Editing Norman Lear (section)

===1950–1959===
After [[World War II]] Lear had a career in [[public relations]].<ref name=WNYC-Lopate-2014 /> The career choice was inspired by his Uncle Jack: "My dad had a brother, Jack, who flipped me a quarter every time he saw me. He was a press agent so I wanted to be a press agent. That's the only role model I had. So all I wanted was to grow up to be a guy who could flip a quarter to a nephew."<ref name=Aish-2001 /> Lear decided to move to California to restart his career in publicity, driving with his toddler daughter across the country.<ref name=WNYC-Lopate-2014 />

His first night in Los Angeles, Lear stumbled upon a production of [[George Bernard Shaw]]'s ''[[Major Barbara]]'' at the 90-seat [[theater-in-the-round]] Circle Theater off Sunset Boulevard. One of the actors in the play was [[Sydney Chaplin (American actor)|Sydney Chaplin]], the son of actors [[Charlie Chaplin]] and [[Lita Grey]]. Charlie Chaplin, [[Alan Mowbray]], and Dame [[Gladys Cooper]] sat in front of Lear, and after the show was over, Charlie Chaplin performed.<ref name=WNYC-Lopate-2014 />

Lear had a first cousin in Los Angeles, Elaine, who was married to an aspiring comedy writer named [[Ed Simmons (screenwriter)|Ed Simmons]].  Simmons and Lear teamed up to sell home furnishings door-to-door for a company called The Gans Brothers and later sold family photos door-to-door. Throughout the 1950s, Lear and Simmons turned out comedy sketches for television appearances of [[Martin and Lewis]], [[Rowan and Martin]], and others. They frequently wrote for Martin and Lewis when they appeared on the ''Colgate Comedy Hour'', and a 1953 article from ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' magazine stated that Lear and Simmons were guaranteed a record-breaking $52,000 ({{Inflation|US|52000|1953|fmt=eq|r=-4}}) each to write for five additional Martin and Lewis appearances on the ''[[Colgate Comedy Hour]]'' that year.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZgoEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Martin+and+Lewis%22+radio+intitle%3ABillboard&pg=PA12-IA1|title=52G to Simmons, Lear to Do Five Martin-Lewis TV Shows |magazine=Billboard|date=October 31, 1953|via=Google Books|access-date=October 19, 2020|archive-date=December 6, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231206195112/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZgoEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22Martin+and+Lewis%22+radio+intitle%3ABillboard&pg=PA12-IA1#v=snippet&q=%22Martin%20and%20Lewis%22%20radio%20intitle%3ABillboard&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> In a 2015 interview with ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', Lear said that [[Jerry Lewis]] had hired him and Simmons as writers for Martin and Lewis three weeks before the comedy duo made their first appearance on the Colgate Comedy Hour in 1950.<ref name="Gray-2015">{{cite web|url=https://variety.com/2015/tv/features/norman-lear-recalls-early-days-as-tv-comedy-writer-1201629371/|title=Norman Lear Looks Back on Early Days as TV Comedy Writer|first=Tim|last=Gray|date=October 30, 2015|access-date=December 13, 2017|archive-date=February 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180206002704/https://variety.com/2015/tv/features/norman-lear-recalls-early-days-as-tv-comedy-writer-1201629371/|url-status=live}}</ref> Lear also acknowledged in 1986 that he and Simmons were the main writers for ''[[The Martin and Lewis Show]]'' for three years.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.normanlear.com/backstory/interviews/writing-for-early-live-television/|title=Writing for Early Live Television &#124; television, film, political and social activist, philanthropist|work=Norman Lear |access-date=April 27, 2017|archive-date=May 20, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170520050555/http://www.normanlear.com/backstory/interviews/writing-for-early-live-television/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1954, Lear was enlisted as a writer and asked to salvage the new [[CBS]] sitcom starring [[Celeste Holm]], ''[[Honestly, Celeste!]]'', but the program was canceled after eight episodes. During this time he became the producer of [[NBC]]'s short-lived (26 episodes) sitcom ''The Martha Raye Show'', after [[Nat Hiken]] left as the series director. Lear also wrote some of the opening monologs for ''[[The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show]]''<ref name="Gray-2015"/><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kXCjAQAAQBAJ&q=tennessee+ernie+ford+show+norman+lear&pg=PA330|title=100 Entertainers Who Changed America: An Encyclopedia of Pop Culture Luminaries [2 volumes]: An Encyclopedia of Pop Culture Luminaries|first=Robert C.|last=Sickels|date=August 8, 2013|publisher=ABC-CLIO|via=Google Books|isbn=9781598848311|access-date=October 19, 2020|archive-date=December 6, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231206195159/https://books.google.com/books?id=kXCjAQAAQBAJ&q=tennessee+ernie+ford+show+norman+lear&pg=PA330|url-status=live}}</ref> which aired from 1956 to 1961. In 1959, Lear created his first television series, a half-hour western for [[Universal Media Studios|Revue Studios]] called ''[[The Deputy (TV series)|The Deputy]]'', starring [[Henry Fonda]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/alton-evening-telegraph-john-n-jones/131200627/|first=John N.|last=Jones|title=TV digest|date=June 4, 1959|work=Alton (Illinois) Evening Telegraph|access-date=September 4, 2023|page=35|via=Newspapers.com|archive-date=September 4, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230904152622/https://www.newspapers.com/article/alton-evening-telegraph-john-n-jones/131200627/|url-status=live}}</ref>