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Amos 'n' Andy, a classic American radio sitcom, revolved around a cast of black characters set initially in Chicago and later in the Harlem section of New York City. The radio show, which aired from 1928 to 1960, was created, written, and voiced by two white actors, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll. Gosden portrayed Amos Jones, while Correll brought Andrew Hogg Brown to life, along with various incidental characters. Although the television adaptation from 1951 to 1953 featured black actors in the majority of the roles, white characters were infrequent.
The show debuted as one of the earliest radio comedy series on station WMAQ in Chicago. Following its first broadcast in 1928, it rapidly gained immense popularity, becoming a beloved series first on NBC Radio and later on CBS Radio and Television. Initially, episodes were recorded at the El Mirador Hotel in Palm Springs, California.
Throughout its run, Amos 'n' Andy transitioned from a nightly radio serial (1928-1943) to a weekly situation comedy (1943-1955) and finally to a nightly disc-jockey program (1954-1960). A television adaptation aired on CBS from 1951 to 1953 and continued in syndicated reruns until 1966. However, it wasn't widely broadcasted again until 2012.
Gosden and Correll, both white actors with experience in radio, met in Durham, North Carolina, in 1920. Their path to success included appearances on various radio stations, such as WEBH in Chicago, where they initially received only a free meal as compensation. They aspired to secure stage work but managed to sell some scripts to local bandleader Paul Ash. This opportunity led them to WGN, a radio station owned by the Chicago Tribune, where they became full-time broadcasters. They also signed a recording contract with the Victor Talking Machine Company.
The idea for Amos 'n' Andy emerged when Ben McCanna, an executive at WGN, suggested adapting the popular comic strip "The Gumps" into a serialized radio version. Gosden and Correll, hesitant to imitate female voices required for "The Gumps," proposed a series featuring "a couple of colored characters" instead. Thus, their new show, Sam 'n' Henry, debuted in January 1926 and garnered significant attention from radio listeners in the Midwestern United States. The duo's plan to distribute the show through phonograph records in a pioneering radio syndication concept was rejected by WGN. Consequently, Gosden and Correll left WGN, leading to the conclusion of Sam 'n' Henry in July 1928.
Subsequently, WMAQ, the Chicago Daily News station, recruited Gosden, Correll, and their former WGN announcer Bill Hay to create a series similar to Sam 'n' Henry. The characters Amos and Andy received their names after Gosden and Correll overheard two elderly African-Americans greeting each other with those names in a Chicago elevator. Amos 'n' Andy premiered on WMAQ on March 19, 1928. Before each program aired, Gosden and Correll recorded the show on 78-rpm discs at Marsh Laboratories in Chicago. In the early 1930s, broadcasts were conducted at the El Mirador Hotel in Palm Springs, California.
Throughout the first decade of its nightly series, Amos 'n' Andy featured over 170 male voice characterizations by Gosden and Correll. The show captivated audiences with its episodic drama, suspenseful cliffhangers, and ever-expanding radio audience. It became the first radio program to be syndicated in the United States, with at least 70 other stations carrying recorded episodes by the end of the syndicated run in August 1929.
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