MY FIRST TIME IN VARIETY November 15, 1950 “Lure of the East Thins H’wood Ranks of TV Comedy Writers” If anyone deserves to write a memoir, it’s Norman Lear, who reinvented television comedy in the 1970s with “All in the Family,” and whose “Even This I Get to Experience,” a how-to book about understanding the TV business, comes out in paperback Oct. 27. Lear was first mentioned in Variety on Nov. 15, 1950, as part of a story about an exodus of L.A. writers moving to New York for TV jobs. TIM GRAY Norman Lear “Suddenly Simmons & Lear were major comedy writers. All those other writers came out of radio, but we were the TV writers . But the joke was that we didn’t have any experience.” How did you get the New York gig ? Ed Simmons and I had written a routine for Danny Thomas’ nightclub act, which led to New York and Jack Haley’s “Ford Star Review.” Jerry Lewis saw a sketch that he knew he could do better, so he wanted us. MCA handled both shows, so it was easy to move over to Martin & Lewis. Within three weeks, we were writing for “ The Colgate Comedy Hour.” Suddenly Simmons & Lear were major comedy writers. All those other writers came out of radio, but we were the TV writers . But the joke of jokes was that we didn’t have any experience. Did you watch TV? We didn’t own a set. We used to go to my uncle’s house to watch Milton Berle. You hadn’t been in L.A. long. We moved there at the end of ’48. I was a kid of the Depression, and I had one uncle who was a press agent; as the family said, “He was a good provider.” He would slip me a quarter. I wanted to be an uncle who could slip a quarter to his nephew, so I wanted to be a press agent, too. I didn’t even know what that was. I didn’t want to be a star, I wanted to be the guy with the star. What were cross-country flights like? I was the only one in the family who had done that. I took a TWA red-eye at 11 p.m., and they had sleepers. I think we arrived at 8 in the morning. And the 747 had an upstairs lounge for first-class. You could go up and smoke a cigar, and they served caviar. Did you have any key teachers? There were two. Roland Kibbee was head writer on “The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show” (Bud Yorkin was producer-director). I would sometimes do the opening monologue. Roland taught me that even a simple thing like that has to have a throughline — a beginning, middle and end. It had to have a story, and had to be taken seriously. And then Nat Hiken, who later created (“The Phil Silvers Show”). What did you learn from him? He taught me funny. Variety, VOL. 329, NO. 16 (USPS 146-820, ISSN 0011-5509) is published weekly, except the first week in July, the fourth week in November, and the fourth and fifth weeks in December, with 40 special issues: Jan (8), Feb (8), June (7), Aug (6), Nov (5) and Dec (6) by Variety Media LLC, 11175 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90025, a division of Penske Business Media. Periodicals postage paid at Los Angeles, CA and at other mailing offices. Postmaster send address changes to: Variety, P.O. Box 15759, North Hollywood, CA 91615-5759. Canada Post International Publications Mail Product (Canadian Distribution) Publications Mail Agreement No. 40043404. Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: RCS International Box 697 STN A, Windsor, Ontario N9A 6N4. Sales agreement No. 0607525. Annual subscription rates: USA, $329; Canada, $359 (includes GST); Europe, $399; rest of world, $599. Single copies are available for $8; back issues $11 U.S., $15 International. A reasonable fee shall be assessed to cover handling costs in the event of a cancellation of a subscription. Subscription customer service is available by phone: (800) 552-3632 or email: variety@pubservice.com. For content licensing, editorial re-use requests or custom ePrints or reprints, please email us at licensing@variety.com. Variety © 2015 by Variety Media, LLC. Variety and the Flying V logo are trademarks of Penske Business Media. Printed in the U.S.A. PHOTO: BEI/REX SHUTTERSTOCK; ILLUSTRATION: CAROLINE ANDRIEU 122 Final Cut
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