People: Neil Rosen
NEIL ROSEN: FROM SITCOMS TO THEATER
The past couple of years, stars like Rita Moreno, Sally Struthers and Vicki Lawrence have trekked to Muskegon to perform at the Cherry County Playhouse. Neil Rosen, '62, who has co-owned the playhouse since 1975 with comedian and perennial presidential candidate Pat Paulsen, engineered the move to the 1,800-seat Frauenthal Center. 'We're drawing a lot of people,' says Rosen, who came back to Michigan theater after spending 23 years in Hollywood writing and producing such television hits as The Dick Van Dyke Show, Too Close for Comfort, Welcome Back Cotter, The Love Boat and Silver Spoons, which starred fellow MSU alumnus Joel Higgins.
Neil credits MSU for his career success. 'MSU was a very practical university,' he recalls. 'I was a broadcast major and was able to get hands-on experience. I worked for WMSB part-time as a student, then for two years as director of promotion and public relations.'
Though some may think it glamorous, Neil says sitcom writing was a grind. 'You're constantly doing it,' he says. 'Sometimes I watch a show and forget I wrote it. When you do it all the time, it's like shoe repair. How often would you remember a heel you fixed? The only difference is that what we do is judged by 30 or 40 million people.'
Among those judging this past year was Dan Quayle, who criticized the popular Murphy Brown for promoting single motherhood. 'The fact that the Vice President can campaign on what happens in a sitcom shows how important it is,' notes Neil. 'But I think television reflects what we've become. Unlike theater, television is usually too afraid to do anything that's not widely accepted.'
He does admit, however, that TV has shown a lot more sex the past two years. 'The networks are worried about their loss of viewers to cable,' he explains. 'So they have changed their standards.'
Still, as far as Neil is concerned, for cutting edge social reflection, nothing beats theater--especially in the Muskegon area.
