who was the lawyer on amos and andy

by Palma Wintheiser Published 2 years ago Updated 1 year ago 5 min read

Johnny Lee is best known as the shyster lawyer Algonquin J. Calhoun in the Amos 'N' Andy TV Series. In some of the 1948-49 radio episodes where the Calhoun character is introduced, he is referred to as "Five Percent Calhoun" because his fee was 5% of whatever he got for his clients.

Who played Amos and Andy in the movie?

Kingfish: Tim Moore (1887-1958) Long before his work and Amos ‘n’ Andy, he was a veteran of vaudeville, having travelled with the minstrel show Cora Miskel and Her Gold Dust Twins. Kingfish was the catalyst of most of the show’s hijinks because of his hucksterism and conniving.

How did Amos and Andy get their names?

The Amos 'n Andy Show (TV Series 1951–1953) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Menu. ... Andy 78 episodes, 1951-1955 Tim Moore ... Kingfish 78 episodes, 1951-1955 Johnny Lee ... Calhoun 70 episodes, 1951-1955 ...

What happened to Amos on Andy and Kingfish?

Amos 'n' Andy - Full Cast & Crew 1951 -1953 CBS Comedy Watchlist Where to Watch TV's first all-black cast starred in this 1950s sitcom based on the long-running radio show about the misadventures...

What did Johnny Lee play on Amos and Andy?

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Some of the funniest episodes of Amos 'n Andy involved their lawyers. On 12/26/48 an episode titled "The Mysterious New Year's Card" aired. The mysterious card landed the Kingfish in divorce court. This time his lawyer was "Stonewall". Stonewall steals …

Who was the lawyer on the Amos & Andy Show?

(July 4, 1898 – December 12, 1965) was an American singer, dancer and actor known for voicing the role of Br'er Rabbit in Disney's Song of the South (1946) and as the clownish, cringing, tremulous-voiced shyster pseudo-lawyer Algonquin J. Calhoun in the CBS Amos 'n' Andy TV and radio comedy series in the early 1950s.

What was Calhoun's full name on Amos and Andy?

lawyer Algonquin J. Calhoun

In addition to Moore, the cast included Alvin Childress playing Amos Jones, Spencer Williams portraying Andrew Hogg ″Andy″ Brown and Johnny Lee playing lawyer Algonquin J. Calhoun.Jan 14, 1988

Did Johnny Lee play on Little House on the Prairie?

Johnny Lee played Graham Stewart on Little House on the Prairie.

What year did Amos & Andy appear on TV?

1951

In 1951 CBS launched the Amos 'n' Andy television series, with African American actors Alvin Childress and Spencer Williams, Jr., playing Amos and Andy, respectively. The show was the first TV series to feature an all-black cast.

Who played Amos in Amos and Andy?

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) ...

Who played Amos and Andy in the radio show?

In 1930, RKO Radio Pictures brought Gosden and Correll to Hollywood to do an Amos 'n' Andy feature film, Check and Double Check (a catchphrase from the radio show). The cast included a mix of white and black performers (the latter including Duke Ellington and his orchestra) with Gosden and Correll playing Amos 'n' Andy in blackface.

Where did Amos and Andy originate?

Amos 'n' Andy began as one of the first radio comedy series and originated from station WMAQ in Chicago. After the first broadcast in 1928, the show became a hugely popular radio series. Early episodes were broadcast from the El Mirador Hotel in Palm Springs, California.

How many episodes of Amos and Andy were filmed?

Adapted to television, The Amos 'n Andy Show was produced from June 1951 to April 1953 with 52 filmed episodes, sponsored by the Blatz Brewing Company.

When did Amos and Andy start?

Under a special arrangement, Amos 'n' Andy debuted coast-to-coast November 28, 1929, on NBC's Pacific Orange Network and continued on the Blue. WMAQ was then an affiliate of CBS and its general manager tried, to no avail, to interest that network in picking up the show.

Where did Andy Brown live?

Amos Jones and Andy Brown worked on a farm near Atlanta, Georgia, and during the first week's episodes, they made plans to find a better life in Chicago, despite warnings from a friend. With four ham-and-cheese sandwiches and $24, they bought train tickets and headed for Chicago, where they lived in a rooming house on State Street and experienced some rough times before launching their own business, the Fresh Air Taxi Company. (The first car they acquired had no windshield; the pair turned it into a selling point.) By 1930, the noted toy maker Louis Marx and Company was offering a tin wind-up version of the auto, with Amos and Andy inside. The toy company produced a special autographed version of the toy as gifts for American leaders, including Herbert Hoover. There was also a book, All About Amos 'n' Andy and Their Creators, in 1929 by Correll and Gosden (reprinted in 2007 and 2008), and a comic strip in the Chicago Daily News.

Who was the first African American to protest the Amos and Andy program?

The first sustained protest against the program found its inspiration in the December 1930 issue of Abbott's Monthly, when Bishop W. J. Walls of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church wrote an article sharply denouncing Amos 'n' Andy for its lower-class characterizations and "crude, repetitious, and moronic" dialogue. The Pittsburgh Courier was the second largest African-American newspaper at the time, and publisher Robert L. Vann expanded Walls' criticism into a full-fledged protest during a six-month period in 1931. As part of Vann's campaign, more than 700,000 African-Americans petitioned the Federal Radio Commission to complain about the racist stereotyping on the show.

Who played Amos in the movie?

Cast. Amos: Alvin Childress (1907-1986) Childress was born in Meridian, MS, and had little in the way of film or TV credits before taking over as Amos when the show moved to the screen. He did have experience with the American Negro Theater in New York City.

How many episodes of Amos and Andy?

The show ran from 1951-’53, under the name The Amos ‘n’ Andy Show, 78 episodes in all, sponsored by the Blatz Brewing Company, and aired on CBS.

Who played Amos in the Jeffersons?

Amos: Alvin Childress (1907-1986) Childress was born in Meridian, MS, and had little in the way of film or TV credits before taking over as Amos when the show moved to the screen. He did have experience with the American Negro Theater in New York City. He would later play roles in a few episodes of such series as Sanford and Son and The Jeffersons. ...

Who is Tim Moore?

He has credits as a writer, producer, and director. Williams reportedly clashed with Gosden over the characterization and speaking mannerisms of Andy. Kingfish: Tim Moore (1887-1958) Long before his work and Amos ‘n’ Andy, he was a veteran of vaudeville, having travelled with the minstrel show Cora Miskel and Her Gold Dust Twins.

Did Gosden and Correll have blackface?

One thing was for sure: Gosden and Correll wouldn’t don the blackface for the television version of their show. By the end of the 1940’s it was clear that such a thing was just behind the times. Instead they would need actors. Gosden and Correll began scouting for talent, viewing various performances of Black theatre troupes ...

Introduction

Amos ‘n’ Andy was the most popular radio program of the 1930’s, a cultural institution, and a constant source of controversy. Created by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, it aired from 1928-1955, with an augmented form of the show, Amos ‘n’ Andy Music Hall, airing from 1955-1960.

Character Descriptions

In their own words, the following is an excerpt from the book, All About Amos 'n' Andy and Their Creators Correll & Gosden 1930 authored by the creators of the show.

Arbadella, Amos's Daughter, Played by Barbara Jean Wong

Arbadella was Amos’s daughter, appearing on several episodes of the radio series and three of the TV. Barbara Jean Wong voiced her on the radio, while Pattie Marie Ellis played her on the screen. The character was a big part of the annual Christmas episodes, which began running in 1940.

Charles Correll: Creator & Producer

Charles James Correll was born in Peoria, Illinois on February 2, 1890. He delivered newspapers for his first job and later construction business like his father. Though during the day he worked construction, he played piano at the local movie house in the evening. He was also an excellent dancer, or "hoofer" and one many local dancing contests.

Freeman Gosden: Creator & Producer

Freeman Gosden was best known as the voice of Amos Jones, George "Kingfish" Stevens, "Lightning", "Brother Crawford", and some dozen other characters on the long running radio show "Amos n' Andy".

Minstrel's Transition To Radio

The minstrel show was farcical and cartoonish, performed by white actors in blackface, literally black makeup meant to create an exaggerated version of the Negro.

Radio Show Introduction

Comedy milestone that grew out of a pre network series, Sam n' Henry -- heard in various formats and time slots during its 34-year run.

Overview

Early storylines and characters

Origins

Gosden and Correll were white actors familiar with minstrel traditions. They met in Durham, North Carolina, in 1920. Both men had some scattered experience in radio, but it was not until 1925 that the two appeared on Chicago's WQJ. Their appearances soon led to a regular schedule on another Chicago radio station, WEBH, where their only compensation was a free meal. The pair hoped that th…

Films

In 1930, RKO Radio Pictures brought Gosden and Correll to Hollywood to appear in an Amos 'n' Andy feature film, Check and Double Check (a catchphrase from the radio show). The cast included a mix of white and black performers (the latter including Duke Ellington and his orchestra) with Gosden and Correll playing Amos 'n' Andy in blackface. The film pleased neither critics nor Gosden and Correll, but briefly became RKO's biggest box-office hit before King Kong (1933).

Television

Hoping to bring the show to television as early as 1946, Gosden and Correll searched for cast members for four years before filming began. CBS hired the duo as producers of the new television show. According to a 1950 newspaper story, Gosden and Correll had initial aspirations to voice the characters Amos, Andy and Kingfish for television while the actors hired for these roles performe…

Later commentary on television series

In the summer of 1968 the premiere episode of a CBS News documentary series Of Black America, narrated by Bill Cosby, showed brief film clips of Amos 'n' Andy in a segment on racial stereotypes in vintage motion pictures and television programing.
In 1983, a one-hour documentary film titled Amos 'n' Andy: Anatomy of a Controversy aired in television syndication (and in later years, on PBSand on the Internet). It told a brief history of the …

Twenty-first century airing of series

In 2004, the now-defunct Trio network brought Amos 'n' Andy back to television for one night in an effort to reintroduce the series to 21st century audiences. Its festival featured the Anatomy of a Controversy documentary, followed by the 1930 Check and Double Check film.
In 2012, Rejoice TV, an independent television and Internet network in Houston, started airing the show weeknights on a regular, nationwide basis for the first time since CBS pulled the series fro…

Legal status

Although the characters of Amos and Andy themselves are in the public domain, as well as the show's trademarks, title, format, basic premise and all materials created prior to 1948 (Silverman vs CBS, 870 F.2d 40), the television series itself is protected by copyright. CBS bought out Gosden & Correll's ownership of the program and characters in 1948 and the courts decided in the Silverman ruling that all post-1948 Amos 'n' Andy material was protected. All Amos 'n' Andy mate…