Sitcoms Online Photo Galleries - Abbott And Costello Show

The Abbott And Costello Show was a syndicated series that ran from 1952 until 1954 and produced 52 episodes.

Critics hated this show. Audiences found it screamingly funny, so much so that it became one of the most successful and most repeated syndicated programs in television history.

It certainly was low-brow slapstick in its purest form,full of terrible puns, improbable situations, and lots of knockabout physical comedy. Set in Hollywood California, there was a story line of sorts which had Bud ( Bud Abbott, the tall , debonair one ), and Lou (Lou Costello, the short silly one ), as unemployed actors sharing an apartment in a rooming house run by Mr. Fields ( Sid Fields), who was always hounding them for back rent. Lou's girlfriend, Hillary( Hillary Brooke), , lived across the hall. Also living in the boardinghouse was Stinky( Joe Besser), a malevolent brat, who'd grab Lou's arm and threaten, " I'll harm you" ( though a grown man, Stinky was always dressed in a Little Lord Fauntleroy outfit). Other more or less regular characters were Mike the cop( Gordon Jones), and Mr. Bacciagalupe( Joe Kirk), who had different occupations depending on the episode. Appearing frequently in different roles were Joan Shawlee, Bobby Barber (The short bald one), and Milt Bronson.

Each program began with a premise, often some scheme of Lou's to make money or avoid paying bills, but soon disintegrated into a succession of unrelated skits and gags. Essentially, the series was a showcase for all the old material Bud and Lou had been using on stage and in films since the 1930's. They might be at a charity bazaar(where they could work in the " Lemon Bit"), or stranded in a haunted house( good excuse for the " Moving Candle" routine), or in an old folks home full of loonies who were having a baseball game with an imaginary ball ( up popped their classic " Who's on First?" routine). Some episodes were complete steals from old silent comedies, including a virtual reenactment of Buster Keaton's short " One Week" in which a jealous suitor sabotages the house Lou has built for his fiance.

Lou Costello was the spark plug of all this frenzy. He was a natural comic, full of gags, and practical jokes on screen and off. During filming, even when the action shifted elsewhere, the director kept one camera on Costello so as not to miss any impromptu bits of business. Lou owned the show and after the first half-dozen episodes installed his brother Pat Costello as producer.

After the first 26 episodes were filmed, changes were made. Brooke, Kirk, Besser, and Shawlee departed ( as did the boys pet Bingo the chimp, who had made the mistake of bitting Costello). Director Jean Yarborough tried to get things more organized, with more consistant story lines and a new gag writer Clyde Bruckman, for Abbott and Costello were running out of their old material. In all only 52 episodes were filmed, but these were highly popular-critics notwithstanding-and were rerun endlessly over the next decades. One New York station is said to have aired each one of the 52 more than 200 times. It was one of the last great successes for the top comedy team of the 1940's, whose films, radio show, and Colgate Comedy Hour appearances entertained millions. The pair finally broke up in 1957. Costello the human dynamo, was worn out by the time he reached his fifties; he died in 1959, at the age of 52. Abbott passed away in 1974.

A detailed and appreciative account of Abbott and Costello's career, including full details on the tv series, can be found in The Abbott And Costello Book by Jim Mulholland, published in 1975.

For two reviews of The Abbott And Costello Show go to www.televisionheaven.co.uk/abbott.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Abbott_and_Costello_Show

For a great website with an extensive episode guide of The Abbott And Costello show go to www.louandbud.com/