FORMATION: In 1936, Bud Abbott & Lou Costello met in a burlesque house in New York at the Minsky Theatre on 2nd Avenue. Lou was 29 and Bud was 41. They would split their money 60/40, 60 going to straight man Bud and 40 going to comedy clown Lou. Bud received more because he was the finest straight man in the business. With his talent and Lou's childish adulthood, they became the most successful partnership in vaudeville.
STUDIOS: It was in 1940 that Lou encouraged Bud to expand from Radio and bring their act to Hollywood. They signed on at Universal Studios, later saving it from going bankrupt with their successful films. In a 2 1/2 year span they made 10 full-length feature films. This was quite an impressive number in itself, but even more impressive was that it was done during World War II. Universal later faced a law suit for selling films of the duo to private parties for extra gain. They had done this without giving gratuities to Bud & Lou. They soon moved to Television and had achieved their own show in 1952, "The Abbott & Costello Show."
ENDING: In December of 1956, they performed for the last time at a night club in Las Vegas. Bud's timing was off, who was now 61, and Lou called it quits. They had performed for nearly 22 years.
With the previous routines of the silent era emphasizing on physical comedy, they brought these acts into the sound age adding to it play on word confrintations. Both sides of the argument make complete sense, but frustration ensues as Lou childish mind can't comprehend it.
This is my favorite comedic duo, and it's no wonder that my favorite comedy and Halloween movie is "Bud Abbott & Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein" (1948). Though they had a few struggles they had an amazing friendship.
Here is the trailer of my favorite film of theirs.
The "Loafer" bit.
The skit that made them famous, "Who's On First."
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