Toy automobile:Amos 'n Andy Fresh Air Taxi

"The mechanical toy hit of 1930!" trumpeted the Sears, Roebuck & Company catalog in a promotional pitch describing this lithographed tin, windup toy car. The taxi rolled forward, stopped, and shivered in comic imitation of Amos 'n' Andy's rickety Fresh Air Taxi. Hoping to cash in on the phenomenal success of the "Amos 'n' Andy" radio show, the Louis Marx Company of New York produced three million of these toy cars in 1930, only to watch sales slump after a mere 1.5 million. Depicting the misadventures of two black men who came from the South to seek their fortunes in the big city, "Amos 'n' Andy" drew an estimated 40 million listeners to the radio every night almost immediately after its national syndication in 1929. It was the most popular radio show of its time, and, by some estimates, the most popular in history. Created and portrayed by two white actors, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, the show's principal characters stirred debate within the African-American community. While some condemned the comic incompetence of Amos and Andy as the only image of African-Americans served up by the national media, others praised the show for introducing Americans to black culture. By the 1950s, when the show appeared briefly on television, critics had begun to condemn it for its racial stereotyping.