January 12, 1926, the two-man comedy series Sam n Henry debuts on Chicagos WGN radio station. Two years later, after changing its name to Amos n Andy, the show became one of the most popular radio programs in American history. Though the creators and the stars of the new radio program, Freeman Gosden and Charles Carrell, were both white, the characters they played were two black men from the Deep South who moved to Chicago to seek their fortunes. By that time, white actors performing in dark stage makeup--or blackface--had been a significant tradition in American theater for over 100 years. Gosden and Carrell, both vaudeville performers, were doing a Chicago comedy act in blackface when an employee at the Chicago Tribune suggested they create a radio show. When Sam n Henry debuted in January 1926, it became an immediate hit. In 1928, Gosden and Carrell took their act to a rival station, the Chicago Daily News WMAQ. When they discovered WGN owned the rights to their characters names, they simply changed them. As their new contract gave Gosden and Carrell the right to syndicate the program, the popularity of Amos n Andy soon exploded. Over the next 22 years, the show would become the highest-rated comedy in radio history, attracting more than 40 million listeners. By 1951, when Amos n Andy came to television, changing attitudes about race and concerns about racism had virtually wiped out the practice of blackface. With Alvin Childress and Spencer Williams taking over for Gosden and Carrell, the show was the first TV series to feature an all-black cast and the only one of its kind for the next 20 years. This did not stop African-American advocacy groups and eventually the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) from criticizing both the radio and TV versions of Amos n Andy for promoting racial stereotypes. These protests led to the TV shows cancellation in 1953. The final radio broadcast of Amos n Andy aired on November 25, 1960. The following year, Gosden and Carrell created a short-lived TV sequel called Calvin and the Colonel. This time, they avoided controversy by replacing the human characters with an animated fox and bear. The show was canceled after one season.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 03:53:33 +0000
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