On Amos 'n' Andy, almost every upper crust role was filled by black talent - doctors, teachers, etc.
#Amos and andy tv episodes Pc
Bilko and various cronies, Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton, Bud Abbott & Lou Costello and countless other comic pairs used variations on exactly the same plot device plus others pioneered on Amos 'n' Andy (shrewish in-laws, etc.) - but those shows are considered PC today because the actors were all white. Most of the stories centered around the Kingfish, who loved to devise get-rick-quick schemes, and kind, good-hearted Andy, was was gullible and trusting enough (at first, at least) to fall for them. His greatest moment came in the Christmas episode in which he explained "The Lord's Prayer" to his young daughter, Arabella - a magic moment so poignant that it was actually released as a Columbia 45 RPM record.
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His role on the series was largely as narrator as his life was so exemplary and free of conflict that few story lines could be developed around him. Upright Citizen: a highly respectable family man who loved his wife and daughter and supported them all as an independent taxi driver. So what was the series about? Well, Amos was Mr. One thing nearly all people who find "Amos 'n' Andy" racist have in common is that THEY'VE NEVER SEEN THE SHOW. Just remember that whenever Jack travelled with Eddie Anderson, if an hotel said Eddie couldn't stay there, Jack wouldn't stay there either. Later, when Scotti makes some other lousy gag and Benny exclaims: "That's the worst joke I ever heard," the short member of The Kingston Trio said: "You should have been here for the wetback joke." Jack had not entered yet, so he was spared this awful joke. I was to leave the dry cleaning but bring the wet back." "Someone tried to swim across the reevir?" Scotti is on the phone and taking notes from orders delivered over the phone: "Bring the wetback," he says.īenny Rubin was right on it.
After all, where would they find an actor of Mexican descent in Los Angeles? (Do I need to add that Mel Blanc was a prisoner in the cell with Jack, a lawyer named "Sy," who felt Jack should sue. God forbid an actual Mexican should have snuck onto the set, even as a dress extra.
His deputy was the well-known Hispanic actor Benny Rubin, and their cop was the deeply-Spanish Don Wilson in "swarthy" make-up. The Tiajuana Chief of Police was played by that famous Mexican actor Vitto Scotti with his usual Italian accent. On an episode with The Kingston Trio, they do a lenghthy sketch set in the Tiajuana Jail. Speaking of racist gags on Jack Benny, I've also been watching a ton of Benny on Antennae TV lately, in fact, one I recorded last night is playing as I type this. He was asked how he had first met The Kingfish, and he said: "I was at a carnival and I wanted something to eat, so I reached into my pocket to get my wallet and shook hands with The Kingfish."
#Amos and andy tv episodes trial
The Kingfish was on trial for something or other, and Andy was called to the stand as a character witness. It wasn't until puberty that I began to see what was wrong there. We knew where they were in the kitchen making dinner. It did not occur to me however to wonder where all the black people were when watching other shows. Amos 'n' Andy seemed to take place on a planet without white people, and I knew of no such planet. The only thing that struck me odd as a child was wondering where all the white people were. Bilko was Anti-Semetic, despite his being a Jew who was obssessed with money. But I don't think I ever heard anyone say Sgt. They all had ugly mothers-in-law and shrewish wives, and if there was much difference between The Kingfish and Sgt. Loved this show when I was a wee lad, though I also didn't understand why Amos, a minor character on the TV sreies who didn't even seem to be in every episode, got top billing, and George "Kingfush" Stevens was the whole show, doing routines with Andy that were just modern versions of Sir Toby Belch cheating money out of Sir Andrew Aguecheek's idiot pocket from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, only since those characters are seldom played black, no one calls it racist.Īs a kid, I saw no difference between the funny black people on Amos 'n' Andy and the funny white people on every other show.
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