Friday, December 24, 2021

Vintage Cartoon History: "Amos n' Andy" Animation

 

Remember the "Amos n' Andy" Show? but I bet you didn't know about the two cartoons that Van Beuren Studios made about the famous radio and tv series.  January 12, 1926, A two-man comedy radio show “Sam ‘n’ Henry” debuts on Chicago’s WGN radio station. Two years later, it changed its name to “Amos ‘n’ Andy,” the show became one of the most famous radio programs in American history.  While the show had a brief life on 1950s television with black actors, the 1928 to 1960 radio show was created, written and voiced by two White actors, "Freeman Gosden" and "Charles Correll", who played Amos Jones (Gosden) and Andrew Hogg Brown (Correll). Black actors "Alvin Childress" and "Spencer Williams" took over the roles of Gosden and Carrell, the show was the first TV series to feature an all-Black cast and the only one of its kind for the next 20 years. This did not stop African American advocacy groups and eventually the (NAACP) from denouncing both the radio and tv series version. These protests led to the tv show’s series cancellation in 1953.  But you say..."What about the animation cartoons"? Well, there is very little history surrounding the animated cartoons but here is what I could only round up. Van Beuren Studios produce two animated cartoons of the famous radio show in 1933 and 1934..."The Lion Tamer" and "The Rasslin Match". Both cartoon shorts were short lived, but in my in my opinion, it was because Van Beuren Studios closed shortly thereafter (1936) and the cartoons did not fare wellGeorge Stallings was the animator assigned to these cartoons. George Vernon Stallings (No Pic) September 9, 1891 – April 9, 1963, was an American animation director and writer. He started working for Bray Productions in 1916 where he directed the "Colonel Heeza Liar" series of shorts, and the "Krazy Kat" shorts. He invented "the animation disk placed in the center of the drawing board" in the 20s. Its primary use by 1930 was as an aid in inking cels. He then worked for Van Beuren Studios from 1931 through 1934.

 If you have any more history on these animated cartoon shorts or a picture of George Stallings, let me know.  I have one of the cartoons on this blog below.

                               Enjoy ! /BJ 🙈🙉🙊

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