Check and Double Check

It always amazes me to hear all the negative comments about "Amos and Andy," especially concerning their 50's TV series. They may not be the brightest bulbs in the bunch, but they have jobs, they care for others, and are law-abiding guys. In the TV show, other blacks were even portrayed as businessmen, doctors, and lawyers. Where does all that insult blacks? Because they mispronounce some words? Please.

Now of course, in "Check and Double Check" Amos and Andy are played by two guys in blackface, the two white guys who have made Amos and Andy famous up until that point. It is very funny seeing the white guys in blackface, because there is no doubting they are indeed white men (Kingfish is white too). Seeing this film was especially interesting for me because I have the two Amos and Andy cartoons from 1934 (the only ones ever made) which use the voices of these two actors.

The movie itself is pretty good, Amos and Andy get mixed up in some society plot, involving some well-to-do white people from Westchester. Back in Harlem, the duo run their taxicab company, and there are some nice shots of New York City in 1930. And for train/subway fans, there is a particular treat, as we go into the original Pennsylvania Station for some shots! There are some funny scenes in the film, with Andy's deadpan lines making me laugh the most. Maybe the thing that would surprise most new viewers of this film, is just how much the actors underplay their roles as Amos and Andy as far as black stereotyping from the 30's goes. As all old film fans know, black actors in these old movies were usually put in for comic relief, making funny faces and noises, looking bug-eyed, running scared at the slightest sound, jumping around with arms flailing if they were scared, etc. But these two guys really don't do any of that. Sure, they play for comedy, but even though they are in blackface, they actually avoid all that kind of stuff, and just play the comedy straight. This may disappoint anyone looking to blast and tear the film apart concerning the two actors as Amos and Andy, but it's the truth, they really don't make an effort to make blacks look silly, they are really playing a comedy while happening to be in blackface.

Most don't understand just how huge the characters of Amos and Andy were in those days. This film is an unbelievable artifact of the era, an entertaining excursion into 1930's comedy. The quality of the print is also downright excellent on the DVD I viewed. I highly recommend this film for entertainment as well as historical study.

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.

Typical Amos 'n Andy story-line has the boys trying to make a go of their "open-air" taxi business while they get caught up in a society hassle.

It involves driving musicians to a fancy party.

All the regular characters are here (or mentioned), including the famous Mystic Knights of the Sea.

The only film appearance of radio's long-running characters.

Guess the movie didn't make much money since there wasn't another. I've only heard bits and pieces of the radio show, but I have the entire TV series on DVD. The TV series is hysterical and anyone who thinks it's somehow racist, is nuts.

This movie, on the other hand is a whole different deal. Amos and Andy are white in black face. It's really odd to watch that these days.

Plus, it's just not a good film.

"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.

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.