I said here that the only two people who lived to see Broadway theaters named after them were Stephen Sondheim and Neil Simon. An awful lot of you wrote to remind me that Helen Hayes was alive when they christened the Helen Hayes Theater. In fact, that happened twice. In 1955, the Fulton Theater on West 46th was renamed the Helen Hayes Theater. It was torn down in 1982 to make room for a Marriott so the following year, the Little Theater on West 44th was renamed the Helen Hayes Theater. Ms. Hayes didn't leave us until 1993…so I was wrong. I think I'll fall back on the Limbaugh Defense and just say that I'm not responsible for the faulty information since I read it somewhere on the Internet.
Also: I asked if anyone had seen Neil Simon lately. Many of you pointed out that he was present when the revival of Promises, Promises opened last April. Okay…has anyone seen him more recently than that or heard him interviewed? (By the way: The revival closes just after the first of the year.)