CDs, DVDs & Books > The Amos 'n' Andy Show (DVD Set)

The Amos 'n' Andy Show
(DVD Set)

The Amos ‘n' Andy radio show was popular in the United States from the 1920s through the 1950s. The show was first broadcast in March of 1928 from WMAQ in Chicago and it went on to become the longest-running radio program in history. Originally called Sam ‘n' Henry, the show was created and written by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll. Gosden, a pioneer in the development of the situation comedy form, teamed up with Correll in 1921 to do radio work, comedy acts, sketches, and to host variety shows. The duo had several successful radio shows before Amos ‘n' Andy. During the early days of the show, Gosden and Correll were the voices for all the main character roles — "Amos," "Andy," "Kingfish," "Lightning," and dozens of other characters. In its later incarnation, these roles were played by other actors, some of whom would go on to star in the television sit-com version from 1951 to 1953. The show was one of the earliest success stories of radio syndication.

Many stations besides WMAQ carried the program using pre-recorded records. The show was moved to NBC in 1929 and the story line was changed to reflect the main characters moving from Chicago to Harlem in New York City, where they were then joined by the rest of the regular characters. The show's popularity gained it many sponsors over the years, including Pepsodent toothpaste, Campbell's soup, Rinso detergent, and the Rexall drugstore chain. By 1931, Amos ‘n' Andyhad an estimated forty million listeners. The show was so popular that movie theaters began the practice of stopping the picture that was playing in order to broadcast the Amos ‘n' Andy show over the sound system. The movie would resume after the fifteen-minute radio show was over. By 1943, Amos ‘n' Andy had evolved into a half-hour, fully dramatized situation comedy and the show continued in that format until 1954. At that time, it was replaced by the Amos 'n' Andy Music Hall, which was a variety show and ran until the end of 1960. Charles Correll died on 26 September 1972 and Freeman Gosden died on 10 December 1982. The show they had created was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1988 and each has a star on Hollywood Boulevard. The Amos ‘n' Andy television show, based on the radio characters created in 1928 by Gosden and Correll, achieved notoriety in the early 1950s as a hilarious comedy with the first all-Black cast. This series was heavily criticized by the some in the Black community for allegedly fostering racial stereotypes and the NAACP even appeared in Federal court unsuc cessfully seeking an injunction against its network premiere. According to the organization's official statement, "Every character is either a clown or a crook. Negro doctors are shown as quacks. Negro lawyers are shown as crooks." CBS finally canceled it after only two seasons partly due to the reluctance of many advertisers to have their products associated with the rising Black civil rights movement and the fear of a White economic backlash. The series went into syndication for about a decade and was sold in 1963 to Kenya and West Nigeria. The Kenyan government banned it shortly thereafter. An attempt was made a year later to air reruns in Chicago, but the resulting storm of controversy was so severe that CBS withdrew the series and it has not been seen on television since. A total of 78 episodes were made, but seven of them have been lost. The picture and sound quality on some of the film deteriorated over the years due to neglect, and some shows survived only because they were rescued from the studio's dumpster by an alert employee.