It Ain’t Hay

It Ain’t Hay – Abbott and Costello try to help when Lou’s feeding a hanom cab horse candy, and it dies! So they find a horse – Teabiscuit! They don’t know the horse was stolen, and gamblers want it! Based on Damon Runyon’s Princess O’Hara.

It Ain’t Hay (1943) starring Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Grace MacDonald

Product Description 

Comedy legends Bud Abbott and Lou Costello gallop their way to the racetrack in It Ain’t Hay – a rare, early film based on a short story by Damon Runyon. When a taxi driver (Costello) unwittingly kills a carriage driver’s elderly horse, he and his pal (Abbott) attempt to replace it by “borrowing” the famous racehorse Tea Biscuit. A reward for the stolen animal is announced, shifty Broadway locals, such as Umbrella Sam and Chauncey the Eye get involved, and the duo trots from one hilarious situation to another. The stakes are high in this comedy favorite that features classic routines including “Mudder/Fodder” and “Betting Parlor”.

Cast of characters

• Bud Abbott … Grover Mockridge
• Lou Costello … Wilbur Hoolihan
• Grace McDonald (Behind the Eight Ball) … Kitty McGloin
• Cecil Kellaway (Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, The Mummy’s Hand) … King O’Hara
• Eugene Pallette (The Big Street, My Man Godfrey) … Gregory Warner
• Patsy O’Connor (Too Hot to Handle) … Peggy / Princess O’Hara
• Leighton Noble (Crazy House) … Pvt. Joe Collins
• Shemp Howard (In the Navy, Dopey Dicks) … Umbrella Sam
• Samuel S. Hinds (Pardon my Sarong) … Col. Brainard
• Eddie Quillan (How to Frame a Figg) … Harry the Horse
• Richard Lane (Take Me Out to the Ballgame) … Slicker
• David Hacker … Chauncey the Eye
• Andrew Tombes (The Mad Ghoul) … Big-Hearted Charlie
• Wade Boteler (The Green Hornet 1940) … Reilly
• Selmer Jackson (The Ape, That’s My Boy) … Grant
• The Vagabonds … The Vagabonds
• The Four Step Brothers … The Step-Brothers

Funny movie quotes

Grover Mockridge (Bud Abbott): Did you know you were going over 35 mile an hour!
Wilbur Hoolihan (Lou Costello): A minute.
Grover Mockridge (Bud Abbott): An hour!
Wilbur Hoolihan (Lou Costello):A minute! This heap won’t go an hour.

Pvt. Joe Collins: My big mouth got me in trouble again.
Wilbur Hoolihan (Lou Costello): Why don’t you see your dentist?

Wilbur Hoolihan (Lou Costello): [after the mudder/fodder routine] It must be Fodder’s Day.

Songs

• Old Timer
  • Music by Harry Revel
  • Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster
  • Sung by Patsy O’Connor
• Hang Your Troubles on a Rainbow
  • Music by Harry Revel
  • Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster
  • Sung by Leighton Noble
  • Danced by The Four Step Brothers
• Glory Be
  • Music by Harry Revel
  • Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster
  • Sung by Grace McDonald and other cast
  • Danced by The Four Step Brothers
• Saratoga Cafe
  • Music by Harry Revel
  • Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster
  • Sung by The Vagabonds
• Sunbeam Serenade
  • Music by Harry Revel
  • Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster
  • Sung by Patsy O’Connor, Grace McDonald and Leighton Noble

Trivia

• Originally released March 19, 1943
• Considered by Bud Abbott and Lou Costello fans to be their “lost” film, it was never actually lost but was unavailable for viewing for many years due to legal issues with the Damon Runyon estate. In 2008 the rights issues were cleared and it was included in the DVD release “Abbott and Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection.”
• During the “Glory Be” number you can see the cast march past a poster of Who Done It? (1942), the previous Abbott and Costello movie, also directed by Erle C. Kenton.
• There is a shot of a restaurant called the “Windsor House Band Box”. This is an inside joke referring to The Windsor House, a restaurant owned by Lou Costello, and The Band Box, a nightclub owned by Bud Abbott.
• The restaurant where Wilbur runs up a tab is called “Grant’s Cafeteria”, an inside joke referring to John Grant, a longtime writer for Abbott and Costello.