What was Archie Bunker's job? Or occupation?

[question everything]

A friend said that the people who support Trump are while old blue color workers. In short, Archie Bunker. But, he added, Archie Bunker is dead by now...

[RandySF]

1. Cab driver

[jaysunb]

12. Part time. n/t

[murielm99]

2. He worked on a loading dock.

He moonlighted as a cab driver.

[question everything]

4. Does this mean he was a unior member?

In those days, union members were quite conservative, I think, did not appreciate the opposition to Vietnam

[David__77]

19. Yes, he went on strike at one point.

Union members and leaders could be quite right-wing, indeed.

[jberryhill]

3. Longshoreman, cab driver

[GP6971]

6. I don't think longshoreman

but loading dock yes. Longshoreman made way too much money for what the series depicted.

[jberryhill]

7. Well, right, but....

"I don't work. I'm the foreman!"

[dflprincess]

5. I believe he worked on a loading dock?

until he bought a bar.

Whatever he did I do recall it was a union job (I seem to recall an episode that involved a strike). He was a WWII vet so chances are he would be dead (as is Carroll O'Connor who was quite a liberal).

And, sadly, he was a blue collar guy who had gone over to the dark side, supporting Nixon and telling Edith's cousin, Maude, (Yes, Bea Arthur's Maude) that the country was ruined by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

[Freddie]

8. Fascinating guy

Carroll O'Connor was Irish - like born, raised and educated in Dublin Irish - and he was brilliant as the quintessential American of the day. And yes, very much a liberal.

[Orange Free State]

15. Nope, born and raised in NYC...

...and grew up in Queens, so I guess he was well qualified to portray Archie, accent and all. He did graduate from the University of Dublin.
I understand thatNorman Lear wanted Mickey Rooney to play Archie Bunker. Would have been different for sure, given Rooney’s leanings. I think he was far right.

[bottomofthehill]

16. I think he was born and raised in Queens

Which is why he was so good at Archie. He was able to draw on a lot of the people and houses he grew up in. He joined the merchant marine in wwII and did not return to Ny after the war

[LeftInTX]

24. I didn't know Maude was Edith's cousin!

I didn't watch TV much back then. (Well I've never watched TV very much)
I remember Maude being on All in the Family, but just assumed she was one of their neighbors.

[angrychair]

9. For his sake I feel we need to stress a point

Carroll O'Connor the person, who played Archie Bunker, was a dyed in the wool liberal. Associating Carroll with the trump ilk is likely enough to raise him from the dead in anger.

I always had a rolling theory that the Carroll’s portrayal of Archie was was one of many of Steven Colbert’s inspiration for his character.

[question everything]

11. Not just for his sake. We should never mix the actors and the characters

which people tend to do.

And as I asked here earlier, shall we boycott them because of their recent actions?

Weinstien has brought great movies to us, often art movies that, were it not for him, we've never seen.

I was thinking specifically of Wind River - about the disappearance of native American women that no one cares. It was really a touching beautiful movie. We saw it last month and, yes, we groaned when the credit rolled at the end and we saw Weinstein's name. And I wonder whether the movie will not be recognized by any award ceremony because of this association.

On the other hand, Gary Cooper has been admired by generations and yet he named names when appearing in front of McCarthy. So I will not watch any of his classic movies.

[lunamagica]

23. I think only a dyed in the wool liberal would have been willing to portray Archie. The character was

such an ignorant and stupid conservative that I doubt any right-leaning actor would have enjoyed the role.

While it is true that there were people who shared Archie's POV, the show made sure to highlight Archie's ignorance and stupidity by having him utter one idiotic line after another. Archie Bunker needed to be played by a liberal who was in on the joke. Carrol O'Connor was the perfect choice to portray Archie Bunker.

[radical noodle]

26. I really believe Archie Bunker

changed some conservative minds. When they heard the stupid stuff they said come out of Archie's mouth and be laughed at, it made those attitudes pretty unpopular. I really think we need another All In The Family show. Stupid Trump voters should be laughed at for their ignorance.

[eShirl]

10. Didn't he eventually take over Kelso's Bar? spinoff

[question everything]

13. That was the spinoff

not when he was ranting and raving, arguing with "Meathead."

[Rhiannon12866]

14. Yes, that was Archie Bunker's Place, the spinoff that lasted four seasons

He took over Kelsey's bar during the last year of All in the Family - and this show continued after Jean Stapleton left the show.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078562/

[lunamagica]

17. May I ask an off-topic question? The other night I saw the Christmas episode

in which Archie invites a friend whose son had been killed in Vietnam, and Michael invited a friend who had fled to Canada to avoid the draft.

My question is, why wasn't Michael drafted?

[David__77]

20. College deferral?

He was in college when the show started. My understanding is that that allowed for deferment at least sometimes.

[lunamagica]

33. Michael's colleege career seemed to be endless. Yeah, he lucked out with that

[Igel]

21. Perhaps deferral.

Or perhaps he simply wasn't drafted.

It wasn't the case that every eligible male who registered was drafted. They had a lottery; days of the year were ordered from first to be drafted to last, by random drawing. Within that, they drew letters of the alphabet to determine order. If your number (birthday) was pulled, then you'd be called up in alphabetical order according to the random drawing.

My brother joined the service in 1966 because he'd be drafted. Turned out that he wouldn't have been drafted after all; his lottery number was so low that he wouldn't have been called up.

(And the real reason: It's a tv show.)

[lunamagica]

31. I did not know that. Thank you

[Canoe52]

39. Your brother would have had a high number, first number called up was 1, then 2....

I was number 85 or so, thought I was going for sure, but they only called up to number 50 something that year. What a relief that was.

[LoveMyCali]

22. He probably had deferrments

because he was a college student.

[lunamagica]

34. I thought the guy was Michael's college friend, but I problably just imagined that. I don't remember

the show mentioning it.

[Canoe52]

38. A lot of men went on to grad school in that time period, in order to keep the college deferment

[Orange Free State]

25. Bone spurs

[lunamagica]

30. ...

[radical noodle]

27. College deferral at first

Then they had baby Joey and that would have given him some way around too. Later they had the lottery, so that could have been the luck of the draw.

[lunamagica]

32. He was pretty lucky

[hexola]

41. Christmas episode - 1976

I assume Meathead had a college deferment....?

[JI7]

18. Trump Supporters are Mainly Bigots Regardless of their Income

[Willie Pep]

28. Yeah there are plenty of well-educated Trump supporters.

Over Christmas I got to listen to some of my Trump-supporting relatives and some of them are well-educated and make good money so not all Trump supporters are blue-collar workers.

[Kablooie]

29. He was a TV actor.

[JHB]

36. Archie was a TV character...

...Carroll O'Connor was the actor.

[padfun]

35. To me, Trump voters are the Jerry Springer crowd.

They are a good portion of the Trump cult.

[AllaN01Bear]

37. He was a dock foreman for the Prendergast Tool and Die Company.

link here
http://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question10873.html

[Mike Nelson]

40. The job...

...question has already been answered. I would only add that the bigotry shown in the character has no one job description. Today, everything about "Archie Bunker" suggests he would favor a Democrat - but he would be a Trump supporter.

I was surprised to speak with a far right relative about the show, recently. I thought he would have hated "All in the Family". No... he loved the show, identified with "Archie" completely, and put-down the "Meathead" and liberals. He saw a completely different show...

[MichMan]

42. Really groundbreaking show

Last edited Wed Dec 27, 2017, 10:43 AM - Edit history (1)

This was a really groundbreaking show that did address many social issues of the time that up to then were considered off limits. Whomever cast the characters was a genius.

While Archie had his flaws and was very opinionated, when you got past his gruff exterior, he had a good heart