Abbott and Costello show (series 1)

My analysis

The first series of the Abbott and Costello show was a load of fun. This ain't no soap opera. It's basically Abbott and Costello on stage doing routines but with a setting. from what I can make out, they are out of work actors living in a boarding house and their main concern is paying the rent to their landlord, Mr. Fields. Costello's friend Joe Besser was bought in to do some silly stuff with Lou to pad out the episodes. He played the neighbourhood brat 'Stinky'. Costello and Stinky always called themselves Children but both obviously looked a lot older. Lou was soon to be a Grandad in real life! Stinky always wore this ludicrous suit and never his took his hat off as it would reveal his bald head! For some reason, I can laugh at Besser's antics. They were so ridiculous but oh so fun. The landlord, played by Sid Fields was terrific. His ability to direct his anger towards Costello using rapid-fire sentences using a wide range of vocabulary was simply hilarious. He had similar cameos in 2 of their films 'The little giant' and 'Mexican hayride'. He also filmed scenes for 'In Society' using his professor melonhead character but they were unfortunately cut. Lou's brother in law, Joe Kirk (seen in most of their films in bit parts) played Mr Bagicaloupe who owned a lot of businesses, mostly carts selling cakes, fruit etc. Hillary Brooke's character was never properly defined. In one ep, she wanted a kiss from Lou but later he said (telling a joke) that he has just got engaged and she congratulated him. In other episodes, Bud and Mike the cop (Gordon Jones) both pursued her.

The first episode was terrific. 'The drugstore' centered on introducing the characters then the boys working for one of Field's brothers at his drug store. They perform the Jonah and the whale routine on stage (Lou looks ill in close ups though, he looked so different in these shows due to a lot of make up). Hillary Brooke's character was not defined yet though. They do a routine similar to the drug store from 'Who done it?'. It's fast and funny. Some of these episodes were good, some not...

The best of the episodes include the army story, a remake of Buck Privates. I enjoyed this one so much that when I taped it, I rewound the tape and watched it again. They perform the dice routine, 7*13 = 28 (From in the navy I know) and of course the drill routine. Besser has a good bit on here as he says farewell to Lou and they end up jumping rope together. You can see the gags a mile off but they fun to watch.

Bud grows his moustache half way through an episode titled 'Alaska'. They are on the run from the police after doing the 'bank has been robbed' bit (from 'Hit the ice'). The camera cuts to Bud looking in a shop window, Lou says 'What are you doing?' to which Bud replies 'I am putting on a fake moustache so the cops don't recognize me'. he turns round and he is wearing this ludicrously fake thing. The action then cuts to them walking up the street and Abbott's normal moustache is there. Curiously, during the second half, it is gone again only to turn up for the final scene in front of the curtain!

Another good episode was 'Charity bizarre' where the boys help to raise money at a carnival. they do the buzzing the bee routine (but the background to it makes little sense as it did when they did it in 'In the navy'. Abbott cajoles Lou into joining the club on the understanding that loads of beautiful girls will 'initiate him'. Instead, Abbott starts walking around him and the girls stand there motionless (apart from the laughing). They also do the lemon routine. More footage was shot but used in another ep where Lou tries to raise money for poor woman.

Their timing was slowing down by the time they were making these shows. They perform 'Who's on first' and it's not as rapid fire as it should be. Abbott's drinking made his voice go a bit to husky plus his age by now was slowing him down a bit.

The worst episode was the haunted house. It shows how far they had actually come down since their heyday from the early forties. it is a remake of 'Hold that ghost'. It even includes a scene in a lawyers office (one of Field's brothers' is a crooked lawyer naturally). Joe Besser is there to do a routine (in the street) with Lou that has completely nothing to do with the story line. later, Lou performs the moving candle routine - and completely messes up. That routine was a highlight in the film but instead of trying to catch his breath, Lou has a little cap pistol and Hillary Brooke is sitting next to him ignoring him. It just wasn't funny at all.

Lou's character was so far removed from the earlier films. In the forties he was a bit of a scamp at times, he liked to kiss the girls for instance and would con Abbott if he had the chance, here whenever Hillary asked to kiss him, he turns to a 9 year old boy. The Lou Costello Character was no longer had an air of am immigrant who's partner fed him lines he couldn't understand, now he was just a dumb boy. The earlier Costello was infinitely more funny.

To me, both the TV shows represented the down coming of Abbott and Costello. They started when they were still top money earners and by the time they finished the second series a few years later, the chemistry was gone and they were on the road to breaking up. The second series was much poorer than this excellent first series. Too bad most of the characters left

Still, this first series (with the montage of earlier films at the start) is a bit more 'family orientated' than the kiddy fair second series. Most of it is genuinely funny and has a good atmosphere and after watching a couple of them, it's hard not to dislike these episodes. Good fun.