Amos'n'Andy series

Come on, now, 10,000 shows!!!!!!!!!! I'm not great at math but even I can figure that there are--very roughly--10,000 DAYS in 25 years and for all of its history which I can remember (a heck of a lot) Amos"n"Andy was a WEEkly show. My math doesn't go to how many years 10,000 weeks is, but it's a bunch.

What goes...anyone know?

For the first fifteen years of its run, "Amos 'n' Andy" was a daily show -- running five days a week from March 1928 to May 1928, six days a week from May 1928 to November 1932, and five-a-week from November 1932 to February 1943. The program aired continuously during this run, with only one vacation, an eight-week break from July to September 1934.

During this period, there were exactly 4,091 episodes (the standard numbering is 4,090, but my research has revealed that a special episode numbered 30-ABCD was broadcast in Chicago on 4/29/28, thus throwing the numbering off by one.). Beginning with episode #523, on 11/25/29, the episodes were broadcast twice per night, and this policy continued for the remainder of the series run as a fifteen minute serial.

We can therefore calculate that 3568 episodes were broadcast on a twice-nightly basis -- for 7136 broadcasts between 11/25/29 and the end of the serial on 2/19/43. Add to this the 523 episodes aired between 3/19/28 and 11/24/29 and the total number of A&A broadcasts during the serial era comes to 7659.

The 11/16/52 episode in question is listed in the Correll/Gosden Papers at USC as Volume 10, Number 8 -- which means it was the eighth program of the tenth season of half hour shows. Seasons varied between 35 and 37 epiosdes each during this span, and an examination of the entire half-hour run reveals that the 11/16/52 program (which was taped on 10/31/52) was the 327th episode of the half hour series. So, adding that to 7659, we get 7986. As far as I have been able to determine, during the half hour era, there were no repeat broadcasts -- A&A broadcast only once each week, and that single broadcast was heard across all time zones. So, we have 7986 broadcasts of "Amos 'n' Andy" itself between 3/19/28 and 11/16/52 -- quite a ways short of 10,000.

But if you consider 10,000 broadcasts as referring to broadcasts by Correll and Gosden, rather than just Amos and Andy, you must also factor in the 586 episodes of "Sam and Henry" they aired over WGN during 1926-27. That brings us to 8482 broadcasts. But we still aren't finished.

Correll and Gosden also extensively broadcast as themselves between 1925 and 1929. Beginning in March 1925 and continuing for a total of eight months, they were heard weekly over station WEBH, for a total of 39 broadcasts. From November 1925 thru December 1927, they were heard as Correll and Gosden over WGN, airing five nights a week twice a night, from 7:20 to 7:30 pm and again from 11:00 to 11:10 pm. (These broadcasts coincided with the period of their work as "Sam and Henry" over the same station.) This works out to approximately 1040 separate broadcasts, although I can't confirm the exact number due to incomplete documentation of this period. During 1928-29, they were featured in a weekly musical/minstrel broadcast over WMAQ, sponsored by the Fair Department Store. This series began in June of 1928 and continued thru April 1929, for a total of 48 broadcasts. These Correll and Gosden musical programs total 1127, which added to the "Amos 'n' Andy" and "Sam and Henry" programs brings us to 9609 broadcasts.

This still leaves us 391 broadcasts short of 10,000. However, Correll and Gosden made numerous experimental broadcasts during 1922-24, which have not been documented, as well as various guest appearances, AFRS appearances, public service shows, and other miscellaneous broadcasts during this period.

It's probable that the "10,000th Broadcast" special was based on an estimate, and wasn't an attempt to actually mark the exact milestone. But as you can see, for an estimate, it actually came very close to the mark.

By the way, the 10,000th episode is very inaccurate in the way that it depicts the early years of A&A, especially its depiction of the Madam Queen breach-of-promise case -- see the link below for the real story of A&A's early years.

Jim Stokes