Paper doll from the Amos 'n' Andy radio show: Museum Object and Cultural History
Paper doll from the Amos 'n' Andy radio show: Date: 1931. Distributed by: Pepsodent Company, American, 1915 - 1944. Type: paper dolls.

The object in the museum catalogue
A color paper doll depicting Andy Brown from the Amos 'n' Andy radio show sitting behind a wooden desk. The man is wearing a brown hat, with a black phone stretching between both his hands and a cigar between two of his fingers on his right hand. He is wearing a brown suit jacket, plaid vest, and an orange tie. The desk is piled with papers and an overflowing wastebasket sits in front of the desk. There is a hand-painted sign hanging from the desk reading “FRESH AIR/TAXICAB Co. / OF AMERICA - / INCORPULATED / ANDY BROWN – PREZ” in red and black. There are two black tabs at the bottom of both the right and left side of the paper doll (meant to be bent back for the doll to stand upright). The tab on the right has vertical text in white reading “COPYRIGHT 1931 / BY THE PEPSODENT CO.” The reverse side of the doll is light brown with black text, reading “Amos and Andy are brought to you / each night by / THE PEPSODENT CO. / Makers of Pepsodent - The Special / Film Removing Tooth Paste and / Pepsodent Antiseptic Mouth Wash.”
Materials, dates and provenance
- Date: 1931
- Distributed by: Pepsodent Company, American, 1915 - 1944
- Type: paper dolls
- Medium: ink on paper
- Dimensions: H x W: 4 × 4 9/16 in. (10.2 × 11.6 cm)
- Topic: African American
- Topic: Advertising
- Topic: Amusements
- Topic: Caricature and cartoons
- Topic: Radio
- Topic: Sitcoms
- Topic: Stereotypes
- Object number: 2014.53.8.1
- Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture
Sources and reuse
Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: No Known Copyright Restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.


