''Beulah'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

that ran on CBS Radio from 1945 to 1954, and on

ABC Television ABC Television most commonly refers to: *ABC Television Network of the American Broadcasting Company, United States, or *ABC Television (Australian TV network), a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia ABC Television or ABC ...

from 1950 to 1953. The show is notable for being the first sitcom to star an

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

actress, for being ABC TV's first hit situation comedy, and the first hit TV sitcom without a

laugh track A laugh track (or laughter track) is an audio recording consisting of laughter (and other audience reactions) usually used as a separate soundtrack for comedy productions. The laugh track may contain live audience reactions or artificial laught ...

. The show was controversial for its caricatures of African Americans.

Radio

Originally portrayed by a

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

male actor, Marlin Hurt, Beulah Brown first appeared in 1939 when Hurt introduced and played the character on the ''Hometown Incorporated'' radio series and in 1940 on NBC radio's ''Show Boat'' series. In 1943, Beulah moved over to ''That's Life'' and then became a supporting character on the popular ''

Fibber McGee and Molly ''Fibber McGee and Molly'' (1935–1959) was a longtime American husband-and-wife team radio comedy program. The situation comedy was a staple of the NBC Red Network from 1936 on, after originating on NBC Blue in 1935. One of the most popular ...

'' radio series in March 1944. On July 2, 1945, Beulah was spun off into her own radio show on CBS, ''The Marlin Hurt and Beulah Show'', sponsored by

Tums Tums (stylized as TUMS) is a brand of antacid made of sucrose (table sugar) and calcium carbonate (CaCO3) manufactured by Haleon in St. Louis, Missouri, US. They are also available in a sugar-free version. It is an over-the-counter drug, availa ...

. Hurt was still in the role of Beulah, and also played the voice of Beulah's boyfriend, Bill Jackson. Beulah was employed as a housekeeper and cook for the Henderson family: father Harry, mother Alice and son Donnie. Rounding out the cast was Oriole Winston, the housekeeper for the family next door to the Hendersons. After Hurt died of a heart attack in 1946, he was replaced by another white actor, Bob Corley, and the series was retitled ''The Beulah Show'', which ran on ABC as a

sustaining program A sustaining program is a radio or television program that, despite airing on a commercial broadcast station, does not have commercial sponsorship or advertising. This term, mostly used in the United States, was common in the early days of radio, b ...

from February 24 to August 20, 1947. When African-American actress

Hattie McDaniel Hattie McDaniel (June 10, 1893 – October 26, 1952) was an African-American actress, singer-songwriter, and comedian. For her role as Mammy in ''Gone with the Wind'' (1939), she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the f ...

took over the role on November 24, 1947, with the program returning to CBS. She earned $1,000 a week for the first season, doubled the ratings of the original series and pleased the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

which was elated to see a historic first: a black woman as the star of a network radio program. McDaniel continued in the role until she became ill in 1952 and was replaced by

Lillian Randolph Lillian Randolph (December 14, 1898 – September 12, 1980) was an American actress and singer, a veteran of radio, film, and television. She worked in entertainment from the 1930s until shortly before her death. She appeared in hundreds of radi ...

, who was in turn replaced for the 1953–54 radio season by her sister, Amanda Randolph. From 1947 to 1953, ''The Beulah Show'' was sponsored by

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/con ...

for their

Dreft Dreft is a laundry detergent in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and other markets. First produced by Procter & Gamble in 1933, it was the first synthetic detergent. The Fairy brand of washing-up liquid and Cascade brand of dishwasher d ...

laundry and dishwashing detergents. The show had multiple sponsors for their final 1953–54 season:

General Foods General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by C. W. Post, Charles William (C. W.) Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, a ...

General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...

and

Murine The Old World rats and mice, part of the subfamily Murinae in the family Muridae, comprise at least 519 species. Members of this subfamily are called murines. In terms of species richness, this subfamily is larger than all mammal families excep ...

. In the Hurt and Corley eras of the program, the radio program was a 30-minute weekly sitcom. For most of the show's run (1947–54), the series ran as a 15-minute daily sitcom, a format popular among daytime serials.

Television

In 1950, Roland Reed Productions adapted the property into a TV situation comedy for

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

, and the ''Beulah'' TV show ran for three seasons, Tuesday nights at 7:30 Eastern Time from October 3, 1950, to September 22, 1953. Most of the comedy in the series derived from the fact that Beulah, referred to as "the queen of the kitchen", has the ability to solve the problems that her employers cannot figure out. Other characters included Beulah's boyfriend Bill Jackson, a handyman who is constantly proposing marriage, and Oriole, a befuddled maid for the family next door. For at least the first season, ''Beulah'' was filmed at

Biograph Studios Biograph Studios was an early film studio and laboratory complex, built in 1912 by the Biograph Company at 807 East 175th Street, in The Bronx, New York City, New York, which was preceded by two locations in Manhattan. History 841 Broadway ...

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

while Ethel Waters was simultaneously appearing on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

in ''

The Member of the Wedding ''The Member of the Wedding'' is a 1946 novel by Southern writer Carson McCullers. It took McCullers five years to complete, although she interrupted the work for a few months to write the novella '' The Ballad of the Sad Café''.McDowell, Mar ...

''.

Cast changes

Ethel Waters Ethel Waters (October 31, 1896 – September 1, 1977) was an American singer and actress. Waters frequently performed jazz, swing, and pop music on the Broadway stage and in concerts. She began her career in the 1920s singing blues. Her no ...

starred as Beulah for the first year of the TV series before quitting in 1951. When production moved to Hollywood, Hattie McDaniel, star of radio's ''Beulah'', was cast in the title role in Summer 1951, but only filmed six shows before falling ill. She was replaced by

Louise Beavers Louise Beavers (March 8, 1900 – October 26, 1962) was an American film and television actress who appeared in dozens of films and two hit television shows from the 1920s to 1960. She played a prominent role in advancing the lives of black Am ...

later in 1951. The McDaniel episodes were shelved pending an improvement of her health, and so the second season began in April 1952 starting with the Beavers episodes. The six McDaniel episodes were tagged onto the end of the second season, starting July 1952 and running until August 1952. It was around this time that McDaniel learned that she had advanced breast cancer. Beavers returned in the role of Beulah for the first part of the third ''Beulah'' season, which aired from September to December 1952.

Butterfly McQueen Butterfly McQueen (born Thelma McQueen; January 8, 1911December 22, 1995) was an American actress. Originally a dancer, McQueen first appeared in films as Prissy in ''Gone with the Wind'' (1939). She also appeared in the films '' Cabin in the Sky ...

(McDaniel's fellow cast member from ''

Gone With the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * Gone with the Wind (novel), ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * Gone with the Wind (film), ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Wind ...

'') starred as Oriole for the first season. Ruby Dandridge, who had played Mrs. Kelso in '' Cabin in the Sky'' and the voice of Oriole on the radio version of ''Beulah'', replaced McQueen when the entire television cast was overhauled upon the arrival of Hattie McDaniel. Percy "Bud" Harris originally portrayed Bill, but he walked out on the part during the first season, accusing the producers of forcing him to portray an "

Uncle Tom Uncle Tom is the title character of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1852 novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin''. The character was seen in the Victorian era as a ground-breaking literary attack against the dehumanization of slaves. Tom is a deeply religious Chri ...

" character. He was succeeded in the role by ''

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

'' pianist

Dooley Wilson Arthur "Dooley" Wilson (April 3, 1886 – May 30, 1953) was an American actor, singer and musician who is best remembered for his portrayal of Sam in the 1942 film ''Casablanca (film), Casablanca''. In that romantic drama, he performs its theme ...

, until Ernest Whitman followed radio co-stars McDaniel and Dandridge to TV in April 1952. The show was directed at various times by future sitcom veterans as Richard L. Bare and Abby Berlin. Like the contemporaneous television program ''

Amos 'n' Andy ''Amos 'n' Andy'' was an American radio sitcom about black characters, initially set in Chicago then later in the Harlem section of New York City. While the show had a brief life on 1950s television with black actors, the 1928 to 1960 radio sho ...

'', ''Beulah'' came under attack from many critics, including the

, which accused the show of supporting

stereotypical In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalization, generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can ...

depictions of black characters, with Beulah viewed as a stereotypical " mammy" similar to

Aunt Jemima Aunt Jemima was an American breakfast brand for pancake mix, table syrup, and other breakfast food products. The original version of the pancake mix was developed in 1888–1889 by the Pearl Milling Company and was advertised as the first " ...

Episode status

A total of 87 episodes were filmed and produced of the television program. All 87 episodes were included in syndication packages throughout the latter half of the 1950s for local stations across the country. Only seven episodes are known to exist on 16mm format and circulate among collectors. All 87 episodes are housed in an archive in their original 35-millimeter format. 21 episodes of the radio series have survived to the present day, as does Bob Corley's audition tape. As a daily sitcom, preserving the radio version of ''Beulah'' was not as high of a priority as it was for primetime programming. The following episodes can be found at YouTube and Archive.org. * The New Arrival (air date June 10, 1952), with Louise Beavers * Second Wedding (aka The Advice Columnist, air date June 20, 1952), with Louise Beavers * The Waltz (air date August 5, 1952), with Hattie McDaniel * Beulah Goes Gardening (air date August 12, 1952), with Hattie McDaniel

Cast

Radio

* Marlin Hurt: Bill Jackson, Beulah (1945–1946) * Bob Corley: Beulah (1947) *

: Beulah (1947–1952) *

: Beulah (1952–1953) * Amanda Randolph: Beulah (1953–1954) * Hugh Studebaker: Harry Henderson *

Mary Jane Croft Mary Jane Croft (February 15, 1916 – August 24, 1999) was an American actress best known for roles as Betty Ramsey on ''I Love Lucy'', Miss Daisy Enright on the radio and television versions of ''Our Miss Brooks'', Mary Jane Lewis on ''The L ...

: Alice Henderson * Henry Blair: Donnie Henderson (1947–1953) * Sammy Ogg: Donnie Henderson (1953–1954) * Ruby Dandridge: Oriole Winston * Ernest Whitman: Bill Jackson *

Announcer An announcer is a voice artist who relays information to the audience on a broadcast media programme or live event either on radio or television. Television and other media Some announcers work in television production, radio or filmmaki ...

: Marvin Miller (1947–1953) *

: Johnny Jacobs (1953–1954) * Supporting cast members:

, John Brown, Lois Corbet,

Dorothy Dandridge Dorothy Jean Dandridge (November 9, 1922 – September 8, 1965) was an American actress and singer. She was the first African-American film star to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for '' Carmen Jones'' (1954). Dandridge had a ...

, Vivian Dandridge,

Roy Glenn Roy Edwin Glenn, Sr. (June 3, 1914 – March 12, 1971) was an American character actor. Early life Glenn was born in Pittsburg, Kansas on June 3, 1914. Career Glenn's career spanned five decades, beginning in radio in the 1940s with multiple ...

, Jess Kirkpatrick,

, Nicodemus Stewart

Television

Season 1: October 1950 – late 1951

: Beulah * Wiliam Post Jr.: Harry Henderson * Ginger Jones: Alice Henderson * Clifford Sales: Donnie Henderson * Percy "Bud" Harris: Bill Jackson (October 1950 to early 1951) *

: Bill Jackson (early 1951 to 1952) *

: Oriole *

Leslie Uggams Leslie Marian Uggams (; born May 25, 1943) is an American actress and singer. After beginning her career as a child in the early 1950s, she garnered acclaim for her role in the Broadway theatre, Broadway musical ''Hallelujah, Baby!'', winning a T ...

made at least one guest appearance as a young girl while Ethel Waters was the star of the show.

Season 2: April 1952 – August 1952

: Beulah (April–July) *

: Beulah (July–August; six episodes) * David Bruce: Harry Henderson *

Jane Frazee Mary Jane Frehse (July 18, 1915 – September 6, 1985), was an American actress, singer, and dancer. Professional life Jane, age six, and her 12-year-old sister Ruth formed a singing vaudeville act known as The Frazee Sisters.Stuffy Singer: Donnie Henderson * Ernest Whitman: Bill Jackson * Ruby Dandridge: Oriole

Season 3: September 1952 – September 1953

: Beulah * David Bruce: Harry Henderson *

Jane Frazee Mary Jane Frehse (July 18, 1915 – September 6, 1985), was an American actress, singer, and dancer. Professional life Jane, age six, and her 12-year-old sister Ruth formed a singing vaudeville act known as The Frazee Sisters.Stuffy Singer Donnie Henderson * Ernest Whitman: Bill Jackson * Ruby Dandridge: Oriole

References in other media

''Beulah'' was referenced in the mockumentary '' C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America''. In order to make the mock documentary more believable, mock commercials for historical goods and services were used such as Darkie Toothpaste and

Coon Chicken Inn Coon Chicken Inn was an American restaurant chain, chain of three restaurants that was founded by Maxon Lester Graham and Adelaide Burt in 1925, which prospered until the late 1950s. The restaurant's name contained the word ''Coon'', considered ...

. ''Beulah'' was advertised as being a show (titled ''Leave It to Beulah'', combining the name of the series with that of ''

Leave It to Beaver ''Leave It to Beaver'' is an American television sitcom that follows the misadventures of a suburban boy, his family and his friends. It starred Barbara Billingsley, Hugh Beaumont, Tony Dow and Jerry Mathers. CBS first broadcast the show ...

'', and featuring Beulah as a domestic

slave Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

) which Confederate families had grown up watching.

Notes

References

*Bodroghkozy, Aniko
Museum of Broadcast Communications: ''Beulah''

Listen to

Jerry Haendiges' Preview Listening Lounge: ''The Beulah Show'' (1954)''The Beulah Show''
at Internet Archive – 1946–1954.

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0042081, title=Beulah 1945 radio programme debuts 1954 radio programme endings 1950 American television series debuts 1953 American television series endings 1940s American radio programs 1950s American radio programs 1950s American sitcoms American comedy radio programs American black sitcoms Black-and-white American television shows CBS Radio programs American English-language television shows Fictional maids Radio programs adapted into television shows Race-related controversies in radio Race-related controversies in television Comedy radio characters Comedy television characters Female characters in radio Female characters in television Ethnic humour Television controversies in the United States Television series based on radio series Television shows filmed in New York City American Broadcasting Company sitcoms