Andy's Gang

Andy's Gang was wild, something like a Saturday-morning Tonight Show for kids, with a rowdy audience howling with laughter or excitement -- although the kids weren't really there. The audience seen at the beginning was stock footage that was constantly reused.

I remember the audience singing a Buster Brown theme song to start the show.

I think it ended, "There's only one kind of gang for me, good old Andy's Gang!"

Andy Devine hollered "Hey kids!" and the crowd roared back. Froggy the Gremlin, a rubber toy, always said, "Hiya, kids, hiya hiya hiya!" He also brought on the film or cartoon when everyone yelled, "Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy!" There was usually a film episode of adventure with Gunga Ram, the mahout (Indian elephant wrangler) or the same actor as a Native American.

There was a black cat named Midnight who purred "Niiiiice" (voiced by June Foray) and a mouse named Squeaky who was played by a hamster. There were also comedy or variety sketches. Vito Scotti often appeared as some kind of "expert" who would do a demonstration for the audience. As Scotti narrated what he was doing Froggy would suggest wildly wrong things, which Scotti would repeat and do and then get upset about.

It was very low-budget, but hey, I was five or so and I loved it.

First of all, this is one "Spinoff" that seems to get more write ups and remembrance than the original. ANDY's GANG was the filmed continuance of the old Radio-TV Series hosted by Smilin' Ed McConnell. It had been known as The Buster Brown Show for some time dating to its earliest days on Radio.

The name was not because it featured old Comic Strip Character, BUSTER BROWN by cartoonist Richard Fenton Outcault, for it did not. But rather, the name came from the Sponsor, The Brown Shoe Company of St. Louis, Missouri. They were manufacturers of The Buster Brown Shoes, the company using the Buster Brown name under license from the copyright owner of the Comic Strip Characters, Buster Brown and his Dog, Tige.

The term "spinoff" is really not appropriate for describing ANDY's GANG as it was essentially the very same series.Let's elaborate on that premise.

Smilin' Ed McConnell had proved himself to be a giant in, not only the Radio Broadcast Business, but also as a Force on Madison Avenue. It has been written elsewhere that from 1942 on, after sponsoring McConnell created and hosted kiddie show, Brown Shoe Company grew at a phenomenal rate. At one point they even designated all of their advertising budget to Smilin' Ed's Show and related items, like comic book give aways of Buster Brown Comic Books, featuring Ed, Midnight, Squeaky and of course, Froggy the Gremlin.

When Smilin' Ed passed away in 1955, what was Brown Shoe to do? Well, for a few seasons anyway, they kept the show going. The answer was simple. They simply cast Andy Devine as new M.C., and inter-cut footage of Andy doing the same old business that Smilin' Ed had done before. The updating was very successful, mainly because so much of the 'Old Show' footage was done in the same way, editing the human M.C.'s on stage action with the audience, or the 'animal' characters (you know Midnight, Squeaky, Froggy).

They even changed the name on the big thick story book from "Smilin' Ed's Stories" to "Andy's Stories". Hence, Andy Devine was shown as leading into the On Going Stories, like Gunga the Elephant Boy*, by 'reading' the intro.

The series continued in reruns on local stations for some time after the deal with Brown Shoe Co., Buster Brown and company had expired.

In retrospect, the replacement of Ed McConnell with Andy Devine, and the celluloid surgery performed has to go down as one of the slickest maneuvers in Broadcast History. And to think that it was an adjunct to one of the greatest advertising/selling giants in History, in our own, nearly forgotten, Smilin' Ed McConnell.

* BUSTER BROWN by R.F. Outcault was a popular comic strip, beginning in 1902 and lasting to 1921. By the time of the show's hey day, Buster Brown was known as a Shoe Brand, the Comic Strip having passed into obscurity.

** The on going story of Gunga Ram (Nino Marcel) and his friend Rama(Vito Scotti) has been called a "Serial", which it wasn't in the usual sense, in that it had chapters with cliff hanging endings. The same Characters were featured in the Movie SABAKA (1954) along with Boris Karloff, Victor Jory and Reginald Denney. It also had the same Writer, Producer and Director in Frank Ferrin.

I loved this show, even before Andy Devine, but especially after he began hosting. I heard rumors, as an adult, that Uncle Ed, host of Uncle Ed's Gang(?), the previous host, did a Face-in-the-Crowd stunt and was instantly unemployed, but I have also read that he died in 1955 of a heart attack, at which time Andy Devine replaced him.

As young as I was, I found it confusing that the "new" host appeared to be on a very old show, old set, and with the same children I had seen the week before. The kids in the audience were unchanged over the years--the same laughing and screaming kids appeared with Andy who had appeared with Uncle Ed! I think those children were filmed in the 40s at a movie theater! Every episode featured two (possibly animatronic) animals. One was Midnight, the cat (who did not meow--he/she uttered a long, rising 'Nice,' whenever the camera was close). The other was Squeakie, the mouse (for some reason, I always want to call him Mousie) who generally made life difficult for Midnight, did not talk, but usually did something 'daring' and distracting while Midnight performed some impossible act (playing the violin, while wearing a tutu, was my favorite, all the while circled by Mousie on a motorcycle).

Froggy made me laugh out loud as he usually bested first Uncle Ed and then Andy, appearing in a puff of smoke after the audience was urged to call out, "Froggy, pluck your magic twanger." (After Ed disappeared, Andy made the call.) Froggy stood on a column to bring him to the level of the host, couldn't be made to do anything he didn't want to do, tricked and manipulated the host in every way possible, and then disappeared in another puff of smoke, to my delight.

Every week we were treated to an episode of "Jungle Boy," (I think that's what it was called). The actor looked a lot like Sabu, but I can't remember the actual name of the serial and its actors--two boys who had adventures in the Indian jungle--sometimes dodging wild elephants and tigers, eventually besting the villain--man or animal.

Even the commercials were fantastic--a little boy and his dog who lived in a shoe--Buster Brown and his dog, Tige, (is that how it's spelled?). The dog looked like it might have been a brindle (hence the Tiger in his name) terrier, boxer, bull dog--something like that. His master, his hair cut in the Buster Brown bob, was always dressed in the classic Buster Brown suit for little boys so popular around the turn of the last century, with the ribbon trimmed hat. I hope I'm not making this up--it's so vivid in my memories. We certainly knew what brand of shoes we wanted when school started! I think I still remember the rhyme with which he began the commercial: "I'm Buster Brown. I live in a shoe! Here's my dog, Tige--he lives here, too!"

Apparently, I was one of very few children who watched early Saturday morning television--I have almost never met anyone who knows what I'm talking about, and I see a lot of disbelieving looks when I describe the show. Only one older adult, who revealed the mystery of Uncle Ed's disappearance, was at all familiar with the show.

I wish they'd show it once more or put it on DVD. The show was the same era as the Susie Snowflake animation that hasn't been seen (by anyone I know) since the 50s--I wonder if these shows exist anywhere.

Just one of those early morning wonderful kid's TV program from the fifties. A mish-mash of old movies series with Andy providing the 'anchor'. Still remember the show clearly...

I was very young when "Andy's Gang" was on TV, but it was a great favorite of mine. I always liked Gunga Ram and his elephant, "Teela," but I always especially remember Froggy saying, "I'll be good, I will, I will!" However, Froggy was very seldom "good." I thought it was really great when Froggy appeared, or vanished, in a flash of light or smoke or whatever-it-was. It is only now that we can see that Froggy was the precursor to Bart Simpson, and that Froggy was subliminally brainwashing us Baby Boomers into rebelling against our parents and the whole Establishment, which came to full fruition in the Vietnam era with all those street demonstrations we remember so well. Oh, come on! Don't believe this? Get some tapes of this show (they have been made and sold) and see if I'm not right! (Also, check out "Froggy the Gremlin" on eBay--those rubber Froggy dolls are selling for hundreds of dollars!) A wonderful nostalgic memory!