The film was a sleeper and made millions. Then began an almost unbelievable series of smash hits, “Abbott and Costello in the Navy,” etc. The nation went on a Abbott & Costello binge and the boys became national idols. Lou was born Louis Cristillo in Paterson, New Jersey in 1908. Abbott in a Barnum and Bailey circus tent in 1898. In the first season, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello had a pet chimp named Bingo the Chimp. Costello didn't particularly like Bingo and apparently Bingo sensed it, because while they were filming a scene one day, Bingo turned and bit him.
- Lou Costello plays a country bumpkin vacuum-cleaner salesman, working for the company run by the crooked Bud Abbott. To try to keep him under his thumb, Abbott convinces Costello that he's. See full summary » Director: William A. Seiter Stars: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Brenda Joyce, Jacqueline deWit.
- Directed by Charles Barton, Walter Lantz. With Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Lon Chaney Jr., Bela Lugosi. The Wolf Man tries to warn a dimwitted porter that Dracula wants his brain for Frankenstein monster's body.
- May 11, 2017 - Explore john m's board 'Abbott & Costello' on Pinterest. See more ideas about Abbott and costello, Comedy duos, Comedians.
We first see Bud and Lou in civilian clothes standing on astreet corner peddling neck-ties without a license. A cop appears and puts themon the run. This is a set-up for the kind of Abbott and Costello movie we wantto see, though Buck Privates wastheir first starring feature and it was still uncertain how they would fair inthe movies. But we know now not to get too cozy with our excitement for thispromising opening because Buck Privates will take the boys off the street andas peacetime recruits in an army training camp. Pure undistilled slapstick,which Abbott and Costello resurrected with some modifications as Laurel andHardy faded, is here confined to service life knockabout.
For somecomedians, notably The Three Stooges (HalfShot Shooters, Boobs in Arms, They Stooge to Conga, Back from the Front, Higher Than a Kite, Dizzy Pilots, The Yoke’s onMe, No Dough Boys, and G.I. Wanna Home) and even some cartoonstars like Donald Duck (in some of Disney’s funniest such as Donald Gets Drafted, The Vanishing Private, Sky Trooper, Fall Out Fall In, and The OldArmy Game), Pluto in two of the pup’s best (Private Pluto and The ArmyMascot), and M-G-M’s Barney Bear (TheRookie Bear, an admittedly lackluster cartoon that, atleast, begins andends where we wanted it to stay, in the bear’s home in the Great North Woods),life in uniform provided a fun variation of old gags, but expanded to features,even relatively short ones like BuckPrivates, the limited possibilities of army comedy become clear.
Abbott andCostello were a rising team, however, and even old gags typical of this moviesort (off-beat march and clumsy handling of weaponry) seem rejuvenated here incomparison to Laurel and Hardy’s lugubrious Great Guns,also from 1941 and sharing similarities in plot. WWI spoofs had done some goodthings for Stan and Ollie in their heyday. WithLove and Hisses, an early silent short and parody of the big parades thatsent the boys off to war, helped establish their trademarks and hokum in thebattlefield provided the first half of PackUp Your Troubles with vigorous hokum. By the time the noises of WWII becameloud in America Laurel and Hardy were all but done while Bud and Lou weremoving from radio to screen.
Fortunately,much of their material here, especially in the first half of the film, has thekind of vitality that was beginning disappear from slapstick. As obvious andlimited as many of the gags are, the boys were new enough to make them funny.
Notsurprisingly, the best moments in BuckPrivates have little to do with army life, using the camp merely as abackdrop. They could have been used in any of their films and often were. Bud hustlingLou for a loan of $50, which ends up with Lou owing Bud money, is a vintageverbal con game and Abbott fidgeting with a radiator Costello is sitting on tomanipulate his weight for his physical examination is a delight. Even a crapsgame on their way to camp takes an unusual spin. Costello gets the better ofAbbott, but not through his wits.
Abbott And Costello Craps Game
Even when Buck Privates makes use of life in anarmy camp as a stage, there are some jovial gags. When they do work, credit isdue to Nat Pendleton, the hulking Olympic star turned actor who here makes afine burly drill sergeant. The boys first met the sergeant when he was workingas the cop who put them on the run in the first place. The sergeant’s originalgripe was with both of the boys, but once in the camp he develops a particularanimosity toward Costello. His patience is tested to the most amusing resultsduring a routine involving the switching off and on of the tent radio, aconflict which Bud uses to amuse himself at the expense of his unwitting chum.But Pendleton brings more sense of humor to the bullying sergeant and in theend, when he cleans the boys out after a game of dice, the natural lookingsmile on his face indicates how much fun he had playing opposite the boys.
Because every comedian had to do one, there isan unbalanced boxing match. As expected, Costello enters the ring against abrute from a rival company. It’s not as fanciful as Chaplin’s in City Lights but more imaginative thanLaurel and Hardy’s in Any Old Port.There are plenty of good trick gags, but the key is in the build up. At first,Costello sees a puny fighter step up. Thinking this will be his opponent hegets a boost of confidence and brags to his comrades. Meanwhile, the realcontestant, a big hairy lug, takes over and we see this exchange beforeCostello does, anticipating not only the carnage to come but the unforgettablelook on Costello’s face.
Curiously,the most memorable moment is Costello’s little song and dance about harsh armylife. It’s a jovial amusing tune featuring Shemp Howard as a crabby camp cook. InBuck Privates, this moment fits likea ruby.
Of course,the music here belongs to the Andrews Sisters, who would go on to star withAbbott and Costello in In the Navyand Hold That Ghost, both from 1941.For the most part, they jump up the soundtrack with a boogie beat and bringtheir most famous tune Boogie WoogieBugle Boy to life. Apple Blossom Timein an artsy Disney sort of way, no surprise they would sing the stories of Johnny Fedora and Alice Blue Bonnet for Make Mine Music and Little Toot for Melody Time. But the motivation behindtheir inclusion dampens the picture. Although the attack on Pearl Harbor was months away, the rumble of WWII was beginning to makeAmerican cinema quiver. Chaplin took notice the previous year and respondedwith The Great Dictator. BuckPrivates wasn’t so much a national moral booster as a salute to Roosevelt ’s 1940 peacetime draft. There is nothing intricatelywrong with songs like “You’re a Lucky Fellow Mr. Smith” and talks about thegood years in the service do, except that the propagandistic feel mars thecomedy.
The lovestory involving two soldiers fighting for the same hostess is no worse than thesappy fluff polluting earlier comedies. It’s less simplistic to be sure. Anextra angel is present in the romantic triangle. One of the soldiers (LeeBowman) is a conceited playboy benefiting from his father’s power in Washington . He enlistsreluctantly with the hope that his father can pull some strings and get him outof his duty. His attraction to the young hostess (Jane Frazee) would have beenenough; the conflict with the dull draftee (Alan Curtis) adds nothing.
Theirrivalry takes over the ending, however, making for a joyless ending. Theromantic rivals are forced into a partnership when competing against anothercompany in a mock battle. Make no mistake, the last half of Buck Privates, which intensifies morethan a slapstick comedy ever should, belongs to the supporting cast and hasvirtually nothing to do with Abbott and Costello. Sure, there are some sightgags (Costello is blown away to the top of a tree) but, more than anything, thedismal conclusion leaves us wanting us to get past In the Navy and Buck PrivatesCome Home and into the glorious world of Abbott and Costello’s monstermashes.
BUCK PRIVATES
(1941)With Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Lee Bowman, Alan Curtis, Jane Frazee, The Andrews Sisters, Nat Pendleton
Directed by Artur Lubin
Black and White
Reviewed by JB
BUCK PRIVATES, the first film specifically tailored for the comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, is one of the greatest b-movies ever made. As the classic comedy teams of the 1930s such as Laurel and Hardy and The Marx Brothers started running out of steam, Abbott and Costello picked up the slack, rocking audiences with their fast and funny dialog routines, most of them lifted straight from vaudeville and burlesque. Bud Abbott was the perfect straightman, capable of making the most illogical statements sound logical, and Lou Costello was one of America's greatest comics, an opinion, by the way, shared by none other than Charlie Chaplin himself.
BUCK PRIVATES follows the travails of two con men who accidentally join the army. They have run ins with the captain (burly tough guy Nat Pendleton), play a not-so-friendly friendly game of craps, go through basis maneuvers and participate in a company boxing match, all of which allow Abbott and Costello to run through some of their most memorable routines, honed to perfection from their years together on stage. In between the jokes and routines, The Andrew Sisters sing (and swing) such classics as 'Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy' and 'Apple Blossom Time'. When neither The Boys or The Girls are around, the movie tells the tale of a spoiled son of a wealthy man, his chauffeur, and the the army hostess they both have the hots for. It should be boring, and it is, but the romantic trio is played by three likable actors (Lee Bowman, Alan Curtis and Jane Frazee) who actually seem to enjoy their parts, so their scenes go down rather smoothly.
BUCK PRIVATES instantly turned 'the Boys' into America's favorite wartime stars, and they would continue to make comedies for Universal for the next two decades. They were so prolific, radio comic Fred Allen once quipped 'It's been quiet here in Hollywood recently - Abbott and Costello haven't made a picture all week.' Followed in quick succession by IN THE NAVY, HOLD THAT GHOST and KEEP 'EM FLYING. Then on Tuesday, they made.. - JB Golden star chinese bremerton.
Abbott And Costello Craps Youtube
BEHIND THE SCENES
Although Bud and Lou had already appeared in a movie, ONE NIGHT IN THE TROPICS., BUCK PRIVATES was their first starring vehicle. Reportedly, when Lou saw the way director Arthur Lubin had edited their army routine 'The Drill Bit', he was very impressed. Lubin used the best bits from several run-throughs of the routine to fashion together a scene that was longer and funnier than how it had played on stage. For one example, Lubin kept in Lou's non-sequitor ad-lib 'What time is it?' and Abbott's quick reply of 'None of your business!', a classic little moment of nonsense well-remembered by fans of the team.
Sequel
Abbott And Costello Craps
Buck Privates Come Home (1947)