Early Days of Radio - Sam & Henry

Recently we have been adding to RUSC some very early episodes of old-time-radio in the form of Amos & Andy . These short episodes were originally broadcast in 1929 and I believed them to be the oldest recordings we had but having dug deeper I have managed to find five wonderful old episodes of Sam & Henry from 1926.

Sam and Henry played by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll were the original pre-network Amos & Andy . Both Gosden and Correll came from separate vaudevillian stage careers but while rooming together decided to create a blackface act familiar with the minstrel humor based on Negro and immigrant dialects at the time. 

They moved to Chicago where their show about two hapless men from Alabama who came to Chicago to seek their fortunes was first aired on WGN on 12th January 1926. The show which was written by Gosden and Correll and featured them in all the parts was serialized and aired in small clips daily and became highly popular. Due to its success Gosden and Correll wanted to make recordings and syndicate the show but WGN refused them the right to do so, so they moved their act to competing broadcaster WMAQ and the show was renamed  Amos & Andy .

If you would like to learn more you can do so by clicking on the link and I will be adding Sam & Henry over the weekend for your enjoyment.

Oh, and Happy Grandparents Day !

Happy listening my friends,