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Lou Costello and Bud Abbott in Newsweek 1940

Fred Allen’s Heirs: Costello and Abbott Given Summer Spot

Fred Allen’€™s Heirs: Costello and Abbott Given Summer Spot  (originally published in  Newsweek  – July 1, 1940)

Lou Costello and Bud Abbott in Newsweek 1940

With Fred Allen leaving the air this week. * Ipana-Sal Hepatica decided to cut its NBC Red network time from an hour to a half hour (still starting at 9 o’clock EDT Wednesdays) and two months ago began looking for breezy talent to fill the breach for the summer. What they got was a popular pair of wacky vaudevillians, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.

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Abbott and Costello meet the Invisible Man - promotional photo

Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man

Synopsis of Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951)

Abbott & Costello Meet The Invisible Man - Lou Costello & Invisible Man in Car


Fresh graduates from detective school, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, get their first case – recapturing the escaped killer, Tommy Nelson. Nelson, however, the typical “convicted of a crime that he didn’t commit” – and has a scientist friend give him a dose of the Invisible Man formula, giving him a race against time to find the real killer — before the formula drives him mad. But Abbott and Costello are there to help …

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Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy - Bud and Lou

Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy

Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955) starring Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Marie Windsor, Richard Deacon

Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy is both a very funny comedy. It’s also a respectful Universal Monsters entry in the Mummy series.  The Mummy is is following the same typical formula. A former high priest Kharis (renamed to Klaris here for no reason) has been cursed to never-ending life for his forbidden love for an Egyptian princess.  In this entry, the Mummy can be controlled by a mystical amulet. Which accidentally falls into the possession of Abbott and Costello.

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Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949) movie poster

Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff

Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer Boris  Karloff  starring Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Boris Karloff

Actually, despite the title of  Abbott and  Costello  Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff, Boris Karloff  isn’t  the killer — €”but, he is quite funny in this movie.   In a nutshell, Lou Costello  plays a bellhop who is falsely accused of murder; His pal  Bud Abbott  tries to help, but only succeeds in getting Lou into more trouble.  

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Ride 'Em Cowboy movie poster - Bud Abbott, Lou Costello

Ride ’em Cowboy [Abbott and Costello]

Abbott and Costello’s  Ride ’em Cowboy  (1942) starring Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Dick Foran, Ella Fitzgerald

Lou Costello and Bud Abbott in Ride 'Em Cowboy

Buy from Amazon.com Bud Abbott and  Lou Costello star as two peanut vendors at a rodeo show. Soon, they get in trouble with their boss and hide out on a railroad train. Which unexpectedly heads west with them still on it. Upon arriving, they get jobs on a dude ranch despite the fact that neither of them knows anything about cowboys, horses, or much else. The scene with Lou Costello attempting to milk a cow is a gem of comedy. Abbott and Costello follow the same formula here as in their previous films, with a romantic subplot and music, provided here by  Ella Fitzgerald.

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The Wistful Widow of Widow's Gap movie poster - starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, with Marjorie Main

The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap

The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947) starring Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Marjorie Main

Abbott and Costello’s movie,  The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap is a spoof on the typical Western, with  Bud Abbott and  Lou Costello playing travelling salesmen who stop in the Old Wild West town of Wagon Gap, Montana on their way to California. Upon entering the town,  Lou shoots a pistol into the air, as the town drunk is murdered. The town then tries Lou for the murder.  Under an actual Montana law of the time, they sentence him to assume the debts and dependents of the dead man. Lou is now worked to death during the day by the Widow Hawkins  (played by Marjorie Main of the “Ma and Pa Kettle‘ movie series) and her seven children. And by the saloonkeeper at nights to pay off the dead man’s debts.

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Rio Rita cast - Bud Abbott, Kathryn Grayson, John Carroll, Lou Costello

Rio Rita (1942) starring Abbott and Costello

Synopsis of Rio Rita:

Doc (Bud Abbott) and Wishy (Lou Costello) accidentally find their way to Vista Del Rio. In order to afford their way back to New York, they start working as hotel detectives for the lovely Rita (Kathryn Grayson), who’s in a romantic triangle with Ricardo (John Carroll) and Lucette (Patricia Dane)  – and in the way of Nazi saboteurs who plan to pass on a coded message during Ricardo’s nationwide broadcast during the three day festival there.

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