Tweet Abbott & Costello Show- Nov 4, 1943

Has anybody come across the Abbott & Costello radio show that was broadcast on or about November 4, 1943? Variety wrote an extensive article about it the following day, which I read in a library some years ago. Costello had been seriously ill since the beginning of the year and was unable to work either in films or radio. For the weekly radio show, a succession of comedians subbed for him with Bud Abbott. The November 4th show was heralded as Lou Costello's triumphant return to the air.

He was rehearsing the show when he got a call telling him to come home immediately. When he arrived home he learned the tragic news that his son Lou. Jr., who was 1 1/2 yrs old, had somehow climbed out of his playpen when his mother went inside to answer the phone and fell into the pool. Attempts to revive him failed.

When word reached the radio studio, arrangements were quickly made to have Mickey Rooney sub for Costello under the circumstances. With Rooney standing by, the group was shocked when Costello turned up and insisted on going on the air. He did the broadcast like a pro, although Variety noted some unwittingly poignant dialogue. At one point, the script has Costello saying, "I feel sad today." When he had said his last line but before the show ended, he dropped his script and walked off the stage. When the broadcast ended, and was apparently off the air, Bud Abbott addressed the studio audience telling them that his partner was the bravest man he has ever known, and revealed the tragedy.

If I recall correctly Costello Jr. wandered to W. C. Fields' house in an attempt to get a model sailboat Fields kept tethered in an ornamental pond. Reportedly Fields filled in the pond and burned the boat. The source is Carlotta Monti- she exaggerated a great deal but I can't believe she'd make this up completely.

If I recall correctly Costello Jr. wandered to W. C. Fields' house in an attempt to get a model sailboat Fields kept tethered in an ornamental pond. Reportedly Fields filled in the pond and burned the boat. The source is Carlotta Monti- she exaggerated a great deal but I can't believe she'd make this up completely.

That similar tragedy involved the child of Anthony Quinn and his then-wife Katherine DeMille, CB's adopted daughter. They were visiting DeMille who lived across the street from Fields. Poor Lou Jr. drowned in the Costello family pool.

If anyone has it, Jerry Haendigas would.

But his Abbott and Costello Show log indicates it's lost (which is probably just as well):

http://www.otrsite.com/logs/loga1039.htm

Looks like the date is Nov 4, 1943, and I agree that it's just as well it's not around. The following week's show with Lucille Ball as guest has been in circulation for years. Lest we become morbid about this, I always thought the A&C radio shows were funnier, and more upbeat, than their later TV series. For one thing, on radio they play themselves, that is, two big Hollywood stars. In the TV series, they play two chronically unemployed guys who owe their landlord back rent. As a kid, I found this show rather depressing.

At any rate, there's a ton of funny material in the radio shows and Costello is more spontaneous than in the filmed shows. There's also a ton of A&C radio scripts online and with a little imagination, you can easily "hear" Bud and Lou as you read the dialogue. Here's the link to the scripts:
http://www.otrr.org/FILES/Scripts_pdf/A ... _Costello/

If I recall correctly Costello Jr. wandered to W. C. Fields' house in an attempt to get a model sailboat Fields kept tethered in an ornamental pond. Reportedly Fields filled in the pond and burned the boat. The source is Carlotta Monti- she exaggerated a great deal but I can't believe she'd make this up completely.

That similar tragedy involved the child of Anthony Quinn and his then-wife Katherine DeMille, CB's adopted daughter. They were visiting DeMille who lived across the street from Fields. Poor Lou Jr. drowned in the Costello family pool.

Yes, you're entirely right. Thanks. I haven't re-read Monti to see if she's right as well, but don't believe I will.

The team had previously been cranking out 4 films a year until 1943. They got their spring and summer releases out before complications set in and then their next film didn't come out until the fall of 44. They were already over saturating the market, what with radio and the movies, so even if sickness and tragedy hadn't struck there would of been a need to scale back.

I thought I had listened to a lot of A&C broadcasts in my time but I don't recall any without Lou. What would Abbott do on these shows - attempt one of their patented cross-talk routines with a guest comic?

A&C worked for both Universal and MGM at that time. Due to Lou's lengthy illness (rheumatic fever-his docs said he would never be well enough to work again), MGM did not get their annual A&C film for 1943. When Lou returned to work in late '43, the team was behind in their film commitments to both Universal and MGM, and each studio claimed that the team should report there first.

MGM won out somehow (maybe nobody wanted to cross Louis B. Mayer) but Universal went forward and began filming all the non-A&C scenes in its film (IN SOCIETY) while the team was at MGM. As soon as they were free from MGM (LOST IN A HAREM), Universal quickly filmed their sequences and popped them into the rest of the film that had already been edited and was ready to go. Universal beat MGM into the theaters with the first new A&C film in a year.

Isn't it amazing how MGM got their claws on A&C the moment they shot to fame at Universal? Did they reason that Universal owed them for lending James Stewart for DESTRY RIDES AGAIN - (39)?

It's also interesting how A&C kept dogging L&H during their twilight years. Laurel had been fighting Roach for years to get both he and Babe onto contracts together as a team rather than as singles. He even sat out a full year in order to let Hardy catch up with him. After achieving that goal they were in position to leave Roach the following year to get a better deal with the bigger studios and make films the way Laurel desired. They no sooner signed with FOX than A&C burst on the scene with BUCK PRIVATES - (41) and suddenly the type of comedy that L&H did was passe. To add injury to insult L&H also signed a deal to make a yearly film for MGM - only to have A&C beat them to the punch again with the same kind of deal.

Who's on first now?........

MGM had an option on A&C before they hit with BUCK PRIVATES. There was a legal issue of whether MGM had failed to exercise its option in a timely manner but I guess nobody wanted to tangle with LB Mayer so a deal was worked out whereby Universal would "lend" A&C to MGM for one film a year. It's worth noting that while the 3 MGM A&Cs were bigger productions than the Universals, they weren't nearly as good - thus, continuing MGM's dismal record of mismanaging comic talent - Keaton, the Marx Bros, A&C. They fared somewhat better with Red Skelton but Keaton was writing some of his material.

According to Bob Furmanek, who for some time was the archivist for the A&C estate, as well as the author of probably the best book about their films (Abbott & Costello in Hollywood), the A&C estate has a glass transcription disc and a tape dub from the transcription of the show in question.

According to Bob Furmanek, who for some time was the archivist for the A&C estate, as well as the author of probably the best book about their films (Abbott & Costello in Hollywood), the A&C estate has a glass transcription disc and a tape dub from the transcription of the show in question.

Thanks, Jack. What is the A&C Estate? Since they were two individuals, can there be a joint estate in the legal sense? Do you mean an A&C Archive?

Yes, there's a joint estate of (what is left of) the children of both Abbott and Costello. They own rights to the TV shows, among other things A&C produced.

[silentfilm]

I moved the Laurel & Hardy 1940s comments to a separate thread under "Talking about Talkies".

Would like to hear at least one show that Bud did with other comics; Durante and whomever

Here's a recording of Lou doing WHO'S ON FIRST with Sid Fields, subbing for an ill Bud Abbott, on an all-star special:

http://www.chelsearialtostudios.com/who ... fields.mp3

Sid needs to pick up the tempo.

Mel Blanc was on the show in question, and writes about it movingly in his autobiography, "That's Not All, Folks."

That the show is missing should not be a surprise. During the war, transcription discs were made of glass, and the spindle hole was slightly smaller than the one in the pre-war discs. Presumably, this was done to identify the glass discs. Unfortunately, the difference was small, and resulted in a lot of wartime discs cracking when someone tried to force them onto the wrong size spindle. (In answer to the obvious question, I once worked in an archive that kept transcription discs).

Fortunately, as I mentioned, the show still exists.

You did post that. Sorry, Jack. I'm glad to know that show is not among the missing.