February 15, 2005
CALVIN & THE COLONEL
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CALVIN AND THE COLONEL featured the exploits of two backwoods animals from the south who had taken up residence in a large northern city. The series was created, and the lead characters voiced, by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, who patterned the cartoon after their long-running "Amos 'n' Andy" radio and television series. Gosden and Correll, two white men, had created and played the parts of the two black leads in the radio version of "Amos 'n' Andy". They felt that, by using animals as their principal characters, they could avoid the touchy racial situation which "Amos 'n' Andy" had become in the early 1960's.
They were wrong.
Simply because of Gosden and Correll's participation, the show has been banned from distribution for 40 years. There is nothing racist about the series. In fact, it's one of the funniest TV cartoons ever produced. The series was produced for Kayro Productions by Bob Mosher and Joe Connelly, whose credits include "Leave it to Beaver", and "The Munsters".
On Saturday afternoon February 26th at 3:00pm, Asifa-Hollywood will present a screening of several rare color episodes of the series, 16mm prints, some with original network commercials. Special guests from the cast & crew will attend and a Q & A after the screening will include voice actress June Foray and animators Phil Roman, John Sparey and Frank Andrina. The screening takes place on The American Film Institute campus, in the Ted Ashley-Warner Bros. Screening Room, 2021 N. Westen Ave. in Hollywood, CA. It's a rare opportunity to see these episodes and meet the people behind the scenes.