History of Sanford and Son 4 TVTOME

[Rob W. Case]

Sanford and Son is one of the most beloved sitcoms in American television. The talents of Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson, mixed with the award-winning writers of smash hits like All in the Family, The Jeffersons, Maude, Good Times, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, One Day at a Time, and so on, became a show that was more than an ordinary sitcom, it was a landmark legacy.

In this carefully researched report, we will offer you the reader a three-dimensional view of this television classic. We will document on and off the set accounts of one of the most beloved and laugh-out-loud hilarious sitcoms ever to hit American airwaves.

In Britain, a popular sitcom by the name of Steptoe and Son, which ran in Britain for 10 years, captured the attention of Norman Lear. The British series focused on a junk dealer, and his son, running their business. Norman Lear, who successfully Americanized the British sitcom “Till Death Us Do Part”, the show we Americans today know as “All in the Family”, had an eye on Americanizing Steptoe and Son. Norman Lear got together with his partner in television Bud Yorkin to make this a reality. Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin shot two pilots for this Americanization of Steptoe and Son, but it it didn’t sell. Both Lear and Yorkin partnered with Aaron Ruben, who was famous for producing the hits “The Andy Griffith Show” and it’s spinoff series, “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.”<br>
When looking for someone to play the Father and Son, there was no race preference. The act did not call for a black or white cast, the producers just wanted the content to be good. In hiring the cast, the producers had Cleavon Little, who was in the broadway musical “Purlie” in mind. When he declined, Redd Foxx a man, who was a rising star, creating things from X rated comedy albums and acts to performing in Vegas, was considered after appearing in his first movie in 1970. Comedian Redd Foxx appeared in a film called “Cotton Comes to Harlem” Foxx’s appearance captured the attention of Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin. They called him, and he did so. The next character they needed was the man to play Foxx’s son. Lear and Yorkin hired a struggling young actor named Demond Wilson to play the role of the son in this series. The chemistry was successful, not always the case in performers starting out in a new series commitment. After a week of rehearsal, the pilot was brought to executives at NBC. The executives watched the pilot at the CBS television city in Los Angeles (a place I was at twice in May of 2004). NBC officials thought it was the funniest pilot they have ever seen in their life, according to Bud Yorkin.

As for the name of the sitcom, Redd Foxx convinced the producers to make the name of the series Sanford and Son. Foxx wanted the name Sanford to be his character as a tribute to his deceased brother, Fred Sanford.

Fun Fact: Redd Foxx’s real name was John Elroy Sanford. He changes his first name to Redd because he worked in a Harlem restaurant and he was known as Chicago Red. He also had red hair.

Malcom X once wrote “Chicago Red was the funniest dishwasher on earth,” in looking back on his visits to Harlem.

Sanford and Son, when it aired, replaced a show called “The D.A.” The former Dragnet Star decided to take storylines out of the streets of Los Angeles and put them in the courtroom. The show’s final episode was pulled on January 7th, 1972. The following week, January 14th, 1972, as a mid-season replacement to Jack Webb’s failed show “The D.A.” Americans were introduced to a cranky junk man named Fred Sanford and his irritated son Lamont. The show became an instant hit. After it’s first 13 episodes, the show was picked up for another season. By it’s second season, the show ranked number two, under “All in the Family” in the ratings.

[Rob W. Case]

The series was a success among both White and Black audiences. Foxx’s talent contributed to difficult task of crossing over to different audiences. It was a sponsor’s dream. A smart move in the benefit of the producers, was the fact that Lear and Yorkin allowed Redd to fool with the dialogue a little to keep the show realistic. La Wanda Page (Aunt Esther) recalled that some of Redd’s material was better than some of the writer’s material.

Think of what you could do with this list of characters:

Sanford- a cranky Junk Dealer
His Son- The son who tries to run things more rationally.
Aunt Esther- The “ugly” Bible-thumping cousin in law who stands in Sanford’s way.
Grady, Bubba- Sanford’s wacky friends.
Julio- A Puerto-Rican who gets on Sanford’s nerves.
Donna- Fred’s Fiancé<br>

During the Second season, Redd was making $15,000 a week. By the end of the third season, Redd was making $20,000 a week. As the series continued, both Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin were making more money than Foxx, and Foxx was feeling disenfranchised. Redd Foxx felt that he should be making either as much or more than the producers, who only conceived the idea for the sitcom, whereas Foxx labored to make it a success. But then, there is the contract.

The Gamble of the Contract:

Not knowing whether or not a product in the entertainment industry would become a success, the producers offer an amount for the performer to work with. Both Foxx and Wilson signed the contract. The show became a hit, and a rabid money-maker. Now, contract negotiations, depending on the contract would come by the start of the next season, should the show be picked up for another season. Since Foxx couldn’t get his way to his demands, he was getting restless. Foxx would call in sick, pull stunts, and force the show in re-runs.


Foxx was getting angry and abusive. Redd was drinking, gambling, and carousing with other women. His anger dissolved his marriage of 19 years in an instant, yet you would not see the evidence of any of it on the show itself. The madness over salary issues would make the show go a route that happened once on the “All in the Family” set.

In the episode entitled “The Party Crasher” Fred’s friend Grady was left in charge of house sitting and Lamont. For 16 episodes, Sanford and Son was without it’s main star, with a summer to break the end of the third season with the fourth season.

It ended up that on May 14th, 1974 Norman Lear’s Tandem Productions sued Foxx for ten million dollars. Producers went as far as to put an injunction on him which would make it illegal for him to work anywhere else unless the contract was settled. Redd was stubborn and would not budge. As the producers cut him out economically by a lawsuit, an injunction that would prohibit him to work anywhere else, and debts piling up, Foxx had to do something. At the same time, the ratings were plummeting without the star starring in the show. Eventually Redd gave in. Tandem dropped the suit, and Redd went back to work. Redd returned in the episode entitled “The Surprise Party” which was the 9th episode produced for the 4th season. As a bonus, Redd received a dressing room with a window, which he wanted from NBC. Redd created a stink about not having a window in his “cubbyhole” of a dressing room. NBC also gave Redd a golf cart to drive through the long halls to the set, a salary increase, and a stake in the profits of the series.

By the end of the 1974-1975 season, another idea was in the works. Producers decided to expand their market on Sanford and Son by thinking about a spin-off series. “All in the Family” spun off two successful spin-off series which in turn spun-off some series of their own. “All in the Family” begat Maude (1972-1978), which begat Good Times (1974-1979) and The Jeffersons (1975-1985), which begat a lesser successful spinoff entitled “Checking In” (1982). In the season finale of the 4th season, a pilot for a spinoff series called “Grady” was aired. On December 4th, 1975, Grady aired as it’s own series. The story revolved around Grady Wilson, who moved to Santa Monica from LA to live with his daughter, son-in-law, and his grandchildren, one of which would go on to co-star in the sitcom “What’s Happening” a few years later. The show flopped. It was cancelled after March 6th of 1976.

In the 1976-1977 season, some memorable episodes were made. The start of the sixth season featured a trip to Hawaii. Taped on location in Hawaii, the story revolved around jewel thieves, and Fred being in the middle of the smuggle without even knowing about it. Fred and Lamont were chased in the story as thieves hid their jewels in the Sanford’s luggage. One episode guest starred B.B. King. Sanford and Son went on the Gong Show with guest star Chuck Barris. Another classic episode was the episode where Sanford and Aunt Esther were handcuffed together. That one should have been an hour long episode. At the end of the sixth season, Redd said “that’s it. No more Sanford.” Redd wished the cast well, but the producers wouldn’t necessarily let the show go. A photo was published of Redd Foxx in a Priest outfit standing next to a tombstone, in which the words “Sanford and Son (1972-1977)” were engraved.

Redd Foxx was promised $100,000 a week by rival network ABC to host a variety show called “The Redd Foxx Comedy Hour.” The show only lasted six episodes. Demond Wilson ended up getting work in a mid-season sitcom called “Baby, I’m Back.” Still, with all of the experience from the sitcom, the ego and arrogance of Foxx in contract disputes, NBC thought that the remains of the show could be salvaged. The following season would introduce The Sanford Arms.

[Rob W. Case]

The Sanford Arms (1977)

The Sanford Arms was a series that took the supporting cast of Sanford and Son and added a new star to the mix. The departure of Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson was explained that Fred and Lamont moved to Phoenix Arizona. In the pilot of the series, Phil Wheeler, a single father, bought the Sanford Arms hotel (which was explained more in the latter episodes of Sanford and Son) along with the place next door to rent out and to make some money off of. Aunt Esther came around to collect the mortgage payments for Fred. Bubba Bexley, Fred’s friend was the “Bell-boy” who would carry the luggage for guests of the Sanford Arms, and Grady would drop in as a regular as well. New storylines included Phil Wheeler’s liberal 21 year old daughter Angie, who was a rebellious “free-spirit.” Another child of Wheeler’s was Nat, a typical, yet energetic young boy. Only eight episodes of this series were produced, but only 4 episodes aired between September 16th, 1977 to October 14th, 1977. The change did not go well with audiences as the set of a groundbreaking show would remind the public of the show Sanford and Son once was. In a way, it was like watching supporting ingredients of the chemistry that made Sanford and Son great but missing the main ingredients and asking yourself, “When is Fred and Lamont going to come back?” When it comes to certain shows, change is poision. In 1993, Norman Lear made a short-lived sitcom called “704 Hauser Street” which revolved around a black family who lived in Archie Bunker’s old house in Queens New York.


Sanford (1980-1981):

Three years after the demise of Sanford and Son, Redd Foxx was in trouble. He opened a productions company called Redd Foxx Productions which was a disaster from the beginning. Redd was in debt, and needed money. NBC and Foxx tried to revive the legacy of Sanford and Son by trying to make new episodes for the show. Demond Wilson was asked to return to the show, but he asked for what the network thought was too much money. Wilson declined, so they decided to change the format. Erasing The Sanford Arms as though it never existed, producers decided to add to the original series, and expand its legacy. In the new series, Fred Sanford meets an obese white man by the name of Cal Pettie. Call, according to the pilot worked with Lamont in Alaska. Before you knew it, the two men became partners. Then, in the same episode, Fred meets a wealthy widow by the name of Evelyn Lewis. “Eve”, as Fred liked to call her, had a snobby brother who would say demeaning things to Fred, and an “ugly” maid named Cissy, to add an Aunt Esther type of character to make the show muster up some of the Sanford and Son legacy points. Also added to the mix was Clinton Derricks Carroll, who played Aunt Esther’s son, and Nathaniel Taylor as Rollo from the original series. As the series was in it’s first season, under the new format, the ratings weren’t as appealing. Perhaps it was because of the way it was marketed and what time it was on. By the second season, an old favorite returned as a regular. La Wanda Page would come back as Aunt Esther to bring about some of that “charm” that the original series always had. As the series pressed on, Whitman Mayo (Grady) would make an occasional appearance. With classic storylines such as the one where Fred and Esther ended up accidentally married (You see Elizabeth was supposed to sign where Esther signed as a witness, and Esther signed where the Bride was supposed to sign), and an episode in which Fred has a heart attack (“The Big One”), I think that the show would have had a chance if it was properly marketed. In my opinion, I think that Sanford was just as good and Sanford and Son, even with the changes made to the series. The clever jokes related to Cal’s weight problem, the “ugly” jokes used on Cissy the maid and Aunt Esther, the jokes used between the rich snob Winston and Sanford, were priceless. The storylines were price less. But the only problem with the show was that it only lasted 26 episodes between March 15th, 1980 and July 3rd 1981 before being cancelled. This was the time when Foxx would be forced to leave, and not on his own discretion. After the series, Foxx returned to the Las Vegas circuit.

In 1990, the Georgia based network owned by Ted Turner called TBS started airing re-runs of the show. Sanford and Son was running in syndication for years up to that point, but this was unique. As a promotion to get people to watch the show on TBS, the network created a Sanford and Son reunion. In the 2 hour special, Whitman Mayo who played Grady was supposed to meet La Wanda page and Redd Foxx and Foxx’s mansion to reminisce about the series. With clips from the old series, and some fresh jokes playing their true selves, the tactic would freshen the legacy in order to get more people, including new generations to watch.

In 1997, the Columbia House video club released the Sanford and Son series on a month by month basis on VHS videocassette.

With the DVD revolution in the late 90’s and 2000’s, studios caught the attention that if they release a series in their vault, the series fan base will flock to buy it. Releasing a series by seasons was a way for fans to enjoy the WHOLE series, and for fans to choose which episodes are their favorites. Sanford and Son was released season by season, and at the time of this writing, 5 out of 6 seasons have been released on DVD.

[Rob W. Case]

Please Visit my Sanford and Son Page at:

www.tvtome.com/SanfordandSon/

Also, if you are interested in the Sanford Arms, visit this link:

www.tvtome.com/SanfordArms/


And, if you are interested in the genuine sequel (at least with a majority of the cast from the original sitcom), then visit my Sanford page at:

www.tvtome.com/Sanford/