A classic Abbott and Costello routine, in the style of Who’s on First?, where Bud Abbott tries to explain electricity — Watts and Volts — only to have Lou Costello think that he’s talking about What’s and Votes. From their movie, Who Done It? Interestingly, it was improvised on the spot as they were filming, and reportedly has the other cast and crew in stitches.
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Bud Abbott: Oh, you can cause more trouble! We were going to the eight-to-the-bar-ranch to ask the Andrews Sisters to appear on our show. And YOU wrecked the car we were going to use! Well, now we’ll have to rent a carRead More »Hertz U Drive
A Dollar A Day is a classic vaudeville skit, made famous by Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, where Lou Costello has been working for Bud Abbott for the last year for the “princely” sum of one dollar per day—and Bud Abbott finds one reason after another to keep deducting wages, and deducting, and deducting …
It was first shown in their first movie, One Night in the Tropics, but the version displayed below is taken from their popular radio show.
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In Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd two waiters, Oliver “Puddin’ Head” Johnson (Lou Costello) and Rocky Stonebridge (Bud Abbott) are on their way to work at Death’s Head Tavern on the pirate hangout on the island of Tortuga. There they encounter Lady Jane (Fran Warren). She asks them to bring a love note to the singer at the tavern, Bruce Martingale (Bill Shirley).
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One of Abbott and Costello’s lesser-known routines, but performed by Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in their first movie One Night in the Tropics, in “Here Come the Co-Eds“, on their television show episode “The Drug Store“, and also on the Colgate television show. The “Here Come the Co-Eds” version is perfect, as they perform it in a classroom of co-eds for audience reaction, and this is transcribed from that version. Bud and Lou are janitors dusting a classroom, where the girls are writing some jokes for the school play. The sympathy Lou gets from the girls adds to the atmosphere of the routine, unlike any other version. Much of the humor comes from the rapid-fire delivery of the lines, that Abbott and Costello were masters of.Read More »Captain Jonah and the Whale
Jack and the Beanstalk is one of the only two films that Abbott and Costello made in color. It is a children’s movie that adults can enjoy as well. The beginning and ending of the movie are filmed in black and white, with Bud and Lou playing their typical characters. Bud Abbott bosses around and takes advantage of Lou Costello. Although that changes slightly at the end of the movie. Bud having Lou work as a babysitter for an obnoxious child, who hits Lou on the head and launches the main part of the movie. Lou dreams in color of the story of Jack and the Beanstalk.
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This is a classic vaudeville routine and highly popular with the fans of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. During the filming ofIn Society, Lou wanted to include this routine in the movie. However, because the movie was already on a tight shooting schedule, since Universal Pictures wanted to release this film before MGM’s Abbott and Costello movie “Lost in a Harem,” the producers refused. Lou was unwilling to give up on the idea, so he filmed and directed this segment himself.
The routine involves Abbott and Costello helping out a friend, Derby Dan, owner of a hat shop, by delivering some hats to the Susquehanna Hat Company on Bagel Street [later, when doing the same routine on the Abbott and Costello television show, it was changed to Fleugel Street].Read More »Bagel Street, aka. Susquehannah Hat Company
Lost in a Harem is one of Abbott and Costello’s best films, filmed at the MGM studios. The film has a vaudeville show stranded in the mythical city of Port Inferno somewhere in the East. Singer Hazel Moon (Marilyn Maxwell, a semi-regular on the Abbott and Costello radio show) gets a job at the Cafe of All Nations, and has the club owner hire the show’s prop men, Harvey Garvey (Lou Costello) and Pete Johnson (Bud Abbott) to put on their magic act.
Read More »Lost in a HaremRead More »Poko Moko / Slowly I turned – classic clown skit as done by Abbott and Costello
