Just taking a moment here to give a nod
to the legendary “Amos ‘n’ Andy” show, a perennial radio/TV show from 1926 to
1966. It was the highest-rated radio comedy in history.
I watched the syndicated reruns on the
tube in the 1960s. Listen to an early radio segment here.
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| Gosden and Correll |
Amos and Andy were two genial
characters who dabbled in most of life’s experiences. Amos Jones and Andrew
Hogg Brown were black characters, although the creators of the series were two
white radio personalities: Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll. They started
broadcasting the “Sam ‘n’ Henry” show from Chicago in January 1926, and shifted
to the “Amos ‘n’ Andy” format two years later.
Ultimately the show was carried by 70
radio stations nationwide, and attracted 40 million listeners—roughly 1 out of
3 Americans.
Gosden and Correll were skilled
entertainers in the established vaudevillian “blackface” tradition. By the time
the show moved to television in 1951, “blackface” had lost its credibility and
black actors played the roles. Alvin Childress and Spencer Williams play the
two main roles.
The TV version of “Amos ‘n’ Andy” was
the first television production with black actors and would remain the only
opportunity for black acting talent for 20 years.
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| Childress and Williams |
Of course, Gosden and Correll—and even
Childress and Williams—gratuitously portrayed the racial stereotypes that were
commonly accepted in white society at the time. The show was a spectacular
comedic success.
I tried without much success to
ascertain the popularity of “Amos ‘n’ Andy” among black audiences. I found one
reference to a poll (no details on validity) that reported “77 percent of black
New Yorkers” liked the TV show.
Think for a moment about what
entertainment was like before cell phones, iTunes and social media.
Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2016 All
rights reserved.
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