"Amos 'n Andy" was an extremely popular radio and television show that is all but forgotten today. Why? Well, back in the radio days, the parts were all played by white actors pretending to be VERY stereotypical black men...and I am sure some folks were horrified by it. Then, in the early 50s, they decided to bring the show to TV but realized they needed to find a new, all black cast*. These TV shows were later attacked in the late 50s and 60s...not so much because the shows were obviously racist but because they were among the ONLY images on television...and the leads in the show were pretty much idiots. I can understand the concerns and am glad such images would later become the exception...not the rule. Because of this controversy, the show hasn't been shown on TV in decades and it's difficult to find the show even on video or DVD. Fortunately, I was able to recently get a DVD collection of the shows...and they are quite funny when understood in their context.
In "Father by Proxy", Andy (Spencer Williams) is a cab driver who picks up a pregnant woman who is in labor. After dropping her off, the staff at the hospital think he's the father...and the mother is so out of it, she believes it as well!! This is a problem because Andy is engaged...and he asks Calhoun to help him to that he doesn't get in trouble for something he never even did!
The dilemma in this episode is NOT complicated and easy to sort out...yet these guys seemed amazingly worried about it. But I did like that Andy and his friends, Calhoun and Kingfish, all got into the idea of being surrogate dads...it was pretty cute! Overall, not a hilarious episode but a cute and enjoyable one. Rather cute.
*In the early 1930s, the white voice actors made a movie, "Check and Double Check", and they appeared in black-face...which, today, most everyone would agree is pretty awful. Don't bother looking for it...it's not the least bit funny either.
In "Father by Proxy", Andy (Spencer Williams) is a cab driver who picks up a pregnant woman who is in labor. After dropping her off, the staff at the hospital think he's the father...and the mother is so out of it, she believes it as well!! This is a problem because Andy is engaged...and he asks Calhoun to help him to that he doesn't get in trouble for something he never even did!
The dilemma in this episode is NOT complicated and easy to sort out...yet these guys seemed amazingly worried about it. But I did like that Andy and his friends, Calhoun and Kingfish, all got into the idea of being surrogate dads...it was pretty cute! Overall, not a hilarious episode but a cute and enjoyable one. Rather cute.
*In the early 1930s, the white voice actors made a movie, "Check and Double Check", and they appeared in black-face...which, today, most everyone would agree is pretty awful. Don't bother looking for it...it's not the least bit funny either.
