![]() ![]() Movie theaters interrupted films so their patrons would not miss the next installment of the series. Department stores regularly played the program over their loudspeakers. People from all walks of life were enthusiastic fans of the show, including presidents Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933) and Herbert Hoover (1874–1964). Andrew "Hog" Brown was a lazy, shiftless, dim-witted schemer.ĭuring its peak, Amos 'n' Andy claimed some forty million listeners-one third of the nation. Amos was the honest, humble, and intelligent owner of the Fresh-Air Taxicab Company. Like Sam and Henry, Amos and Andy were two poor blacks who had left the South for a better life in the North. On March 19, 1928, they premiered Amos 'n' Andy on Chicago's WMAQ. Although the series was a popular success, Gosden and Correll left WGN after a contract dispute in 1927. Gosden and Correll performed the characters themselves by employing an exaggerated black dialect. The program, titled Sam 'n' Henry, centered on Sam Smith and Henry Johnson, two poor blacks who migrated from Birmingham, Alabama, to Chicago to seek their fortunes. By 1925, the pair had moved to Chicago, Illinois, and were producing a radio show on WGN. They met in 1919 while working for an entertainment company that offered its services to amateur and local theatrical groups. Gosden and Correll were both white performers with roots in the Confederate South. The show also constitutes a prime example of the limited opportunities faced by black entertainers during the first half of the twentieth century. Amos 'n' Andy is now most remembered for perpetuating the stereotypes of black minstrelsy (traveling entertainment). Complaints about its content eventually led to the cancellation of the radio series and the removal of the TV show from syndication. Although the show was extremely popular, many African American groups, led by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), charged that the characters were racist caricatures and demeaning to the black community. (see entry under 1940s-TV and Radio in volume 3) program from 1950 to 1953. The characters later appeared on their own television Created by white performers Charles Correll (1890–1972) and Freeman Gosden (1899–1982), the series revolved around the comedic misadventures of two black characters-Amos Jones and Andrew H. The series, which ran on radio (see entry under 1920s-TV and Radio in volume 2) in several formats from 1928 to 1960, is perhaps the most popular radio series of all time. ![]() Eventually I became a TV writer, working first on ‘Baby Talk’ and then on ‘Blossom’.In the history of American popular culture, no program was both as popular and controversial as the Amos 'n' Andy show. I became inspired to write for television while working on the ‘Tracey Ullman Show’, for which I won an Emmy Award for Set Decorating. ![]() I quickly worked my way up to set decorator, joined the union and continued to work steadily, decorating television series and pilots including ‘The Tracey Ullman Show’, ‘Murphy Brown’ and ‘Carole and Company’ (Carole Burnett). As a set decorator I also worked on mini-series, commercials as well as music videos for Michael Jackson, Madonna, Billy Idol and others. Some of my first jobs included working in the art department on the movies ‘Valley Girls’, To Live and Die in LA’ and ‘Invaders From Mars’. I soon found myself, along with my recently graduated friends, riding the giant wave of the independent film movement and readily finding work in the art department, on films, television series, music videos and commercials. I came to Hollywood in the early 1980s after graduating from the University of Illinois in Fine and Applied Arts, having studied filmmaking and hoping to find work in the “movies” – unsure of what that even meant. Download Set Decorator Resume here: portia-iversen-set-decorator ![]()
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