Here are twelve more episodes of the antics of Amos, Andy, and the Kingfish, along with guest stars, including Jack Benny, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, and “Wizard of Oz” Frank Morgan.
Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll made their radio debut on January 12, 1926, as the comedic blackface characters Sam ’n’ Henry. On March 19, 1928, they introduced Amos ’n’ Andy, which went on to become one of the most popular and longest-running programs in radio history. During the height of its popularity, almost the entire country tuned in to their adventures.
The characters were members of the Mystic Knights of the Sea Lodge, of which George Stevens was “the Kingfish.” Amos and Andy ran the Fresh-Air Taxi Company, with the more stable, married Amos doing most of the work while Andy chased girls. In 1943, after 4,091 quarter-hour episodes, it switched to a half-hour weekly comedy. Many of the half-hour programs were written by Joe Connelly and Bob Mosher, later the writing team for Leave It to Beaver and The Munsters. Amos ’n’ Andy became a nightly disc-jockey program from 1954 to 1960. It later was the basis for a comic strip, a television show, and a film.
Included here are the following half-hour episodes: “Nieces” (11/04/1933); “Employment Agency” with guests Jack Benny and Eddie “Rochester” Anderson; “DeWitt (11/17/1944); “Cleaning Fluid” with guests Hugh Herbert and Adolphe Menjou (11/14/1944); “Fountain Pen” (12/01/1944); “Brazilian Brass” with guest Frank Morgan (12/08/1944); “Andy Fakes Suicide” (12/15/1944); “Christmas Show” (12/22/1944); “New Year’s Show” (01/29/1944); “Victor Moore Show” with guest Victor Moore (01/05/1945); “George Washington Desk” (01/12/1945); “Adoption Show” (01/19/1945)
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“As a result of its extraordinary popularity, Amos ’n’ Andy profoundly influenced the development of dramatic radio. Working alone in a small studio, Correll and Gosden created an intimate, understated acting style that differed sharply from the broad manner of stage actors—a technique requiring careful voice modulation, especially in the portrayal of multiple characters…Listeners could easily imagine that they were in the taxicab office, listening to the conversation of close friends. The result was a uniquely absorbing experience for listeners, who, in radio’s short history, had never heard anything quite like Amos ’n’ Andy…The series celebrated the virtues of friendship, persistence, hard work, and common sense, and as the years passed and the characterizations were refined…Above all, Correll and Gosden were gifted dramatists.”
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Elizabeth McLeod, author of The Original Amos ’n’ Andy