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to the right of the dining room and built a state-of-the-art darkroom for his photographic hobby. Carly and her teddy bear were moved into the smallest of the six upstairs bedrooms, her bed and bureau tucked under low eaves. This is where she tried to fall asleep as her restless father poured out his pianism in the evenings, downstairs, sometimes for hours at a time.
    In this era, Richard Simon was becoming somewhat abstracted from his family. There were difficulties at Simon and Schuster, where he felt shunted aside by younger editors and was no longer the boss. His emotional life was complicated by his feelings for Auntie Jo and a general estrangement from Andrea after Peter was born. (Andrea, years later: “I think he thought I was too black.”)
    Ever the dutiful son-in-law, and whatever else, Dick now installed Chebe and Auntie Jo in a comfortable apartment of their own on the Upper West Side. The old girls liked to watch TV in the evenings, in their bathrobes.
    When he moved his family to Riverdale, Dick Simon would arrive home in the evening and retire to his library, to unwind behind closed doors. Andrea had strict instructions that he not be disturbed untilhe emerged from his smoke-filled lair. He would have his supper, and then play the piano after Joanna’s vocal exercises were complete. He often gathered the children to listen as he read favorite poems aloud. Sometimes the verses, especially those of Walt Whitman, would make Dick Simon mist over.

T HE A RTFUL D ODGER

    C arly Simon remembers her childhood with very mixed emotions, because she was only barely comfortable in her own skin. “I was the little girl in the back of the line in first grade, kind of hiding because I’m so tall.” Carly’s clothes didn’t really fit her, having been inherited from her older sisters, the hems let way out so she could wear them. She was very shy in school because she stuttered when under pressure. “I was scared of answering questions in class, of giving a speech, or reading a poem.”
    When Carly was nine she told her mother that she didn’t think her father cared for her. “By the time I came along, I think the novelty had worn off for my father—the third girl child, you know? And also, around then there was some turmoil in his work, and he wasn’t able or willing to be close to me. So I sincerely felt he didn’t love me.” Andrea assured her this wasn’t so, but Carly didn’t believe her. Dick Simon was distracted and distant from her; she could feel it. Family members say that Dick had indeed wanted a boy and was disappointed in a third daughter. Her father’s evident preference for hersister Lucy made his seeming rejection even more difficult. But Carly was determined somehow to find a way into Dick Simon’s heart.
    “My oldest sister, Joey, was always very sophisticated. She was born that way and allowed to be that way—very poised and theatrical. She did her own makeup from age ten. Lucy was another way: shy, angelic, sweet and soft, and adorable. I remember thinking to myself, literally thinking this… that I had to make a conscious decision to decide who I had to be in this family.
    “Well, okay. The ingénue’s role had been filled by Lucy. The sophisticate’s role had been taken by Joey. So I chose my role. The comedian had not been filled yet.”
    Andrea encouraged Carly in this. “I think my mother knew, early on, that I wasn’t terribly interesting to my father. She used to give me little tips on how to win him. She’d tell me, ‘Go into his room, darling, and make a funny face.’ So I developed a repertoire of faces. I did cartwheels. I made jokey noises. And sometimes it worked. He would react. He’d laugh. He’d tell me I was funny. So I felt that this was the way I could win my father over to me. You can see this in most of the photos he took of me. I’m grinning, being a goofball, showing the gaps in my teeth. I’m playing the clown to get his attention because I had to