Top: Tim Moore as George "Kingfish" Stevens.
Bottom: Spencer Williams as Andy Brown (left)
and Alvin Childress as Amos Jones.
June 28, 1951, 75 years ago: After 23 years on radio, Amos 'n' Andy premieres on CBS' television network. When people heard white actors on radio, pretending to be black, they loved it. But when they saw the roles they thought they knew played by actual black actors -- Alvin Childress as Amos Jones, Spencer Williams as Andy Brown, Tim Moore as George "Kingfish" Stevens, and Ernestine Wade as Kingfish's wife Sapphire -- they didn't like it. The NAACP objected as well, saying it indulged in racial stereotypes.
A total of 78 half-hour episodes were eventually produced. Childress and Williams were instructed to keep their voices and speech patterns close as possible to those of the roles' originators, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, respectively. Nevertheless, the show was a bust, lasting just 2 seasons.
Even if the show had succeeded, they would have had to replace Moore after his death in 1958. Williams lived until 1969, Wade until 1983, and Childress until 1986. To the end, though, Childress said he never thought the show was a negative portrayal of black people, because it was the only television show of the time to show them as businessmen, policemen, judges and doctors, rather than in subservient roles such as maids and janitors.
Black actors Redd Foxx and Marla Gibbs, both of whom starred in later sitcoms, emphasized the importance of the show featuring black actors in lead roles and expressed disagreement with the NAACP's objections that had contributed to the program's downfall.
The shows were preserved, and have been released on DVD, so that current viewers may decide for themselves if the show indulged in stereotypes, or was just good clean fun.
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