On This Day in Abbott and Costello History

Today August 10th "Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" opened in 1953.


Slim (Bud Abbott) and Tubby (Lou Costello) are American cops in London studying police tactics. A newspaper reporter, Bruce Adams (Craig Stevens), gets into an altercation at Hyde Park that was instigated by Vicky Edwards (Helen Westcott), a suffragette. Bruce and Vicky wind up in jail, while Slim and Tubby are kicked off the police force. Dr. Henry Jekyll, Vicky's guardian, bails them out.
Jekyll has been conducting home experiments in which he injects a potion and transforms into Mr. Hyde, a monster who murders a fellow doctor when he scoffed at Jekyll's experiments. Jekyll has more thoughts of murder when he notices that Vicky and Bruce are mutually attracted. Tubby and Slim witness the doctor's shenanigans at a music hall, where they begin to chase him with Bruce at their side. Tubby traps Hyde in a wax museum, but by the time he brings the Inspector (Reginald Denny) and Slim to the scene, the monster has already reverted back to Dr. Jekyll. The "good' doctor then asks Slim and Tubby to escort him to his home, where Tubby drinks a potion that transforms him into a large mouse. Slim and Tubby bring news of Jekyll's activities to the Inspector, who refuses to believe them.
Vicky announces her engagement to Bruce and Mr. Hyde reemerges, this time with intent to murder Vicky. Bruce saves her, but Hyde escapes. Tubby accidentally falls onto a serum-filled syringe, transforming Tubby into a Hyde-like monster as well. Bruce chases after Hyde, while Slim pursues Tubby, each believing still that there is only a single monster. Bruce ends up back at Jekyll's home, where Hyde falls from an upstairs window to his death, revealing to everyone his true identity when he reverts to normal form. Slim then brings Tubby (still in monster form) to the Inspector. Before reverting to human form, Tubby bites the Inspector and a half-dozen officers, transforming them into monsters who begin to chase Slim and Tubby. (synapsis from Wikipedia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbott_and_Costello_Meet_Dr._Jekyll_and_Mr._Hyde

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0045469/

On This Day in Abbott and Costello History

Today August 7th "Pardon My Sarong" opened in 1942

 Tommy Layton (Robert Paige), a wealthy bachelor, rents a city bus to take him from Chicago to Los Angeles. Once there he intends to participate in a yacht race to Hawaii. The bus drivers, Algy (Bud Abbott) and Wellington (Lou Costello), are chased by a detective (William Demarest) hired by the bus company. They escape capture by driving the bus off a fishing pier. Layton, who is now on his yacht, rescues them and hires them as his crew for the race. A competitor of his in the race, Joan Marshall (Virginia Bruce) has fired his original crew without his knowledge. He enacts revenge by kidnapping her and taking her along on the race. While on course to Hawaii, they encounter a hurricane and land on an uncharted island, which is also the home of Dr. Varnoff (Lionel Atwill), a mysterious scientist. The island natives mistake Wellington as a legendary hero and inform him that he must marry Princess Luana (Nan Wynn). Meanwhile, Varnoff's plan is to cause a volcano to erupt in order to trick the tribe into giving him their sacred jewel. The natives send Wellington (and the jewel) to the volcano to defeat the evil spirit of the volcano. Varnoff chases him to the volcano, where they are defeated by Wellington and Algy. (synopsis from Wikipedia)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035173/

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

“Costas & Seinfeld: Who’s on First?”

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld sat down with Bob Costas on the MLB Network and dissected the famous Abbott and Costello skit, "Who's on First". Seinfled analyzes the skit and breaks down the reasons he believes makes the skit funny...."What makes it funny, is that neither man is listening to the other — and that each man is totally convinced of his perspective." He adds, “You think it’s out of gas, and it’s not. That’s what makes this great.”


You can watch a clip of the show below:

'Who's On First?' The Sign Language Version

The American Sign Language (ASL) has created a sign languague version of the classic Abbot and Costello skit "Who's on First". Perfomed by Janis Cole and Rosa Lee, the complete skit is done using only sign language and displays the beauty of the routine by being just as funny without a single work spoken. You can watch a clip of the ASL version below:

Seinfeld came from Abbott and Costello

On the MLB network Comedian Jerry Seinfeld states that the inspiration for the hit TV show "Seinfeld" came from Abbott and Costello. Seinfeld says he wanted Seinfeld to "imitate" the old Abbott & Costello Show: "Even with Abbott and Costello and me and George, there's a physical similarity there." You can see a part of the  video of the MLB Seinfeld interview with Bob Costas below:

On This Day in Abbott and Costello History

Today April 9th "Jack and the Beanstalk" opened in 1952


.Mr. Dinkle and Jack look for work at the Cosman Employment Agency. Jack makes advances to Cosman employee Polly, but he is thwarted by the arrival of her boyfriend, a towering police officer. Polly assigns Dinkle and Jack to babysit for Eloise Larkin's brother and infant sister, while Eloise and her fiancé are out for the evening. The babysitting duties are complicated by the fact that Donald is something of a prodigy, as well as a self-proclaimed "problem child". The dullwitted Jack is soon outclassed by the child, and an attempt to lull the boy to sleep by reading the fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk (Jack's "favorite novel") aloud fails when Jack stumbles over the larger words. Bemused by Jack's incompetence, Donald reads the story instead -- a role-reversal made complete when Jack falls asleep as Donald reads. In his slumber, Jack dreams that he is the young Jack of the fairy tale.
In his dream Jack learns that the Giant, who lives in a castle in the sky, has stolen all of the land's wealth and food. The situation obliges the kingdom's Princess to marry The Prince of a neighboring kingdom, whom she has never met.
Jack must also make sacrifices, when his mother sends him to sell the last family possession, their beloved cow "Henry", to the local butcher, Mr. Dinklepuss. Along the way Jack meets The Prince (who is kidnapped by the Giant soon afterward). The unscrupulous Dinklepuss pays Jack five 'magic' beans for the cow. Upon returning home, Jack learns that the Giant has also kidnapped The Princess and Henry.
Undeterred by his mother's disappointment over bringing home only beans, Jack plants them and a gigantic beanstalk grows overnight. He decides to climb the beanstalk to rescue everyone from the Giant's clutches, as well as retrieve "Nellie", the golden-egg laying hen that the Giant previously stole from Jack's family. Upon learning of Nellie's existence, Dinklepuss decides to join Jack on the adventure.
When they reach the top of the beanstalk, Jack and Dinklepuss are captured by the Giant and imprisoned with the prince and princess. After the Giant assigns the hapless pair to toil around the castle, they befriend his housekeeper, Polly, who helps them escape over the castle wall along with the royal prisoners, Nellie, and some of the Giant's stolen gems. (Nellie and the gems are then pilfered by the greedy Dinklepuss). They flee down the beanstalk with the Giant in pursuit, as Polly escapes the castle behind him, astride Henry. During the descent, Dinklepuss loses Nellie (who falls into the arms of Jack's mother) and then the gems, which rain down upon the impoverished townsfolk below. Once all are on the ground, Jack chops down the beanstalk, sending the Giant falling to his death.
Just before being rewarded by the King for heroism, Jack is rudely awakened from his dream by Donald, who breaks a vase over Jack's head as Eloise and Arthur return home. Jack's angry outburst over Donald's behavior results in a second blow to the head from Dinkle, which returns Jack to his dream state. After greeting the others as their storybook counterparts, Jack walks off into the night with the bravado of "Jack the Giant-Killer". (synopsis from Wikipedia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_and_the_Beanstalk_(1952_film)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044762/

On This Day in Abbott and Costello History

Today March 6th Lou Costello was born in 1906.

Louis Francis "Lou" Costello (March 6, 1906 – March 3, 1959) was an American actor and comedian best known as half of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Bud Abbott. Costello was famous for his bumbling, chubby, clean-cut image that has appealed to many Americans over the decades, and for his famous shouted line of "HEEEEYYY ABBOTT!!."

Lou Costello was born as Louis Francis Cristillo in Paterson, New Jersey to an Italian father from Calabria, and a mother of French and Irish ancestry.[1]. He attended School 15 [2] at Paterson, NJ and was considered a gifted athlete, he excelled in basketball and reportedly was once the New Jersey state foul shot champion. (His singular basketball prowess can be seen on film, in Here Come The Co-Eds (1945), in which Lou performs all his own tricky hoop shots without special effects.) He also fought as a boxer under the name "Lou King."[3] He changed his professional name to Costello from actress Helene Costello. "There was a girl named Helene Costello, and I took her name".[4]
In 1927, Costello went to Hollywood to become an actor - but could only find work as a laborer or extra at MGM and Warner Brothers. His athletic skill brought him occasional work as a stunt man, notably in The Trail of '98, (1927). He can also be spotted sitting ringside in the Laurel and Hardy film The Battle of the Century (1927).

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

On This Day in Abbott and Costello History

Today October 2nd William "Bud" Abbott was born in 1895.



William Alexander "Bud" Abbott (October 2, 1895 – April 24, 1974) was an American actor, producer and comedian.^[1] He is best remembered as thestraight man of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Lou Costello.


Abbott was born in Asbury Park, New Jersey into a show business family. His parents worked for the Barnum and Bailey Circus: his mother, Rae (née Fisher), was a bareback rider and his father, Harry, was an advance man. Abbott dropped out of school as a child and began working at Coney Island. When Abbott was 16, his father, now an employee of the Columbia Burlesque Wheel, installed him in the box office of the Casino Theater in Brooklyn. Eventually, Abbott began putting together touring burlesque shows. In 1918, he married Betty Smith, a burlesque dancer and comedienne. Shortly after his marriage, Abbott and his new wife began producing a vaudeville "tab show" called Broadway Flashes. This show toured on the Gus Sun Vaudeville Circuit.^[2]Around 1924, Abbott started performing as a straight man in an act with Betty. As his stature grew, Abbott began working with veteran comedians like Harry Steppe and Harry Evanson.^[3]


Abbott crossed paths with Lou Costello in burlesque in the early 1930s. Abbott was producing and performing in Minsky's Burlesque shows, while Costello was a rising comic. They formally teamed up in 1936 and performed together in burlesque, vaudeville, minstrel shows, and cinemas.


Abbott suffered from epilepsy throughout his life. In the early 1960s, he suffered the first in a series of strokes. In 1972, he broke his hip and shortly after that was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Abbott died of the disease at the age of 78 on April 24, 1974, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.(synopsis from Wikipedia)


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

Remastered Version of Rio Rita

A couple a days ago I mention a remastered version of Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd was released by WBShop.com. Well today they have also released a remastered version of Rio Rita.

http://www.wbshop.com/Rio-Rita-1942/1000202891,default,pd.html?cgid=

 As with the Captain Kidd version the quality seems to be quite good and there is also a 3 minute sample so that you can check out the quality. Once again it seems like these videos are only available from WBShop.com as these are "Made to Order" DVD's. WBShop.com does seem to offer Digital Downloads but not yet for these releases.

Nazi spies have infiltrated the Hotel Vista del Rio, a resort on the Mexican border. They plan to use a radio broadcast by a famous guest, Ricardo Montera (John Carroll), to transmit coded messages to their cohorts. Doc (Bud Abbott) and Wishy (Lou Costello) are stowaways in Montera's car, who steal a basket of "apples" that turn out being miniature radios used by the spies. Rita Winslow (Kathryn Grayson), the hotel's owner and childhood sweetheart of Montera, hire Doc and Wishy as house detectives, who discover the Nazi codebook and give it to Montera. They are then kidnapped by the spies, and left in a room with a bomb set to explode, but manage to escape while Wishy plants the bomb in the pocket of one of the culprits. Meanwhile, the broadcast has already begun and Montera, refusing to participate in treason, fights the spies until the Texas Rangers arrive. The spies' escape by car is thwarted when the planted bomb finally explodes.(synopsis from Wikipedia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Rita_(1942_film)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035259/

Remastered Version of Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd

Warner Bros. has released a re-mastered version of Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd on DVD. It seems like it is only available at WB Shop. (see link below).  I have yet to see this version and I'm unsure of it's quality but it can't be as bad as what's been previously available. There is a 3 minute preview of the movie quality at WB Shop site and the quality looks decent.






http://www.wbshop.com/Abbott-and-Costello-Meet-Captain-Kidd/1000205102,default,pd.html?cgid=ARCHIVENEW

Oliver "Puddin' Head" Johnson (Lou Costello) and Rocky Stonebridge (Bud Abbott) are on their way to Death's Head Tavern, where they work. They encounter Lady Jane (Fran Warren), who asks them to bring a love note to the tavern singer, Bruce Martingale (Bill Shirley).

At the tavern, the notorious Captain Kidd (Charles Laughton) is dining with Captain Bonney (Hillary Brooke), a female pirate. She accuses Kidd of raiding ships in her territory and is asking for restitution. Kidd informs Bonney that he has hidden the amassed treasure on Skull Island, and that only he has the map to its exact location. He agrees to take her, with her ship in tow, to the island so that she can receive her share. During the discussion, Oliver happens to be waiting on them, and inadvertently switches the map for the love note that he was carrying. Rocky discovers the mistake and goes to Captain Kidd, demanding a share of the treasure and a place on the voyage in exchange for the map. Kidd ostensibly agrees, but intends to kill Oliver and Rocky once he gets the map.

The voyage begins (with the addition of Bruce, who has been shanghaied), and Kidd unsuccessfully attempts to regain the map throughout the entire voyage. (Meanwhile, Bonney mistakenly believes that Oliver wrote the love note and has now fallen for him—further complicating the whole situation). During the voyage, Kidd raids another ship, which happens to have Lady Jane on board, and she is kidnapped.

The two ships finally arrive at Skull Island; Oliver and Rocky begin to dig up the treasure, when Kidd arrogantly declares his plans to dispose of them along with Captain Bonney. They alert Bonney to Kidd's true intentions, and her crew attacks. The treasure is recovered, and Bonney's crew wins the fight, with Kidd becoming her prisoner.(synopsis from Wikipedia)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044320/

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