The Munsters is an American sitcom depicting the home life of a family of benign monsters. The series stars Fred Gwynne as Frankenstein's monster Herman Munster, Yvonne De Carlo as his vampire wife Lily, Al Lewis as Grandpa the aged vampire Count Dracula, Beverley Owen as their niece Marilyn, and Butch Patrick as their werewolf-like son Eddie. The family pet, named "Spot", was a fire-breathing dragon.
Amos 'n' Andy was an American radio sitcom about black characters, initially set in Chicago then later in the Harlem section of New York City. 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), as well as incidental characters. On television, 1951–1953, black actors took over the majority of the roles; white characters were infrequent.
Charles James Correll was an American radio comedian, actor and writer, known best for his work in the radio series Amos 'n' Andy with Freeman Gosden. Correll voiced the main character Andy Brown, along with various lesser characters.
Freeman Fisher "Gozzie" Gosden was an American radio comedian, actor and pioneer in the development of the situation comedy form. He is best known for his work in the radio series Amos 'n' Andy.
Sam 'n' Henry was a radio series performed by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll that aired on Chicago radio station WGN from 1926 through 1928. The ten-minute program is often considered the first situation comedy. Gosden and Correll reworked the premise on a more ambitious scale to create their long-running radio show Amos 'n' Andy.
Robert L. Mosher was a television and radio scriptwriter.
The Gumps is a comic strip about a middle-class family. It was created by Sidney Smith in 1917, launching a 42-year run in newspapers from February 12, 1917, until October 17, 1959.
Check and Double Check is a 1930 American pre-Code comedy film produced and released by RKO Radio Pictures, based on the Amos 'n' Andy radio show. The title was derived from a catchphrase associated with the show. Directed by Melville W. Brown, from a screenplay by Bert Kalmar, J. Walter Ruben, and Harry Ruby, it starred Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll in blackface, in the roles of Amos Jones and Andy Brown, respectively, which they had created for the radio show. The film also featured Duke Ellington and his Cotton Club Orchestra.
Spencer Williams was an American actor and filmmaker. He portrayed Andy on TV's The Amos 'n' Andy Show and directed films including the 1941 race film The Blood of Jesus. Williams was a pioneering African-American film producer and director.
The Rasslin' Match is a 1934 animated short film based off of the popular Amos 'n' Andy radio series. It was produced by the Van Beuren Studios and directed by Vernon Stallings and starring Charles J. Correll and Freeman F. Gosden as the voices of their popular radio characters, Amos and Andy.
The Lion Tamer is a 1934 animated short film produced by the Van Beuren Studios and directed by Vernon Stallings and starring Charles J. Correll and Freeman F. Gosden as the voices of their popular radio characters, Amos 'n' Andy. It was one of two such films made that year, the other being The Rasslin' Match. These two shorts and the 1930 live-action film Check and Double Check constitute the only visual representations of Amos 'n' Andy prior to the advent of network television.
Robert Sidney Smith, known as Sidney Smith, was the creator of the influential comic strip The Gumps, based on an idea by Captain Joseph M. Patterson, editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune.
Elizabeth McLeod is a journalist and broadcast historian who lives and works on the coast of Maine. She is best known for her extensive research into the origin and history of Amos 'n' Andy, an authoritative study first available on the Internet and then in her book, The Original Amos ’n’ Andy: Freeman Gosden, Charles Correll and the 1928–1943 Radio Serial.
Alvin Childress was an American actor, who is best known for playing the cabdriver Amos Jones in the 1950s television comedy series Amos 'n' Andy.
William Gibiral Hay was an American radio announcer who was famous for his many years of work on the Amos 'n' Andy show with Charles Correll and Freeman Gosden.
Joe Connelly was an American television and radio scriptwriter who was born in New York City. As a child he spent several summers in Bellport, New York -- the inspiration for Mayfield in The Leave it to Beaver series. He was best known for his work on The Amos 'n' Andy Show, Meet Mr. McNutley, Leave It to Beaver, Ichabod and Me, Bringing Up Buddy, and The Munsters, along with his co-writer Bob Mosher, who was from Auburn, New York.
Charles Correll Jr. was an American television director and cinematographer. The son of Charles Correll Sr. of the sitcom Amos & Andy, his brother is Richard Correll, a former child actor and later a television director.
Dialect comedies are a genre of radio sitcoms that were popular between the 1920s and the 1950s. They relied on the exaggerated and highly stylized portrayal of stereotypes, usually based on ethnic humor. The term "dialect comedy" was coined by David Marc in his essay, Origins of the genre.
The Gumps is an American radio sitcom broadcast from 1931 until 1937, mostly on CBS Radio based on the popular Sidney Smith newspaper comic strip The Gumps. It was the first radio adaptation of comics.
The Pepsodent Show is an American radio comedy program broadcast from 1938 to 1948, during the Golden Age of Radio. The program starred Bob Hope and Jerry Colonna, alongside Blanche Stewart, Elvia Allman, and a continuously rotating supporting cast of actors and musicians which included, for a time, Judy Garland, Frances Langford, and Desi Arnaz and his orchestra.
