The Beulah Show, Volume 1

THE BEULAH SHOW (also known simply as BEULAH) is a light sitcom from television's first years best known for being the first program to star an African American actress. The syndicated series ran three seasons, 1950-1953. Based on the late 40's radio sitcom starring Oscar winner Hattie McDaniel of GONE WITH THE WIND fame, the television series' first two years starred Ethel Waters as Beulah, a big-hearted housekeeper for a young white family (presumably the producers chose Waters because she was a bigger star at the time than McDaniel). Miss Waters was reportedly unhappy with the mediocre scripts and left the show after the second season which led to an overhaul of the program and a completely new cast.The wonderful Hattie was finally cast as the video Beulah but tragically she was only able to complete eight episodes, dying later that year of breast cancer. The role of Beulah was then taken over by Hattie's longtime contemporary in movies, Louise Beavers (the rest of the new cast remained). Reportedly there were a couple of final episodes that season (the series' last) in which Lillian Randolph played the role (possibly due to Beaver's signing to play a featured role on the network sitcom MAKE ROOM FOR DADDY).The series, apparently now in public domain, has long been unseen except for a vhs tape or two issued by minor companies. At long last, a budget DVD version has been released of four episodes, two starring Hattie McDaniel and two with Louise Beavers.BEULAH GOES GARDENING has Hattie has the put-upon maid who ends up having to do the gardening when Mr. Henderson, in a penny-pinching move, decides to no longer employ a gardener and have the family do it instead, only thing is the "family" always has something else to do and it only means more work for Beulah. In THE WALTZ, little Donny Henderson is floundering in dance class, so Hattie and her longtime beau Bill decide to give him lessons, only the boogie woogie they teach him isn't quite the style he is supposed to learn. THE NEW ARRIVAL has a baby carriage arriving at the Henderson home leading Louise Beavers to believe the Mrs. is expecting and the bogus secret spreads like wildfire. SECOND WEDDING has Louise convinced her employers' marriage is on the rocks after reading a magazine article on the warning signs for marriages in trouble.Both actresses do quite well with the slender, unpolished material. I have always preferred Hattie McDaniel, one of the very best character actresses ever in film, over the quite talented Louise Beavers who is a gentler, less comic actress. It's touching and sad to see Hattie in her final role, not quite the spitfire of her classic movie performances but still a lovable endearing personality. Louise is equally good as Beulah and her two episodes actually are a little better written.Print quality for these programs is no better than good minus to acceptable (the Beavers episodes appear to be copies of videos rather than film prints and are only fair) but this material is very rare and you are not likely to see better prints anytime soon (indeed only about seven episodes of the show are still known to be around but surely there are more somewhere since the program was rerun for several years and the 1950's aren't that long ago).1940's "B" leads David Bruce and Jane Frazee play Beulah's employers, the Hendersons, child actor Stuffy Singer is their son Donny. Beulah's elusive beau is played by Ernest Whitman (who had a bit part in GONE WITH THE WIND as the black carpetbagger), her dizzy best friend Oriole is played by Ruby Dandridge (Dorothy's mom).THE BEULAH SHOW is a trailblazer in that it's black and white supporting performers are on an equal status and share approximately the same amount of screen time. And it's wonderful to see both Hattie McDaniel and Louise Beavers front and center in a program given the starring billing they richly deserved.

I bought this show (which was well before my time) because I wanted to see the great Hattie McDaniel. I am a big fan of hers and thought she almost "stole" "Gone With the Wind" from it's great stars. She was that good. And I guess the Academy agreed with me for indeed she did win an "Oscar" for her performance in that movie. The first black actress to ever win the statue. This isn't a great sitcom, and indeed was pulled after a short time because of racial stereotyping and all that upheaval in the 50's but it still is worth viewing just to see this extraordinary woman share her warmth, charm and the magic that was uniquely hers.

Black female in the lead role of a television sitcom and I am not talking about the year 2000 but rather 1950. Ethel Waters was the first Beulah, followed by Hattie McDaniel and then Louise Beavers. All were excellent.The characters are great, the scripts wonderful and the stereotypes classic. If you love television sitcoms then you have to watch these rare episodes. The condition of the four episodes ranges from 8 out of 10 to 6.5 out of 10 with Beulah Goes Gardening, the first episode the best quality. The last two I rate at 6.5 and have slight distortion and vibration. They look like they were recorded off TV to VHS and then transferred to DVD.It would be great if more episodes were released with a host explaining background and history of the three female lead actresses. I gave this a four-star rating due to picture quality. I know a film collector who has near mint 16mm prints of these episodes and I wish a company would release them on DVD. This version is not worth $[...] plus shipping but is worth $3 plus shipping.Unfortunately, the "Pioneers of Television" series on PBS did not include early seminal programs such as Beulah or Amos and Andy. Therefore, buy this DVD and watch a great sitcom.

I enjoyed the Beulah Show on radio when I was a kid in the 1940's. I don't recall ever seeing the show on early television, though. The television version was very well done, I think, even for those times. I especially enjoyed the character played by Butterfly McQueen, who, along with Hattie McDaniel, played in "Gone With the Wind." I would love to have more episodes of the television show. I notice this one is labeled Volume 1, so there surely are more episodes. I think anyone would enjoy this show from the very early days of television. The quality is also very good, considering the source.

an obscure early tv show. What you get is the syndicated tv prints, not seen in many many years. Quality of video transfers are fair at best. Presents the episodes that have the three different actresses that portrayed Beulah. Would only pay a few bucks for this dvd.

Unfortunately, this dvd does not work. After two attempts to get a working copy it is no longer available. The first copy appears blank and the second copy only got to the introduction. I would have love to put this classic series in my collection.

I remember seeing this show when I was a kid; it was probably the very first show I ever saw on television so seeing a bit of it again after all these years was great fun. The series itself is hardly great television but still holds up surprising well thanks in great part to Hattie McDaniel and later Lousie Beavers--both wonderful in the title role. I wish there were more episodes available of this show, especially with the great Ethel Waters who originated the role of Beulah on television I also wish the picture quality was better--the two episodes with McDaniel seem better than the two with Beavers. Still, it was a fun look back at a memorable TV show of the past.