By 1933, Abbott was working with comedian Harry Evanson as well as producing shows. Betty and One of Lou's best friend's, Milt Brosnan were also with the company, called Newark's Empire Theatre'. Lou was working in Minsky's Republic by now, this is where he met and married Anne. Lou soon teamed up with Joe Lyons. By the following year, Bud and Lou's contracts had ended and they both found themselves working in the Eltinge Theatre early 1935. It was here they got to know one another and they performed together from time to time. Betty and Milt appeared with them both. Their chemistry was so good that people wanted them to team up. After the engagement a few months later they went their separate ways again. By the end of the year, they met up again and decided to be a team.
Early 1936 is when the new team of Abbott and Costello first appeared on stage.They signed with Minskys and they also worked at the republic, they then toured with Life begins at minsky's. In May, they were discovered by Eddie Sherman in New York. He wanted them to play around a Minstral show (strippers) at Atlantic City's Steel Pier. they were booked for eleven weeks and started June 26th.
They must of been successful, they landed a thirty nine week contract for a man named max Wilner. They were to work in 2 venues, The Apollo on 42nd Street and the Shubert. Anne gave birth to their first child, Paddy. It was around this time that the boys learned about working together. They learned their classic routines and perfected them. It was a great training period for them.
All the burlesque theatres were ordered to close but luckily, the boys were signed for another season at the Steel Pier. From there, they signed with Leddy and Smith, vaudeville producers and went on a tour. After that, they went to work for Sherman and at first he got them little jobs, here and there but they were starting to get a good reputation. They were spotted and signed for a stage show at Loew's state in New York, it was now February 1938. (in just over 4 years, they would be the world's number one box office champs, so metriotic their climb from this point). They were earning $600 dollars a week but were not headliners...Judy Garland was!
Kate Smith, who had a winning Radio slot had a manager called Ted Collins. He didn't like thier act but was convinced by Henry Youngman to go and see them and to invite them to a broadcast. Nevertheless, the boys did one gig and they did the mudder/fodder routine. Lou's voice was considered a little to deep and confused the audience so from then on, he adopted a higher pitch. They were not a ratings booster from the start and didn't impress Collins. They were bought back again...and again and they were starting to get noticed. Finally they got a contract - for thirty nine weeks, they stayed for ninety nine weeks.
the boys still hadn't yet performed the 'ace' - Who's on first and Collins wouldn't let them do it! He told them they wouldn't work on radio again if they tried it. Lou called his bluff one day and said that the routine was all they had left. Collins agreed and let them do it. On March 24th 1938, Abbott and Costello turned to radio superstars overnight after performing the routine. Collin's riased their salary to $500 a week. They also had to perform the routine once a month.
An old friend, a writer, was bought on soon after to write scripts and gags. His name was John Grant, he would go on to write gags and routines for most of their films. The boys were still doing stage shows and in February 1939 they were approached to appear in a Broadway show called The Streets of Paris. Bud and Lou would appear in 4 out of the 28 scenes and they performed their popular routines. They were an absolute hit. The audience loved them and they managed to upstage the star Bobby Clark who would like to ad lib and throw his performers off line. Bud and Lou did the same to him, I doubt he was impressed. Bud and Lou were the headliners of the show.
Later that year, they appeared on television, a fifteen minute short called So this is new york. The boys were still appearing on Kate Smith's program as well as the Streets of Paris and Bud and Lou also signed to do a late night show at The Versailles nightclub on East 50th Street. They were taking home nearly $4000 a week!! Carole Costello was born and Bud (about 41 by now) and Betty bought their first house together.
Hollywood were making an interest in the boys and Universal signed them to do a film called one night in the tropics. Lou expected to make just the one film, but as we know, their popularity was so great , that they ended up making 36 of them as a team...