Edith Bunker’s place

New York Post ^ | 6/4/13 | NY Post Editorial

[NJRighty]

Jean Stapleton, a born-and-bred New Yorker immortalized in pop culture as the iconic Edith Bunker, died Friday in her Manhattan home at the age of 90.

snip

Today’s Queens is arguably America’s most diverse county.

snip

But what of “All in the Family” creator Norman Lear? Well, according to the ZIP code listed on his political contributions, Lear lives in the Brentwood hills of Los Angeles — ZIP code 90049, to be exact. That neighborhood’s population? It’s 84 percent white, 1.4 percent black, 8.7 percent Asian, with the remainder “other” and multiracial. That almost looks like Archie Bunker’s dream spot.

[NJRighty]

I know her obit has been posted here before, but this is worth reading if only for the dig at All In The Family creator Norman Lear.

[Borges]

Lear didn’t create it. He adapted a British show that had been running for a few years already.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Lear lives in the Brentwood hills of Los Angeles — ZIP code 90049, to be exact. That neighborhood’s population? It’s 84 percent white, 1.4 percent black,

And I love Blacks and Gays and Latinos
As long as they don't move next-door
So Love Me, Love Me, Love Me!
I'm a Liberal!

[Linda Frances]

I bet it killed Ed Asner to sing these words.

All in the Family Lyrics
by (”Those Were the Days” by Charles Stouse and Lee Adams).

Boy the way Glen Miller played
Songs that made the hit parade.
Guys like us we had it made,
Those were the days.

And you knew who you were then,
Girls were girls and men were men,
Mister we could use a man
Like Herbert Hoover again.

Didn’t need no welfare state,
Everybody pulled his weight.
Gee our old LaSalle ran great.
Those were the days.

[woodbutcher1963]

Ed Asner?

You mean Carol O’Conner right?

Ed Asner was on Mary Tyler Moore as Lou Grant.

[Borges]

I don’t think the song was even written for AITF.

[tanknetter]

Mister we could use a man

Like Herbert Hoover again.

Here's something interesting. In its first version the song went "Mister we could use a man like Calvin Coolidge again"

It was changed to "Herbert Hoover" because it was felt that using Coolidge was both too obscure and would help paint Archie and Edith in a more sympathetic light (as opposed to the bigoted a**hole and clueless/enabling wife). Hoover was both still well-remembered and despised by most of the public.

IIRC Lear and Reiner were pretty frikkin' horrified when both characters became almost instantly beloved. Meathead and Gloria were supposed to be the protagonists.

[Buckeye McFrog]

or as the Mad Magazine parody of Archie put it at the time,
“America ain’t laughin’ AT me. They’re laughin’ WITH me!”

[Nea Wood]

I seem to recall an episode of AITF where one of Archie’s friends sold his house to a black family. When Archie complained, the friend said something like, “Well, it’ll be all right, you have to get with the times, embrace diversity” or whatever, and Archie said, “Yeah, easy for you to say as you move out of this neighborhood and into a 100% white one!” Sometimes Lear did poke at liberals and expose their hypocricy.

[Borges]

Where did you hear that? It’s pretty clear that Archie was the focal point. O’Connor and Stapleton got top billing.

[Borges]

The scene in question is at 11:25...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF1ua0vHT0M

[ansel12]

Lear was disappointed at Archie being liked, but the show was effective as a propaganda vehicle nonetheless and is considered one of the left’s greatest vehicles for changing American culture.

The show was aimed at middle America.

[tanknetter]

Where did you hear that? It’s pretty clear that Archie was the focal point. O’Connor and Stapleton got top billing.

I've heard/read it a number of places over the years. TV trivia books, etc.

Yes, O'Connor and Stapleton got top billing. But the plot was supposed to be about two "modern" (read: Liberal) young adults having to confront, daily, their completely backward and out of touch (read: Conservative) parents/in-laws. Meathead and Gloria were SUPPOSED to be the sympathetic ones, even if they were the supporting characters. But it didn't turn out that way.

[SnakeDoctor]

The final stifling.

SnakeDoc

[Tammy8]

But what of “All in the Family” creator Norman Lear? Well, according to the ZIP code listed on his political contributions, Lear lives in the Brentwood hills of Los Angeles — ZIP code 90049, to be exact. That neighborhood’s population? It’s 84 percent white, 1.4 percent black, 8.7 percent Asian, with the remainder “other” and multiracial. That almost looks like Archie Bunker’s dream spot.

During the time AITF was popular I imagine that zip code was likely 100% white, other than possibly live in hired help in the neighborhood.

[tanknetter]

Lear was disappointed at Archie being liked, but the show was effective as a propaganda vehicle nonetheless and is considered one of the left’s greatest vehicles for changing American culture.

Yeah, and considering that the show preceded the 1980's resurgence of Conservatism/decline of Liberalism is proof that it succeeded, right?

AITF was supposed to be like M*A*S*H - a scathing commentary on major social/political issues designed to drive public opinion in a certain direction using the comedic (and Alinskyite) form of ridicule. But like M*A*S*H really didn't make the public anti-war/pacifistic, AITF really didn't stampede the public into Liberalism.

[popdonnelly]

Most of the “progressives” who claim to know all about African Americans live in communities where they never see any African Americans.

[ansel12]

LOL, how blind are you?

In your world America moved right because of Norman Lear’s most effective sitcom, and MASH?

All in the Family was incredibly effective for the left, as was show after show after show, including MASH, they all helped change the national perceptions of normal, of acceptable, of what people thought their neighbors were thinking.

The culture kept moving left, it didn’t stop, despite what you think.

[Linda Frances]

Oops. I get my communist mixed up. Yes Carol O’Connor.

[greene66]

Indeed. This is quite evident when one views the first, initial episodes (including the pilots). Archie Bunker was meant to be an unlikeable, unsympathetic lout, and Mike-Gloria the ‘enlightened’ youth. But O’Connor’s talent made his character so three-diminsional, and the audiences felt more empathy for him as a traditionalist (if not necessarily for his bigotry) than the whiney smugness of the Mike-Gloria youth generation.

I have no doubt that Norman Lear was not happy about this twist of events... but since the show was booming into a huge hit, Lear just rode with it and profited with it.