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Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd - Lou and Bud find the treasure map

Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd

Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd  (1952) starring Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Charles Laughton, Hillary Brook

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).

Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd
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.

Jack and the Beanstalk
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].Bagel Street, aka. Susquehannah Hat Company

Lou Costello - breaking through a drum in Rio Rita

How I fought back – Lou Costello’s account of his recovery from rheumatic fever

Lou Costello, Hollywood’s best-loved comedian, tells how he fought his way back to health through prayer and undying faith.This an exclusive account to Motion Piture’s Readers

I think I’m a pretty lucky guy to be alive to tell this story.

With more than a half a year in bed spent grimly facing the terrifying prospect that I might never walk again, I found myself suddenly projected into a new world. A world that I never knew existed until then. And because I had never before come in contact with sickness and disaster, I suddenly saw a lot of things for the first time – things that before had meant very little to me.

How I fought back – Lou Costello’s account of his recovery from rheumatic fever
In the Navy - Admiral Lou Costello

Lou Costello biography

Lou Costello (March 6, 1906 – March 3, 1959)

Lou Costello, the man who would ask the eternal question, Who’s on First?, was born as Louis Francis Cristillo on March 6, 1906.  He grew up in his hometown of  Patterson, New Jersey, which he mentioned in virtually every movie and television episode that he appeared in. After high school, he had been bitten by the entertainer bug, and worked as a carpenter at both MGM and Warner Brothers movie studios in an attempt to break into show business

Lou Costello biography