Check and Double Check

Well, I just picked up an original film print of CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK and have to say I was very pleasantly surprised. After many years of reading one abysmal review after another, I found the film to be a fairly impressive RKO comedy. But I also think this film can only be viewed in the context of its time of release. And not for racial stereotype reasons. First, the film obviously came about by the strong popularity of the AMOS 'N ANDY radio program. However, comparison cannot be made between the film and the program as we know it because the program only began a year before this film was made (Amos 'n Andy had, in fact, had recently been known as Sam 'n Henry). So the smooth, well-oiled manner of the 40's heyday was still many years to come. Structure-wise, CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK somewhat resembles RKO's popular Wheeler and Woolsey films and features the two comics in traditional musical-comedy leading/though supporting roles. The story plot is very typical of shows of the day - DIXIANA, COCOANUTS, etc (Ralf Harolde repeats his villainous visage from DIXIANA). The picture is very well photographed from the standpoint of RKO's current production values and it is very well recorded. One interesting note - one that can only be gleaned from having an actual film print - is that the picture was released in nine reels. Given that the running time is 77 minutes, it is probable that there was some trimming done after the previews. An interesting note about the music in the film. Duke Ellington and his Cotton Club Orchestra are the featured performers. At one point in the film there is a very bluesy, Harlemesque introduction to a number. But the film then cuts to a shot of the band playing "Three Little Words" in standard foxtrot tempo. Upon this number's conclusion, the band goes into a blues number. We then go outside to the garden where a scene between the romantic leads is played and the band is again heard in the distance playing "Three Litte Words". The duo even comment on the song and its meaning. It is apparent there was some moving around of sequences taking place here. And it's possible there was additional music recorded that did not make it into the final release print. As for Amos 'n Andy, there is a nice mix of verbal and visual set-pieces. There is also one surprisingly effective scene where Amos 'n Andy are told that their former employer/benefactor has died and Andy makes a very sorrowful speech about his goodness. It's one of the most genuinely emotional monologues I can recall from any RKO film of that very early talkie period. The one semi-drawback to the film is that Freeman Gosden (Andy) is not able to play Kingfish as he did on radio. In CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK, Kingfish is played by Russ Powell (in blackface - as are many others in the cast including at least one band member and stuttering comic Roscoe Ates). Film fans will remember Powell as the dockman at the beginning of KING KONG ("You going' on that crazy voyage?!"). Powell doesn't have quite the delightful devil about him that Gosden did in his portrayal of Kingfish on the radio - or Tim Moore on television. Had CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK been made six or seven years later, it might have had more polish and pacing. But even by the mid-thirties it is unlikely that a blacked-up Amos 'N Andy would have been welcomed in the cinemas. So we have only this one feature as a pictorialization of the proprietors of the Fresh Air Taxi Cab Corporation. If you can put yourself back into a 1930 frame of reference, give it a try. You might be pleasantly surprised.

This was an attempt to bring the radio sensations Amos & Andy to the big screen, from director Melville W. Brown and RKO. The overly-convoluted and sloppy plot concerns young Richard Williams (Charles Morton), just up from down south to visit some old family friends in New York, and to see about a possible inheritance that will help set him up in life. This becomes even more important when he falls for the daughter of the family friends, Jean Blair (Sue Carol). Meanwhile, two inept Harlem taxi cab proprietors, Amos (Freeman F. Gosden) and Andy (Charles J. Correll) are sent by their social lodge to a creepy abandoned house to fulfill an annual obligation concerning the memory of their order's founder. They run afoul of a shady character (Ralf Harolde) after Richard's inheritance. Also featuring Russ Powell as the Kingfish.

This is of course the infamous, original incarnation of Amos and Andy, with white actors Gosden and Correll in black face playing the leading roles. They aren't as mean spirited as some of the other caricatures of the time, but it's a sad sight, nonetheless. The decision was also made to have all other black characters with a speaking part also be white people in black face, although extras were cast with actual black performers. The nature of Amos and Andy is enough of a drawback, but what really killed this for me was that it is just not funny in the least. Actors like Willie Best and Mantan Moreland could often be hilarious despite the insensitive portrayal of their characters. But the comedy here is non-existent. The "old dark house" set-up seems tacked-on and unexploited for the inherent comedy, and none of the supporting players are very good at all, either. Gosden was said to have been unhappy with how the film turned out, and there were no other Amos and Andy features. This is surprising since the film was extremely profitable, and was the biggest hit in RKO's history until King Kong.

The movie does feature one stand-out scene of Duke Ellington's band performing some songs (even using Bing Crosby's voice for one). It raised the entire film's rating by one star, in my humble opinion.

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.

This early talkie featuring the apparently hugely popular comic act of Amos and Andy would no doubt outrage many of today's enlightened folk, but I don't really want to get into that other than to say that this film at least has worth as a social document. The comedy isn't really particularly funny - not because of any 'bad taste in the mouth' left by the brand of humour, but simply because the standard of the writing isn't that great. Freeman F. Gosden and Charles J. Correll are quite good at what they do, and there's an amiability about their relationship that is clearly a result of the way their characters must have developed during their radio years. A curiosity, for sure, but perfectly forgettable.

"Check and Double Check" has been kicked around as one of the worst examples of racism extant in a film. While the characterizations are not exactly enlightening, there is some humor in the film, which would directly be related to fans of the radio series. The main problem most people have is the blackface of the lead actors from the radio show. One must remember that this was the number one radio show of it's era. Yes, the characters are portrayed as somewhat stupid bumblers, but so are a lot of white and ethnic characters from other radio and television series. Think "Gilligan's Island", "The Beverly Hillbillies", "Ma and Pa Kettle" or "Dagwood Bumstead". I have seen only a few samples of the TV series "Amos and Andy" but what I have seen is a truly funny and very warm-hearted series. Also, the characters get treated with respect by other, more sophisticated characters within the stories in both the TV and film versions. The most truly disgusting racial stereotypes I have ever seen in a film are in "Birth of a Nation," the truly appalling portrayal of the KKK as heroes in this wins hands down for me as the low point in portrayal of racial stereotype.