The Long Reach of Eric Monte: A Writer Who Defined a Decade

It’s tempting to lay the tone of the entire 1970s at the feet of writer Eric Monte (Kenneth Williams, born Christmas Day, 1942). I was a child throughout that decade, and Monte’s creations (acknowledged and unacknowledged) dominated the television airwaves then. His characters were trendsetting. Yet few knew (or know) his name.

Monte grew up in the Chicago projects, then dropped out of high school to do a hitch in the army. His dream since childhood had always been to be a writer. After his service he made his way to L.A., where he befriend Mike Evans, who played Lionel on All in the Family. Monte was hired for Norman Lear’s writing staff, obviously to generate material for Evans and other black characters. It was Monte who fleshed out the story of Lionel’s family, which became its own spinoff show in 1975, The Jeffersons. Monte also claims to have been the person who suggested Redd Foxx to Lear to star in Sanford and Son, his 1972 adaptation of the British sitcom Steptoe and Son, which sounds entirely plausible to me. Who’s the more likely fan of LP records of chitlin’ circuit comedians — Monte or Lear?

In 1974, Monte and Evans cooked up Good Times for Lear. Technically it was a spin-off of Maude. The main character was Florida, Maude Findlay’s maid, played by Esther Rolle. But the show was set in a Chicago housing project, which is quite close to Monte’s own experience. And J.J.’s desire to be an artist cleaves closely to Monte’s own ambition to be a writer. Ironically, Monte’s integrity as an artist had him constantly at loggerheads with the show’s producers, as he aimed constantly for truth and realism about the black experience, and the bosses tacked in the direction of stereotyped shenanigans.

At this stage (50 years ago this year, as it happens), Monte left the Lear organization in order to get his screenplay Cooley High made. It was produced by American International Pictures (AIP) and directed by Michael Schultz, whose biggest credit ’til then was the 1972 tv versions of Lorraine Hansberry’sTo Be Young, Gifted and Black (he would go on direct such films as Car Wash and Greased Lightning with Richard Pryor directly afterward). Cooley High was based on Monte’s own experiences as a teenager in Chicago (Cooley High was a real place). It’s set in 1964, although with the AIP budget, the illusion of time travel is not too convincing. It’s told in the rambling, character-based style that was so popular during those years, from American Graffiti (1973) on the one hand, to Animal House (1978), on the other. Like many films with this structure (Easy Rider, Midnight Cowboy, Scarecrow) it ends with a tragic death.

Made for under a million dollars, Cooley High earned $13 million at the box office, further cementing Monte’s status as an up-and-comer. Two of the cast members went on to other successes that also seemed to burnish his place at the hub of the universe. Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs who played the doomed basketball player Cochise, went directly from this film into the cast of Gabe Kaplan’s Welcome Back, Kotter, which had a very similar setting, an urban high school. Garrett Morris, who played a teacher in Cooley High, went right into the original cast of Saturday Night Live. (Glynn Turman, who played Monte’s alter ego “Preach”, later went on to star on such things as A Different World and The Wire).

In 1976, Monte was hired by Fred Silverman to turn Cooley High into a sit-com. The first attempt to literally adapt the characters and setting of the film for TV wasn’t successful with audiences, so they updated the concept and set it in latter-day South Central as the show What’s Happening!! (later revived as What’s Happening Now!!) This too was a hit that lasted until the end of the decade. That same year, Good Times was adapted for British television as The Fosters, starring a young Lenny Henry.

1977 was the year fate took a turn however. Monte decided to sue Lear and his associated producers and executives for stealing his ideas, characters, and stories. He eventually won the suit, but it was a pyrrhic victory. His name was now mud in the business, and he was able to land very little work in television after this. His remaining credits include a story idea for Benson in 1982, and scripts for The Wayans Brothers and Moesha nearly 20 years later. From the point of view of justice, Monte was not in the wrong, but the fact remains in show business that producers have all the power, and they exploit writers (of all colors) morning, noon, and night every day of the week. It stinks, but most writers decide to suck it up and nurse ulcers or whatever rather than take on the entire system…in order to avoid a fate just like Monte’s. Even if they band together, writers’ strikes can only accomplish so much. Ideas are intangible things. How do you prove it came out of your brain? Sometimes there’s paperwork to support your claim, but even then it’s an easy matter for a producer to change minor details and claim the inspiration as his own.

After the lawsuit, Monte developed substance abuse problems, ran out of money, and was reduced to homelessness for a time. He subsequently pulled himself together, and today he continues to write and hawk his scripts. The recent revival of interest in Lear’s work (the 2017 revival of One Day a Time; the live TV productions of episodes of All in the Family, The Jeffersons, and Good Times in 2019; Lear’s death last year; and a new animated version of Good Times) have resulted in renewed attention paid to Monte himself. There was, for example, a long-form interview with on the Youtube show Comedy Hype a few months ago. And you can follow him on Instagram! In fact, please do! He deserves it!