Charles James Correll was born on February 2, 1890 in Peoria, Illinois, United States. He was the son of Joseph Boland Correll, a bricklayer, and Julia A. Fiss (there are some inconsistencies about his mother's first name). He grew up in a stable, working-class family, and while still in school he worked as an usher in a local vaudeville house and developed an interest in show business.
He graduated from public high school in Peoria in 1907.
He entered his father's trade. In 1918, after being noticed by the director of a local show, Correll was offered a job with the Joe Bren Producing Company of Chicago. Bren specialized in producing minstrel shows as fund-raisers for charitable groups in small cities.
For the next six years, Correll traveled the country, directing productions for Bren.
In 1920, in Durham, North Carolina he met Freeman Gosden, who had just been hired by Bren and was to be trained by Correll. The two became friends, often sharing an apartment during summers when both were in Chicago, preparing for the next season. In 1924, both were brought to Bren's home office in Chicago, Gosden to manage Bren's new circus division and Correll to manage the shows division. Once again sharing an apartment, Correll and Gosden began to write musical reviews together, and they worked up a "song and chatter" act. In March 1925, they began eight months of weekly appearances on radio station WEBH in Chicago. Soon they were appearing in shows and on radio programs in St. Louis; Columbus, Ohio; and other cities in the Midwest. During the summer of 1925, they resigned from the Bren Company and began concentrating on a career in vaudeville. However, the Chicago Tribune's radio station offered them $200 per week, and in November 1925, they began a series of nightly broadcasts on WGN. At the suggestion of the station's management, Correll and Gosden used their experiences with minstrel shows to work up a "radio comic strip" about two African Americans and on January 12, 1926, "Sam 'n' Henry" began nightly ten-minute broadcasts on WGN. The show was an immediate hit.
In 1928, however, the Chicago Daily News lured Correll and Gosden away from WGN, although the Chicago Tribune retained all rights to "Sam 'n' Henry" and continued broadcasting the show with two new men.
On March 19, 1928, Correll and Gosden began broadcasting on the Chicago Daily News's radio station, WMAQ. Six nights a week they presented a fifteen-minute show about two African-American men living in Harlem. "Amos 'n' Andy" focused on the misadventures of Amos Jones, played by Freeman Gosden as energetic, enterprising, and honest, and Andrew H. Brown, played by Correll as indolent but good-hearted. Gradually the team added characters, but until the 1940's all the writing and voices were done by Correll and Gosden. No one seems to have been bothered by having two white men performing all the parts in a story line with all African-American characters.
The show was a huge success, and with the help of the Tribune's publicity staff, in 1929 Correll and Gosden wrote a book (All About Amos 'n' Andy and Their Creators Correll and Gosden) to satisfy listeners' curiosity.
Within a short time NBC offered Correll and Gosden $100, 000 per year, and on August 19, 1929, Pepsodent toothpaste began sponsoring "Amos 'n' Andy" on the NBC Red network. "Amos 'n' Andy" was network radio's first huge success.
Within a few years, Correll and Gosden moved to California, where they appeared in movies (Check and Double Check in 1930 and The Big Broadcast of 1936), published books of "Amos 'n' Andy" dialogue, and lived the life of Hollywood stars. Despite protests about the racial stereotyping of "Amos 'n' Andy, " especially from the African-American press, Correll and Gosden's show remained popular throughout the Great Depression and into the 1940's. Short, stocky, and dark-haired (later gray-haired), Correll became the relaxed, gregarious half of the partnership, balancing Freeman Gosden's more temperamental, difficult, and creative personality.
With the advent of World War II, listenership began to drop. In February 1943, after changing networks and sponsors several times, "Amos 'n' Andy" left the air. In October it returned as a half-hour weekly variety program featuring guest stars, an orchestra, outside writers, and a studio audience. This show continued on NBC until 1948, when Correll and Gosden, along with Jack Benny and other stars, left NBC.
For $2. 5 million Correll and Gosden sold CBS all the rights to Amos and Andy for the next twenty years; they also received star salaries to play the chief parts.
Within a few years, television ended the success of their variety show, but from 1954 to 1960, Correll and Gosden stayed on CBS radio with a new show, "The Amos and Andy Music Hall, " mixing skits with popular records. On November 25, 1960, they left the air permanently.
In the mid-1950's, CBS developed a television situation comedy based on the Amos and Andy characters. Correll and Gosden were creative consultants, but the cast was entirely African American. The show had modest success with audiences, but it was embroiled in constant racial controversy. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People protested the show vehemently, and the cast had frequent problems with the scripts. Neither Correll nor Gosden was prepared for the bitterness that the television show engendered, and both men, especially Gosden, felt deeply wounded by some accusations.
After the television series ended and their last radio show was over, Correll and Gosden remained friends, living near each other in Beverly Hills, California. Correll continued to maintain his midwestern roots and returned to Chicago, where he died.
After a divorce from Marie Janes, whom he had married in 1927, he married Alyce Mercedes McLaughlin, a dancer, in 1937. They had four children.
