Comin’ Round the Mountain, starring Abbott and Costello
Imagine Abbott and Costello in the midst of the legendary mountain feud of the Hatfields and the McCoys, and you have Comin’ Round the Mountain. It’s a very funny film, with Lou Costello as the “long-lost” grandson of Squeezebox McCoy, whose concertina holds the key to a hidden treasure. Lou’s return to the hills of Kentucky re-ignites the long-dormant feud.
Funny bits include the “forefathers” routine (see below in the quotes), and a voodoo duel between Lou and Margaret Hamilton (the Wicked Witch from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) as they make voodoo dolls of each other and keep jabbing each other! It’s a very funny sequence, that begins when cheapskate Bud refuses to pay her. And the scene only ends when she starts to make a voodoo doll of him!
Synopsis of Abbott and Costello’s Comin’ Round the Mountain
Al Stewart (Bud Abbott) and Wilbert (Lou Costello) are magicians doing a stage act when they run into Wilbert’s cousin Dorothy McCoy. Wilbert is the grandson of Squeeze-box McCoy. They go back to the hills of Kentucky to and find that Squeeze-box had a hidden treasure. The boys find themselves in the middle of a family feud.
Coming Round the Mountain is available as part of The Best of Abbott and Costello, Volume 3
Funny movie quotes from Abbott and Costello’s Comin’ Round the Mountain (1951)
[after walking into an old beat-down cabin]
Wilbert (Lou Costello): How could my kin folks ever live in a joint like this?
Al Stewart (Bud Abbott): Probably your forefathers lived here.
Wilbert (Lou Costello): I beg your pardon?
Al Stewart (Bud Abbott): I said probably your forefathers lived here before you.
Wilbert (Lou Costello): My four fathers?
Al Stewart (Bud Abbott): Yes.
Wilbert (Lou Costello): I didn’t have four fathers.
Al Stewart (Bud Abbott): Sure, you did.
Wilbert (Lou Costello): If I did, only one came home nights.
Al Stewart (Bud Abbott): What’s going on out there?
Wilbert (Lou Costello): My in-laws are acting like outlaws.
[after seeing a goat]
Wilbert (Lou Costello): Funny-looking dog.
Al Stewart (Bud Abbott): Now listen your next turn at the Turkey Shoot and we gotta beat those Winfield’s.
Wilbert (Lou Costello): You know I don’t know how to shoot a gun.|
Al Stewart (Bud Abbott): Didn’t you learn how to shoot in the Army?
Wilbert (Lou Costello): I was in the Cavalry. What kind of bullets come out of a pitchfork?
Wilbert (Lou Costello): What’s she doing?
Al Stewart (Bud Abbott): She’s making Voodoo
Wilbert (Lou Costello): I do?
Al Stewart (Bud Abbott): Voodoo!
Wilbert (Lou Costello): I do what?
[As the witch jabs Lou’s doll in the backside with a needle]
Wilbert (Lou Costello): AHHH!
Al Stewart (Bud Abbott): That’s all in your mind!
Wilbert (Lou Costello): You gotta lousy sense of direction!
[Lou ends the voodoo duel by making a doll of the witch and Lou and the witch “needle” each other for a while. Finally they call truce, and …]
Wilbert (Lou Costello): [to Al] Pay her.
Al Stewart (Bud Abbott): I’ll pay her when I’m ready!
[Then, Al sees her making a doll of … Al!]
Al Stewart (Bud Abbott): I’m ready!
Songs
- Agnes Clung, Written by Hessie Smith and Dorothy Shay, Performed by Dorothy Shay
- Why Don’t Someone Marry Mary Ann?, Written by Britt Wood and George Beatty, Performed by Dorothy Shay
- Sagebrush Sadie, Written by Britt Wood and George Beatty, Performed by Dorothy Shay
- You Broke Your Promise, Written by George Wyle, Irving Taylor and Eddie Pola, Performed by Dorothy Shay
- You’ll Be Jes’ Another Notch on Father’s Shotgun, Written by Lyn Duddy, Jerry Bresler and Joan Edwards, Performed by Dorothy Shay