Musical Comedies Radio Stations Essay - 1,155 words

... he reconstruction period constitutional amendments were passed to assure civil rights and voting rights for former slaves and some blacks were elected members of the House and Senate; Whites wanted to be assured that blacks were still inferior and blackface troupes were not showing this by continuing to hire blacks. Therefore, audiences depleted, and many troupes that had incorporated blacks started to perform on circuits like the "Chicken circuit, " which hit most black owned theaters. Blacks who were part of the troupes started to branch off and start their own troupes. In doing this, they altered the usual blackface performance routine. First, they altered song lyrics, instead of singing songs that downgraded blacks; songsters would play on white fears and mock them.


Many blacks took off the face paint and introduced musical comedies. Black musical comedies made many black performers successful. White already loved black music so the musical comedy fit right into the market. Still many of these comedies were on the circuit, and confined to black theaters. It was not until later that musical comedies were featured on Broadway. When musical comedies appeared on Broadway "Lyles and Miller a very successful team created a whole new approach to the comedies. " (Watkins) They presented at the end of their acts a group of women who danced and sang with the stereotypical attitude many felt black urban women had.


This simple addition astounded Broadway and critics raved. Eventually, every black troupe evolved to use this form. Black Musical Comedies took blacks to another level of comedy yet, they were unable to shake the sambo stereotypical image given to them by white blackface performers. "Licensed radio was introduced in 1920, because of the low budget and inadequate facilities, news shows and music provided by local groups dominated the airwaves. By 1922, there were over 522 licensed stations and radio sales increased from $ 1 million in 1920 to $ 400 million in 1925. By 1929, one in every three homes owned radios ten years later there was a radio in almost every home.


Radio was a medium where its listeners could hear concerts, comic monologues, sporting events and political speeches as they happened. " (MacDonald, 1981) Radio at first initially ignored blacks, as in the blackface performance days they were imitated by whites. In 1925, Freeman F. Gosden and Charles J. Correll a minor duo debuted as musicians on a radio station in Chicago. They played at this radio station for a while and later moved to a station owned by the Chicago Tribune. There they were approached by management about doing a broadcast edition to the comic strip "The Gumps. " The two refused the offer but suggested an alternative, a black - dialect show.


Gosden and Correll made a series based on two black names "Sam 'N' "Henry", which would later become known as "Amos 'N' "Andy." Sam 'N' Henry debuted on January 12, 1926 (Dunning, 1925 - 1976) The characters Sam and Henry still depended on the stereotypical images of blacks created during the blackface (minstrel) performance years. Blacks were superstitious, nave, easily influenced, lazy, ignorant and conniving. On March 19, 1928, three months after the "Sam" 'N' "Henry" show had been cancelled, "Amos" 'N' "Andy" mysteriously appeared on a rival station in Chicago. Gosden and Correll had come up with the idea pres ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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Essay Tags: black humor, black comedy, radio stations, african american, musical comedies

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