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 the Mississippi 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. (synapsis from Wikipedia)

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

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037939/

A Review of Abbott and Costello on the Home Front: A Critical Study of the Wartime Films

Scott Allen Nollen

Abbott and Costello on the Home Front

A Critical Study of the Wartime Films

North Carolina: McFarland & Company Inc, 2009

212pp. $55.00

ISBN 978-0-7864-3521-0

www.mcfarlandpub.com 800-253-2187

In Scott Allen Nollen's new book Abbott and Costello on the Home Front: A Critical Study of the Wartime Films, his goal was to examine "the production, content, and reception of 18 films within the context of wartime events on the home front and abroad." Although, he does succeed in his goal of discussing the film's production, content and reception; he fails to relate them to the events of the time.

He brings a love and new insight to the material that makes the book an enjoyable read. More importantly, he adds new anecdotes and stories that have been revealed, in recent years, which adds, immensely, to the overall depth and understanding of these two great Comedians but at no point does the book tie together nor fulfills the promise of putting these stories into the context of this traumatic time in American history.

In 1975, Jim Mulholland wrote the quintessential book on Abbott and Costello, The Abbott and Costello Book; since then, no one has been able to recapture the life and career of this great comedic team. Scott Allen Nollen, in this book, comes as close as anyone since Jim Mulholland.

The book is well written and in a style that is easily understood; it is illustrated with some amazing photos and lobby cards, from the author's personal collection, which adds to the overall enjoyment of the book and because of this it is a must read for any Abbott and Costello fan. However, it fails to deliver a critical study but rather is a retelling of the Mulholland’s book in terms of these 18 films. Although it is well written and has new insight, it could have been greatly improved had he only given us what he had promised.

On This Day in Abbott and Costello History

Today July 2nd "Hit the Ice" opened in 1943. Flash Fulton (Bud Abbott) and Weejie McCoy (Lou Costello) take pictures of a bank robbery. Lured to the mountain resort hideout of the robbers and accompanied by Dr. Bill Elliott (Patric Knowles) and Peggy Osborn (Elyse Knox), they also meet old friend Johnny Long (Himself) and his band and singer Marcia Manning (Ginny Simms). Dr. Elliott and Peggy are being held in a remote cabin by the robbers, but Weejie rescues them by turning himself into a human snowball that becomes an avalanche that engulfs the crooks (synapsis from IMDB)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036004

Monster Bash Convention 2009!

Monster Bash Convention 2009! will be happening this weekend June 26-28, 2009 at the Days Inn Conference Center - Butler , PA (north of Pittsburgh). There will be a wide range of Guest Stars in attendance including Butch Patrick of the Munsters, Lou Ferrigno of TV's THE INCREDIBLE HULK, Tom Savini of Dawn of the Dead fame and Cris Costello, Lou's daughter. Chris will be doing commentary on her father's home videos. Also there will be Bill Riley and Joe Ziegler - The Ultimate Abbott & Costello impersonators doing a live Abbott and Costello show. If you are the PA area this weekend you should definitely check it out. Get more info at:

http://www.monsterbashnews.com/bash.html

Jane Randolph Obituary

Jane Randolph who starred as Joan Raymond in Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein passed away on May 4th at the age 94. You can read a complete obituary at http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/2009/06/02/cat-people-actress-jane-randolph-dies/

Classic Comedy Teams: A Screenshots Book

Greg Lenburg has a new self published book on Classic Comedy Teams called "Classic Comedy Teams: A Screenshots Book". I have not seen the book yet but from the website it seems to be a collection of screen shots of classic comedy's greatest teams, including The Three Stooges, The Marx Brothers and of course Abbott and Costello. Bud and Lou seem to be well represented in the book with numerous screen shots of them. Check out the book at:

http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/classic-comedy-teams-a-screenshots-book/6581481

The Unnoficial Abbott and Costello Blog has Moved

Since Yahoo has announced the end of Geocities, I had no choice but to move my website that I have had since 1999. The new home of the Unofficial Abbott and Costello Blog is www.buckprivates.com. I hope to stay here for a very long time. Please update your bookmarks or links.

On This Day In Abbott and Costello History

April 24th

In 1974 Bud Abbott, the straight man of the Abbott and Costello comedy team, died in Woodland Hills, Calif.; he was 78.

Abbott and Costello on MySpace

I'm embarrassed to say I only found out that Abbott and Costello has a MySpace page today. You can find the page at:
http://www.myspace.com/abbottandcostellomyspace

It has info on Bud and Lou as well as videos and music from Abbott and Costello movies. I will be linking to it on the "links" portion of this blog, and I recommend that you check it out.

On May 3rd Abbott and Costello will be inducted into the NJ Hall of Fame at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark NJ. Other inductees include Jon Bon Jovi, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Althea Gibson, Jerry Lewis, Guglielmo Marconi, Shaquille O'Neal, Meryl Streep, Phil Rizzuto, Paul Robeson, Carl Sagan, Walt Whitman, and William Carlos Williams. For Ticket info check one of the following links:

http://njhalloffame.com/

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/

the_new_jersey_hall_of.html