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The Quiet Feminism of Norman Lear’s Middle-Aged Women

Austin Tang — Fri, 08 Dec 2023 14:20:23 +0000

The shows of Norman Lear, who died on Tuesday, celebrated the needs and complexities of the everyday woman.

Isabel Sanford (right, with Roxie Roker) as Louise Jefferson on “The Jeffersons,” Norman Lear’s long-running spinoff of “All in the Family.”Credit…CBS, via Associated Press

By Rhonda Garelick

Rhonda Garelick writes the Face Forward column exploring fashion, politics and beauty.

Dec. 7, 2023

Amid the 1970s television landscape selling obvious sex and youth, Norman Lear understood the magnetism of older everyday women.

Mr. Lear, who died on Tuesday at 101, has long gotten credit for being the first to train the television spotlight on issues of racism and class, war and poverty, to create plots centered on hot-button feminist issues such as equal pay or abortion. He deserves all of those accolades. But little has been said about the much quieter feminism expressed simply through his choice of leading ladies and the characters they limned.

Mr. Lear made stars out of gifted midlife actresses, without requiring them to look 20 years younger than they were. Instead, he made these women the focal points of important conversations, granting them dignity and gravitas and humor that was never cruel or at their expense.

Amid the 1970s television landscape of sexy pinups (Farrah Fawcett, Suzanne Somers), beautiful superheroes (Lynda Carter in “Wonder Woman,” Lindsay Wagner in “The Bionic Woman”), and relatable-but-thin-and-gorgeous heroines like Mary Tyler Moore, Mr. Lear’s leading ladies stood out for their sheer everyday-ness.

Bea Arthur as Maude Findlay, the outspoken main character in Mr. Lear’s show “Maude,” with Bill Macy, who played her husband, Walter Findlay.Credit…CBS, via Getty

Esther Rolle, far right, played Florida Evans on “Good Times,” seen here with, from left, BernNadette Stanis (as Thelma), Jimmie Walker (as J.J.) and John Amos (as James Evans Sr.).Credit…CBS, via Getty

Cast members from “All in the Family.” From the top: Sally Struthers as Gloria, Rob Reiner as Michael, Jean Stapleton as Edith and Carroll O’Connor as Archie.Credit…CBS

Edith Bunker, Maude Findlay, Louise Jefferson and Florida Evans were all middle- or working-class middle-aged women — attractive, but hardly supermodels. Over the years of their series, the actresses who played these roles ranged in age from their 40s to late sixties. They wore regular clothes on their regular bodies, simple dresses with tie belts, housecoats or tunic pantsuits (varied slightly to reflect their characters’ social status) — outfits any audience member might find in a department store. Their hair and makeup were unobtrusive.

Yet within these parameters lay real power. In their unflashy outfits, they had a commanding appeal different from and more enduring than that of all the bikini- and evening-gown-clad glamour girls of the era. (In her floor-length vests, Bea Arthur as the feminist suburbanite Maude could at times resemble a Roman senator.)

Mr. Lear’s characters held our attention, making us care about their struggles and joys, marriages and children, their money or work woes. They made us laugh. What’s more, these women had romantic lives. Sometimes, they would hint at having actual sex, despite the serious handicap of being over 40.

Esther Rolle was 53 when she began playing Florida Evans on “Good Times” (spinning off from her role in “Maude”) — 19 years older than John Amos, the handsome actor who played her husband, James. Yet they were depicted as having a vital, erotic relationship. In one episode, James whisks Florida off to a snowbound cabin for a second honeymoon, carries her across the threshold and murmurs that he wants to “get it on.”

Even the demure and innocent Edith Bunker — played by Jean Stapleton from age 47 to 56 — referred on occasion to her still-active bedroom activities. In an episode titled “The Joys of Sex,” Edith consults a sex manual to spice up her marriage. “Ain’t I always there when you’re in the mood?” asks a wounded Archie. “Yeah, Archie, and even when I ain’t,” Edith replies.

Mr. Lear’s heroines also confronted feminine reproductive issues: Edith endured a rocky menopause — replete with crying, rage and mood swings. On “The Jeffersons,” Louise Jefferson (played by Isabel Sanford from age 57 to 67) tries some marriage therapy techniques on her recalcitrant husband, George (Sherman Hemsley), trying gamely to get him to talk about sex. Most dramatically, Maude had a late-life abortion (when the character was 47 and Arthur was 50). In other words, these female characters had female bodies, and those bodies got to be part of the story: not as jiggling eye candy, objects of leering jokes or fashion plates, but as the flesh-and-blood, complex, flawed and sexual entities that bodies actually are — and that all women have, whether they’re 25 or 60, supermodels or not.

Norman Lear (1922-2023)

Norman Lear, Whose Comedies Changed the Face of TV, Is Dead at 101

Dec. 6, 2023

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Norman Lear, one of Good News Media Heroe’s speaks to us at the International Emmys

editor — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 07:57:57 +0000

where he was given and award.
Norman Milton Lear (born July 27, 1922) is an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times and Maude. As a political activist, he founded the advocacy organization People For the American Way in 1981 and has supported First Amendment rights and progressive causes. He was also the founder of AVCO Embassy Pictures (Before it was defunct at 1986)
Early life
Lear was born in New Haven, Connecticut, the son of Jeanette (née Seicol) and Herman Lear, who worked in sales.[1] He grew up in a Jewish home and had a Bar Mitzvah.[2] Lear went to high school in Hartford, Connecticut and subsequently attended Emerson College in Boston, but dropped out in 1942 to join the United States Army Air Forces. During World War II, he served in the Mediterranean Theater as a radio operator/gunner on Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers with the 772nd Bombardment Squadron, 463rd Bombardment Group (Heavy) of the Fifteenth Air Force. He flew 52 combat missions, for which he was awarded the Air Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters. Lear was discharged from the Army in 1945. He and his fellow World War II crew members are featured in the book “Crew Umbriago” by Daniel P.Carroll (tail gunner), and also in another book: 772nd Bomb Squadron: The Men, The Memories by Turner Publishing Company.
Career
In 1954, Lear was enlisted as a writer hoping to salvage the new Celeste Holm CBS sitcom, Honestly, Celeste!, but the program was canceled after eight episodes. During this time, he became the producer of NBC’s The Martha Raye Show, after Nat Hiken left as the series director. In 1959, Lear created his first television series starring Henry Fonda, a half-hour western for Revue Studios called The Deputy.
1970s
Starting out as a comedy writer, then a film director (he wrote and produced the 1967 film Divorce American Style and directed the 1971 film Cold Turkey, both starring Dick Van Dyke), Lear tried to sell a concept for a sitcom about a blue-collar American family to ABC. They rejected the show after two pilots were filmed. After a third pilot was shot, CBS picked up the show, known as All in the Family. It premiered January 12, 1971 to disappointing ratings, but it took home several Emmy Awards that year, including Outstanding Comedy Series. The show did very well in summer reruns, and it flourished in the 1971-1972 season, becoming the top-rated show on TV for the next five years. After falling from the #1 spot, All in the Family still remained in the top ten, well after it transitioned into Archie Bunker’s Place. The show was based on the British sitcom Til Death Us Do Part, about an irascible working-class Tory and his Socialist son-in-law.
Lear’s second big TV hit was also based on a British sitcom, Steptoe and Son, about a west London junk dealer and his son. Lear changed the setting to the Watts section of Los Angeles and the characters to African-Americans, and the NBC show Sanford and Son was an instant hit. Numerous hit shows followed thereafter, including Maude (the lead character of which was reportedly based on Lear’s then-wife Frances), The Jeffersons (both spin-offs of All in the Family), One Day at a Time and Good Times.
What most of the Lear sitcoms had in common was that they were character-driven, had sets that more resembled stage plays than common sitcom sets, were shot on videotape in place of film, used a live studio audience, and most importantly dealt with the social and political issues of the day. Ironically, although Lear’s shows are often considered somewhat autobiographical and closely identified with his personal experiences, his early hits were actually all adapted from someone else’s creations: the two aforementioned British adaptations and Maude, while reputedly based on Lear’s wife, was actually the brainchild of series producer Charlie Hauck. Bud Yorkin was also the major force behind All in the Family, Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, and countless others.
Lear’s longtime producing partner was Bud Yorkin, who created/produced All in the Family, Sanford and Son, What’s Happening!!, Maude, and The Jeffersons, split with Lear in 1975. He started a production company with writer/producers Saul Turteltaub and Bernie Orenstein, but they had only two shows that ran more than a year: What’s Happening!! and Carter Country. The Lear/Yorkin company was known as Tandem Productions. Lear and talent agent Jerry Perenchio founded T.A.T. Communications (T.A.T. stood for “Tuchus Affen Tisch”, which is Yiddish for “Putting one’s butt on the line”) in 1974, which co-existed with Tandem Productions and was often referred to in periodicals as Tandem/T.A.T. The Lear organization was one of the most successful independent TV producers of the 1970s. TAT produced the influential and award-winning 1981 film The Wave about Ron Jones’ social experiment.
Lear also developed the cult favorite TV series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (MH MH) which was turned down by the networks as “too controversial” and placed it into first run syndication with 128 stations in January 1976. A year later, Lear added another program into first run syndication along with MH MH, All That Glitters. He planned in 1977 to offer three hours of prime time Saturday programming directly, with the stations placing his production company in the position of an occasional network.[3] Lear himself stepped down as production supervisor on his shows in 1978 to work on a film dealing with his concerns about the growing influence of radical right-wing evangelists. The film was never fully developed, but the process stimulated his long engagement in political activism.
1980s
In 1982, the company bought out Avco Embassy Pictures from Avco Financial Corporation, and the Avco part of its name was dropped. Embassy Pictures was led by Alan Horn and Martin Schaeffer, later co-founders of Castle Rock Entertainment with Rob Reiner. In 1985, Lear sold all his film and television production holdings to Columbia Pictures (then owned by the Coca-Cola Company) which acquired Embassy’s film and television division (which included Embassy’s in-house television productions and the television rights to the Embassy theatrical library) for $485 million in shares of The Coca-Cola Company. Lear and his longtime partner Jerry Perenchio split the net proceeds (about $250 mm). Coke later sold the film division to Dino De Laurentiis and the home video arm to Nelson entertainment (led by Barry Spikings).
The brand Tandem Productions was abandoned in 1986 with the cancellation of Diff’rent Strokes, and Embassy ceased to exist as a single entity in late 1987, having been split into different components owned by different entities. The Embassy TV division became ELP Communications in 1988, but shows originally produced by Embassy were now under the Columbia Pictures Television banner from 1988–1994 and the Columbia TriStar Television banner from 1994-1998.
Lear is unofficially credited with giving Rob Reiner, son of Carl Reiner (and a star of All in the Family) his start as a director by financing the mockumentary This is Spinal Tap. Lear’s Act III Communications, founded in 1986 with Tom McGrath as President, produced several notable films, including Rob Reiner’s next three films: The Sure Thing, Stand By Me, and The Princess Bride, as well as Fried Green Tomatoes.
1990s
Lear attempted to return to TV production in the 1990s with the shows Sunday Dinner, The Powers That Be, and 704 Hauser, the last one putting a different family in the house from All in the Family. None of the series proved successful, despite critical acclaim.
Today, Lear’s TV library is owned by Sony Pictures Television.
However, Lear was successful as a businessman, especially with his leveraged acquisition vehicle Act III Communications, founded in 1986 and led initially by Tom McGrath (who met Lear while negotiating on behalf of Coca-Cola the acquisition of Lear’s old company) and later by Hal Gaba, a former Embassy executive. This included: Act III Theatres, sold to KKR in 1997 at what is to this day considered a record premium; Act III Broadcasting, sold to Abry Communications; and Act III Publishing, sold to PriMedia. Lear is also the owner of Concord Records and in 2005 consummated a 50% interest in the film library and production assets of Village Roadshow Productions Pty Ltd.
In 1997, Lear teamed up with Jim George to produce the Kids’ WB cartoon series, Channel Umptee-3. It premiered on Kids WB’s Saturday morning lineup on October 25, 1997. The cartoon made television history, as it was the first to meet the Federal Communications Commission’s then-new educational/informal programming requirements. Like Lear’s other television works, it received positive reviews, but ratings were low due to the network’s focus on their core high-rated programming at the time. A time switch from a concrete Saturday schedule to a revolving Friday timeslot caused the show’s ratings to dip even more, and it was eventually canceled after one season. September 4, 1998 marked the last airing of Umptee-3 on the WB.
2000s
In 2003, Lear made an appearance on South Park during the “I’m a Little Bit Country” episode, providing the voice of Benjamin Franklin. He also served as a consultant on the episodes “I’m a Little Bit Country” and “Cancelled”. Lear has attended a South Park writers’ retreat,[4] and served as the officiant at Trey Parker’s wedding.[5] Awards
In 1967, Lear was nominated for an Academy Award for writing Divorce, American Style. Lear was among the first seven television pioneers inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1984. He received four Emmy Awards (two in 1971, and one each in 1972 and 1973) and a Peabody Award in 1978. He received the Humanist Arts Award from the American Humanist Association in 1977. His star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is located at 6615 Hollywood Boulevard.
In 1999, President Bill Clinton awarded the National Medal of Arts to Lear, noting that “Norman Lear has held up a mirror to American society and changed the way we look at it.” Also in 1999, he and Bud Yorkin received the Women in Film Lucy Award in recognition of excellence and innovation in creative works that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television.[6] Political and cultural activities
In addition to his success as a TV producer and businessman, Lear is an outspoken supporter of First Amendment and liberal causes. The only time that he did not support the Democratic candidate for President was in 1980:[7] he voted for John Anderson because he considered the Carter administration to be “a complete disaster”.[7] In 1981, Lear founded People For the American Way, a civil liberties advocacy organization. People For ran several advertising campaigns opposing the interjection of religion in politics. In 1987, People For campaigned against Robert Bork’s nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States. The organization is still active.
In 1989, Lear founded the Business Enterprise Trust, an educational program that used annual awards, business school case studies, and videos to spotlight exemplary social innovations in American business. In 2000, he provided an endowment for a multidisciplinary research and public policy center that explored the convergence of entertainment, commerce, and society at the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication. It was later named the Norman Lear Center in recognition.
Lear serves on the National Advisory Board of the Young Storytellers Foundation. He has written articles for The Huffington Post.
Lear is a trustee emeritus at The Paley Center for Media.[8] Declaration of Independence
In 2001, Lear and his wife, Lyn, purchased a Dunlap broadside—one of the first published copies of the United States Declaration of Independence—for $8.1 million. Not a document collector, Lear said in a press release and on the Today show that his intent was to tour the document around the United States so that the country could experience its “birth certificate” firsthand.[9] Through the end of 2004, the document traveled throughout the United States in the Declaration of Independence Roadtrip, which Lear organized, visiting several presidential libraries, dozens of museums, as well as the 2002 Olympics, Super Bowl XXXVI, and the Live 8 concert in Philadelphia.
Lear and Rob Reiner produced a filmed, dramatic reading of the Declaration of Independence—the last project filmed by famed cinematographer Conrad Hall—on July 4, 2001, at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. The film, introduced by Morgan Freeman, features Kathy Bates, Benicio del Toro, Michael Douglas, Mel Gibson, Whoopi Goldberg, Graham Greene, Ming-Na, Edward Norton, Winona Ryder, Kevin Spacey, and Renée Zellweger as readers. The film was directed by Arvin Brown and scored by John Williams.
Declare Yourself
In 2004, Lear established Declare Yourself, a national nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign created to empower and encourage eligible 18-29 year-olds in America to register and vote. Since then, it has registered almost 4 million young people and contributed significantly to the unprecedented turnout of young voters.
Born Again American
As part of the ongoing drive to promote active and thoughtful citizenship, Lear premiered BornAgainAmerican.org at the Presidential Inauguration in 2009. The BornAgainAmerican campaign includes a speciall

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