Beulah

I am charmed and impressed by the arguments of F. Gwynplaine McIntyre, above. (Also charmed by the clever pseudonym--a fan of both Victor Hugo *and* The Munsters, eh?) But honestly...isn't "racist" a little rough and anachronistic when describing an early 50s sitcom? "Racisme" was a obscurantist cant word invented by Stalinists in Paris circa 1946, and it didn't hit the English-speaking world till about 1970.

And even if we translate the word the way Gwynplaine presumably intends--as a stand-in for "prejudiced" or "biased"--the argument is preposterous. Beulah and her ilk were not cringing, shuffling darkies at all. They were proud and capable Negro folk, and in fact much of the routine humor of the series came out of the juxtaposition between their honestly and adeptness, and that of the white folks who lived in parallel. Every time the man of the house got sick, the doctor came over and prescribed a diet of milktoast. You never saw the colored people having to eat milktoast. When the boy in the series wanted help or advice he didn't go to Mr. Milktoast, no, he went to that Negro boxing coach over the fence, the one who dispensed wisdom out the side of his sassy satchel-mouth; or he went to one of Beulah's friends.

Really, it was precisely the same setup as the TV show 'Hazel' a few years later; though of course Hazel was a white American maid and the cast of characters wasn't nearly as colorful (pun not intended--though it brings up a good point: where were all the black people circa 1958-1965?)

I'm white - no real life experience with non-whites until the late 50's and I was born in '46. Though no real life, I watched Amos and Andy and Beulah. What I learned from them, as they were my only contact with the subject, was: there are people with skin darker than mine, they talk slightly differently than my parents and relatives in(state I was born) but a lot like my relatives in (state we moved to just before I turned 6), some are smarter than others, they are more likely to be helpful, most of them are trustworthy (I refer to those not Kingfish/partners in small cons),they have lives like my family and me.

In other words, with only those shows as data, during the time most likely for it to happen, I had no racist beliefs and a quite positive view - which nothing later changed. I understand in the vaguest possible way the NAACP attitude, but, for me, those shows were very positive!! I firmly agree with that Hazel connection - though Hazel was not one of my favorites and Beulah was.

I've picked up a few of these episodes from the internet archive of public domain shows. These episodes star Louise Beavers, and I believe they are from 1952. I can't find a good episode list but according to IMDb there were 3 more Beulahs besides Louise Beavers, including Hattie McDaniel from "Gone with the Wind", Ethel Waters, and Amanda Rudolph all in a 3 year period. Why so many changes? I know Hattie McDaniel died in 52, but I still can't believe a show with so many main character changes, let alone the fact she was black in the 50's would stay on TV. Stranger still I have a spattering of early TV listings from 1952 and 1953, this show is not in any evening lineup. Was this some kind of show syndicated to different markets? Any experts out there can educate me?

Beulah had an incarnation as a radio program before television picked it up. The people who complained about its portrayal of African Americans in a negative manner perhaps did not listen or watch. The white family for whom Beulah worked invariably got into dilemmas they were too dumb to resolve on their own. A basic recurring theme is that they were rescued by Beulah's ingenuity and common sense. McDaniel was a delightful comedienne as she pulled her "family" away from troubles and mischief. Beulah clearly maintained an affection for the benighted family and they appreciated her. McDaniel's reputation was enhanced by this role.

Like Amos And Andy, Beulah started out on radio and started with a white man doing an imitation of a black woman who was a maid. Beulah was a character on a number of radio shows and so popular she eventually got a show of her own.

Early television was mostly radio shows moved over to TV with established public favorites and like Amos And Andy, Beulah now had to be played by a black actress.

One thing about Beulah as you look on the credits you see an ever changing cast of regulars of the white family that employed her Beulah and her friends. Beulah was played by Hattie McDaniel, Ethel Waters, and Louise Beavers and she had as a boyfriend handyman Bill and as her Ethel Mertz the occasionally scatterbrained Oriole.

One thing that remained constant was that Beulah was the wisest one in the house. Always tactful her wisdom got the family out of many a crisis.

Health reasons were why McDaniel quit and other commitments limited Ethel Waters. Louise Beavers finished the series up.

When you come down to it, Beulah was in many ways a black version of Hazel. Or maybe it's the other way around.