AMOS AND ANDY TV SERIES MOVIE
AMOS AND ANDY TV SERIES PROFESSIONAL
AMOS AND ANDY TV SERIES SERIES
AMOS AND ANDY TV SERIES TV

Not to mention the fact that the show was an extremely popular American phenomenon demonstrating the enduring appeal of the minstrel shows even though the format of the it changed. The ambiguity of the minstrel show is left behind too because like you can see in the picture at the top, the actors would appear in blackface as their characters like the minstrel shows but would later go on to comment that they felt their show did not a negative depictions of African Americans.

AMOS AND ANDY TV SERIES TV

Yet, while the TV show was protested against and cancelled, the radio show continued to play in the background. It also reflected the shifting dynamics of the country because of the way the NAACP was able to successfully protest against the TV show and get the network to cancel it. 3Īmos ‘n Andy was a good example of the legacy minstrelsy has left behind in this country. This is direct evidence of the changing role and acceptance outlined in our readings and seen in the culture as mentioned by Stephen Johnson when he talks about the blackface appearance of Pat Paulsen that never aired.

AMOS AND ANDY TV SERIES SERIES

The show was short lived because of a formal protest by the NAACP who felt the show was a series of racist portrayals that were contributing to a negative opinion of African Americans. The TV show that was on air from 1951-1953 featured an African American cast who, although they may not have been using actual blackface but were instructed to keep to the dialect and voices of the original actors thus creating a form of virtual blackface. Lightin walks to the side of the four inch thick 'building' and remarks ' This sure is a thin house Mr. Andy opens the front door walks through and is immediately behind the 'house'. Alvin Childress as Amos Jones (left), Tim Moore as George “Kingfish” Stevens (center), and Spencer Williams as Andrew Hogg Brown (right) Favorite moments : Kingfish sells Andy a house that is no more than a scenic prop front. They were both naive bumpkins who were prone to mishaps and general buffoonery.Ĭast of Amos ’n’ Andy. The clearest example of the legacy of minstrelsy in the show was the way humor was manufactured: the actors used dialect and slapstick comedy for laughs, the two main characters were two forms of the stereotypical characters that had appeared on so many minstrel shows. In fact, the two actors on the show were two of the highest people paid in the years of the Depression. It was an immensely popular show that ran for years, even through the Great Depression.

It was a direct legacy of minstrel shows in more ways than one.

AMOS AND ANDY TV SERIES MOVIE

There were a number of other plays and even at least one movie that I found inspired by those characters along with a number of commercial items like toys and buttons.Īmos ‘n’ Andy relied on the humor and formula that had worked in the not-so-distant past in minstrel shows. All told, the radio show ran in some form (nightly or weekly) for a total of 32 years from 1928 to 1960. 2 which should give a hint to the idea that these shows were the offspring of the minstrel tradition. Other shows were called Burnt Cork Review, Aunt Jemima and Plantation Party. Within a few years and a name change the show was broadcasted nationally and eventually became the most popular show of its kind.

Written and performed by two white actors, Amos ‘n’ Andy started as a regional Chicago radio show named Sam ‘n’ Henry. In a preface written especially for this new edition of his acclaimed classic, Ely shows how white and black responses to his Adventures of Amos 'n' Andy since 1991 tell a revealing story of their own about racial hopes and fears at the turn of the twenty-first century.Charles Correll and Freeman Gosden in blackface as “Amos” and “Andy”. Eventually, the pair stir further controversy when they bring their show to television. Not exactly a black cinema classic, but an hours worth of fun, and a good example of what can be done on almost no budget.

AMOS AND ANDY TV SERIES PROFESSIONAL

Melvin Patrick Ely unveils a fascinating tale of America's shifting color line, in which two professional directors of blackface minstrel shows manage to produce a series so rich and complex that it wins admirers ranging from ultra-racists to outspoken racial egalitarians.

Meanwhile, some angry African Americans demanded that Amos 'n' Andy be banned, even as others gathered in the barbershops and radio stores of Harlem to chuckle over the adventures of Amos, Andy, and the Kingfish. Its been considered beyond the pale since I was a little kid. Forty million Americans indulged in a national obsession in 1930: they eagerly tuned in Amos 'n' Andy, the nightly radio comedy in which a pair of white actors portrayed the adventures of two black men making a new life in the big city. Same with the Fifties TV version, which (unlike the radio show) starred black actors.

Amos and andy tv series