IMDb > "The Amos 'n Andy Show" (1951)

"The Amos 'n Andy Show" (1951) More at IMDbPro »TV series 1951-1953


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Overview

User Rating:
8.9/10   198 votes
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Amos 'n Andy Show on IMDbPro.
Seasons:
Release Date:
28 June 1951 (USA) more
Genre:
Plot:
Stories mostly centered on The Kingfish's schemes to get rich, often by duping his brothers in the Mystic Knights of the Sea Lodge... more
Awards:
Nominated for Primetime Emmy. more
User Comments:
A Bad Rap? more (35 total)

Cast

 (Series Cast Summary - 5 of 42)
Alvin Childress ... Amos Jones (69 episodes, 1951-1953)
Spencer Williams ... Andrew 'Andy' Hogg Brown / ... (69 episodes, 1951-1953)
Tim Moore ... George 'Kingfish' Stevens / ... (69 episodes, 1951-1953)
Johnny Lee ... Algonquin J. Calhoun / ... (48 episodes, 1951-1953)
Ernestine Wade ... Sapphire Stevens (46 episodes, 1951-1953)
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Amos 'n Andy (USA) (short title)
The Adventures of Kingfish (USA) (working title)
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Runtime:
30 min (78 episodes)
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.33 : 1 more
Sound Mix:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Sapphire's mother (Kingfish's mother-in-law) and Madame Queen were played by real-life sisters and veteran actresses Amanda Randolph and Lillian Randolph. more
Quotes:
George 'Kingfish' Stevens: [accepting an award from his lodge brothers] Thank you, brothers; and, in the words of that great American poet Ralph Walnut Emerson, you all has my infernal gratitude. more
Movie Connections:
Featured in TV in Black: The First Fifty Years (2004) (V) more

FAQ

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35 out of 36 people found the following comment useful.
A Bad Rap?, 31 January 2005
Author: schappe1 from N Syracuse NY

I've just watched a documentary on African-Americans on television which showed several clips from "Amos and Andy". It got me thinking about this show that I watched when it was syndicated in our area 40 years ago. For the record I am a middle-class white male, but I don't think it really matters that much. I haven't seen an entire episode in decades but my memories of the show seem to be similar to others so I will trust them. I too, agree that the show has something of a bad rap but I think the reasons why are interesting.

I agree with the several posters who have compared this to "The Honeymooners", which was obviously influenced by it. You have the men out front, not as smart as they think they are, hatching various schemes to make their dreams come true or cover up their missteps while smarter females lecture them for their foolishness when the smoke clears. Things like the lodge they belong to are obvious parallels. If the Honeymooners could be a classic, why couldn't Amos and Andy? The characters are not servants or shoe-shine boys. It's whole black community. I remember noticing that all the characters were black when I was a kid but just regarded it as a peculiarity. If the show taught me anything about blacks is that they are just like everyone else. Is that harmful? I agree that the fact that the series gave black performers jobs is not an "excuse" for racial stereotyping. But just search the IMDb for a look at the actor's careers after this show ended. Spencer Williams's career basically ended. Alvin Childress showed up on Perry Mason as a janitor. Tim Moore was blacklisted, (an ironic term). There's something to be said for employment.

So why is this show linked with Stepin Fetchit or "Rochester" as an example of black stereotyping such that it's been essentially banned from TV for four decades through the efforts of the NAACP, (ironic that Moore was banned by rightists and his show by leftists)? Firstly, while it does present an entire black community, it does use traditional elements of black humor- exaggerated dialects, references to lazy or untrustworthy characters, etc. However the same elements are present in later "black" shows such as "Good Times", which were not banned.

Perhaps a stronger reason was that the show was created and performed on radio by two white men, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, who had appeared on film playing the characters in blackface. That further links the show to racist stereotyping and illustrates that its genesis was certainly in the white man's view of comical black men. However subsequent documentaries have indicated that Gosden and Correll were anything but racists themselves and were respected by their TV counterparts who went on to make the characters their own in a series that was much toned down from the radio show.

I think perhaps the biggest problem with Amos and Andy is that it was the only show that attempted to depict black life in America in the 1950's. Whites had Joe Friday and Paladin and Dr. Kildare, so when they watched Ralph and Ed they didn't look at them as representatives of the white race. They just looked at them as a couple of funny guys. Blacks had no Joe Friday or Paladin or Dr. Kildare so these comic characters became their symbol. When it came time to move on, they were left behind.

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Message Boards

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The funniest show of its time leila2337
What a pity! gjampol
dumb: a sitcom requirement mheckman-1
Remember it from childhood krspas2
amos and andy robertcoopermd
a memory of childhood grammy20035
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