Amos 'n' Andy: Anatomy of a Controversy

"Amos 'n' Andy" was a phenomenally popular American radio programme, transmitting five days a week from 1929 to 1960! Although this was a comedy series, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll (the actors who wrote the scripts and played all the male voices) had the brilliant idea of using serialised plot lines which continued from one episode to the next. Often, the Friday episode would end with a cliffhanger ... keeping the show's huge listening audience on tenterhooks over the weekend. Nearly all the characters in "Amos 'n' Andy" were Negroes (this being the accepted term at the time). Gosden and Correll, who were white, performed the black characters' voices in a broad minstrel-show dialect with heavy reliance on malapropisms and catchphrases such as "Amos, I'se regusted". Amos 'n' Andy made a few half-hearted movie appearances (featuring Gosden and Correll in blackface), but these were never remotely as popular as the radio series.

For the transition to television, producers Gosden and Correll wisely hired a talented cast of black actors to play their characters. Filmed at the Hal Roach studio in California, the TV show "Amos 'n' Andy" originally aired on CBS from June 1951 to June '53 and was a huge hit, but was yanked off the air under tremendous pressure from the NAACP. "Amos 'n' Andy" was also the very first American sitcom to air in Britain, where the BBC televised it fortnightly from April 1954 to September 1957. I was in Australia at the time, but later my stepfather told me about the tremendous interest which this programme aroused in the mid-1950s among British televiewers, both white and black. Eventually, social pressure led to the 78 television kinescopes of "Amos 'n' Andy" being suppressed for more than 20 years.

Was "Amos 'n' Andy" racist? The dialogue and situations in the TV series were slightly more realistic than the (much cruder) radio version. To its credit, this TV series gave steady employment to some talented African-American actors. Several of my black friends (in America and England) have told me nostalgic tales of how their families eagerly watched this show because (in the 1950s) it was the only TV programme that showed black people who weren't servants. The Negro characters in "Amos 'n' Andy" were businessmen, homeowners and housewives, not shoeshine boys or mammies. (In one episode, Kingfish quotes the Wall Street Journal.) The characters in "Amos 'n' Andy" had unfavourable traits, but they were no worse than white sitcom characters such as Gilligan, Eddie Haskell or Ralph Kramden. In fact, the Raccoon Lodge (in 'The Honeymooners') is clearly inspired by the Mystic Knights of the Sea, the fraternal lodge that inspired so many "Amos 'n' Andy" episodes.

Andy's friend Amos Jones was definitely a positive role model: a hard-working cab driver, a loving husband and father. But these positive traits made him a poor figure for comedy plot lines. In the radio series, Amos (voiced by Gosden) was a major character ... yet when this sitcom moved to television, Amos (now played by black actor Alvin Childress) was demoted to a mere narrator, speaking into the camera at the start of each episode to describe the antics of the more rascally Andy and his lodge brother the Kingfish.

"Amos 'n' Andy: Anatomy of a Controversy" was a TV documentary produced in 1986, timed to mark the release of the TV show's 78 episodes to video. This documentary's television format is painfully obvious: there are crude gaps for commercial breaks every few minutes. The on screen narrator is George Kirby, a very talented African-American actor who had no connexion to the original series, but whose comedy style is firmly in that vaudeville tradition. (Full disclosure: I worked with Kirby in the '70s.) During the first half of this hour-long programme, Kirby gives us a rundown of the TV series, its actors, and the social controversy. Annoyingly, we see NO clips from any of the episodes, nor any interview footage of anyone connected with the TV series. We DO get some irrelevant soundbites from a few black celebrities who offer their opinions of the TV show ... but these are only opinions, from people who have no direct link to the series.

For the second half of this documentary, Kirby announces that we will now see an episode of "Amos 'n' Andy" in its entirety: shown on TV for the first time in more than 20 years! We see the episode in which the Kingfish sells Andy a house ... but the 'house' is actually a flat backdrop left over from a recent movie shoot. It looks good from the front and the back, but it's only half an inch thick. When Andy walks through the front door, he finds himself standing in the back garden!

"Amos 'n' Andy: Anatomy of a Controversy" served a useful purpose in 1986, when most people had heard of this notorious TV series but nobody had seen it for many years. Now that all 78 episodes are available on video, we can make up our minds without this documentary. I'll rate "Anatomy of a Controversy" 1 point out of 10. Here's a trivia note which you WON'T learn from this documentary: Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, the headwriters of the "Amos 'n' Andy" TV show, later created 'Leave It to Beaver' ... a series which was a lot less funny than "Amos 'n' Andy".

The fact that Amos 'n' Andy lasted a few years is a testament within itself because most white series only last one season. Also, the fact that George Kirby came out of Terminal Island Federal Penitentiary, with no one knowing why he went to prison, and took on such a controversial subject matter like "Amos n Andy," when he came out of the penitentiary, is a testament to his courage. None of George Kirby's friends went to visit him at Terminal Island Federal Penitentiary because Redd Foxx said he had a good wife and couldn't understand how George Kirby could go to the penitentiary and not even make any money. It was the same penitentiary that Mickey Cohen went to but Mickey Cohen had made money off of heroin. Carol Speed ran into George Kirby on Hollywood and Vine, in Hollywood, right after he came home and she had dinner with him and his wife and he talked about how he wanted to make people truly understand how important the Amos 'n' Andy Series was to comedy and how he expected Redd Foxx to contribute with his views. Then George Kirby got busy with making Amos 'n' Andy: An Anatomy of A Controversy come into fruition. George Kirby's wife had saved his jewelry and suits so he pulled on his diamonds and became the George Kirby from Chicago that we all loved. The question now is why isn't Amos 'n' Andy: An Anatomy of A Controversy not on DVD. It looks like the same racist reasons why a lot of black films and documentaries are not on DVD.

Amos 'n' Andy: Anatomy of a Controversy (1986)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Interesting if brief documentary about the history of Amos 'n Andy from their radio show to the controversial 1951 CBS show, which was eventually canceled two years into its run due to the NAACP protest. Redd Foxx, Jesse Jackson and various others are interviewed about the show and we see clips from several episodes and I must say that I found the show pretty innocent and at times downright funny. As the host says, Amos and Andy weren't calling each other the "N" word nor was this show meant to be some sort of documentary. The show was made for laughs and as a comedy it worked. Having gone through some of the race films from this period I've gotten a better understand of why some would be offended but I personally can't see the issue with this show. I think it's a damn shame that the NAACP had this show canceled considering there were no other shows to feature a black cast. This was the first and I guess it paid the price as being the first black show. As it states in the documentary, this show put black people to work in front of and behind the camera so to take these jobs away is just downright stupid IMO. Especially when you consider the highest paid black actor was Al Jolson who was white! This documentary runs just under an hour so they never go into great details but there's an interesting story to be told here and hopefully something better will come along. It's funny to note that this show hasn't been seen since 1966 and remains so untouchable today. In fact, CBS has totally washed their hands of the show that they actually gave bootleggers permission to sell the show without any legal issues.

I'm surprised there has not been any other documentary about a television show that I see today as being years ahead of its time. This program tells you only the basics of the history of the legendary television show, but it is enough to make you think.

The show was produced in 1986, involving some of the then-surviving cast. Seeing this show today as I did in a recent rerun on the TRIO network, those voices still speak to us. There are enough clips from the original show to remind you of a time when life was so innocent, when all we can do is just watch a show and laugh without looking at the negative issues that surround this show even to this very day.

This program contains a condensed version of a selected series episode where Kingfish buys what turns out to be a movie lot. Even in its condensed form, this episode is just a little reminder of classic television at its best...this, of course, was before "I Love Lucy" went on the air and became a success of its own.

The narrator, George Kirby, is right...we should see "Amos N' Andy" for what it is...a show that paved the way for the African-American television shows that have followed since the show's original cancellation. Controversy may still keep reruns of the "Amos N' Andy" show off the air, but if everyone in the world followed Mr. Kirby's example, perhaps CBS will change their minds and release it officially on video.

So, to sum it all up, 'guys, what's the problem? Why make a mountain out of a little molehill?' That mountain has grown for almost four decades...let's appreciate "Amos N' Andy" in a positive light.

I highly recommend you see this show the next time it's telecast and judge for yourself.

I am probably correct in assuming that most younger folks have no idea what the "Amos 'n Andy Show" was or why there is a controversy about it. This obscure documentary hosted by George Kirby helps to explain a little bit about this but I'll try to sum it up: Back in the late 1920s, two white guys had a huge hit with the radio version of "Amos 'n Andy". The idea of two white guys doing this is very racist when you think about it, but back in the day folks (black and white) accepted this and the show was one of the most popular of the time. The duo even made a movie ("Check and Double Check")--in black face! It was simply dreadful--unfunny and a bit nasty.

By the 1950s, there was a dilemma. While the radio show was popular, folks were clamoring for a TV version and the network decided to relaunch the show with an all-black cast. And, for two years, the show was very popular and was occasionally seen in syndication into the 1960s. However, by this time, people were not comfortable with the show. After all, two of the main character (Andy and the Kingfish) were amazingly stupid and shiftless--and when the show was on TV, this was one of the only depictions of blacks in America! Now had the show been on when other, more realistic, depictions of blacks been on TV, I doubt that people would have felt so upset--but the only other show with a black main character at the time was "Beulah"--a black maid! Because of this and changing sensitivities in the country, the show was essentially shelved after negative criticism from the likes of the NAACP.

"Anatomy of a Controversy" seems to take the position that the show has been unfairly forgotten--that the black 1950s cast was immensely talented and the show, in itself, wasn't bad. And, it celebrates the talented actors who made the show. To do this, they interview various people and show a highly abbreviated episode of the old show. All in all, it's quite entertaining and compelling. The only real negatives are that the show looks a bit cheaply made and Kirby, inexplicably, does some impersonations that have no place in the show--it's only to show off Kirby's talents as an impressionist. In addition to Kirby, the likes of Jesse Jackson, Redd Foxx and Marla Gibbs all speak their minds about the show--and seemed to recall it very fondly and positively.

Well worth seeing--and an interesting look at our history--politically correct or not.