Happy 100th Birthday to Norman Lear [Archive] - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

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07-27-2022, 08:17 PM

Tossing this part in here from an article I linked on the ODAAT boards. Geri Jewell talking about Norman Lear. Don’t know if this is a new piece from her or not

https://www.vulture.com/article/norman-lear-stories-memories.html?utm_source=tw&utm_medium=s1&utm_campaign=vulture

“It’s like a fairy tale”

I was performing stand-up at the second annual Media Access Awards in 1980, and Norman and Charlotte Rae were in the audience. I got a standing ovation for my routine. I was brought to meet Norman, and he said, “You’re a really funny kid, but you’re way before your time.” I said, “So wait a couple of months.” Two and a half months later, he cast me in Facts of Life. It’s like a fairy tale.

In 1982, he hired me to do a special called I Love Liberty. It was a huge show with Christopher Reeve, Barbra Streisand, Robin Williams. There was an audience of thousands, and I was the only newbie. It was petrifying. I walked up three flights of stairs, on crutches, to center stage to represent the American Disabled Person. I went into my comedy routine, and nobody laughed. I was pouring sweat. I had tears in my eyes and I dropped the crutches, which was really dramatic, and said, “You know what? I think I need help.”

Everybody was staring at me. Norman came running down from the control booth and up onto the stage. He put his arms around my shoulders and said, “Geri, are you okay, sweetheart?” I said, “Norman, I’m fine, but the material sucks.” He put his hands on me and said, “Geri, your mic wasn’t on.” Nobody heard anything.

All the celebrities thought he’d just walk me off stage and I’d be cut from the final show, but Norman did the opposite. He got a working mic and asked the audience, “How many people in here want to give this girl a second chance?” I got a standing ovation, and he let me do the whole thing over.

Norman has been a surrogate dad for me throughout the years. He is always funny and always catches you off guard. My friend David Zimmerman and I interviewed him for Ability magazine, and that was also right around his birthday. We knew his favorite dessert was cheesecake from a deli in Westwood, so we got him the cake and we’re singing “Happy Birthday,” and instead of using his fork, he put his whole hand in the cake and put it in his mouth. It was so unexpected. —Geri Jewell (played Geri Tyler on The Facts of Life)