The year was 1948, and the DuMont company had recently created a TV network to help build demand for their line of television sets.
Actress and singer Amanda Randolph was the first African-American woman to star in a network television show. The program was The Laytons, and Randolph was one of the stars.
It only lasted two months and we don’t know much about its characters or plot, but Rudolph must have done well. Because later that same year, she appeared in a second show, a daytime musical variety series titled Amanda which lasted a full season.
As a singer in the Twenties, Amanda Randolph recorded with pianist Sammie Lewis, then joined the all-black review by Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle, Shuffle Along, in 1924, which was a sensation in its day. Before she pioneered on the small screen, Rudolph found lots of radio work on variety programs and soap operas, especially Amos and Andy and The Danny Thomas Show. She was in the movie No Way Out with Sidney Portier in 1950. Amanda Randolph died of a heart attack just short of her 71st birthday in 1967.
Here she is in a 1936 recording.
“Soundtrack to the Struggle” is produced by Ron Adkins. Written by Bob Naujoks. Executive Producer Dennis Green. Host: Hollis Monroe
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