Ticket 2 Ride

Norman Lear has passed over to the other side. He is the last of a breed, as the cliche goes, although, there was no one quite like him.

I never met the man, but I had a brush with him, if only through the mail. More on that later.

All in the Family is how we came to know Norman Lear. That show shook things up and made Lear a household name. Sanford and Son, Maude, Good Times, The Jeffersons, One Day At a Time, and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman were other television shows from Lear’s company in the 1970s. Lear teamed up with Bud Yorkin on those early shows through their Tandem Productions.

For me, it’s impossible to separate the man from his work. Norman Lear put his beliefs and optimism in his entertainment projects. Who says you cannot be entertained and educated at the same time? The best stories have a teaching moment. What Lear did best was to place a mirror in front of us, and in a humorous way, reveal our humanity.

Not everything Lear presented was successful or even insightful. He launched shows like Hot L Baltimore, The Dumplings, The Nancy Walker Show, A Year at the Top and a.k.a. Pablo. Even successful people have setbacks and failures. Lear was an astute investor, expanding his business into film, publishing and recording. Lear and his partner acquired Avco Embassy, the independent film production company, founded by Joseph E. Levine. Later, Lear sold the company to Coca-Cola. In 1997, he acquired a major interest in Concord Records, which began as a small jazz label. Mergers and acquisitions, later with Village Road Show Pictures, turned Concord into major music rights conglomerate.

Check out Lear’s website or his Wikipedia page for a comprehensive overview of Lear’s business dealings, but my point was to show his diversification and growth into a major Hollywood player on many fronts. For a man who was criticized for his liberal politics and views, called a commie by some on the far right, Lear was a very successful capitalist.

From his website: In a Washington Post op ed published in 2021 on his 99th birthday, Lear wrote, “I am a patriot, and I will not surrender that word to those who play to our worst impulses rather than our highest ideals.”

Lear served in World War II; flight crew onboard 57 bomber missions over Europe. He defended freedom and was a firm believer in liberty. He created an organization, People for the American Way, to defend our freedoms, ensure the access and right to vote, battle the rise of big money and corporate influence in elections, promote religious freedom and separation of religion from politics, and spread awareness of authoritarianism. This organization has been around for more than 40 years.

I read Lear’s 2014 autobiography, Even This I Get to Experience, and felt the urge to write him. I created a visual collage of his work and life (it was difficult to condense his life) and sent it off to his Hollywood address. A few weeks later, I got a reply. He thanked me for the thoughtful letter (at least he thought so), autographed my collage, and asked me for additional copies. He wanted to include it in a display. That’s my brush with Norman Lear.

I can’t say that I wish to live to be 101 years old like Lear. I told my fiancé that I’d be happy with 10 more healthy years, which would make me 76. It’s not the amount of time, but it sure is about how you spend it and what you accomplish.

Mike Stivic: You know, you are totally incomprehensible.
Archie Bunker: Maybe so, but I make a lot of sense.

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