The image above is of Pick Malone (1893–1962) and Pat Padgett (1898–1990)
- a blackface radio comedy team performing simultaneously on series as
Pick And Pat and Molasses and January .
Their Radio Programs as Pick And Pat
Broadcast History:
January 26, 1934-May 31, 1935 NBC 30 Minute Program
June 3, 1935-February 20, 1939 CBS 30 Minute Program
(With Edward Roecker, The Landt Trio, Benny Krueger, Ray Bloch)
January 18-July 18, 1944 Mutual 30 Minute Program
(With Mary Small, Diane Courtney, Tiny Ruffner, Paul Douglas, Vincent Lopez)
July 23-August 30, 1945 ABC 15-Minute Four-Time Weekly Program
From Jack Dunning’s On The Air: The Encyclopedia Of Old-Time Radio
Vaudeville comics Pick Malone and Pat Padgett were Georgian’s who met in 1929, they specialized in heavy blackface, creating a Negro spoof act called Molasses And January, which they used on the Maxwell House Show Boat concurrently with their own shows. They often worked without scripts, each building spontaneously upon gags and situations thrown out by the other, in 1938, their show was also called Model Minstrels.
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From The Evening Independent- June 16, 1933
Pat Padgett, Famous As “Molasses” On Show Boat Radio Programs, In City Again To Fish For Tarpon
Between soup and dessert the two organized a black-face team-and that’s how Molasses and January were ‘born .’ Since then Padgett and Malone have played as headliners in Broadway productions and have hit radio heights. On the stage they are known as “Pick and Pat.” When they play in movie short subjects they go by the latter name. Their most recent movie was in “Speaking of Operations,” which was shown at a local theater here recently.
The short mentioned in The Evening Independent story above was likely a Paramount release,
but the only imdb credits for Padgett and Malone is for American Minstrels of 1949,
a 1949 television series they did with Jack Carter
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0655665/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0540496/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040999/
“A prime example of days when television was seen more as an extension of the live stage, American Minstrels of 1949 was essentially a vaudeville show performed in front of the cameras. Among the various musical and comedy numbers were such regulars as Pick and Pat, a pair of comics performing in blackface, Mary Small and Jimmy Burrell, who would sing current popular songs.”
