Abbott and Costello | Hollywood Yesterday

Abbott & Costello Loan Me 50 Cents (Video)

June 15, 2018 By Joi Leave a Comment

As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing funnier than Abbott & Costello doing their thing. They were BEYOND magical and their comedy is beautifully timeless – as hilarious today as it was then. I’ve often wished there were an Abbott & Costello television channel and, since I’ve fallen completely in love with “Radio Classics,” I find myself wishing there was an Abbott & Costello radio channel as well.

Yes, I am obsessed. How could you tell. What can I say? I love laughing more than anything and they make me laugh like there isn’t a care in the world.

Pretty hard to top that feeling.

Things You May Not Have Known About Abbott and Costello

March 12, 2018 By Joi 19 Comments

You are looking at a picture of one of my greatest obsessions – Abbott and Costello. I could watch their movies and/or routines daily and laugh as though it were the first time EACH time. As someone who loves few things as much as laughing, I guess it’s only expected that they’d float my boat so perfectly.

There was a lot more to Bud Abbott and Lou Costello than most of us realize. They were much more intellectual (and certainly more serious) than we envision them. In fact, off screen, the men barely resembled the characters they played.

Below are a few fast facts about these brilliant men.

Facts about Bud Abbott

William Alexander Abbott was born in 1895.
Both of his parents (Rae and Harry) at one time worked for the Barnum and Bailey Circus.
Bud worked in carnivals, as a child, and dropped out of school in 1909.
In 1931, he stood in for comic Lou Costello’s straight-man who was ill. The two clicked almost immediately and… the rest is history!
In 1940. he made his film debut in One Night in the Tropics, which was also his first film pairing with his partner Lou Costello.
Bud has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Radio (6333 Hollywood Boulevard), Motion Pictures (1611 Vine Street), and Television (6740 Hollywood Boulevard).
Bud Abbott was a lifelong epileptic.
His twin sister, Olive Victoria Abbott, was in vaudeville and lived to be 101 years old!
Bud Abbott was an avid gun collector and once owned an Adolf Hitler shotgun.
One story has it that, at Lou Costello’s insistence, the monies earned from the their act were split 60/40, favoring Bud Abbott. Lou Costello’s reasoned that “…comics are a dime a dozen. Good straight men are hard to find.”
After Abbott and Costello broke up, Bud Abbott said, “I never understood Lou.”
Married Betty Smith in 1918. They adopted two children.
A favorite Bud Abbott Quote was, “You never heard of a comedy team that didn’t fight, did you?“
Died in 1974 (prostrate cancer).

Facts About Lou Costello

Born in 1906 in New Jersey.
His parents were Helen and Sebastiano Cristillo. His father was from Calabria, Italy, and his mother was an American of Italian, French, and Irish ancestry.
Before teaming with Bud Abbott, Lou Costello worked as a stuntman.
Lou Costello was married to Anne Battler from January 1934 – March 1959 (his death)
Lou mentioned his hometown (Paterson, New Jersey) in virtually every episode of his TV show and in many of his films – listen for it, it’s amazing (and touching) how he works it in.
Tragically, his only son, Lou Jr., drowned in the family’s swimming pool just days before his first birthday.
Lou Costello simply took home any prop or furniture from a set that he took a liking to. Once, during filming of Hit The Ice, the director was reshooting a scene when he noticed all the furniture was gone! Sure enough, Lou had hauled it off to his place – so an arrangement was made for him to bring it back just long enough to reshoot the scenes.
Costello, outrageously enough, wanted to change the name of the duo to “Costello and Abbott.” Naturally, Universal Pictures wasn’t for the idea. The result was a “permanent chill” between the partners that lasted until their split in the late 1950s.
After the death of his son, Lou Costello Jr., he somehow performed the “Who’s On First” routine as usual, but with tears running down his face.
Lou was an amateur boxer.
He was awarded three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: for Motion Pictures at 6438 Hollywood Blvd., for Radio at 6780 Hollywood Blvd. and for Television at 6276 Hollywood Blvd.
In 1943, Lou developed rheumatic fever. The disease damaged his heart and led to the heart attack that killed him – three days before his 53rd birthday.
Bud’s one starring role in a feature film without Bud Abbott, was in The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock (1959). He died before it was released.

More…

Abbott and Costello are known in Italy as “Gianni and Pinotto”, Abbott being Gianni and Costello being Pinotto.
Abbott and Costello are the only two non-sportsmen honored in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, for their “Who’s On First” routine. They aren’t, of course, members of the Hall of Fame, but the fact that their wonderful routine is so appreciated is priceless.
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were so popular that there was an “Abbott and Costello” comic book that was published for about ten years until their partnership ended in 1956.
They performed the “Who’s on first” routine for President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Abbott & Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein – Always Has Been a Favorite… Always Will Be a Favorite

January 16, 2016 By Joi Leave a Comment

My husband and I watched a couple of Abbott and Costello movies last night. There are few things any better than kicking back with Bud, Lou, and Michael (that’d be the husband).

One of the movies was Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein and it was, as always, nothing short of Entertainment Heaven.

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is one of my favorite Abbott and Costello movies – it always has been. However, I must say, is this one of the most inappropriately named movies of all time or what? Of all the “monsters,” Frankenstein is onscreen the least. And he doesn’t have much to say for himself when he is. I can only assume that Frankie was big at the time, so they went with Frankenstein over Dracula or the Wolf Man, both of whom are onscreen a lot more.

Title aside, I love everything about this movie. When you sit down to watch an Abbott and Costello movie, you do so with the intentions of leaving everything behind – work, chores, headaches, news, politics, crazy drivers, and so on. You have to just let yourself have fun and enjoy the laughs – you also have to remember that this particular movie was made in 1948, so the effects are going to be…. wellll, you can see more realistic effects on Scooby Doo, but Frank-ly I don’t care.

Truth be told, they’re part of what makes this movie (and all classic movies, as far as I’m concerned) so darn special. I wouldn’t change a thing about this movie – not even the title, because in its own way it’s part of what makes Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein deliciously unique.

Monster movies were HUGE for Universal Pictures in the 1930s. Then the ’40s rolled in with one of the greatest duos of all time, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein was the first of several movies that combined the “monster hits” (literally) and the much loved Abbott and Costello films. The success of this particular movie led to Abbott and Costello teaming up with the Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and The Mummy.

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein features a wonderful cast. Count Dracula is deliciously played by Béla Lugosi. The Wolfman is brought to furry life by Lon Chaney Jr., and Frankenstein is played by veteran monster Glenn Strange.

At the end of the movie, watch (and listen) for an appearance by the Invisible Man. You’ll recognize the voice as that of Vincent Price. This was actually before he went on to superstardom.

Plot:

Count Dracula’s beloved monster, Frankenstein, needs a new brain. The Count is adamant that the new brain has to belong to a simpleton – someone without a drop of malice. Guess what simpleton is hand-picked for the job: Lou Costello’s Wilbur, of course. Bud Abbot’s Chick, along with the Wolfman, have to save Wilbur and keep his brain where it belongs – in his own head.

Lou Costello is at his best in this movie. He’s absolutely hilarious and offers countless laugh out loud moments.

Trivia:

The movie was originally titled, “The Brain of Frankenstein” (apparently they were adamant that Frankenstein appear in the title somewhere!)
The director was Charles Barton, a close friend of both Abbott and Costello’s. Most people consider him to the the duo’s best director.
One of the funniest scenes in the movie involves Wilbur (Costello) unknowingly sitting on Frankenstein’s lap. The scene required multiple shots because Costello was allowed to improvise, which caused Glen Strange (Frankenstein) to constantly break out laughing!
Charles Barton also directed 1959’s classic The Shaggy Dog .
Lenore Aubert (Sandra) was born in present-day Slovenia. She teamed up with the duo again 1949’s Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff.

Quotes:

Chick: I don’t get it. Out of all the guys around here that classy dish has to pick out a guy like you.
Wilbur: What’s wrong with that?
Chick: Go look at yourself in the mirror sometime.
Wilbur: Why should I hurt my own feelings?

Larry Talbot (Wolfman): You don’t understand. Every night when the moon is full, I turn into a wolf.
Wilbur: You and twenty million other guys.

Chick Young: You’re making enough noise to wake up the dead!
Wilbur Grey: I don’t have to wake him up. He’s up.

Abbott & Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures CollectionAbbott & Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection

All 28 films produced during the height of their popularity at Universal Pictures are available in one collection. Featuring their most popular movies, this collection is filled with some of the most hilarious routines of all-time including “Who’s on First?” Loaded with hours of bonus features and an exclusive collectible book, this is the ultimate tribute to two of the funniest, and most enduring, comedians of all time.

Titles Include:
One Night in the Tropics (1940)
Buck Privates (1941)
In the Navy (1941)
Hold That Ghost (1941)
Keep ‘Em Flying (1941)
Ride ‘Em Cowboy (1942)
Pardon My Sarong (1942)
Who Done It? (1942)
It Ain’t Hay (1943)
Hit the Ice (1943)
In Society (1944)
Here Come the Co-Eds (1945)
The Naughty Nineties (1945)
Little Giant (1946)
The Time of Their Lives (1946)
Buck Privates Come Home (1947)
The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947)
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
Mexican Hayride (1948)
Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949)
Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950)
Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951)
Comin’ Round the Mountain (1951)
Lost in Alaska (1952)
Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953)
Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953)
Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops (1955)
Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955)

Exclusive Bonus:
Abbott & Costello: The Universal Story – 44-page book detailing the legacy of Bud and Lou plus an overview of their films at Universal including rare photos, trivia and exclusive introductions from their families.

Abbott and Costello – Who’s on First?

March 12, 2008 By Joi Leave a Comment

I thought these boys would be absolutely perfect to help us all get through a Wednesday – and to get through it with a smile on our face! I could watch this routine a million times and never fail to laugh. In fact, I think I’ve probably topped that number.