English ones).

--P64 (talk) 01:54, 17 May 2014 (UTC)

Well they were certainly very funny in their joint work: try No Bed for Bacon or Don't, Mr Disraeli!. The thing is that they were conspicuously other things too: the one an authoritative writer on Contract Bridge (and co-inventor of Acol), and the other a long-term ballet critic and playwright. "Writer" is about as specific as it is safe to get. Tim riley talk 09:13, 17 May 2014 (UTC)

I certainly think the current Category of "British historical novelists" is misleading. His novels were far more notable for their humour than anything else (from what I have read about them - I've never actually read the books themselves). "Historical novelist" might lead people to expect "serious" history. JH (talk page) 10:05, 17 May 2014 (UTC)

I agree, not a historical novelist. The article makes that clear but I didn't read it previously (only the lead, whose mention of 'English history' is fine despite my hasty jump to conclusions). Moved to British novelists. Y

--P64 (talk) 15:27, 17 May 2014 (UTC)

Russian-Jewish émigré

"As a member of a Russian-Jewish merchant family from Vladivostok he left Russia when young."

This needs explanation. It implies some relation to Jewish or commercial identity, perhaps falsely. Some relation to the History of Vladivostok#Russian control seems likely, as our article mentions Japanese bombardment 1904-05 and occupation 1919; rule by rebels 1906; quadrupled population 1916 to 1922. See also Far Eastern Republic 1920-22.

--P64 (talk) 15:15, 19 June 2014 (UTC)

Marriage and death

"Simon married Carmel Withers, a silver medalist in the Women Teams event of the 1948 European Bridge League championships."

When did they marry? He died in July and the championships were in June, the NYTimes death notice implies: "S. J. Simon ... won the European bridge championship in Copenhagen last month, died here last night." London, July 27 --which all implies death date July 26.

--P64 (talk)

I think the wording of the sentence that you quote may be misleading, and that they were actually already married by the time of the European Championships, as Hasenson in listing the members of the women's team has her as "Carmel Simon" rather than as "Carmel Withers". JH (talk page) 08:39, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

I've now found her obituary in Hasenson, reprinted from the Contract Bridge Journal of July, 1949. It doesn't throw any light on when she and Skid married, though it's an interesting read. You can find it here: CBJ July 1949 on page 27. She died only a year after her husband, at the age of forty. JH (talk page) 15:31, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

They were already married by September 1946, as in that issue of the Contract Bridge Journal there is an article by "Carmel Skidelsky". It's interesting that she was using that form of her last name, given that in the same issue there is an article by "S. J. Simon". That's the earliest issue of the CBJ that is to be found on the EBU's website. (The link to follow from the main page is "English Bridge", which isn't entirely obvious, but the CBJ changed its name to "English Bridge" at some point.) JH (talk page) 19:19, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

Something else worth reading

A piece in the December 1946 issue of the CBJ on page 12 gives a good description of S.J. Simon. According to it, he was born at Dnipropetrovsk, but the family must have moved to Vladivostok soon afterwards (a very long move!), as the first half of his education was there (the remainder being in England). Checking with our own article, I see we say he was born in Harbin in Manchuria, which would certainly have been a lot closer to Vladivostok. I guess there's no way of knowing which birthplace is correct. JH (talk page) 19:36, 7 July 2014 (UTC)