The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds | Author Biography

Paul Zindel was born in Staten Island, New York, on May 15,1936. He is the son of Paul, a New York policeman, and Betty Zindel. He also has an older sister, Betty. His father left the family when Paul was two-years-old, and from then on, Zindel was raised by his mother. Betty Zindel moved the family from town to town and worked at various odd jobs to support them. Zindel's mother was a troubled woman who was bitter and very distrustful of men. She constantly threatened suicide. Her despair and disappointment in life is found in the character of Beatrice Hunsdorfer in Gamma Rays. For a time, Betty worked as a private duty nurse, and this is directly reflected in the play, as Beatrice rents out her spare room to invalids to make extra money.

Paul Zindel
Paul Zindel

At the age of fifteen, Zindel was diagnosed with tuberculosis and confined to an adult sanatorium for eighteen months. This period of isolation gave him time for a great deal of introspection and contributed to his ability to sit back and observe the world around him. Zindel received a Bachelor of Science in chemistry and education from Wagner College in 1958, and went on to receive a Master's of Science in 1959. In college, he attended a lecture given by playwright Edward Albee. It inspired him so much, he decided to sign up for a play-writing course taught by Albee, who eventually became his mentor. Zindel wrote his first play, Dimensions of Peacocks, in 1959 under Albee's tutelage. During his early years as a playwright, 1959 to 1969, Zindel also taught chemistry at Tottenville High School in Staten Island. He wrote plays in his spare time and attended as many professional productions as he could.

In 1964 Gamma Rays had its premier at the Alley Theatre in Houston. Nina Vance, head of the Alley Theatre, liked the play so well she invited Zindel to be a playwright-in-residence during the 1967 season. During this time, he wrote his second-most popular play, And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little, which was produced at the Mark Taper Forum that same year. In 1970 The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds opened in New York to overwhelmingly positive reviews. Zindel won the Pulitzer Prize and was finally able to devote himself to writing plays full-time. In 1973, Zindel married Bonnie Hildebrand. The couple eventually had two children, David Jack and Elizabeth Claire.

Zindel has also had a successful career writing fiction for young adults. In 1966 Charlotte Zolotow, an editor at Harper and Row Publishers, saw a televised version of The Effect of Gamma Rays and contacted him to see if he would be interested in writing a novel for teenagers. He agreed and published the The Pigman in 1968. The book was extremely well-received. He followed this with many successful young adult novels, which have won numerous awards. Zindel also continues to write plays, though none of his subsequent plays has gained quite the popularity or critical acclaim of The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds. His most recent play (published by Dramatists Play Service in 2000) is Every Seventeen Minutes the Crowd Goes Crazy, about a family of children who are left to fend for themselves.