AARP Takes Emmy, Master Comedy Writer With a Message Wins Andrus Award

At an elegant evening of "recognition and celebration" at Vegas@50+, AARP received an Emmy, and in turn bestowed the organization's prestigious 2009 Andrus Award on television writer and producer Norman Lear. Both awards spoke to the importance of social activism and change, two of AARP's top commitments since its founding in 1958 by Ethel Percy Andrus. She herself fought the good fight, as a retired high school principal seeking better retirement benefits for teachers.

Master of Ceremonies John Amos—of "Good Times" and "Roots"—kicked off the awards ceremony by identifying one of the greatest conduits of our time for social change.  "Television has shaped and influenced American life like no other medium," he said. "On the 'fourth wall of our living room,' we have watched Neil Armstrong's first step on the moon, JFK's funeral, the final episode of 'M*A*S*H,' and Barack Obama's inauguration."

And so fittingly, it was Herb Granath, chair of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, who gave his organization's Trustees' Award to AARP for 25 years of using TV as a catalyst of social change and to address the issues and needs of those age 50+, he related. Granath praised AARP's award-winning ad campaigns on Medicare prescription drug benefits, Social Security, and health care reform, its documentaries on Alzheimer’s, wounded war veterans, and gay and lesbian rights.

In bestowing the Andrus Award, AARP Chief Executive Officer Barry Rand compared recipient Norman Lear, creator of such landmark shows as "All in the Family," "The Jeffersons," "Sanford & Son," and "Maude," to Ethel Percy Andrus. "In talking about television as an agent of social change, Norman Lear started it all," Rand said. "His messages were poignant, and the shock waves were profound. He made us see that there's a little bit of Archie Bunker in all of us, and in doing so, he challenged us to make life better for all people. That's what Ethel Andrus was all about."

Accepting the award, Lear, now 87, noted that he was 36 when AARP was founded, and that this year he celebrated his 36th year of membership in the organization. He said, "The best of drama shows us the things we don't want to look at—and comedy, too." He also suggested that the legacy of the current AARP generation should be "a gift of understanding to the next generation."

But in a time when the entertainment industry seems dominated by profit motives and celebrity, Lear said he hoped his legacy would be that, "I left the message that every single one of our lives matters." He compared what he did on the little screen to what a rag-tag singing troupe his sister, Claire, formed in her small town does by entertaining people in nursing homes.

"Sometimes Claire will get upset about something," Lear said, " and I'll tell her to write her Congressman or Senator.  She'll say, 'But I'm Claire Lear, not Norman Lear.' We torture ourselves with questions of which of each of us matters more. The truth is, it's all there for each of us. We matter."

Grammy-nominated singer Patti Austin concluded the evening with a little jazz, some scat, and a version of George and Ira Gershwin's "You Can't Take That Away From Me"—a love song, she said, to Norman Lear.