All About Amen: An appreciation post.
When it comes to classic sitcoms there are very few funnier and more perfectly cast than Amen. The often overlooked but fantastic sitcom that served as the second hit tv show of Sherman Hemsley after 11 years on The Jeffersons was a NBC Saturday night staple along with 227, Golden Girls, Empty Nest and Hunter. The first television sitcom centered on a Church and its members\staff and one of the very few ever done, though it never got preachy and the show was never afraid to go big and broad with its comedy.
Created by Ed Weignberger (in the center) the series was an attempt to do a different type of sitcom on tv. A look into the black church and its members, congregation and community.
The Intro:
Sung by Vanessa Bell Armstrong and written by Andrae Crouch this iconic tv theme song and opening sequence has gone down in history as one of the very best and most memorable!
The Premise:
The series revolves around Ernest Frye, a widower deacon of the First Community Church of Philadelphia, who also works as a lawyer. He is often dishonest and frequently gets into trouble with his many harebrained schemes. Frye has a single daughter named Thelma. Reuben Gregory is the new, young pastor of the church, and also the object of Thelma’s affection. The two get married during season four, despite the fact that Gregory and Frye often butt heads. In the series finale, Thelma gives birth to the couple’s first child.
10 Favorite Episodes.
10. Betting on The Boy.
9. The Honeymoon.
8. Thelma and The D.I.
7. Dueling Ministers.
6. Pilot.
5. Maitre D’eacon.
4. A Slight Case of Murder parts 1 and 2.
3. Unforgettable.
2. Moving In.
- Thelma’s Reunion.
The Cast:
Sherman Hemsley:
Sherman Alexander Hemsley (February 1, 1938 — July 24, 2012) was an American actor, known for his roles as George Jefferson on the CBS television series All in the Family and The Jeffersons, Deacon Ernest Frye on the NBC series Amen, and B.P. Richfield on the ABC series Dinosaurs. For his work on The Jeffersons, Hemsley was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award. He also won an NAACP Image Award.
Clifton Davis:
Clifton Duncan Davis (born October 4, 1945) is an American actor, singer, songwriter, minister, and author.
Davis wrote The Jackson 5’s №2 hit “Never Can Say Goodbye” in 1971. He appeared on Broadway in the musicals Two Gentlemen of Verona and Aladdin. Davis starred in the television shows That’s My Mama, Amen, Madam Secretary, and others. He has hosted the Stellar Gospel Music Awards, Gospel Superfest and Lifestyle Magazine. Davis has appeared on the game shows Match Game and Pyramid and appeared in many movies.
Davis is a minister of a Baptist church and has also operated an interdenominational ministry for many years. He has been a guest on the Trinity Broadcasting Network many times. Davis wrote a chapter in the book Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul. Titled “A Mason-Dixon Memory,” it recounts the racism which he experienced while he was growing up.
Anna Maria Horsford:
Anna Maria Horsford (born March 6, 1948) is an American actress, known for her performances in television comedies.
Horsford is best known for her roles as Thelma Frye on the NBC sitcom Amen (1986–91), and as Dee Baxter on the WB sitcom The Wayans Bros. (1995–99). She had dramatic roles on the FX crime drama The Shield playing A.D.A. Beth Encardi, and CBS daytime soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful as Vivienne Avant, for which she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Guest Performer in a Drama Series in 2016.
Horsford appeared in a number of movies, most notable as Craig Jones’ mother Betty in 1995 comedy film Friday and its sequel Friday After Next (2002). Her other film credits include Times Square (1980), The Fan (1981), Presumed Innocent (1990), Set It Off (1996), Along Came a Spider (2001), Our Family Wedding (2010), and A Madea Christmas (2013).
Barbara Montgomery:
Barbara Montgomery (born June 25, 1939) is an American stage, television and film actress, and theatrical and film director. She is best known for her performance in Amen (1986–1990).
Born in Queens, Montgomery began her career on the stage in the 1960s in Off-Off-Broadway theatrical groups. She was a member of Negro Ensemble Company and the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. In the early 1970s, she starred as “Mama” in the Off-Broadway production of My Sister, My Sister for which she earned an Obie Award. The play later ran on Broadway from April to August 1974 for which Montgomery reprised her role.[1]
In 1986, Montgomery won the role of Cassietta Hetebrink on the NBC sitcom Amen. Montgomery played the role for four years before leaving the series in 1990. Later that year, she starred in the short-lived ABC program Married People as Olivia Williams.[1] She has also appeared on many shows such as A Different World, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Disneyland, and Living Single.
In 2013, Montgomery made her directorial debut with the historical film Mitote, starring Ruby Dee and S. Epatha Merkerson.
Roz Ryan:
Roz Ryan (born Rosalyn Bowen; July 7, 1951) is an American actress and comedian. She is well known for her part in the television show, Amen, for her character Amelia Hetebrink, for being the voice of Thalia, the Muse of Comedy in the 1997 Disney animated film, Hercules, and for guest starring on the Disney Channel sitcom, K.C. Undercover as Grandma Gayle.
Ryan was born Rosalyn Bowen in Detroit, Michigan, the daughter of Gertrude and Thomas Bowen, who worked for the Board of Education.[1] She is a 1969 graduate of Mackenzie High School. Ryan has starred in numerous Broadway musicals including: Ain’t Misbehavin, Chicago, A Christmas Carol, Dreamgirls, One Mo’ Time, and the 2006 revival of The Pajama Game. She is better known for her role as Amelia Hetebrink on Amen, Mrs. Dixon on Good News and Flo Anderson on All About the Andersons. She also guest starred on an episode on Barbershop. She was the voice of Thalia, the Muse of Comedy in Disney’s animated film Hercules and Hercules: The Animated Series. She is the voice of Bubbie the whale in the 2008 animated television series The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack. She had roles in the films I Think I Love My Wife, The Invention of Lying and Waiting for Forever. She voices Kick’s teacher Ms. Fitzpatrick in the animated series Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil. She was the voice of Witch Lezah in The Looney Tunes Show. She has also played Jake’s female and feline counterpart Cake in the Adventure Time episodes; “Fionna and Cake”, “Bad Little Boy”, “The Prince Who Wanted Everything”, and “Five Short Tables”. She has also starred in TVOne’s The Rickey Smiley Show.
She most recently starred on Broadway in Scandalous: The Life and Trials of Aimee Semple McPherson. In late May 2016 Ryan begun her 13th run in Chicago as Matron “Mama” Morton.
Jester Joseph Hairston (July 9, 1901 — January 18, 2000) was an American composer, songwriter, arranger, choral conductor, and actor. He was regarded as a leading expert on Negro spirituals and choral music. His notable compositions include “Amen,” a gospel-tinged theme from the film Lilies of the Field and a 1963 hit for The Impressions, and the Christmas song “Mary’s Boy Child”.
Hairston was born in Belews Creek, a rural community on the border of Stokes, Forsyth, Rockingham and Guilford counties in North Carolina. His grandparents had been slaves. At an early age he and his family moved to Homestead, Pennsylvania, just outside Pittsburgh, where he graduated from high school in 1921. Hairston was still a small child when his father died in a job-related accident; he was raised by his grandmother while his mother went to work. While growing up, Hairston heard his grandmother and her friends talking and singing about life on the plantations of the southern US. He listened with immense interest and made a promise to himself that he would preserve this history through music.
Hairston pledged Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, Chi chapter in 1925. He worked as a choir conductor in the early stages of his career. His work with choirs on Broadway eventually led to his singing and acting in plays, films, radio programs, and television shows.
Hairston appeared on TV’s The Amos ’n’ Andy Show. He had the role of Leroy on the radio program and as Henry Van Porter on the television program. He also played the role of Wildcat on the show That’s My Mama. In his senior years he appeared on the show Amen as Rolly Forbes. His last television appearance was in 1993 on an episode of Family Matters. Hairston also played the role of “King Moses” on radio for the Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall show Bold Venture.
In his later years, Hairston served as a cultural ambassador for American music, traveling to numerous countries with choral groups that he had assembled.In 1985 he took the Jester Hairston Chorale, a multi-racial group, to sing in the People’s Republic of China, at a time when foreign visitors were still quite rare in that country.
Elsa Raven:
Elsa Rabinowitz (September 21, 1929 — November 2, 2020), known professionally as Elsa Raven, was an American character actress, perhaps best known for her two years (1988–1990) on the sitcom Amen and playing the mother of Vincent Terranova (Ken Wahl) on the TV series Wiseguy.[1]
Raven is also known for her small but memorable role in Back to the Future (1985) as the clock tower lady with her phrase “Save the clock tower!” while gathering local donations to preserve the clock as-is, in opposition to Mayor Wilson’s initiative to replace the clock altogether. She played Ida Straus in the 1997 film Titanic along with Lew Palter, who played Isidor Straus,[2] and had a voice role in the 1981 animated film American Pop.[3]
Raven adhered to Judaism.[4] Raven died on November 2, 2020 in Los Angeles at the age of 91.[5][6] Upon her death, she was cremated and her ashes returned to her family.
Bumper Robinson:
Bumper Robinson is an American voice, film and television actor.[1] He is known for his roles as Bumblebee and Blitzwing in Transformers: Animated, Falcon in Avengers Assemble and Cyborg in Justice League: Doom, Robinson also took part in the production of the Virtual Reality game The Walking Dead® Saints & Sinners, voicing the main (male) character called the Tourist.
Robinson’s first theatrical break came as the son of O. J. Simpson’s character in Cocaine and Blue Eyes (1983), a CBS television movie. Years later, he would be cast in the role of the young O. J. Simpson in The O. J. Simpson Story (1995).
In the 1980s, Robinson played Zammis in Enemy Mine, Clarence on Amen, Jonah Carver on Days of Our Lives and a recurring role as Leon on NBC’s Night Court. He has made appearances on The Jeffersons, Gimme a Break!, Hill Street Blues, Matt Houston, Cagney & Lacey, Webster, Punky Brewster, The Facts of Life and Family Matters. He began his voice-over career on The Flintstone Kids as Philo Quartz, followed by work on Scooby-Doo, among others.
Robinson’s career continued into the 1990s, with work on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the FOX television movie Generation X, and shows like Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper, The Client, Touched by an Angel, The Steve Harvey Show, Sister, Sister and The John Larroquette Show. He earned rave reviews for his performance as Jackie Jackson in ABC’s miniseries, The Jacksons: An American Dream, after which he joined the cast of A Different World as Dorian Heywood. He also played Jared Harris on Guys Like Us, Marcus Miller on The WB’s Three, a recurring role as Ivan Ennis on Living Single and Marcus Wentworth on UPN’s Grown Ups.
In 2001, Robinson starred alongside Phylicia Rashad in the PBS film The Old Settler. Not long after, he starred in an American-Chinese produced action series called Flatland, with Dennis Hopper which was filmed in Shanghai. He joined the cast of Sabrina The Teenage Witch in 2003, after which he headed to New Mexico to star in Death Valley.
He has appeared in CSI: NY, Bones, Jane Doe: Yes I Remember It Well, Roommates, Alcatraz and BET’s The Game.
In addition, Robinson is also a prominent voice actor, with roles in animated films and television shows such as Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School, Pinky and the Brain, Futurama, Brother Bear and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He also provided the voices of Bumblebee, Blitzwing, Porter C. Powell and Blackout on Transformers: Animated.
Thelma and Reuben:
This iconic couple kept the audience on its toes for most of Amen’s run but ultimately (and FINALLY) ended up married with a baby being born on the very last episode. It was quite a journey with Reuben and Thelma, one of if not the very first black Tv couple to have that steamy will they\won’t they storyline like Sam and Diane from Cheers or David, Tony and Angela from Who’s The Boss, and Maddie from Moonlighting.
A match made in heaven, The chemistry between Anna Maria Horsford and Clifton Davis helped boost the show in the ratings and gave fans a couple to really root for. In fact when Anna Maria Horsford was interviewed by Get Tv where Amen reruns are ran in the early mornings, she had this to say about the chemistry between her and Davis as well as people’s reactions to their onscreen chemistry:
And then you were also so great with Clifton Davis [Thelma’s love interest Reuben Gregory].
Yeah.
I read that he had a crush on you. [Laughing]
I think he has the biggest crush now.
Now? [Laughing]
Than he ever had before.
Love it.
When I talk to Clifton’s wife, she says, “Anna, when they see me, they always look at the door to see if you’re coming behind.” I said, “Don’t say that, Monica.” She says, “No, it’s the truth. Sometimes they look at me like I broke you and him up.”
[Laughing] Oh my god. People really do take the show to heart.
The funniest thing, Clifton and I did a personal appearance in Pittsburg on Valentine’s Day.
Oh god. Recently?
No, this was a few years ago. A guy brought us in, we spoke, and we started singing together. Obviously that was the most wonderful thing the audience had ever seen. And then going up to our rooms, there was a couple that got on the elevator with us. [Clifton and I] said, “Happy Valentine’s Day.” A young couple. And they said, “Happy Valentine’s Day to you.” And the guy says, “You two are still together.” And we looked at each other and said, “Yeah.” [Smiling]
What can you do?
I know. It was so beautiful. We said yes because love means something.
Daddy and Daughter Duo Ernest and Thelma Frye:
The tighest father\daughter you ever would see. Thelma and Ernie were inseparable and there was nothing either one wouldn’t do for the other. That closeness came from the fact that Thelma’s mother died when she was real young and the two only had each other since. Their co dependent and quirky bond was just as much the heart of Amen as Reuben and Thelma’s romance was.
Anna Maria Horsford as Thelma Frye:
If anyone ever deserved multiple Emmys and was robbed every time it was the great Anna Maria Horsford who just completely owned the role of Thelma Frye Gregory. Horsford would also go on to play Dee Baxter on the other classic sitcom The Wayans Bros.
Sherman Hemsley’s two greatest roles:
Sherman Hemsley will always be known as both George Jefferson and Deacon Ernest J. Frye. Hemsley is in that very small club of stars of hit shows to strike gold twice and to have their second tv show be just as if not more memorable and successful than their first. While Amen didn’t last as long as The Jeffersons did, it is just beloved and just as hilariously funny as The Jeffersons and Sherman Hemsley managed to create two classic characters that were similar yet different enough to be distinctive and memorable on their own merit.
Final words: Amen is a classic sitcom that is sadly overlooked in the conversation of great black sitcoms or great sitcoms\television shows period. But today I just wanted to shine a spotlight on a tv show that deserves all the love and attention it should get.
