Here Come the Co-Eds
Encyclopedia
Here Come The Co-Eds is a 1945 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello
.
), Molly McCarthy (Martha O'Driscoll), and her brother Slats (Bud Abbott
) work for the Miramar Ballroom as taxi dancers. Slats plants a phony article in the local newspaper that declares Molly's ambition to raise money to attend Bixby College. The dean of Bixby (Donald Cook
) reads the article and offers her a scholarship. She agrees, but only if her two friends can accompany her, so they are hired as caretakers.
Meanwhile, Chairman Kirkland (Charles Dingle), whose daughter Diane (June Vincent
) also attends Bixby, holds the mortgage on the college and he threatens to foreclose if the dean continues to ignore traditions and does not expel Molly. Slats and Oliver run into some problems of their own as they continue to fail at every task assigned to them by their supervisor, Mr. Johnson (Lon Chaney, Jr.
).
Slats and Oliver devise a plan to raise $20,000 to save the school by having Oliver wrestle the Masked Marvel. However, just before the match the Masked Marvel becomes ill and is replaced in the ring by Mr. Johnson. Despite this wrinkle, Oliver wins the match and Slats takes the $1,000 winnings and bets it on the Bixby basketball game, at 20-to-1 odds. Unfortunately the bookie is not pleased with the prospect of losing the bet, so he hires a professional team to play in place of Bixby's opponent. Oliver dresses in drag to join the Bixby team, and halfway in the game he receives a bump on the head and believes he is Daisy Dimple, "the world's greatest woman basketball player" as Oliver described her. The Bixby team starts to win again, but Oliver suffers another bump on the head and regains his memory, and ends up losing the game for Bixby, causing everybody (including Slats) to hate him for that. To make up for it, he steals the bookie's money and after a crosstown chase (in a sailboat on a trailer), they manage to arrive in time to pay the mortgage and save the school.
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...
.
Plot
Three friends, Oliver Quackenbush (Lou CostelloLou 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...
), Molly McCarthy (Martha O'Driscoll), and her brother Slats (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:...
) work for the Miramar Ballroom as taxi dancers. Slats plants a phony article in the local newspaper that declares Molly's ambition to raise money to attend Bixby College. The dean of Bixby (Donald Cook
Donald Cook (actor)
Donald Cook was an American stage and film actor.Born in Portland, Oregon, he originally studied farming but later started business with a lumber company. He joined the Kansas Community Players and through this received an offer of stage work...
) reads the article and offers her a scholarship. She agrees, but only if her two friends can accompany her, so they are hired as caretakers.
Meanwhile, Chairman Kirkland (Charles Dingle), whose daughter Diane (June Vincent
June Vincent
June Vincent was an American actress.-Biography:Born Dorothy June Smith in Harrod, Ohio, Vincent began her career in film in the early 1940s. She later became a successful television actress appearing in many television programs throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s...
) also attends Bixby, holds the mortgage on the college and he threatens to foreclose if the dean continues to ignore traditions and does not expel Molly. Slats and Oliver run into some problems of their own as they continue to fail at every task assigned to them by their supervisor, Mr. Johnson (Lon Chaney, Jr.
Lon Chaney, Jr.
Lon Chaney, Jr. , born Creighton Tull Chaney, was an American character actor. He was best known for his roles in monster movies and as the son of famous silent film actor, Lon Chaney...
).
Slats and Oliver devise a plan to raise $20,000 to save the school by having Oliver wrestle the Masked Marvel. However, just before the match the Masked Marvel becomes ill and is replaced in the ring by Mr. Johnson. Despite this wrinkle, Oliver wins the match and Slats takes the $1,000 winnings and bets it on the Bixby basketball game, at 20-to-1 odds. Unfortunately the bookie is not pleased with the prospect of losing the bet, so he hires a professional team to play in place of Bixby's opponent. Oliver dresses in drag to join the Bixby team, and halfway in the game he receives a bump on the head and believes he is Daisy Dimple, "the world's greatest woman basketball player" as Oliver described her. The Bixby team starts to win again, but Oliver suffers another bump on the head and regains his memory, and ends up losing the game for Bixby, causing everybody (including Slats) to hate him for that. To make up for it, he steals the bookie's money and after a crosstown chase (in a sailboat on a trailer), they manage to arrive in time to pay the mortgage and save the school.
Production
- It was filmed from October 24 through December 6, 1944.
- North Hollywood Park was the filming location of Bixby college, while the school's main building was a Universal backlot "Shelby" home (Colonial Mansion 1927) that was also used in another Abbott and Costello film, The Time of Their LivesThe Time of Their LivesThe Time of Their Lives is a 1946 American film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello.As in the previous Abbott and Costello film, Little Giant, the duo plays separate characters instead of partners, due to tensions between them that led to their splitting up for a while in 1945. The film...
.
- Lou Costello was a real-life basketball star in high school, and performed many of the trick shots himself, without special effects.
Routines
- This film includes the "Oyster" routine, where Costello attempts to eat a bowl of soup containing an oyster that spits the soup back at him whenever he tries to take a sip. (The routine was used in another Abbott and Costello film, The Wistful Widow of Wagon GapThe Wistful Widow of Wagon GapThe Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap is a 1947 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello.-Plot:Chester Wooley and Duke Egan are traveling salesmen who make a stopover in Wagon Gap, Montana while enroute to California. During the stopover, a notorious criminal, Fred Hawkins, is murdered, and...
. That film used a frog instead of an oyster). - Another routine, previously used in One Night in the TropicsOne Night in the TropicsOne Night in the Tropics is a 1940 comedy film noteworthy for being the film debut of Abbott and Costello. The team play minor roles but steal the picture with five classic routines, including an abbreviated version of "Who's On First?" Their work earned them a two-picture deal with Universal, and...
, is "Jonah and the Whale". In this routine, Costello attempts to tell a joke that he claims to have written himself, but Abbott informs everyone of the punchline.