Saturday, July 24, 2010

Abbott and Costello Marathon on TCM Sunday Night




TCM (Turner Classic Movies) is having an Abbott and Costello Marathon Sunday July 25th. They will be showing three Abbott and Costello Movies back to back to back. Buck Privates (1941) starts at 8:00pm ET, Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942) at 9:30pm ET and finishing with The Noose Hangs High (1948) at 11:00pm ET. The show is called TCM Exclusives JR and is hosted by John Lithgow. You can get more info about the show at the following link:

http://www.tcm.com/essentialsjr




Tuesday, July 6, 2010

On This Day in Abbott and Costello History


Today July 6th "The Naughty Nineties" opened in 1945.

The time is the 1890s, and Captain Sam (Henry Travers), owner of the showboat River Queen, is travelling from port to port along theMississippi River, bringing his entertainment to each town. During one stop, in the river town of Ironville, he meets up with three individuals, Crawford (Alan Curtis), Bonita (Rita Johnson), and Bailey (Joe Sawyer), who are hiding from the local sheriff. Against the advice of his daughter Caroline (Lois Collier), his lead actor Dexter Broadhurst (Bud Abbott), and his chief roustabout Sebastian Dinwiddle (Lou Costello), the Captain joins them for a card game at a local gambling house.
The Captain is fed drink after drink until he is intoxicated and gets involved in a crooked card game where he loses controlling interest in the show boat to Bonita and Crawford. They use their newfound power to turn the showboat into a floating gambling casino with every game rigged in their favor. Dexter and Sebastian help the captain regain ownership of his vessel and oust the unwanted criminals. (synopsis from Wikipedia) Below is the famous "Who's on First" routine from  "The Naughty Nineties"


Saturday, April 24, 2010

An Abbott and Costello Cartoon Mystery



While doing some Abbott and Costello searching on the Internet, I came across the following episode of the Abbott and Costello Cartoon on Youtube:




The episode is clearly called "Desert Danger", however on every episode guide that exists on the Internet there is no mention of this episode. There were 156 episodes of the cartoon made and the existance of this one suggest one of two things, There actually are 157 episodes or all the episodes guides have mis-named one of them? If so which one? I have added links to all the episode guides I could find:

If someone has an answer to this mystery please leave a comment to this post as this is the kind of thing that drives me crazy.



The Abbott and Costello Cartoon Show is an American half-hour animated series that aired in syndication from September 9, 1967 to June 1, 1968. Each of the 39 individual episodes consisted of four five-minute cartoons. [1] The cartoons were created jointly by Hanna-Barbera, RKOand Jomar Productions between 1965 and 1967. The series was syndicated by Gold Key Entertainment and King World Productions.
The primary feature of this cartoon series was the fact that Bud Abbott supplied the voice for his own character. (Because Lou Costello had died in 1959, his character's voice was performed by Stan Irwin). (synopsis from Wikipedia) 






Saturday, March 13, 2010

Abbott and Costello on Hollywood's Walk of Fame

Abbott and Costello have a combined six Stars on Hollywood's Walk of Fame and if you ever wondered where they were, wonder no more. The Los Angeles Times has articles which locate each star on the Walk of Fame including Bud and Lou's six. Check out the stars locations at the two links below:


The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a sidewalk along Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Hollywood, Los Angeles, CaliforniaUSA, that serves as an entertainment museum. It is embedded with more than 2,000 five-pointed stars featuring the names of not only human celebrities but also fictional characters honored by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce for their contributions to the entertainment industry. The Walk of Fame is maintained by the self-financing Hollywood Historic Trust. The first eight stars were dedicated in September 1958 and placed in the sidewalk on the northwest corner of Hollywood Blvd. and Highland Ave. They were installed several months prior to the official 1960 Walk of Fame ground-breaking so as to be ready when the new, twelve-story First Federal Savings and Loan of Hollywood building was completed, in January 1959. On February 9, 1960, Joanne Woodward became the first performer to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6801 Hollywood Blvd. (synopsis from Wikipedia)


Bud Abbott:


Lou Costello:











Friday, March 5, 2010

On This Day in Abbott and Costello History

Today March 5th "Who Done It" opened in 1942.

Chick Larkin (Bud Abbott) and Mervyn Milgrim (Lou Costello) both work at the soda counter of a local radio station. Their true passion, however, is to become writers on the radio mystery show. They attend a broadcast of the radio program Murder at Midnight along with one of the writers, Jimmy Turner (Patric Knowles) and the producer, Jane Little (Louise Allbritton).
As the show begins, the network president, Colonel J.R. Andrews (Thomas Gomez), is mysteriously electrocuted. Seeing this as an opportunity to become radio writers, Chick and Mervyn impersonate detectives and attempt to solve the crime.
Meanwhile, Moran (William Gargan) and Branningan (William Bendix), two real detectives, consider the 'fake' detectives to be prime suspects. A chase ensues throughout the studio and other murders are discovered, including that of Dr. Marek (Ludwig Stossel), Andrews' personal physician. Larkin and Milgrim flee the studio before hearing that Milgrim has apparently won $10,000 on the Wheel of Fortune radio program, for which he must return to the studio in order to claim the prize. Larkin and Milgrim return, only to be arrested by the real detectives, whom Turner and Little manage to convince that there should be a full reenactment of the program that led to the murders, under the ruse that the true culprit will be revealed.
An eavesdropping Nazi spy (Don Porter), who uses the radio station to transmit information to his cohorts, attends the broadcast. It turns out that the spy murdered the Colonel and his physician because they found out about his illegal radio transmissions. During the broadcast, he is revealed to be the killer and escapes to the roof, where he is nabbed by Larkin and Milgrim. (synopsis from Wikipedia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Done_It%3F_(1942_film)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035555/

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

On This Day in Abbott and Costello History

Today March 3rd Lou Costello died in 1959.

After making one solo film, The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock, Costello died of a heart attack at Doctors' Hospital in Beverly Hills on March 3, 1959, three days before his 53rd birthday. He is interred at the Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles, California. His last words as reported in the March 4, 1959 Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Evening Mirror News were "I think I'll be more comfortable," according to a private nurse who was the only person in the room with him at the time.[7][8] The widely reported claim that he died in the presence of friends and that his last words were actually "that was the best ice-cream soda I ever tasted" appears to have been fabricated some time after the event, possibly as a dig against Costello's weight.[9]
That same year on December 5, Lou's wife Anne died at age 47. Their second daughter, Carole, who was a contestant coordinator for the game show Card Sharks, died on March 29, 1987 at age 48.(synopsis from Wikipedia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Costello

Saturday, February 27, 2010

The Abbott & Costello Show - The Complete Series Collector's Edition (1952)


The Abbott & Costello Show - The Complete Series Collector's Edition (1952) goes on sale on March 30th. The 9 DVD set of the complete series has recently had a price drop on Amazon from $59.98 to $38.99. This is an amazing price for the re-mastered complete set of the great TV series and is a must have for any Bud and Lou fan. It can be pre-ordered today.




The Abbott and Costello Show, a half-hour television sitcom starring the popular comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello that premiered in syndication in the fall of 1952 and ran until the spring of 1954. It is regarded among the most influential comedy programs in history. In 1998Entertainment Weekly praised the series as one of the "100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time." In 2007, Time magazine selected it as one of the "The 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME."
The show was a vehicle to bring the duo's tried and true burlesque routines to television in a format that the team could control. There were none of the musical interludes or love stories that marred most of their feature films. Basically, if a situation or gag was funny, they filmed it without regard to plot, character or continuity. As a result, the show became a valuable record of classic burlesque scenes performed by one of the greatest comedy teams to come out of burlesque.
The supporting cast included Sidney Fields as their landlord; Hillary Brooke as a neighbor and sometime love interest; Gordon Jones as Mike the Cop, a dimwitted foil for the boys; Joe Besser as Stinky, a 40-year-old man dressed in a Little Lord Fauntleroy suit; and Joe Kirk (Costello's brother-in-law) as Mr. Bacciagalupe, an Italian immigrant caricature who held a variety of jobs depending upon the requirements of the script. Several episodes featured a pet chimp named "Bingo", who was dressed exactly the same as Costello. Bingo, who was a female chimp, was fired from the show after biting Costello. Brooke, Besser, and Kirk also left the cast after the first season.
The program lasted two seasons (52 episodes) and was directed and produced by Jean Yarbrough. The first season episodes are considered to be far superior to those of the second, which introduced a more traditional (and restrictive) sitcom approach, often featuring "unhappy" endings. Most of the scripts for the first season were written by Sid Fields after Eddie Forman wrote the early establishing episodes. Episodes in the second season were written by Jack Townley, Felix Adler or Clyde Bruckman.(synopsis from Wikipedia)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044229/


Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Handwritten Manuscript of "Abbott and Costello Go To Mars" On Sale

A handwritten copy of D.D. Beauchamp's manuscript for "Abbott and Costelo Go to Mars" is on sale for $4500.00 from Royal Books.  The Royal Books website describes the manuscript as " Present in its entirety is Beachamp's original treatment, executed in pencil, with holograph corrections. Interspersed throughout are the resulting typewritten pages (also with holograph corrections). The combined pages are bradbound with green studio covers, showing a date of December 5, 1951 (two years prior to the film's release, and well before production began)". Although  "Abbott and Costello Go To Mars" is one of my favorite A and C movies I do don't see myself spending $4500 for this manuscript. But I'm sure someone will! You can find more info on the mamuscript at the link below.


http://www.royalbooks.com/details.php?record=101593&URLPAIR=/home.php






Monday, February 22, 2010

On This Day in Abbott and Costello History

Today February 22nd "Little Giant" opened in 1946.

A naive country boy named Benny Miller (Lou Costello), from Cucamonga, California, has been taking correspondence phonograph lessons in salesmanship. Upon completion of the course, he leaves his mother (Mary Gordon) and his girlfriend Martha (Elena Verdugo) to pursue a career in Los Angeles. He arranges a meeting with his Uncle Clarence (George Cleveland), a bookkeeper with the Hercules Vacuum Cleaner Company. When he arrives to ask for a job, the sales manager, John Morrison (Bud Abbott), mistakes him for one of the auditioning fashion models and has him remove his clothing. Morrison's secret wife, Hazel Temple (Jacqueline de Wit), discovers the mistake and suggests that Benny be hired to avoid an accounting scandal, as they have been "cooking the books". Unfortunately, Benny is fired from his salesman post after only one day. Clarence transfers Benny to the company's Stockton branch, which is run by Morrison's cousin, Tom Chandler (also played by Bud Abbott).
Benny's misfortunes continue, including a prank played on him by his new coworkers when they convince him that he can read minds. However, the prank gives Benny sufficient confidence to become Hercules' 'Salesman of the Year'. He is sent back to the Los Angeles branch to receive his award, and while demonstrating his 'abilities' to Morrison, he alludes to the fact that Morrison has a secret bank account. Morrison sends his wife (Hazel) to obtain more information from Benny to determine what he actually knows. Hazel and Benny go to her apartment, where Benny becomes ill after smoking a cigar. Hazel then gives Benny a sedative, and inadvertently takes one herself. Morrison comes home to find the two asleep together, and fears that they had a tryst.
At the awards ceremony that evening, Benny learns of the mind-reading ruse, and overhears Morrison speaking ill of him. Benny returns to his mother and his girlfriend in Cucamonga, where he also encounters Chandler, his coworker Ruby (Brenda Joyce), and the Hercules company president, Mr. Van Loon (Pierre Watkins). They announce that Morrison has been fired, and has been replaced by Chandler. Benny is now sales manager of the Cucamonga district. (synopsis from Wikipedia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Giant

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038694/





Sunday, February 21, 2010

Bay Street Theatre Showing "The Time of their Lives" On February 26th


On Friday February 26th at 8pm the Bay Street Theatre is showing Abbott and Costello's "The Time of their Lives". Tickets are $5 each - unless otherwise noted - and can be purchased one half hour prior to the movie. Doors open at 7:30 pm - movies start at 8:00 pm.

The BAY STREET THEATRE is a not-for-profit 299-seat professional regional theatre situated on Long Wharf, in Sag Harbor, NY, and founded in 1991 by Sybil Christopher, Stephen Hamilton and Emma Walton.


http://baystreet.org/picture-show