Just why is it that people are offended at Amos and Andy today? It can't be the jokes, the bad grammar, the ignorance. I can show examples of that in a whole lot of films without a black face in them. I do remember as a kid seeing the television version of Amos and Andy and later on watching such shows as Sanford and Son and Good Times, I'd be hard pressed to see the difference in the humor.
But you have to see Check and Doublecheck and realize that it was a pair of white ex-vaudevillians who were playing these characters. And playing them servile. Note right at the beginning of the film as the Fresh Air Taxi was holding up traffic and a cop asks them to move along. Note the tone he takes with them and note the "yassuh" response that both of them give. Later on Amos and Andy are busy reminiscing about the good old days on the plantation back in Georgia before they came to Harlem. Back in Georgia dealing with Klan and lucky to be making enough money to exist on as sharecroppers. Of course you know they're going to help the son of the old plantation owner.
The plot as it is Check and Doublecheck has the son of that former plantation owner previously described looking for the deed to an old abandoned house in Harlem so he can claim title, sell it, and be rich enough to marry his intended. His path crossed that of Amos and Andy who are on a kind of treasure hunt for their Mystic Knights of the Sea Lodge. The intended bride is played by Sue Carol who left acting to become an agent and her most famous client was her fourth and last husband Alan Ladd.
Also in the film are Duke Ellington and his Orchestra. Ellington made his screen debut here and he played himself in several films after this. For that reason this film should be seen, to hear one of the great jazz bands of the last century.
The premise they bring Ellington in is in itself ridiculous. Remember this film is made in 1930 and while Ellington played at Harlem's Cotton Club he didn't get too many bookings at Westchester society parties. But that's what this film would have you believe. That crowd would have more likely hired Leo Reisman or Ray Noble. And of course the band gets there via The Fresh Air Taxi Company.
Singing with the band are The Rhythm Boys, recently detached from Paul Whiteman's Orchestra which included their lead singer Bing Crosby. According to Gary Giddins recent biography of Crosby, Ellington was dissatisfied with the vocal group he had and had RKO hire the Rhythm Boys to sing offstage while three black performers lipsynched. That is one ironic twist of fate. Later on Bing and his partners, Al Rinker and Harry Barris recorded their song from this film Three Little Words with Duke Ellington's orchestra which was a mega hit back in the day.
Even with a hit song coming from this film, Check and Doublecheck created no big demand for Amos and Andy films. Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll stayed on radio for another 25 years with their characters. Maybe just as well they only made one more film appearance in the all star Big Broadcast of 1936.
