Was Amos and Andy ever syndicated it's original run? I have never seen this show before. Is it any good? Was this show ever considered racist?

Also, I saw a few episodes of a TV show called "Beulah." Does anybody remember that? I'm sure that will never be on TV again although it was entertaining from what I saw of it.

"Amos & Andy" was pulled from the air in 1966 &, sadly, :( hasn't been seen on TV since, because some people consider it "racist".

Although, I just found out recently, it's availible on VHS and DVD and has been for years. And I'm glad. I've heard their radio show, and it's REALLY funny! :lol:

There is a documentary on Amos and Andy that airs on cable every few months, on TRIO and sometimes on BET--- I think its called ANATOMY OF A CONTROVERSY, it features rare interviews and is really cool, i forgot to tape it last time... it often airs during Black History Month so check it out next time! :crazy:

It airs sometimes on my local channel, but the episodes are not remastered and look really shotty.

I heard the Thanksgiving radio program which I thought was funny...I also liked Rochester from the Jack Benny show...I don't see where the stereotyping is.... the weren't any racial remarks that I'm aware of.

....1966 when CBS Films, Inc. (the syndication arm of CBS) withdrew all 78 episodes of the show from syndication [along with a few other "forgotten" series, including "MAMA" and "MY FAVORITE HUSBAND"], officially claiming that some of their black & white inventory weren't being watched in the age of color [of course, we all know the real "color" reason as to why "THE AMOS 'N' ANDY SHOW" was pulled off the market]...but that didn't stop them from syndicating "I LOVE LUCY" the following year!

I really do not think that Amos and Andy was on in Syndicated.

I really do not think that Amos and Andy was on in Syndicated.
It was syndicated until 1966.

...from the fall of 1953 until the summer of 1966. In fact, WCBS-TV in New York was the first station to show it locally in New York for a few years. Eventually, WPIX-TV in N.Y. got the rights to it, and ran it until the early '60s.

Yes it ran on WCBS-TV on friday nights at 8;30,, the sponsor being Blatz beer, the "beer that made Milwaukee famous? I have the entire series and still look at them, priceless stuff. The first episode was "the rare coin", and still one of my favorites. At the beginning of the shows, Gosden and Corell came on stage and thanked the loyal listeners for the almost 25 years of loyalty and then asked the audience to close their eyes and think of what they thought the Kingfish would look like. He we searched all over the states to find Tim Moore and here he is. Moore came out, thumbs in the lapels and said Holy Mackeral". Everyone cheered. He then brought out Spencer Williams, who played Andrew H. Brown and had that look of bewilderment. Great show. Only item I missed was a character who was in the radio show, called Shorty the barber. Always gave me a laugh.

FDR would not give his fireside chats when Amos & Andy was on as he said, he knew who they would listen to. I have on cd in mp3 format from 1967-1975 interviews by a Richard Lampowrski with at the time old time radio stores still alive. Of the 50 one is with Charles Corell, talking of the old days.

Harvey

....."THE AMOS 'N' ANDY SHOW" was on the full CBS-TV network THURSDAY nights at 8:30pm(et) from June 1951 through June of '53 {WCBS-TV was the flagship New York affiliate that carried the show there, and later showed the syndicated repeats locally for a few years afterward}...and it was indeed sponsored by Blatz Beer ["Milwaukee's Finest Beer"]...their jingle at the time went like this (as performed acapella on the show during the commercials by the Jeff Alexander Chorus):

"I'm from Milwaukee, and I oughta know,
It's BLATZ, BLATZ, BLATZ, BLATZ, wherever you go!
BLATZ is the name you will always hear,
BLATZ is Milwaukee's finest beer!!!"

(SCHLITZ was "The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous"...and it eventually outsold Blatz, which is no longer in business!)

I saw "The Rare Coin"...it was just as good as the original radio version [almost all of the TV scripts were adapted from the radio show]. That special opening was "kinescoped"- it was taken from a closed-circuit broadcast that Gosden & Correll had made especially for CBS, introducing the TV cast to a live audience before they saw the actual epsiode on film; their reactions on
seeing it became the "laugh track" used in the finished episode the network aired.

I remembered a good part of it but then again, you get old and poof. Wonderful cast with maybe the excption of Alvin Childress as Amos. Small part and could have been played by many. When the show first aired on radio it was supposed to feature Amos but the Kingfish eventually took over. At the time I don't believe anyone thought of it as a racist show, nor did the stars as they happy to have work but when you look at it now, it appears to be somewhat different. The dialect is of the uneducated. Kingfish never worked a day in his life, Andy was basically dumb, Calhoun was a shyster lawyer, Lightin! was a Stepid Fethit character, and the women? Sapphire was a shrew and her mother was a meddlesome sort. Amos was the only one with a job and a certain degree of common sense. Still a very funny show, never to be repeated.

Harvey

Yes it ran on WCBS-TV on friday nights at 8;30,, the sponsor being Blatz beer, the "beer that made Milwaukee famous? I have the entire series and still look at them, priceless stuff.

Harvey

Are you saying that you have every episode produced (78) or every episode currently available? (72) To the very best of my knowledge, nobody outside of CBS has all 78.

Id never watch it anyway....ive heard parts of the old radio show and they made me wince!!!

Id never watch it anyway....ive heard parts of the old radio show and they made me wince!!!

What was it about the radio show that made you wince? If you're passing judgment on the tv series based on what little you've heard from the radio program then you're really missing out.

.....almost all of the TV scripts, as I've mentioned before, were adapted from the original radio scripts, sligtly rewritten for more visual gags and impact. They may have been funnier than the radio versions.....

.....almost all of the TV scripts, as I've mentioned before, were adapted from the original radio scripts, sligtly rewritten for more visual gags and impact. They may have been funnier than the radio versions.....

You're making it sound as if I know nothing about the tv series when in fact I happen to be an authority on it. I will admit that I've heard only a few of the radio programs & I knew that some of the tv scripts were based on the radio shows. The point I was trying to get across is that it's not fair to judge the tv version by the radio version without watching it first simply because of the facts that you have pointed out.

With TV coming int o focus in the late 40's, the suits had to fill time slots. This was done wioth old movies, some original programing, and the easiest of all, that being to adept popular radio progrmas to the little screen. Of course there was Ozzie & Harriet, You bet your life, Boston Blackie, Hopalong Cassidy, and of course Amos & Andy. Rather then write new scripts it was a hell of a lot simpler to use existing scripts and in amos & Andy's case insert sigh gags.

Don't know the persistance on the fact old scripts were use. All shows from radio did the same thing.

Harvey:)

....I didn't know you were one of the few people who saw virtually every episode of the TV series. {even I haven't!!}

You probably know about "CALVIN & THE COLONEL", Gosden & Correll's
"funny animal" version of "Amos & Andy" (ABC, 1961-'62), which AGAIN used adaptations of some of the original radio scripts [by Connellly & Mosher] from the early 1950's!

It really isn't a big deal to see all of the existing episodes. I believe about 72 of the 78 survived and I have them as many do on a 16 dvd set. I have watched all the episodes more then once over the years, as have many fans.

It's a shame more the radio shows don't exist. I believe I have slightly over 200 and most have never reached the open market. Again that's typical of OTR. Shadow was on radio for over 20 years and less then 200 have lasted.

Harvey

What was it about the radio show that made you wince? If you're passing judgment on the tv series based on what little you've heard from the radio program then you're really missing out.
it was very racsist , what did you think i meant?

it was very racsist , what did you think i meant?

I wasn't exactly sure what you meant but I thought the racsism might have something to do with it. I have admitted to not being too familiar with the radio series & in fact, it's been at least 20 years or longer since i've heard it. For those of you that have heard the radio shows, Why don't some of you enlighten me on how it was racsist. Was the N-word ever used? It certainly wasn't on the tv series. By the way, What's your opinion of other shows that were somewhat racisit? (i.e. All In The Family, Sanford & Son etc...)

I wasn't exactly sure what you meant but I thought the racsism might have something to do with it. I have admitted to not being too familiar with the radio series & in fact, it's been at least 20 years or longer since i've heard it. For those of you that have heard the radio shows, Why don't some of you enlighten me on how it was racsist. Was the N-word ever used? It certainly wasn't on the tv series. By the way, What's your opinion of other shows that were somewhat racisit? (i.e. All In The Family, Sanford & Son etc...)

Well, to be fair, the show was never really intended as a racist screed against African Americans; quite the contrary, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll went out of their way to not intentionally antagonize Black listeners. That's why there are no references to dice, watermelon, fried chicken, straight razors or tap dancing, nor was there any bowing and scraping to any white characters, as the show was set within the Black community.

The problem stems from the fact that, despite their good intentions, Gosden and Correll, and later Joe Connelly, Bob Mosher, Bob Ross, Paul Henning, Jay Sommers, etc., used the old-style minstrel dialect for the principal leads of Andy, Kingfish, Mama, Sapphire and especially Lightnin' (Amos's speech patterns were a bit more standardized, with fewer malopropisms); consequently, people felt the A&A was making fun of Black Americans, and when the tv version appeared, this feeling intensified; the fact that "Amos 'n' Andy" was the ONLY depiction of the Black community at the time didn't help matters.

But to answer your question, no, ethnic slurs were never, and I truly mean NEVER, a part of the show's basic, good-natured humor.

Wonderful Show..I love the radio version..Have alot on MP3.Listen to them all the time.

I have heard the NAACP had it removed from the air because it make black people look bad. Hey many black comedians/entertainers say they loved the show(Redd Fox for one), got a lot of their material from it, and say it should have been left on, as it was great stuff. If the show made black people look bad, well, what about the Three Stooges? There never were more stupid white guys than the Stooges. I never felt they should be removed from TV because it made the white race look bad. It was just plain fun, and good laughs, that's all. Why create something else from it?

...the NAACP was NOT directly responsible for "THE AMOS 'N' ANDY SHOW"'s disappearance from TV screens. CBS, who still owns the rights to the series, officially withdrew it from syndication in 1966, claiming it was "outdated" for modern audiences. The protests from the NAACP and other parties, however, were most likely the REAL reason why the network, except for excerpts seen in documentaries, will never allow the show to be seen again legally. We know that if ANY episodes turn up on home video, a "cease and desist" letter from CBS/VIACOM usually follows the distributor.

:(

I can tell you an experience that happened with me regarding this series. About 7 years ago, My dad mentioned that he would like to see it again and I was able to find a VHS set from a seller in CA. I didn't have a PC at that time and found it through another source.

When I got my PC a year later, I did sell copies on Ebay with no problems as did several other sellers. One morning out of the blue, I received a call from Ebay about selling potentially infringing items and that someone had filed a complaint. Usually when that happens, The seller has their listing ended and is giving a firm but fair warning.

That didn't happen in this case, CBS wasn't the party that turned me in. Although the Ebay rep couldn't elaborate as to who it was for privacy reasons, He did say that it was another Ebay member. I asked him to check their selling activity to see if he was also offering the series and sure enough he was and that he had turned in other sellers as well. We figured that he did this to try and eliminate some of his competition.

I told the Ebay rep that it had been my understanding that the series was now public domain and could legally be sold on Ebay but if that wasn't the case, I would immediately stop selling it if told to do so. He told me that I could keep selling them until they had a cease and desist order from someone at CBS because they had also heard that they were public domain.

3 days later, I got another call from that same rep who told me that because of the controversy surrounding the series and with several sellers offering it, They decided to contact CBS themselves about the situation and this is what I was told:

Someone within the CBS legal dept. verified the fact that it was not in the public domain but even though they had received a numerous amount of letters and Emails asking about an official release, They had no plans to do so because they did not want to have to go through anymore controversy.

The CBS rep told Ebay that they understood that alot of people wanted to see the show again but that since they had no plans to release it, the only way anyone was going to get it was to buy bootleg copies from Ebay and other sources. The Ebay rep was told that the sellers could keep offering it if they chose to do so and was basically told by CBS that they didn't care.

I know all this sounds too good to be true but this show has been sold continuously for years now and no seller that I'm aware of has been kicked off Ebay for doing so. I sold my last set on there about 4 years ago because the quality of my VHS set began to deteriorate. I did obtain a nice dvd set but only for my own use. There's enough people selling them on Ebay now and the prices are so low that it's not worth my time and effort to try and sell them especially when you can get a nice set for under $20.

...the NAACP was NOT directly responsible for "THE AMOS 'N' ANDY SHOW"'s disappearance from TV screens. CBS, who still owns the rights to the series, officially withdrew it from syndication in 1966, claiming it was "outdated" for modern audiences.

:(

Are you really sure about this? I heard for years that CBS had bowed to the pressures of the NAACP and George Kirby even mentions that himself on the Anatomy of a Controversy documentary. Either way, I have to agree with Redd Foxx when he said that it should be given another look from today's perspective as opposed to the 1950's.

That was around 1986 or so and 20 years later, It remains controversial but oddly enough, I have spoken with many people about the series including many African-Americans and not one of them had anything negative to say about it.

Zoneboy, that was very informative, thanks a lot. I bought my complete set off of E-Bay last year. It was a poor quality DVD set. A lot of the shows have start and stop glitches in them. But it didn't stop me from enjoying them.
Andy buys a house is one of my favorites.
I also talked with black co-workers, and they loved the show. They didn't have anything bad to say about it.

Zoneboy, that was very informative, thanks a lot. I bought my complete set off of E-Bay last year. It was a poor quality DVD set. A lot of the shows have start and stop glitches in them. But it didn't stop me from enjoying them.
Andy buys a house is one of my favorites.
I also talked with black co-workers, and they loved the show. They didn't have anything bad to say about it.

How many dvds were in the set? I have a 18 disc set that was really well done. Some episodes are not perfect but still watchable. The pristine ones including the 6 lost episodes are in the CBS vaults where they no doubt will remain.

How many dvds were in the set? I have a 18 disc set that was really well done. Some episodes are not perfect but still watchable. The pristine ones including the 6 lost episodes are in the CBS vaults where they no doubt will remain.


I have 16 in my set. (I seem to remember it was 72 shows, but I could be wrong about that) About 1 show per DVD has glitches. I returned 1 that was completely unwatchable, and he sent me another, and that works reasonably well. I got the complete "The Invaders" DVD set from the same seller, and have the same glitches with that set too.

I have heard the NAACP had it removed from the air because it make black people look bad. Hey many black comedians/entertainers say they loved the show(Redd Fox for one), got a lot of their material from it, and say it should have been left on, as it was great stuff. If the show made black people look bad, well, what about the Three Stooges? There never were more stupid white guys than the Stooges. I never felt they should be removed from TV because it made the white race look bad. It was just plain fun, and good laughs, that's all. Why create something else from it?
from someone who's a HUGE 3 stooges fan, I have to agree with you 100%!

I heard the Thanksgiving radio program which I thought was funny...I also liked Rochester from the Jack Benny show...I don't see where the stereotyping is.... the weren't any racial remarks that I'm aware of.

Back before 1950, many white actors would be on Vaudeville and they would do Minstrel Shows which usually poked fun at the black community at the time. The guys who originally did Amos n' Andy were white and they decided to use black actors for the show because they thought blackface would be inappropriate for TV.

Many Looney Tunes cartoons used the blackface gag (It was basically the South Park of its time.) But many people in Hollywood thought it was just good clean fun and trying not to hurt anyone, but others today may say this....:racist:

(Sorry, couldn't help myself.)