Check and Double Check

Typical Amos 'n Andy story-line has the boys trying to make a go of their "open-air" taxi business while they get caught up in a society hassle.

It involves driving musicians to a fancy party.

All the regular characters are here (or mentioned), including the famous Mystic Knights of the Sea.

The only film appearance of radio's long-running characters.

Guess the movie didn't make much money since there wasn't another. I've only heard bits and pieces of the radio show, but I have the entire TV series on DVD. The TV series is hysterical and anyone who thinks it's somehow racist, is nuts.

This movie, on the other hand is a whole different deal. Amos and Andy are white in black face. It's really odd to watch that these days.

Plus, it's just not a good film.

Just why is it that people are offended at Amos and Andy today? It can't be the jokes, the bad grammar, the ignorance. I can show examples of that in a whole lot of films without a black face in them. I do remember as a kid seeing the television version of Amos and Andy and later on watching such shows as Sanford and Son and Good Times, I'd be hard pressed to see the difference in the humor.

But you have to see Check and Doublecheck and realize that it was a pair of white ex-vaudevillians who were playing these characters. And playing them servile. Note right at the beginning of the film as the Fresh Air Taxi was holding up traffic and a cop asks them to move along. Note the tone he takes with them and note the "yassuh" response that both of them give. Later on Amos and Andy are busy reminiscing about the good old days on the plantation back in Georgia before they came to Harlem. Back in Georgia dealing with Klan and lucky to be making enough money to exist on as sharecroppers. Of course you know they're going to help the son of the old plantation owner.

The plot as it is Check and Doublecheck has the son of that former plantation owner previously described looking for the deed to an old abandoned house in Harlem so he can claim title, sell it, and be rich enough to marry his intended. His path crossed that of Amos and Andy who are on a kind of treasure hunt for their Mystic Knights of the Sea Lodge. The intended bride is played by Sue Carol who left acting to become an agent and her most famous client was her fourth and last husband Alan Ladd.

Also in the film are Duke Ellington and his Orchestra. Ellington made his screen debut here and he played himself in several films after this. For that reason this film should be seen, to hear one of the great jazz bands of the last century.

The premise they bring Ellington in is in itself ridiculous. Remember this film is made in 1930 and while Ellington played at Harlem's Cotton Club he didn't get too many bookings at Westchester society parties. But that's what this film would have you believe. That crowd would have more likely hired Leo Reisman or Ray Noble. And of course the band gets there via The Fresh Air Taxi Company.

Singing with the band are The Rhythm Boys, recently detached from Paul Whiteman's Orchestra which included their lead singer Bing Crosby. According to Gary Giddins recent biography of Crosby, Ellington was dissatisfied with the vocal group he had and had RKO hire the Rhythm Boys to sing offstage while three black performers lipsynched. That is one ironic twist of fate. Later on Bing and his partners, Al Rinker and Harry Barris recorded their song from this film Three Little Words with Duke Ellington's orchestra which was a mega hit back in the day.

Even with a hit song coming from this film, Check and Doublecheck created no big demand for Amos and Andy films. Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll stayed on radio for another 25 years with their characters. Maybe just as well they only made one more film appearance in the all star Big Broadcast of 1936.

This early talkie featuring the apparently hugely popular comic act of Amos and Andy would no doubt outrage many of today's enlightened folk, but I don't really want to get into that other than to say that this film at least has worth as a social document. The comedy isn't really particularly funny - not because of any 'bad taste in the mouth' left by the brand of humour, but simply because the standard of the writing isn't that great. Freeman F. Gosden and Charles J. Correll are quite good at what they do, and there's an amiability about their relationship that is clearly a result of the way their characters must have developed during their radio years. A curiosity, for sure, but perfectly forgettable.

This was an attempt to bring the radio sensations Amos & Andy to the big screen, from director Melville W. Brown and RKO. The overly-convoluted and sloppy plot concerns young Richard Williams (Charles Morton), just up from down south to visit some old family friends in New York, and to see about a possible inheritance that will help set him up in life. This becomes even more important when he falls for the daughter of the family friends, Jean Blair (Sue Carol). Meanwhile, two inept Harlem taxi cab proprietors, Amos (Freeman F. Gosden) and Andy (Charles J. Correll) are sent by their social lodge to a creepy abandoned house to fulfill an annual obligation concerning the memory of their order's founder. They run afoul of a shady character (Ralf Harolde) after Richard's inheritance. Also featuring Russ Powell as the Kingfish.

This is of course the infamous, original incarnation of Amos and Andy, with white actors Gosden and Correll in black face playing the leading roles. They aren't as mean spirited as some of the other caricatures of the time, but it's a sad sight, nonetheless. The decision was also made to have all other black characters with a speaking part also be white people in black face, although extras were cast with actual black performers. The nature of Amos and Andy is enough of a drawback, but what really killed this for me was that it is just not funny in the least. Actors like Willie Best and Mantan Moreland could often be hilarious despite the insensitive portrayal of their characters. But the comedy here is non-existent. The "old dark house" set-up seems tacked-on and unexploited for the inherent comedy, and none of the supporting players are very good at all, either. Gosden was said to have been unhappy with how the film turned out, and there were no other Amos and Andy features. This is surprising since the film was extremely profitable, and was the biggest hit in RKO's history until King Kong.

The movie does feature one stand-out scene of Duke Ellington's band performing some songs (even using Bing Crosby's voice for one). It raised the entire film's rating by one star, in my humble opinion.

CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK (Radio Pictures, 1930), directed by Melville Brown, marks the feature movie debut of radio comedians, Amos 'N Andy (by arrangement with the National Broadcasting Company). Introduced in 1928, the characters of Amos and Andy were the rage of the radio airwaves, and what better way to get to see as well as hear them than on the motion picture screen. Though Amos and Andy were black taxicab drivers from Georgia living in the Harlem district of New York City, these characters were actually performed by white actors, Freeman F. Gosdon (Amos) and Charles V. Correll (Andy) convincingly playing blacks speaking in Negro dialect. CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK mixes comedy routines between Amos and Andy along with an extended sub-plot revolving around a socialite white family of Westchester County.

The story opens on a New York City street during a traffic jam where John Blair (Edward Martindel) and his wife (Irene Rich) await patiently in their limousine while on their way to pick up a family friend, Richard Williams (Charles Morton) at Pennsylvania Station. Holding up a line of cars is the run-down Model T cab by owners of the Fresh Air Taxi Company, Amos (Freeman F, Gosden) and Andy Brown (Charles V. Correll). Obtaining a taxi leading to the Blair estate in Hartsdale, New York, Charles meets with the Blair daughter, Joan (Sue Carol), whom he had seen since childhood, horse riding with her suitor, Ralph Crawford (Ralf Harolde). Ralph becomes jealous of their relationship and schemes on keeping them apart. Later, the Blairs hire Duke Ellington and his Cotton Orchestra to perform at their social function, but arrive two hours late due to their slow taxi transport by none other than Amos and Andy. "Check and Double Check" finally serves its title purpose as Amos and Andy attend their lodge club, "The Mystic Knights of the Sea." Their fraternity brother and mystic leader, Kingfish (Russell Powell), selects them as to spend the night in an old abandoned estate in Harlem acting as night watchmen and locate a piece of paper labeled "Check and Double Check," that's to be returned to the lodge the following morning. While the home has a reputation for being haunted, Amos and Andy are unaware the noises are being made by Ralph and assistant searching for an unclaimed deed of Richard's deceased grandfather needed in order for Ricjhard to marry Joan. Roscoe Ates (Roscoe); and Rita LaRoy (Elinor, Ralph's sister) are also seen in the cast. While Amos and Andy's girlfriends, Ruby Taylor and Madame Queen, are discussed, they do not appear.

Anyone familiar with the television series, "The Amos and Andy Show" (1951-1953), would be disappointed by this sole motion picture venture based on the same radio characters. Being an early talkie, certain sequences are drawn-out and stiffly played. Much of the story devotes more time on the Blair family than on Amos and Andy. Although there's no singers, the Blair function does present Duke Ellington's Band playing the hit tune to Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby's classic, "Three Little Words." Ellington, unfortunately, is glimpsed piano playing either by back of head or side facial profile, only gets his facial view in long shot.

With Hal Roach having Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, and RKO Radio having Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey, the same studio (RKO) gambled on the success by acquiring another comedy team, Amos and Andy. Reportedly successful in 1930, with viewers getting a full glimpse of the popular dual, interestingly there were no future follow-up Amos and Andy features nor comedy shorts. They did appear on screen once more, doing a guest spot in THE BIG BROADCAST OF 1936 (Paramount, 1935). As it appears, Amos and Andy were probably more popular and funnier on radio than on the silver screen. When Amos and Andy were transferred to television, the two-season comedy series featured natural black actors (Alvin Childress and Spencer Williams) in their title roles, yet they were mostly secondary players to its actual star of that program, Kingfish (wonderfully played by the scene-stealing Tim Moore).

Though Amos and Andy could be said to be black replicas to Laurel and Hardy, with Amos the thin and sensible partner to Amos's fat, loafing, cigar smoking character sitting back to think while Amos does all the work, their comedy routines include mix-up telephone conversation, their new math method with Kingfish; tire changing, and race against time taxi driving to Pennsylvania Station, which unfortunately lacks comedy scoring and obviously staged in front of a rear projection screen.

Who knows if CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK might have stood the test of time had Amos and Andy been played by actual black actors as Sam McDaniel and Clarence Muse, as opposed to white actors in blackface. Yet with them doing the same exact thing might still stir up controversy by the way how blacks obtain laughter rather than getting laughter.

Having turned up on television around 1979, CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK, a public domain title, did become available on video cassette (1980s) and years later on DVD. It has turned up sparingly on cable television's Turner Classic Movies, notably in 2006 as part of its subject matter, "Black Images on Film." As in 1930, this comedy would be seen today more as a curiosity than a comedy classic. (**)