The Beulah Show is an American
situation-comedy seriesA situation comedy, usually referred to as a sitcom, is a genre of comedy programs which originated in radio. Today, sitcoms are found almost exclusively on television as one of its dominant narrative forms...
that ran in radio on
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
from
1945The year 1945 saw a number of significant happenings in radio broadcasting history.-Events:*25 February – The CBC's International Service begins regular broadcasts in English and French from Canada....
to
1954The year 1954 in radio involved some significant events.-Closings:*March 30 - Rocky Fortune, a half-hour detective drama starring Frank Sinatra, aired its final episode on NBC.*September 25 - Escape ends its run on CBS.-Births:...
, and in television on
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
from
1950The year 1950 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1950.-Events:*February 12 - European Broadcasting Union inaugurated....
to
1953The year 1953 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1953.-Events:*January 19 - 68% of all US television sets were tuned in to I Love Lucy to watch Lucy give birth....
. It is notable for being the first sitcom to star an
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry...
.
Originally portrayed by
CaucasianThe term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the indigenous populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia...
actor
Marlin HurtMarlin Hurt was an American stage entertainer and radio actor who was best known for originating the dialect comedy role of Beulah made famous on the Fibber McGee and Molly program and the first season of the Beulah radio series.A saxophone player and vocalist, Hurt was once a singer with the...
, Beulah Brown first appeared in 1939 when Hurt introduced and played the character on the
Hometown Incorporated radio series and in 1940 on NBC radio's
Show Boat series.
The Beulah Show is an American
situation-comedy seriesA situation comedy, usually referred to as a sitcom, is a genre of comedy programs which originated in radio. Today, sitcoms are found almost exclusively on television as one of its dominant narrative forms...
that ran in radio on
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
from
1945The year 1945 saw a number of significant happenings in radio broadcasting history.-Events:*25 February – The CBC's International Service begins regular broadcasts in English and French from Canada....
to
1954The year 1954 in radio involved some significant events.-Closings:*March 30 - Rocky Fortune, a half-hour detective drama starring Frank Sinatra, aired its final episode on NBC.*September 25 - Escape ends its run on CBS.-Births:...
, and in television on
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
from
1950The year 1950 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1950.-Events:*February 12 - European Broadcasting Union inaugurated....
to
1953The year 1953 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1953.-Events:*January 19 - 68% of all US television sets were tuned in to I Love Lucy to watch Lucy give birth....
. It is notable for being the first sitcom to star an
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry...
.
Radio
Originally portrayed by
CaucasianThe term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the indigenous populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia...
actor
Marlin HurtMarlin Hurt was an American stage entertainer and radio actor who was best known for originating the dialect comedy role of Beulah made famous on the Fibber McGee and Molly program and the first season of the Beulah radio series.A saxophone player and vocalist, Hurt was once a singer with the...
, Beulah Brown first appeared in 1939 when Hurt introduced and played the character on the
Hometown Incorporated radio series and in 1940 on NBC radio's
Show Boat series. In 1943, Beulah moved over to
That's Life and then became a supporting character on the popular
Fibber McGee and MollyFibber McGee and Molly was a radio show that played a major role in determining the full form of what became classic, old-time radio. The series was a pinnacle of American popular culture from its 1935 premiere until its demise in 1959...
radio series in late 1944. In 1945, Beulah was spun off into her own radio show,
The Marlin Hurt and Beulah Show, with Hurt still in the role. Beulah was employed as a housekeeper and cook for the Henderson family: father Harry, mother Alice and son Donnie. After Hurt died of a heart attack in 1946, he was replaced by another white actor, Bob Corley, and the series was retitled
The Beulah Show.
When black actress
Hattie McDanielHattie McDaniel was an American actress and the first black performer to win an Academy Award. She won the award for Best Supporting Actress for her role of Mammy in Gone with the Wind ....
took over the role on November 24, 1947, she earned $1000 a week for the first season, doubled the ratings of the original series and pleased the NAACP which was elated to see a historic first: a black woman as the star of a network radio program.
McDaniel continued in the role until she became ill in 1952 and was replaced by
Lillian RandolphLillian Randolph was an American actress and singer, a veteran of radio, film, and television.A native of Louisville, Kentucky, she was the younger sister of actress Amanda Randolph...
, who was in turn replaced for the 1953-54 radio season by her sister,
Amanda RandolphAmanda Randolph was an African American actress and singer. She was a native of Louisville, Kentucky, and was the older sister of actress Lillian Randolph....
.
Television
In 1950 Roland Reed Productions adapted the property into a TV situation comedy for
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
, and the
Beulah TV show ran for three seasons, Tuesday nights at 7:30 ET from October 3, 1950 to September 22, 1953.
Most of the comedy in the series derived from the fact that Beulah, referred to as "the queen of the kitchen,"
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/B/htmlB/beulah/beulah.htm has the ability to solve the problems that her employers cannot figure out. Other characters included Beulah's boyfriend Bill Jackson, a handyman who is constantly proposing marriage, and Oriole, a befuddled maid for the family next door.
Ethel WatersEthel Waters was an American blues and jazz vocalist and actress.She frequently performed jazz, big band, rock and roll and pop music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts, although she began her career in the 1920s singing blues...
was seen in the title role from 1950 to 1952. McDaniel filled in briefly in 1952 and was succeeded by
Louise BeaversLouise Beavers was an African American film actress. Beavers appeared in dozens of films from the 1920s to the 1930s, most often in the role of a maid, servant, or slave...
the same year.
Butterfly McQueenButterfly McQueen was an American actress. Originally a dancer, McQueen appeared as Prissy, Scarlett O'Hara's maid in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind.-Early life:...
portrayed Oriole, a role similar to her Prissy character in the film
Gone with the WindGone with the Wind is a 1939 American drama romance film adapted from Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel of the same name and directed by Victor Fleming...
.
Ruby DandridgeRuby Dandridge , born Ruby Jean Butler, was an black actress from the early 1900s to the 1950s. She is best known for her radio work in her early days of acting....
, Mrs. Kelso in
Cabin in the SkyCabin in the Sky is an American musical with music by Vernon Duke, lyrics by John La Touche, and a musical book by Lynn Root. The musical premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on October 25, 1940. It closed on March 8, 1941 after a total of 156 performances...
and mother of
Dorothy DandridgeDorothy Jean Dandridge was an American actress and popular singer. Dandridge was the first African American to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.-Early life and career:...
, replaced McQueen when the entire television cast was overhauled upon the arrival of Hattie McDaniel. Percy "Bud" Harris originally portrayed Bill, but he walked out on the part during the first season, accusing the producers of forcing him to portray an "
Uncle TomUncle Tom is a pejorative term for a black person who is perceived by others as behaving in a subservient manner to white authority figures, or as seeking ingratiation with them by way of unnecessary accommodation. The term comes from the title character of American writer Harriet Beecher Stowe's...
" character. He was succeeded in the role by
CasablancaCasablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and Paul Henreid and featuring Claude Rains, Conrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. Set during World War II, it focuses on a man torn between, in the words of one...
pianist Dooley Wilson until Ernest Whitman followed radio co-stars McDaniel and Dandridge to TV in April 1952. The show was directed at various times by future sitcom veterans as Richard (L.) Bare and Abby Berlin.
Like the contemporary television program
Amos 'n' AndyAmos 'n' Andy is a situation comedy based on stock sketch comedy characters but set in the African-American community, and popular in the United States from the 1920s through the 1950s. The show began as one of the first radio comedy serials, written and voiced by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll...
,
Beulah came under attack from many critics, including the NAACP, which accused the show of supporting
stereotypicalA stereotype is a commonly held public belief about specific social groups, or types of individuals.The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings. Stereotypes are standardized and simplified conceptions of groups, based on some prior...
depictions of black characters with Beulah viewed as a stereotypical "
mammyThe Mammy archetype is the portrayal within a narrative framework or other imagery of a domestic servant of African descent, generally good-natured, often overweight, and loud....
" similar to
Aunt JemimaAunt Jemima is a trademark for pancake flour, syrup, and other breakfast foods currently owned by the Quaker Oats Company. The trademark dates to 1893, although Aunt Jemima pancake mix debuted in 1889...
.
After
Beulah was cancelled at the end of the 1952-53 television season, black characters virtually disappeared from scripted television, with only small and infrequent roles surfacing on sitcoms. However, television wasn't completely devoid of African Americans, as black people did occasionally appear on "variety" shows like
The Ed Sullivan ShowThe Ed Sullivan Show was a popular American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from June 20, 1948 to June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan.-History:...
and
The Hollywood PalaceThe Hollywood Palace was an hour-long television variety show that was broadcast weekly on ABC from January 4, 1964 to February 7, 1970. It began as a mid-season replacement for the short-lived Jerry Lewis Show, another variety show which had lasted only three months...
, as proven by
kinescopeKinescope – kine for short, also known as telerecording, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor....
s from the 1950s/1960's. The next television program to star a black woman in the title role was
JuliaJulia is an American sitcom best remembered as being one of the first weekly series to depict an African American woman in a non-stereotypical role. Previous television series featured African American lead characters, but the characters were usually servants...
in 1968, starring
Diahann Carroll-Early years:Carroll was born Carol Diahann Johnson in The Bronx, New York, to John Johnson and Mabel Faulk. Her family moved to the Harlem neighborhood of New York City when she was an infant...
.
The television sitcom produced 87 episodes. It is believed that most episodes of the TV series have been destroyed with only around seven episodes known to survive. A DVD containing four episodes was released by
Alpha VideoAlpha Video is an entertainment company, based near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that specializes in the manufacturing and marketing of public domain movies and TV shows on DVD...
on August 28, 2007.
1945-1954 (radio)
- Marlin Hurt: Bill Jackson, Beulah (1945-1946)
- Bob Corley: Beulah (1947)
- Hattie McDaniel
Hattie McDaniel was an American actress and the first black performer to win an Academy Award. She won the award for Best Supporting Actress for her role of Mammy in Gone with the Wind ....
: Beulah (1947-1952)
- Lillian Randolph
Lillian Randolph was an American actress and singer, a veteran of radio, film, and television.A native of Louisville, Kentucky, she was the younger sister of actress Amanda Randolph...
: Beulah (1952-1953)
- Amanda Randolph
Amanda Randolph was an African American actress and singer. She was a native of Louisville, Kentucky, and was the older sister of actress Lillian Randolph....
: Beulah (1953-1954)
- Hugh Studebaker: Harry Henderson
- Mary Jane Croft
Mary Jane Croft was an American actress best known for her role as Mary Jane Lewis on The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy.-Radio:...
: Alice Henderson
- Henry Blair: Donnie Henderson (1947-1953)
- Sammy Ogg: Donnie Henderson (1953-1954)
- Ruby Dandridge: Oriole
- Ernest Whitman: Bill Jackson
- Announcer
An announcer is a voice actor who works in television, radio or film, usually providing narrations, news updates, station identification, or an introduction of a product in television commercials or a guest on a talk show....
: Marvin Miller (1947-1953)
- Announcer
An announcer is a voice actor who works in television, radio or film, usually providing narrations, news updates, station identification, or an introduction of a product in television commercials or a guest on a talk show....
: Johnny Jacobs (1953-1954)
- Supporting cast members: Louise Beavers
Louise Beavers was an African American film actress. Beavers appeared in dozens of films from the 1920s to the 1930s, most often in the role of a maid, servant, or slave...
, John Brown, Lois Corbet, Dorothy DandridgeDorothy Jean Dandridge was an American actress and popular singer. Dandridge was the first African American to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.-Early life and career:...
, Vivian DandridgeVivian Alferetta Dandridge was a black singer and actress. She is best known as the sister of actress Dorothy Dandridge and the daughter of character actress Ruby Dandridge...
, Roy Glenn, Jess Kirkpatrick, Butterfly McQueenButterfly McQueen was an American actress. Originally a dancer, McQueen appeared as Prissy, Scarlett O'Hara's maid in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind.-Early life:...
, Nicodemus Stewart,
1950-1951 (television)
- Ethel Waters
Ethel Waters was an American blues and jazz vocalist and actress.She frequently performed jazz, big band, rock and roll and pop music, on the Broadway stage and in concerts, although she began her career in the 1920s singing blues...
: Beulah
- Wiliam Post, Jr.: Harry Henderson
- Ginger Jones: Alice Henderson
- Clifford Sales: Donnie Henderson
- Percy "Bud" Harris: Bill Jackson (October 1950 to early 1951)
- Dooley Wilson
Arthur "Dooley" Wilson was an African American actor and singer. He was born in Tyler, Texas, and is most famous for playing "Sam" in the 1942 film Casablanca.-Career:...
: Bill Jackson (early 1951 to 1952)
- Butterfly McQueen
Butterfly McQueen was an American actress. Originally a dancer, McQueen appeared as Prissy, Scarlett O'Hara's maid in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind.-Early life:...
: Oriole
1951-1952 (television)
- Ethel Waters: Beulah
- Wiliam Post, Jr.: Harry Henderson
- Ginger Jones: Alice Henderson
- Clifford Sales: Donnie Henderson
- Dooley Wilson
Arthur "Dooley" Wilson was an African American actor and singer. He was born in Tyler, Texas, and is most famous for playing "Sam" in the 1942 film Casablanca.-Career:...
: Bill Jackson
- Butterfly McQueen: Oriole
April 1952 (television)
- Hattie McDaniel
Hattie McDaniel was an American actress and the first black performer to win an Academy Award. She won the award for Best Supporting Actress for her role of Mammy in Gone with the Wind ....
: Beulah
- David Bruce: Harry Henderson
- Jane Frazee
Mary Jane Frehse , known as Jane Frazee, was an American actress, singer, and dancer.Frazee was born as the younger sister of Ruth Frazee...
: Alice Henderson
- Stuffy Singer: Donnie Henderson
- Ernest Whitman: Bill Jackson
- Ruby Dandridge: Oriole
1952–1953 (television)
- Louise Beavers
Louise Beavers was an African American film actress. Beavers appeared in dozens of films from the 1920s to the 1930s, most often in the role of a maid, servant, or slave...
: Beulah
- David Bruce: Harry Henderson
- Jane Frazee
Mary Jane Frehse , known as Jane Frazee, was an American actress, singer, and dancer.Frazee was born as the younger sister of Ruth Frazee...
: Alice Henderson
- Stuffy Singer: Donnie Henderson
- Ernest Whitman: Bill Jackson
- Ruby Dandridge: Oriole
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