Beulah (radio and TV series)
series
Beulah is an American sitcom that ran on CBS Radio from 1945 to 1954, and on ABC Television from 1950 to 1953. The show is notable for being the first sitcom to star an African-American actress, for being ABC TV's first hit situation comedy, and the first hit TV sitcom without a laugh track. The show was controversial for its caricatures of African Americans.
Radio
Originally portrayed by a white 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 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. 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 from February 24 to August 20, 1947.
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