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Captain Jonah and the Whale routine, made famous by Bud Abbott and Lou Costello

Captain Jonah and the Whale

Captain Jonah and the Whale routine, made famous by Bud Abbott and Lou Costello

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

Abbott and Costello's Jack in the Beanstalk

Jack and the Beanstalk

Abbott and Costello in Jack and the Beanstalk (1952) starring Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Buddy Baer

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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Abbott and Costello - Bagel Street

Bagel Street, aka. Susquehannah Hat Company

Bagel Street, aka. Susquehanna Hat Company, aka. Fluegel Street routine – Abbott and Costello  skit, taken from In Society

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

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in a publicity photo from Lost in a Harem

Lost in a Harem

Abbott and Costello’s  Lost in a Harem  (1944) starring Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Marilyn Maxwell

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in a publicity photo from Lost in a Harem

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. 

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Hit the Ice - Bud Abbott, Lou Costello

Hit the Ice

 Hit the Ice (1943) starring Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Ginny Sims, Sheldon Leonard

Flash Fulton (Bud Abbott) and Weejie McCoy (Lou Costello) take pictures of a bank robbery. They’re lured to the mountain resort hideout of the robbers. They’re accompanied by Dr. Bill Elliott (Patric Knowles) and Peggy Osborn (Elyse Knox). They meet old friend Johnny Long  and his band and singer Marcia Manning (Ginny Simms). Dr. Elliott and Peggy are being held in a remote cabin by the robbers…

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Lou Costello and Bud Abbott in Newsweek 1940

The Feud of Abbott and Costello

(originally published in TV Forecast and Guide, March 7, 1953)

Loafing - Bud Abbott confuses Lou Costello about loafing around vs. making loaves of bread -- loafing -- at a bakery

 One of the worst kept secrets in show business a few years back was the backstage feuding of the top comedy team of Abbott and Costello. It seemed hard to believe that the finely balanced pair could be anything but the best of friends. Yet the evidence was there.

It burst out in the open in 1945. Rotund  Lou Costello, the buffoon of the team, suddenly charges in the public prints that  Bud Abbott  was a drunk.

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Bud Abbott: the man everyone forgot!

Bud Abbott: the man everyone forgot!

Bud Abbott: the man everyone forgot
(originally published in Screen Stories, June 1960)

Gray-haired Bud Abbott stared bleakly out of his breakfast-room window, at the brown, untended lawn and grounds of his Encino, California home. Although it was past noon, he still wore his bedroom slippers, pajamas and white flannel robe. Why get dressed? He had no place to go, no job to do.

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