The Prisoner of Second Avenue

Mel Edison is a well-paid executive at a high-end Manhattan firm. But when the firm hit the skids, Mel gets the ax. His wife Edna takes a job to tide them over, but she too is sacked. Thanks to the air pollution killing his plants, and the paper-thin apartment walls allowing him a constant earful of his neighbors’ private lives, Mel's life can’t seem to get any worse. Then he’s robbed, and his psychiatrist dies with $23,000 of his money. Mel does the only thing left for him to do: He has a nervous breakdown – and it’s the best thing that ever happened to him.

The Prisoner of Second Avenue premiered on Broadway at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre on 11 November 1972. Directed by Mike Nichols, the production starred Peter Falk, Lee Grant and Vincent Gardenia. A 1975 film adaptation, directed by Melvin Frank, starred Jack Lemmon and Anne Bancroft.