Spencer Williams and Alvin Childress came to Winston-Salem in September 1958. Better known as the television characters, Andrew (Andy) Brown and Amos Jones, in the successful television program, “Amos ‘n’ Andy,” the men came to Winston-Salem to perform at the Center Theatre. They were staying at the home of Reverend William Franklin Stokes Jr. of 1443 N. Thurmond Avenue.
The men were on an eight-week tour of the nation’s theatres, along with Ray “Tex” Holland, billed as the “first Negro hillbilly.” When they perform on the stage, they use no props. They carry out their famous roles with talk and action. Their next stops on the tour were Statesville and Gastonia.
“Amos ‘n’ Andy” began as a radio broadcast which was written and performed by Charles Correll and Freeman Gosden in 1928. Gosden voiced the characters “Amos,” “George ‘Kingfish’ Stevens,” “Lightnin’,” “Brother Crawford,” and some dozen other characters. Correll voiced the main character, “Andy Brown,” and some lesser characters. The radio broadcast lasted until 1960.
The television series, “Amos ‘n’ Andy,” was produced from June 1951 to April 1953, with 52 filmed episodes. In addition to Amos and Andy, other characters were George “Kingfish” Stevens, Sapphire Stevens, Ramona Smith (Sapphire’s Mama), Algonquin J. Calhoun, Lightnin’, and Ruby Jones. Thirteen additional episodes were produced for the 1953-1954 season, but they were released with the syndicated reruns instead. And, thirteen more episodes were produced, focusing on Kingfish and intended to be used for “The Adventures of Kingfish,” a program that never came to fruition.
Pressure from the NAACP, which began when the series aired in 1951, was a primary factor in the cancellation of the television series. Pressure from the NAACP also resulted in the removal of the syndicated reruns of the program in 1966.
Spencer Williams (1893-1969) had an impressive list of screen and director credits during his career. Alvin Childress (1907-1986) was a successful stage and screen actor. He was very active in little theatre work, both directing and producing plays in Los Angeles.
Photograph courtesy of the Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection.
Stay tuned for the next post on April 8th: The New Kernersville Library.
