The Two Black Crows

Long before Amos n' Andy, the names of the Two Black Crows, a popular blackface team played in vaudeville, on Broadway, in film shorts, and on radio and phonograph records by George Moran and Charles E. Mack were "Willie" and "Amos," and the name "Amos" is in fact used for Mack's character on "Two Black Crows," No contemporary sources suggest that Correll and Gosden were influenced by this recording in their use of the name "Amos." The "Willie and Amos Crow" characters were subsequently featured in Charles E. Mack's novel Two Black Crows in the A. E. F., New York: Bobbs, Merrill and Co. 1928, and this novel, in turn, formed the basis for Moran and Mack's series of radio appearances on the Columbia Broadcasting System's "Majestic Theatre of the Air," sponsored by Grigsby-Grunow Company during the spring of 1928. The series received poor reviews, and the Crows were dropped from the program before the end of the year. Sadly, none of the radio programs have surfaced as of this year (2009). Their greatest success was on phonograph records. Although their gags were mostly corny (and very often non-racial) and the characters were stereotypical (one practical but naive, the other seemingly slow and lazy yet quick with a quip and a certain skewed logic), the relationship depicted plus their laconic delivery made them one of the most successful of comedy teams.