Abbott and Costello in Hollywood
Encyclopedia
Abbott and Costello in Hollywood is a 1945 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello
Abbott and Costello
William "Bud" Abbott and Lou Costello performed together as Abbott and Costello, an American comedy duo whose work on stage, radio, film and television made them the most popular comedy team during the 1940s and 1950s...

. This film's full onscreen title is Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood.

Plot

A barber, Buzz Curtis (Bud Abbott
Bud Abbott
William Alexander "Bud" Abbott was an American actor, producer and comedian. He is best remembered as the straight man of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Lou Costello.-Early life:...

), and a porter, Abercrombie (Lou Costello
Lou Costello
Louis Francis "Lou" Costello was an American actor and comedian best known as half of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Bud Abbott...

), work for a Hollywood salon. It is from there that they are sent to an agent's, Norman Royce (Warner Anderson), office to administer a haircut and shine. On the way there they run into a former co-worker, Claire Warren (Frances Rafferty
Frances Rafferty
Frances Rafferty was an American actress, dancer, World War II pin-up girl and MGM contract star.-Early life:Frances Anne Rafferty was born in Sioux City, Iowa, the daughter of Maxwell Lewis Rafftery, Snr...

) who is about to star as the lead in a new musical. At the same time, her co-star Gregory LeMaise (Carlton Young), who fame is dwindling, arrives and invites her to join him at lunch. She declines, which angers him.

While at the agent's office, Buzz and Abercrombie witness LeMaise enter and declare to Royce that he cannot work with Claire. Royce, who has just seen a young singer, Jeff Parker (Robert Stanton
Bob Haymes
Robert Haymes , also known under the stage names Robert Stanton and Bob Stanton, was an American singer, songwriter, actor and radio and television host. He is best remembered today for co-writing the song "That's All", considered part of the Great American Songbook...

), audition fires LeMaise and offers the job to Parker. This causes LeMaise to change his mind, and Royce does as well, giving LeMaise his job back. Buzz and Abercrombie quickly switch careers and become Parker's agents, and then head to the studio's chief, Mr. Kavanaugh (Donald MacBride), to find a role for Parker.

Unfortunately when they meet up with Kavanaugh it is because they just crashed their car into his at the studio gate. Kavanaugh bans them from the lot, but they manage to sneak back in with a group of extras. Once inside they find themselves at the wardrobe department and Buzz gets dressed as a cop and Abercrombie as a tramp. They use their new found disguises to roam the lot.

Later, Buzz and Abercrombie try to help Parker get the role by getting rid of LeMaise by trying to start a fight with him. Their plan is to photograph him hitting Abercrombie and then having him arrested. The plan goes off without a hitch until Abercombie falls overboard after being hit and is feared drowned. LeMaise decides to hide, and Parker is giving the role in his place. LeMaise eventually discovers that Abercrombie is still alive and chases him around the backlot. LeMaise eventually is caught, and Claire and Parker become famous when the film is successful. And Buzz and Abercrombie become bigtime agents in Hollywood.

Production

Filming took place from April 10 through June 1, 1945, with some reshoots in July.

During production on this film, Abbott and Costello returned to the Universal studio on May 13 for reshoots for their film, The Naughty Nineties
The Naughty Nineties
The Naughty Nineties is a 1945 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. It is significant for containing perhaps the best-known recorded rendition of the team's classic "Who's on First?" routine, as it is this version of the routine that is shown at the National Baseball Hall of Fame...

.

This is the last of three films that Abbott and Costello made on loan to MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...

 while under contract to Universal
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....

, the other two being Rio Rita
Rio Rita (1942 film)
Rio Rita is a 1942 comedy film starring Abbott and Costello. It was based upon the 1927 Flo Ziegfeld Broadway musical, which was previously made into a 1929 film also titled Rio Rita that starred the comedy team of Wheeler & Woolsey.-Plot:...

and Lost in a Harem
Lost in a Harem
-Plot:When a traveling vaudeville show becomes stranded in the Middle East, their singer, Hazel Moon , takes a job at a local cafe. Two of the show's prop men, Peter Johnson and Harvey Garvey , are hired as comedy relief, but their act unfortunately initiates a brawl...

.

Many stars appear as themselves in this film, such as Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...

, Rags Ragland
Rags Ragland
Rags Ragland was an American comedian and character actor. Ragland first made his reputation in burlesque, where he was one of the house comics for the famed Minsky burlesque shows...

, Preston Foster
Preston Foster
Preston Foster was an American stage and film actor, and singer. Foster entered films in 1929 after appearing as a Broadway stage actor. He was appearing in Broadway plays as late as October 1931 when he acted in a play titled Two Seconds starring Edward J. Pawley...

, and a young Dean Stockwell
Dean Stockwell
Dean Stockwell is an American actor of film and television, with a career spanning over 65 years. As a child actor under contract to MGM he first came to the public's attention in films such as Anchors Aweigh and The Green Years; as a young adult he played a lead role in the 1957 Broadway and...

.

Routines

  • Insomnia is one of the routines that Abbott and Costello perform. Costello is unable to fall asleep, so Abbott gives him a record that is guaranteed to put anyone to sleep. However, no one is around to turn it off, and when the needle reaches the end, it starts skipping, which wakes him. Abbott agrees to stay awake to turn it off when it is over, but falls under the spell of the record and goes to sleep himself. They try again, this time with cotton in Abbott's ears (a sequence that was used in the MGM compilation film, (That's Entertainment, Part 2). When this also fails, Costello ties a string from his foot to the record player. The thought is that when he falls asleep, his foot will drop shutting off the machine, but instead it turns on the radio, which blasts a loud march!

DVD release

Although filmed for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...

currently owns the rights to this film and it is through them that this film has been released on DVD on November 21, 2006.
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