Genre | Comedy |
---|---|
Running time | 30 minutes |
Country of origin | United States |
Language(s) | English |
Syndicates | ABC NBC |
TV adaptations | The Abbott and Costello Show |
Starring | Bud Abbott Lou Costello |
Announcer | Ken Niles Frank Bingman Jim Doyle Michael Roy |
Written by | Martin Gosch Howard Harris Hal Fimberg Don Prindle Ed Cherkose Len Stern Martin Ragaway Paul Conlan Ed Forman |
Produced by | Martin Gosch |
Original release | July 3, 1940 – June 9, 1949 |
Sponsored by | Sal Hepatica Camel (cigarettes) |
The Abbott and Costello Show is a comedy program from the era of old-time radio in the United States. It was broadcast first on NBC and later on ABC, beginning on July 3, 1940 and ending on June 9, 1949. [1]
Film stars Bud Abbott and Lou Costello adapted their talents to radio for the 30-minute weekly comedy program. Vincent Terrace, in his book, Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows, wrote, "Many of the skits revolved around Bud and Lou's efforts to succeed in some sort of business venture." [2] The sketches were often culled from their vaudeville act. [3]
Abbott and Costello became one of the top radio comedy acts of the 1940s. [4]
Supporting players included Elvia Allman (usually as Mrs. Niles, fictional wife of announcer Ken Niles), Joe Kirk (Costello's brother-in-law, most often as a heckler), Artie Auerbach as Mr. Kitzel, Iris Adrian (as Costello's sometimes girlfriend Lena Genster), Mel Blanc (many characters, including guest spots as Bugs Bunny), Sidney Fields (as Melonhead), Wally Brown, John Brown, Sharon Douglas, Verna Felton, Frank Nelson, Kent Rogers, Martha Wentworth and Benay Venuta. Guest stars included Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, the Andrews Sisters and Lucille Ball.
Singers appearing on the show included Amy Arnell, Connie Haines, Marilyn Maxwell, Susan Miller and Marilyn Williams. The vocal groups were the Delta Rhythm Boys and the Les Baxter Singers. Orchestra leaders were Skinnay Ennis, Charles Hoff, Matty Matlock, Jack Meakin, Will Osborne, Freddie Rich, Leith Stevens and Peter van Steeden. [2]
Abbott and Costello debuted on radio on Kate Smith's program in 1938. They continued performing on the show until the summer of 1940. [5] Their first program of their own was a summer replacement for The Fred Allen Show in 1940. After a hiatus of two years, the show returned as a regular network program in the fall of 1942 and ran through the spring of 1949. [1]
Starting date | Ending date | Network | Sponsor |
---|---|---|---|
July 3, 1940 | September 25, 1940 | NBC | Sal Hepatica |
October 8, 1942 | June 27, 1947 | NBC | Camel cigarettes |
October 1, 1947 | June 9, 1949 | ABC | Sustaining |
Beginning in 1947, the programs were recorded and made available via transcriptions to stations outside of the regular ABC network. [6]
A related program, The Abbott and Costello Children's Show, was broadcast on ABC beginning December 6, 1947 and ending March 26, 1949. It was sustaining [1] and featured child performers and included quizzes and games. [3]
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is a 1948 American horror comedy film directed by Charles Barton. The film features Count Dracula who has become partners with Dr. Sandra Mornay, as Dracula requires a "simple, pliable" brain to reactivate Frankenstein's monster. Dracula discovers that the "ideal" brain belongs to Wilbur Grey who is wooed by Mornay to the operating table, despite the warnings of Lawrence Talbot.
William Alexander "Bud" Abbott was an American comedian, actor and producer. He was best known as the straight man half of the comedy duo Abbott and Costello.
Louis Francis Cristillo, better known as Lou Costello, was an American comedian, actor and producer. He was best known for his double act with straight man Bud Abbott and their routine "Who's on First?".
Abbott and Costello were an American comedy duo composed of comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, whose work in radio, film, and television made them the most popular comedy team of the 1940s and 1950s, and the highest-paid entertainers in the world during the Second World War. Their patter routine "Who's on First?" is considered one of the greatest comedy routines of all time, a version of which appears in their 1945 film The Naughty Nineties.
Peter van Steeden was a composer. His best-known composition, "Home ", has been performed by many musicians, including Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Paul McCartney, Jackie Gleason, Cab Calloway, Eddie Cantor, Milton Berle, Theresa Brewer, Ella Fitzgerald, The Fontaine Sisters, Mary Martin, Gertrude Lawrence, Kate Smith, Maxine Sullivan, Giovanni Martinelli, Ethel Merman, Dinah Shore and Sam Cooke.
Marvel Marilyn Maxwell was an American actress and entertainer. In a career that spanned the 1940s and 1950s, she appeared in several films and radio programs, and entertained the troops during World War II and the Korean War on USO tours with Bob Hope.
Josephine "Joan" Davis was an American comedic actress whose career spanned vaudeville, film, radio, and television. Remembered best for the 1950s television comedy I Married Joan, Davis had a successful earlier career as a B-movie actress and a leading star of 1940s radio comedy.
Nancy Joan Guild was an American film actress of the 1940s and 1950s. She appeared in Somewhere in the Night (1946), The Brasher Doubloon (1947), and the comedy Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951). Although appearing in major films, Guild never achieved as much fame at 20th Century Fox, the studio that had signed her to a seven-year contract, as she had hoped, and eventually stopped acting.
Frances Anne Rafferty was an American actress, dancer, World War II pin-up girl and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract player.
Wallace Edgar Brown was an American actor and comedian. In the 1940s, he performed as the comic partner of Alan Carney.
Elena Angela Verdugo was an American actress who began in films at the age of five in Cavalier of the West (1931). Her career in radio, television and film spanned six decades.
The Adventures of Maisie was a radio comedy series starring Ann Sothern as underemployed entertainer Maisie Ravier. It was a spin-off of Sothern's successful 1939–1947 Maisie movie series, based on a character created by Wilson Collison.
Bern Bennett was an American radio and television announcer.
Young Widder Brown was a daytime radio drama series broadcast on NBC from 1938 to 1956. Sponsored by Sterling Drugs and Bayer Aspirin, it daily examined the life of "attractive Ellen Brown, with two fatherless children to support."
The Abbott and Costello Cartoon Show is an American half-hour animated series of the famous comedy duo that aired in syndication from September 9, 1967, to June 1, 1968. Each of the 39 individual episodes consisted of four five-minute cartoons. The cartoons were created jointly by Hanna-Barbera, RKO General, and Jomar Productions between 1965 and 1967. The series was syndicated by Gold Key Entertainment and King World Productions, with the rights now owned by Warner Bros. Television Distribution.
Francis Michael Dunne was an American actor, radio personality and disc jockey. He was active on television and in films from 1945–73, and was also credited as Steve Dunn, Michael Dunne, Stephan Dunne, and Steve Dunne.
Jacqueline deWit was an American film and TV character actress from Los Angeles who appeared in over two dozen films, including Spellbound (1945), The Snake Pit, The Damned Don't Cry!, Tea and Sympathy, All That Heaven Allows and Harper. She also appeared in the 1946 Abbott and Costello comedy Little Giant, as Bud Abbott's wife.
Gene Autry's Melody Ranch is a Western variety radio show in the United States. A 15-minute pilot show aired on December 31, 1939. The program ran from January 7, 1940 to August 1, 1943, and from September 23, 1945 to May 16, 1956. The show's entire run was broadcast over the CBS radio network, sponsored by Doublemint gum. The approximately two-year interruption resulted from Autry's enlistment in the United States Army to serve in World War II. Initially titled Doublemint's Melody Ranch, the show's name was changed to Gene Autry's Melody Ranch in early 1941. Episodes were 30 minutes long except for a 15-minute version that ran from September 23, 1945 to June 16, 1946. The theme song was "Back in the Saddle Again".
The Danny Kaye Show is an American old-time radio comedy-variety program. Broadcast on the CBS radio network, it ran from January 6, 1945 to May 31, 1946.
The Jack Carson Show is an American old-time radio comedy-variety program. It was broadcast on different seasons on CBS and NBC, beginning on June 2, 1943, and ending on December 20, 1956. The program was also known as The Sealtest Village Store, and the New Jack Carson Show. It was carried on the CBC Dominion network in Canada, as well. Additionally, The Jack Carson Show is the title of a television program that was broadcast on NBC from October 22, 1954, until March 11, 1955.