Sam 'n' Henry

Sam 'n' Henry was a radio series by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll which aired in 1926 and 1927. Although primarily a dramatic serial with occasional comic elements, it is often considered to be the first situation comedy.

In late 1925, radio performers Gosden and Correll had been approached about doing a show based on Sidney Smith's popular comic strip "The Gumps". Gosden and Corell instead proposed their own radio serial using characters they created themselves. Like "The Gumps", each show would be amusing in itself but would also feature continuing characters in an ongoing storyline. Since they had received a favorable response to African American characters they had previously done on radio, Gosden and Correll proposed that the principal characters be African Americans, Sam Smith and Henry Johnson, newly arrived in Chicago from rural Alabama.

"Sam 'n' Henry" premiered on Chicago radio station WGN on January 12, 1926, and immediately found an audience of Midwestern listeners. The show ran for 586 episodes, the last one airing on December 18, 1927, and performed by other anonymous actors. Gosden and Correll also recorded some of their "Sam 'n' Henry" routines for Victor Records.

In 1926 the "Chicago Tribune" published "Sam 'n' Henry", collecting the first 25 scripts that Correll and Gosden wrote for their radio series. In the brief introduction, they wrote, "Please stand by while we rise (both of us) and bow fervently to ourgood and great papa, the "Chicago Tribune". Oh, oh!" Illustrator Samuel Jay Smith supplied several drawings of the characters. Since the book sold well in the Midwest, the "Tribune" brought out a paperback version in 1930.

Gosden and Correll reworked the premise on a more ambitious scale to create their long-run radio show "Amos 'n' Andy".

Listen to

* [http://www.radiolovers.com/pages/samandhenry.htm Sam 'n' Henry recordings (1926-27)]
* [http://www.vintageradioplace.com/ra/heritage050821.ram Tom Heathwood interviews broadcast historian Elizabeth McLeod]

External links

* [http://home.hiwaay.net/~ajohns/retro/Sam&Henry.htm Victor discography: Gosden and Correll]