AMOS 'N ANDY: ANATOMY OF A CONTROVERSY (TV)

Summary

A television documentary about the origin of the radio and television series "Amos 'n Andy," and the controversy surrounding its portrayal of Africans Americans.

Host George Kirby begins by discussing the origins of "Amos 'n Andy:" in 1926, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll created the first radio show to use a black dialect, "Sam & Henry." Two years later, they would use the same format for the much more popular "Amos 'n Andy," which ran on the radio for almost 25 years. The two of them met in 1919 when Gosden was sent out by his talent company to help Correll with a show he was having difficulty with, and the two soon found that they worked well together as a comic duo. When a radio executive recommended that they create an act based on comic strip characters, they both found that they could speak with a Southern black dialect and decided to create a radio act based around it.

The practice of blackface had been used centuries before "Amos 'n Andy," but it wasn't until the 1920's when black performers began to attain prominence in the United States. After spending four years looking for actors, Correll and Gosden unveiled the cast of the "Amos 'n Andy" television show. It was the first television show to feature an all black cast; Correll and Gosden stressed that their characters were "coming to life" for the television show. At that time, blacks mainly played maids or servants on television, and there were no black producers or directors. Clips from an episode of "Amos 'n Andy" are shown, depicting Kingfish conning Andy into purchasing an apparently useless lot he owns.

Alvin Childress, the actor who played Amos, discusses his audition for the role and recounts his favorite moments. Kirby talks about the actors on the show and offers some information on their performing backgrounds. Ernestine Wade (Sapphire) was originally a cast member on the "Amos 'n Andy" radio show. She recounts joining the show in 1939 when she was hired as a singer for one episode and Gosden was impressed with her impromptu line readings and powerful voice. Kirby expresses his belief that the show would not have worked if it had a white cast.

Kirby interviews others who were influenced by "Amos 'n Andy," such as Marla Gibbs of the television show "The Jeffersons." Gibbs thought that the "Kingfish" character had a "realistic" quality to him behind his blustering. She feels that "Amos 'n Andy" was not canceled because it was a negative portrayal of blacks, but because it was the only portrayal of them on television at the time, and thus offered only a limited view of black culture. Wade notes that because the show was comedic, she doesn't think it should have been taken very seriously. Comedian Redd Foxx shares Wade's sentiment, noting that it didn't intend to hurt anyone and featured a highly exaggerated portrayal of real people.

In 1966, CBS aired the first television show produced by a black person and simultaneously canceled reruns of "Amos 'n Andy," bowing to pressure from groups such as the NAACP. At the time, they felt that blacks needed to have much more careful control of their image on places such as television, and the show's cancellation was a part of that. Reverend Jesse Jackson feels that "Amos 'n Andy" was able to set a precedent which allowed blacks to go into more "dignified" roles on television by demonstrating that blacks could act. He notes that blacks were able to laugh at the roles that the black actors played rather than the image they projected and furthermore muses that the image of blacks in the media has always been a "struggle of balance" between the many aspects of black life. Kirby ends by expanding on this statement, noting that it was possible to enjoy the program without thinking of it as "the epitome of black life." Commercials deleted.

Details

• NETWORK: N/A
• DATE: 1983
• RUNNING TIME: 0:48:10
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: B:37778
• GENRE: Public affairs/documentaries
• SUBJECT HEADING: Public affairs/documentaries; African-American Collection - Comedy
• SERIES RUN: N/A
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• Michael R. Avery … Executive Producer
• Bob Greenberg … Producer, Writer
• Portia E. Iverson … Associate Producer
• Stanley J. Sheff … Director
• George Kirby … Host
• Rich Correll … Cast
• Alvin Childress … Cast
• Ernestine Wade … Cast
• Marla Gibbs … Cast
• Redd Foxx … Cast
• Henry Lee Moon … Cast
• Jesse Jackson … Cast
• Charles Correll
• Freeman Gosden
• Johnny Lee
• Tim Moore