First of all, this is one "Spinoff" that seems to get more write ups and remembrance than the original. ANDY's GANG was the filmed continuance of the old Radio-TV Series hosted by Smilin' Ed McConnell. It had been known as The Buster Brown Show for some time dating to its earliest days on Radio.
The name was not because it featured old Comic Strip Character, BUSTER BROWN by cartoonist Richard Fenton Outcault, for it did not. But rather, the name came from the Sponsor, The Brown Shoe Company of St. Louis, Missouri. They were manufacturers of The Buster Brown Shoes, the company using the Buster Brown name under license from the copyright owner of the Comic Strip Characters, Buster Brown and his Dog, Tige.
The term "spinoff" is really not appropriate for describing ANDY's GANG as it was essentially the very same series.Let's elaborate on that premise.
Smilin' Ed McConnell had proved himself to be a giant in, not only the Radio Broadcast Business, but also as a Force on Madison Avenue. It has been written elsewhere that from 1942 on, after sponsoring McConnell created and hosted kiddie show, Brown Shoe Company grew at a phenomenal rate. At one point they even designated all of their advertising budget to Smilin' Ed's Show and related items, like comic book give aways of Buster Brown Comic Books, featuring Ed, Midnight, Squeaky and of course, Froggy the Gremlin.
When Smilin' Ed passed away in 1955, what was Brown Shoe to do? Well, for a few seasons anyway, they kept the show going. The answer was simple. They simply cast Andy Devine as new M.C., and inter-cut footage of Andy doing the same old business that Smilin' Ed had done before. The updating was very successful, mainly because so much of the 'Old Show' footage was done in the same way, editing the human M.C.'s on stage action with the audience, or the 'animal' characters (you know Midnight, Squeaky, Froggy).
They even changed the name on the big thick story book from "Smilin' Ed's Stories" to "Andy's Stories". Hence, Andy Devine was shown as leading into the On Going Stories, like Gunga the Elephant Boy*, by 'reading' the intro.
The series continued in reruns on local stations for some time after the deal with Brown Shoe Co., Buster Brown and company had expired.
In retrospect, the replacement of Ed McConnell with Andy Devine, and the celluloid surgery performed has to go down as one of the slickest maneuvers in Broadcast History. And to think that it was an adjunct to one of the greatest advertising/selling giants in History, in our own, nearly forgotten, Smilin' Ed McConnell.
* BUSTER BROWN by R.F. Outcault was a popular comic strip, beginning in 1902 and lasting to 1921. By the time of the show's hey day, Buster Brown was known as a Shoe Brand, the Comic Strip having passed into obscurity.
** The on going story of Gunga Ram (Nino Marcel) and his friend Rama(Vito Scotti) has been called a "Serial", which it wasn't in the usual sense, in that it had chapters with cliff hanging endings. The same Characters were featured in the Movie SABAKA (1954) along with Boris Karloff, Victor Jory and Reginald Denney. It also had the same Writer, Producer and Director in Frank Ferrin.
