Amos 'n' Andy

Amos 'n' Andy
A 1935 advertisement for the entertainment duo Amos 'n' Andy.
Other namesThe Amos 'n' Andy Show
1943–1955
Amos 'n' Andy's Music Hall
1955–1960
Country of originUnited States
Language(s)English
Home stationWMAQ 670 AM Chicago
NBC Radio
CBS Radio and Television
TV adaptationsThe Amos 'n' Andy Show
1951–1953
Starring
AnnouncerBill Hay[1]
Del Sharbutt[2]
Harlow Wilcox
Carleton KaDell
Art Gilmore
John Lake
Ken Carpenter
Ken Niles[3]
Created by
  • Charles Correll
  • Freeman Gosden
Written by
Original releaseMarch 19, 1928 (1928-03-19) –
November 25, 1960 (1960-11-25)
Opening theme"The Perfect Song"
Sponsored byPepsodent Toothpaste
Campbell's Soup
Rinso
Rexall Drugs

Amos 'n' Andy was an American radio sitcom about black characters, initially set in Chicago then later in the Harlem section of New York City. While the show had a brief life on 1950s television with black actors, the 1928 to 1960 radio show was created, written and voiced by two white actors, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, who played Amos Jones (Gosden) and Andrew Hogg Brown (Correll), as well as incidental characters. On television from 1951–1953, black actors took over the majority of the roles; white characters were infrequent.

Amos 'n' Andy began as one of the first radio comedy series and originated from station WMAQ in Chicago. After the first broadcast in 1928, the show became a hugely popular series, first on NBC Radio and later on CBS Radio and Television. Later episodes were broadcast from the El Mirador Hotel in Palm Springs, California.[4]: 168–71  The show ran as a nightly radio serial (1928–43), as a weekly situation comedy (1943–55) and as a nightly disc-jockey program (1954–60). A television adaptation ran on CBS (1951–53) and continued in syndicated reruns (1954–66). It was not shown to a nationwide audience again until 2012.[5]

  1. ^ "Amos 'n' Andy Illustrated". Midcoast. Archived from the original on December 16, 2004. Retrieved 5 March 2011.
  2. ^ "Del Sharbutt, 90; Radio Announcer and Emcee, Musician, Songwriter". The Los Angeles Times. May 1, 2002.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Radio was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Niemann, Greg (2006). Palm Springs Legends: creation of a desert oasis. San Diego, CA: Sunbelt Publications. p. 286. ISBN 978-0-932653-74-1. OCLC 61211290. (here for Table of Contents)
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference mc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).