“Amos ‘n’ Andy” and “Duffy’s Tavern” were two of the most enduringly popular shows during the heyday of radio. The former had such a dedicated audience that movie theaters would stop their featured films, lest its patrons miss the program. The latter was especially beloved by writers; Bob Schiller recently cited “Duffy’s” as his favorite of all the shows he worked on, including “Love Lucy.”
Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll created “Sam ‘n’ Henry”—the forerunner of “Amos ‘n’ Andy” —for WGN, Chicago, in 1926. When the show became a hit they jettisoned their $300-a-week contract and moved to WMAQ, where they rechristened themselves Amos ‘n’ Andy; the broadcast phenomenon aired as a 15-minute serial from1928-1943, and a 30-minute sitcom from 1943-1955.
Ed Gardner, the co-creator and star of “Duffy’s Tavern” was a theatrical jack-of-all-trades before he joined J. Walter Thompson advertising agency and as a director. He really wanted to do his own show. “Duffy’s Tavern” debuted on CBS in 1941, concluding its run on NBC in 1952. (Gardner cast himself in the lead as an afterthought when he couldn’t find the right actor, opposite his first wife, Shirley Booth).
In this ebook Hal Kanter recalls Freeman Gosden and Charlie Correll’s “running gunfight” with the NAACP; how they wrote so well for the characters they invented; how scripts were “stolen” when the show moved into television; and how a writer with a coarse sense of humor named John P. Medbury made Correll turn purple with embarrassment one day.
Larry Gelbart, Bob Schiller, Sol Saks and Parke Levy discuss what made “Duffy’s Tavern” the “best written radio show ever,” recalling Ed Gardner’s constant hiring and firing of writers, his outlandish behavior, his prowess as a ladies’ man (“if it breathed, he’d go for it”) and the measuring contests with Milton Berle. They also reminisce about head writer Abe Burrows’ nearly impossible demands on the staff; and talk about the show’s similarity to TV’s “Cheers” (co-created by Burrows’ son James).
Vol. 3 in a series, excerpted from the author’s acclaimed book, “The Laugh Crafters: Comedy Writing in Radio and TV’s Golden Age,” which features a dozen writers discussing their work in the prehistoric days of broadcasting—the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s.
Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll created “Sam ‘n’ Henry”—the forerunner of “Amos ‘n’ Andy” —for WGN, Chicago, in 1926. When the show became a hit they jettisoned their $300-a-week contract and moved to WMAQ, where they rechristened themselves Amos ‘n’ Andy; the broadcast phenomenon aired as a 15-minute serial from1928-1943, and a 30-minute sitcom from 1943-1955.
Ed Gardner, the co-creator and star of “Duffy’s Tavern” was a theatrical jack-of-all-trades before he joined J. Walter Thompson advertising agency and as a director. He really wanted to do his own show. “Duffy’s Tavern” debuted on CBS in 1941, concluding its run on NBC in 1952. (Gardner cast himself in the lead as an afterthought when he couldn’t find the right actor, opposite his first wife, Shirley Booth).
In this ebook Hal Kanter recalls Freeman Gosden and Charlie Correll’s “running gunfight” with the NAACP; how they wrote so well for the characters they invented; how scripts were “stolen” when the show moved into television; and how a writer with a coarse sense of humor named John P. Medbury made Correll turn purple with embarrassment one day.
Larry Gelbart, Bob Schiller, Sol Saks and Parke Levy discuss what made “Duffy’s Tavern” the “best written radio show ever,” recalling Ed Gardner’s constant hiring and firing of writers, his outlandish behavior, his prowess as a ladies’ man (“if it breathed, he’d go for it”) and the measuring contests with Milton Berle. They also reminisce about head writer Abe Burrows’ nearly impossible demands on the staff; and talk about the show’s similarity to TV’s “Cheers” (co-created by Burrows’ son James).
Vol. 3 in a series, excerpted from the author’s acclaimed book, “The Laugh Crafters: Comedy Writing in Radio and TV’s Golden Age,” which features a dozen writers discussing their work in the prehistoric days of broadcasting—the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s.
