In one of Hollywood’s zaniest movie premiere stunts, Mel Brooks’
1974 western spoof Blazing Saddles screened at the Pickwick
Drive-In Theater in Burbank, California. Guests attend not in
cars—but on horseback.

Attendees, many sporting cowboy hats, watched the movie from
atop their steeds. Movie sound came through speakers attached
to saddle pommels, and the studio set up a “Horsepitality Bar”
where guests got “horse d’oeuvres.”

Brooks, one of Hollywood’s most legendary comedic directors,
was reportedly thrilled with the memorable publicity stunt, and
wrote to Warner Bros.’ publicist, Marty Weiser, who came up
with the clever idea. Its message: “You’re crazier than I am!”

Mel Brooks will be 100 years old on June 28th.

Freeman Gosden (“Amos”) and Charles Carrell (“Andy”).

On January 12, 1926, the two-man comedy series “Sam ‘n’ Henry”
debuted on Chicago’s WGN radio station. Two years later, after
changing its name to “Amos ‘n’ Andy,” the show becomes one
of the most popular radio programs in American history.

Though the creators and the stars of the new radio program,
Freeman Gosden and Charles Carrell were both white, the
characters they played were two Black men from the Deep
South who moved to Chicago to seek their fortunes.        
       

Gosden and Correll celebrate the tenth anniversary of the
show on NBC in March 1938.

  Mid 1950s

Robert Wayne Amsberry
(June 2, 1928 – November 21, 1957)

Amsberry was born in 1928 in Boring, Oregon and 
graduated from Franklin High School in Portland,
where he was a friend and classmate of popular 
singer Johnnie Ray (below) born in Dallas,Oregon.

John Alvin Ray (1927 – 1990)

Amsberry worked on The Mickey Mouse Club, a
then-new series, writing skits as well as acting
on the show in various characters.

Bob was also a voice actor, with a posthumous
credit in Disney’s Sleeping Beauty (1959).

On the morning of November 21, 1957, Amsberry
was involved in a car accident as a passenger
with Roy Williams, another Disney employee,
in Portland. Amsberry died of injuries sustained
in the accident.
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Freeman Gosden (‘Amos’) and Charles Correll (‘Andy’)

On January 12, 1926, the two-man comedy series “Sam ‘n’ Henry”
debuts on Chicago’s WGN radio station. Two years later, after
changing its name to “Amos ‘n’ Andy,” the show becomes one
of the most popular radio programs in American history.

Gosden and Carrell, both vaudeville performers, were doing a
Chicago comedy act in blackface when an employee at the
Chicago Tribune suggested they create a radio show.

Stephen Valentine Patrick William Allen
(December 26, 1921 – October 30, 2000)