THE CLI-FI REPORT: My 'job interview' with Norman Lear in 1977

Thursday, January 01, 2015

My 'job interview' with Norman Lear in 1977

FULL STORY HERE: link

http://www.sdjewishworld.com/2015/01/01/two-things-crashed-party-hopes/

by Dan Bloom

Norman Lear's 92, and he's not slowing down very much. His autobiography, “Even This I Get to Experience,” tells the whole megillah of his life and times as a comedy writer and sitcom producer.

Remember when Lear’s path-nreaking show “All in the Family” debtued in 1971? He also produced “Sanford and Son,” “The Jeffersons,” “Maude,” “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” and “Good Times” among others.

Believe it not, I once tried to get a job as a writer in Mr Lear's shop in Hollywood, and I ''almost'' got in the door. Close but no cigar.

This is what happened: I was working as lowly ticket seller in the tiny box office for the American Film Institute theater inside the Kennedy Center in Washington, when I heard that Mr Lear was going to be feted for something or other at the Kennedy Center that night in the building.

So I after my shift was over, at $1.85 an hour in those days, I took the elevator to the top floor where a gala reception was going on. I guess you could say I crashed the party, because I didn't have an invitation. But I justy had to be there, I told myself. So I walked around the party, noshed on some sushi and things, drank some Champagne and looked around for Norman.

There he was! I spotted him in the middle of the room, surrounded by a group of people wanting to chat with him, and I went over and waited my turn. The Champagne helped.

When it seemed he was free for a few seconds, I moved closer and said "Mr Lear, I'd like a job as a writer for your show in Los Angeles. Can you help me?"

That's all I said. Like magic, the doors opened, and Mr Lear replied, in a very friendly and avuncular way: "Here's my card. Come out to California and we can chat. I'll see what I can do for you."

He really said that and I really heard him say it, too. So a few weeks later, holding his name card in my hand, I boarded a plane for Los Angeles, found a small hotel to stay in and worked out my courage to find his office and actually sit down and go for an interview.

Que sera sera, I kept telling myself, giddy with the feeling that mayne this time my ship would come in and I'd land a job as a writer on a Norman Lear sitcom. He said he'd talk to me about a job if I flew out there. There I was. I was ready.

So I drove over in my rental car to his office, went up the hallway where he team worked, walked in the door and told the secretary that Mr Lear had promised me an interview and maybe a job when I met him in Washington and I showed her the name card he had given me.

She said: "I'm sorry, Mr Lear is very busy and he can't see anyone without an appointment."

"But he told me to come out to Hollywood and he'd give me a job," I replied, already sensing the problem. Had I imbibed to much Champagned that night at the Kennedy Center? Was I dreaming?

The secretary was sweet but firm. There was no way she was going to usher me into Mr Lear's office. I said I would come back again and try again on another day. Surely, he had offered me a job, no?

A week later, I went baclk to his office. The secretary said sorry again, adding that there was no way I going to get in to see Mr Lear. He was busy with his shows and had not time to meet strangers.

"But he told me to come here and he'd help me with a job." I said/. "I flew all the way out here from Washington."

Well, to make a long storu short, I never got to see Mr Lear, there was no job for me in Hollywood, I hung around the city for a few more days, and then gave up with a shrug of resignation and flew back to Washington.

Still, it was thrilling, at my young age -- I was 27 -- to meet Mr Lear at the party and get a friendly handshake and informal offer a comedy writing job and to this day I still cherish the memory of my unsuccessful trip to Lear land.

I sensed even in my short meeting with Mr Lear, Champagne and all, that he was a mensch among mensches and I am sure he meant to help me with his offer a job. He was't lying to me. But of course, he had a lot of people coming up to him all the time asking for a job. I just got lost in the shuffle. C'est la vie.

Still, I followed his career in television with interest and always rooted for him. Last year, I read his autobiography. In the book, I kept looking for a brief mention of the time in the mid-1970s when a stranger had come up to him at a Kennedy Center reception and asked for a job. But there was nothing in the book about it, and nothing in the footnotes and index, either.

Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. John Lennon said that. So true.

But I never had any regrets about flying out to Hollywood for what I hoped would be my entry job into the movie and TV business. I was always up for an adventure and meeting Norman Lear was a very nice thing.

# posted by DANIELBLOOM @ 5:33 AM

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