American Legends: Abbott & Costello
By Charles River Editors
A 1951 caricature of Abbott & Costello
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Introduction
Promotional photo of Abbott & Costello doing radio work for NBC in the 1940s.
Bud Abbott (1895-1974) and Lou Costello (1906-1959)
“You never heard of a comedy team that didn’t fight, did you? But for twenty years as a professional team, Lou and I were closer than man and wife.” - Bud Abbott
“A husband is what's left of a sweetheart after the nerve has been killed.” – Lou Costello
A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history’s most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors’ American Legends series, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of America’s most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.
Ironically, one of America’s most famous comedy duos, and the performers of the country’s most famous skit, came together in part because Lou Costello had already failed to cut it in the film industry. In fact, Costello had appeared in a Laurel & Hardy film in 1927 before meeting his partner, Bud Abbott, on the burlesque circuit in New York City. In fact, the two first performed together in 1935 only because Abbott filled in for Costello’s usual partner, who happened to be ill one fateful day.
Over time, Abbott & Costello perfected their routine, which typically consisted of Abbott playing the straight man while his dimwit partner acted foolishly and interrupted his plans. It was a shtick that also did well on radio, albeit one that required Costello to modify his voice with a higher pitch that not only differentiated his from Abbott but also made him sound appropriately dumber. By 1940, they were not only successful on the radio but also among America’s most popular movie stars, a status they held almost consistently throughout the decade and into the early 1950s.
The legendary comedy duo performed together for decades, and like similar acts, their popularity began to wane over time, but Abbott & Costello are still household names today. While all of their material is still in syndication and watched by many, they are best known today for “Who’s on First”, the famous routine in which Abbott’s answers about the names of baseball players at various positions on the field sound like questions and completely confuse Costello. Although the skit was pieced together from various others, it was immortalized by Abbott & Costello and helped popularize not only the duo but some of their subsequent material.
American Legends: Abbott & Costello examines the lives and careers of one of America’s most famous comedy teams. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Abbott & Costello like never before, in no time at all.
American Legends: Abbott & Costello
About Charles River Editors
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Actor and the Athlete
Chapter 2: Forming a Team
Chapter 3: Warming Up for War
Chapter 4: Laughter and Tears
Chapter 5: A Grief Shared
Chapter 6: The First Crack in the Team
Chapter 7: Abbott and Costello Meet the Monsters
Chapter 8: Death and Taxes
A Transcript of “Who’s On First?”
Bibliography
Chapter 1: The Actor and the Athlete
William “Bud” Alexander Abbott was born on October 2, 1895 in Asbury Park, New Jersey, and like many actors of his generation, he was a 2nd generation entertainer. His parents, Harry and Rae Abbott, were working for the Barnum and Bailey Circus at the time he was born, so his earliest memories were of “the smell of the greasepaint and the roar of the crowd.” When he was in his early teens, Bud’s father left the circus and went to work on Coney Island, and Bud soon left school to join him there. Later, when Harry went to work for the Columbia Burlesque Wheel, he got Bud a job taking tickets at the Casino Theater in Brooklyn, but his job ended abruptly when Bud, then only 15 years old, accompanied a pretty girl to a bar only to be drugged and dragged on to a ship to Norway. Awaking dazed and confused by his surroundings, Abbott managed to stay out of trouble and earned enough money to get back home. After letting his family know he was alright, he moved to Detroit to start a new life for himself.
While Abbott was in Norway, his future partner, Lou Costello, was attending P.S. 15 in Paterson, New Jersey. Born Louis Francis Cristillo on March 6, 1906, he was the son of Italian immigrant Sebastiano Cristillo and his wife Helen, but his childhood was very different and much more traditional than Abbott’s. He had an older brother named Anthony who would later become his stunt double, and his younger sister Marie Katherine would later marry movie star Joe Kirk. He also played basketball in high school and was so gifted that he won the annual New Jersey foul shot competition. As if that wasn’t enough, he boxed professionally under the name “Lou King.”
While Costello was still in elementary school, Abbott met Jenny Mae Pratt, a dancer who appeared under the stage name Betty Smith. The two married in 1918 and began to work together on a “tab show,” a type of musical comedy, called Broadway Flashes. They perfected the act and toured the country with the Gus Sun Vaudeville Circuit, and to make ends meet, Abbott also worked as a manager for the National Theater. In 1924, the Abbotts altered their show, creating the type of comedy that would later be perfected by George Burns and Gracie Allen; Bud would play the straight man while Jenny made all the jokes. They traveled the country with Minsky’s Burlesque Shows.
Though he did not grow up in the entertainment environment that Abbott grew up in, Costello was still interest in acting, and he was particularly fascinated by silent film star Charlie Chaplin. Thus, as soon as he was old enough to leave home, he made his way across the country to Hollywood to seek his fortune. According to his youngest daughter, Chris Costello, “…when he came out to Hollywood in 1925 or so, he tried to get into the studios and be an actor. He was under the name Lou Cristillo. He slept in a lot of parked cars and ate a lot of peanut butter sandwiches, because acting jobs were lean, and so was he at that time.”
Chaplin
At first, Costello got work as a laborer for MGM, but he also did some work as an extra in Bardelys the Magnificent (1926) and The Taxi Driver (1927), and he also worked as a stunt double. Perhaps most notably, Costello made a brief appearance in The Battle of the Century (1928), a silent movie starring the then up-and-coming comedy duo of Laurel and Hardy. He even worked as a stunt double. Chris Costello explained, “He finally got onto the construction crew at MGM and from there he landed some stunt work. His first one was some cowboy film and they wanted him to ride a horse with a herd of cattle following behind him. He told them he could ride a horse, but he’d never even seen a horse coming from New Jersey. It turned out to be absolute chaos as his saddle loosened and he ended up going UNDER the horse. He determined that stunt work wasn’t for him and he got some work as an extra. One of the big films at the time that he was an extra in was Trails of 98. He also did
Battle of the Century which is a Laurel and Hardy film and he played an extra.”
Laurel and Hardy
By the time 1930 rolled around, it appeared that his dream of being a movie star would never come true. His daughter Chris explained, “I guess what happened was that he was getting a little discouraged, and it was Delores Costello that pulled him aside and told him to go back to New Jersey or New York, hone your craft, and wait for Hollywood to call you. So, out of a thank you to her, he became known as Lou Costello. He hitched back to New Jersey, as he didn’t have money for bus fare, and he got as far as Missouri.” Costello himself later admitted, “In those days I slept in cars in parking lots, on benches in squares, in partly-built houses, with nary a cold to stop me. I had hitch-hiked across the country in fifteen days…”
Sisters Helene and Delores Costello in 1930.
By this time, the Great Depression had a tight grip on the United States and much of the rest of the world, so Costello soon found himself in Saint Joseph, Missouri with no money and no job. Still hoping to break into acting, he persuaded a local theatre owner to let him go on stage as a Dutch comic named Lou Costello. His son described what happened: “Story has it, according to my grandmother, that he was sitting in coffee shop having a cup of coffee and he happened to look out the window and saw the theater across the street was advertising for a Dutch comic. So, needing money, he went across the street and saw the stage manager and he hooked him up with whoever. Then they asked him if he knew what a Dutch comic was, and my father wasn’t too sure, so the man said ‘Well, you’d speak in a Dutch accent, wear a putty nose, oversized clothes, and a derby hat’. He said ‘No, no, no. I will not wear a putty nose and I will not speak in a Dutch accent. But, I will wear the oversized clothes and the derby hat.’ So, he got the job.”
Costello’s show proved to be a hit, which made him enough money to make it home to New York. Once he was back, he sold his act to several vaudeville theaters in town, including the Eltinge Burlesque Theater. According to Chris, “He ended up as a Dancing Juvenile. A Dancing Juvenile was kind of a comic that would go out and warm people up for the ‘top banana’. But, the top bananas started to really dislike my father because he was getting more laughs than they were.” During this period, he also met Anne Battler, whom he married in 1934.
Chapter 2: Forming a Team
“You know, people like to say how much they love dad and they always put the spotlight on my father. But you know, you didn’t have Costello without Abbott. Bud, in my opinion, never receives the kudos he deserves because he was a true genius in his craft.” - Chris Costello
While working at the Eltinge, Costello met Bud Abbott, who was gaining a reputation around town as a funny straight man, and when Costello’s partner became ill, Abbott offered to take his place. Later, the two men talked, and Abbott shared that Jenny was getting tired of performing with him, as she was ready to settle down in one place and have a home. They did not yet have any children and were hoping that a more stable home life would improve their chances of conceiving. They also knew that no adoption agency would give a child to parents who travelled all the time.
Abbott and Costello agreed to perform together, but their partnership was fraught with tension from the beginning. For one thing, each man felt he deserved top billing, and Abbott prevailed in this case because the straight man in any act was typically mentioned first. This agreement got them through their first year performing around New York’s dwindling number of burlesque houses, but another problem arose due to the two men’s different personalities. According to Chris Costello, “I mean, to keep my father on track had to be a full time job, number one. Dad was always ad libbing. I always say that in films, he always ad libbed because it was his way of keeping the material fresh. For example, in Buck Privates, out of the blue dad says to Bud, ‘What time is it?’ and Bud just brings him right back in to the point of the departure. So truly, Bud, to me, was a mastermind.”
In 1938, the two had a chance for a big break with a 10 week run at the famous Pantages Theater that would place them in a prime position to be spotted by big name talent scouts and producers. However, a disagreement arose between the two because Abbott wanted to pass up the offer in order to honor their prior commitment to do a cross-country tour. Conversely, Costello believed it was worth angering the other theater owners in order to take advantage of the opportunity; he had his eye on a bigger prize, figuring that success would help him make it into the movies. In order to convince Abbott to take the chance, Costello offered him a 60% share of their joint earnings, and Jenny, hoping they’d soon need money to provide for a baby, convinced Bud to take the offer.
One of the first routines that the two men began working on was one they called “Baseball”, which eventually became known more commonly as “Who’s on First?” One of their writers, John Grant, developed it further, and the skit would become one of the most famous comedy routines in history. “Who’s on First?” was built around a confusing discussion between the two men over three baseball players: “Who,” “What” and “I Don’t Know.” Throughout the routine, whenever Abbott names one of the fielders on the diamond, it only further dumbfounds Costello, whose subsequent questions about who’s at each position compels Abbott to remind him that “Who” is on first. The routine employs wordplay similar to skits used by other comedians, such as a routine performed by Will Hay about a schoolboy named Howe from the town of Ware who now lives in Wye. Decades later, Jerry Seinfeld praised Abbott and Costello’s legendary routine, noting. “Any great comedy is how far can you take this silly idea. I mean the initial idea is just a first baseman named Who. And then you get the What, then the I Don’t Know, and it keeps going. You think it’s out of gas, and it’s not. That’s what makes this great.”
Will Hay
The pair performed their routine on stage in 1936 and 1937, and on the radio program The Kate Smith Show in March 1938. According to Chris Costello, “Henny Youngman suggested them to the producer of the show. Basically, they were going to be a substitute for Henny, so the producer went down and saw Bud and Lou, and he was happy, not overly thrilled because they were pretty visual, but happy enough. He decided to try them out and they went over really good. That was the show that kind of pulled them to Hollywood because it was on that show that ‘Who’s on First?’ first aired.”
Henny Youngman
Abbott and Costello performing “Who’s on First?”
The pair’s performance on The Kate Smith Show brought their names to the attention of a Broadway producer who subsequently cast them in The Streets of Paris (1939), and word got back to Universal Studios about the funny comedy team and their hilarious sketch. From there, the studio contacted Abbott and Costello and invited them to come to Hollywood to appear in One Night in the Tropics (1940). Originally titled Riviera, the movie premiered in October 1940 in Paterson, New Jersey, Costello’s hometown.
In addition to making movies, the men continued with their radio work, including substituting for Fred Allen on his show in 1941. According to a magazine article written at that time, “Abbott and Costello were launched on the air waves two and a half years ago in a ten-minute one-shot guest appearance with Kate Smith, after Ted Collins, radio impresario, saw their act at Loew’s State Theater in New York and signed them. Their low-brow brand of humor – with the hard-boiled Abbott administering verbal beatings to the meek Costello – caught on, and they were invited to stick around. Since then they have appeared regularly with Kate Smith, keeping up their vaudeville appearances, producing laughs in ‘The Streets of Paris’ both on Broadway and at the New York World’s Fair, and spending their time between performances in a perpetual rummy game – at a dollar a hand.”
Promotional photo of Abbott & Costello with Carmen Miranda in The Streets of Paris.
Abbott and Costello were so popular on the air that they were invited to join Edgar Bergen and his famous dummy, Charlie McCarthy, on the very popular The Chase and Sanborn Hour. They also v
oiced a cartoon series featuring two cats named “Babbit and Catsello”, and in one episode of their series, a little yellow bird name Tweety, who “taut he taw a puddy cat”, was introduced.
Bergen and Charlie McCarthy.
Chapter 3: Warming Up for War
“You know, Abbott and Costello brought comedy to World War II, much like Laurel and Hardy did…I think we sometimes want to go back in time and recapture something that’s very close to us, like the old-fashioned belly laugh versus just a chuckle here and there.” - Chris Costello
When One Night in the Tropics turned out to be a hit, it opened the door for the comedy duo to star in Buck Privates (1941). Though the United States had not yet become involved in World War II, the country was gearing up for potential conflict and war movies were becoming more and more popular. While most were dramatic and inspirational pieces, Buck Privates was a musical-comedy meant to make people laugh. Abbott played Smitty, a long-suffering drill instructor trying to whip a group of recruits, including Costello’s character Herbie, into shape. The most famous part of the movie is the drill routine, in which Abbott is trying to teach them to march in formation. At first, the director filmed this as several shorter scenes, but he later decided to put them together into one long laugh riot. This proved to be a good decision, and the movie was a huge box office hit. It was also a hit with critics, one of whom wrote, “If a pair of mental bindlestiffs like Abbott and Costello can pass muster, where, pray, is our first line of defense? On the other hand, any foolish notions that training for war is basically a grim business have been largely dispelled. If the real thing is at all like this preview of Army life—with the Messrs. A & C dropping gags once a minute and the Andrews Sisters crooning patriotic boogie-woogie airs—well, it's going to be a merry war, folks. For ‘Buck Privates’ is an hour and a half of uproarious monkeyshines.”
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