Screenland (May 1943-Oct 1944)

lIkethe smRS AND STWPES « novvd&r base Ho wonder * * to y0ur ccple-onl « *^re, U holds skin t0ne s0 much longer and. make-up on so m s. Th,s ^PS ^ To Jn ond vo make' creo.V.foundo-n naturQl!yasthe -up go together a Stars and Str»Pes. . his admWing eyes $1 ..5pc,25c,l0c BONDS and here I had a son. When his came in November he called me in high glee, to say, 'I've topped you, Bud! It's Lou, Jr.' "Now we have the junior team of Abbott and Costello. My son is just three and onehalf years older than Lou's— the same age difference exactly as mine and Lou's. "Lou and I have never had a contract nor any written papers," Bud went on. "Just a gentleman's agreement to split fifty-fifty. "I was producing shows for Minsky in New York, seven years back. I starred Ann Corio, Gypsy Rose Lee, many of the big name queens. Betty, my wife, was the soubrette and a big name in burlesque and in my show. I had the whole family working forme. My sister Babe Abbott was in the chorus. My brother Harry was billed 'Silk Hat Harry.' I wanted a good comedian to team with me. I met Bud. He was a husky young athlete. He could stand the gaff. So we teamed up for a show I called 'The Bandwagon.' 'There are plenty of actors who could make the grade out here in pictures — if they'd just keep on working wherever opportunity presented itself, and forget about the money part of it," he said. Betty Abbott and Harry, who had joined us, nodded agreement. "Lou and I played five and ten dollar dates for a small time booking agent for a long time. And that was just six years ago. I'll always remember Willow Grove, an amusement park in Pennsylvania. Lou and I got twenty bucks for five shows that day. We spent ten paying our train fare and we took Betty along. She got tired of watching us. So she went over to the concessions. She came back with eight kewpie dolls. We had to give our agent his ten percent, and Betty had spent four dollars winning dolls. We ate up the other four at the park — and broke even." "Yes," laughed Betty. "I remember you said, 'Betty, you can't eat dolls.' We gave them away to all of our friends when we reached home." "We never turned down a date or a chance to appear before the public and do a show," Bud continued. "Lou and I always had our eyes on Hollywood. We knew if we kept plugging something would happen. "Lou was crazy about Charlie Chaplin. He doesn't come from show people. Mine were circus people and in show business from way back. When Lou was twelve he made his first public appearance in a contest doing an imitation of Charlie Chaplin. He won first prize. That was his start. Lou used to go to a dime movie and sit all day watching Chaplin pictures. He still will. "We were called the 'loco boys' because we firmly believed that slap-stick comedy could be rejuvenated. Hollywood had long pronounced it hopelessly passe years ago. But people are always hungry for laughs. "Lou and I began our act. We'd do five acts a day for ten or twenty dollars. We're doing the same act now — at better pay!" Lou and _ Bud — Lou with the guileless face, Bud with the loaded dice in his pocket — laughed themselves right out of burlesque into the "Streets of Paris" show on Broadway. At the same time they were on the Kate Smith broadcast. At midnight they did a show at the Versailles (night club). It was then Hollywood sent for them. Universal and M-G-M were the highest bidders. The boys chose Universal. No one expected them to be box office wonder boys. Their first film, "Buck Privates," was on the quickie type. But it was a sensation. They were immediately starred in "In the Navy," of which Variety reported 27 holdovers out of 35 openings ! Universal tore up their contracts and made out a new one with a salary increase and percentage on their pictures. In Davenport, Iowa, a lady patron seeing "Buck Privates" was seized with a fit of laughing. She had to be taken home in a police ambulance. The next day she returned to finish the picture. The theater manager reported the incident to Bud and Lou. They named her their No. 1 Fan and sent her a compact thus inscribed. It is not generally known, since neither Bud nor Lou say much about it, that their ranches are respective havens for their old friends of burlesque days. They have obtained picture work for many of their former buddies. They were especially elated at having sold M-G-M the idea of signing up Murray Leonard, a burlesque straight man in New York, for ten weeks in "Harem Scarem," the picture that was ready for the cameras when Lou was stricken. "Murray'd be getting more money than he'd ever made in his life," Bud said. "Our costumes were ready. Shooting was to start on Monday. But we'll make the picture yet. "Lou celebrated his 35th birthday the third week he was in bed," Bud recalled. " 'Heck of a way to spend your birthday,' I kidded him. You know Lou and I have never had a quarrel in our lives. The way we talk to each other, some folks would swear we were fighting. Especially when we get into one of our heated sessions of gin-rummy. But that's just our way — always the gag-routine. " 'C'mon and get up,' I'll say to Lou. 'Hey, Nurse ! Lou wants to get up.' The nurse will look alarmed. 'Look, Mr. Abbott, really —please! Will you be nice and quiet and get out?' she'll say. " 'If Lou says I have to go I will,' I'll tell her. Lou'll grin and say, 'I've nothing to say about it !' "But Lou pulls some corkers. Milton Feld, the executive producer from Universal, was admitted to see Lou for five minutes. Lou had just been handed a glass of grapefruit juice. He took one sip and sat it down. With a wink Lou said, 'This is the way we make pictures at M-G-M.' He was ribbing the rush at Universal. "Lou likes to go shopping for his wife. He'll buy her dresses and undies and I give him a terrific ribbing. He has better taste than most women in choosing Anne's clothes, at that. "But Lou can't cook. So help him, he can't. I can. That really gets Lou down. He can't come up for a topper on my spaghetti and meat balls. He's tried. For a while he tried specializing on liver and onions. Lou has finally concluded he has 'style' — and I can take the 'chef honors." In the first three weeks of Lou's illness he received over 7000 cards and letters from all parts of the country, wishing him a speedy recovery. "Not one of them alike," Lou said. They varied from printed greeting cards to homemade ones. One from a school at Decatur, Illinois, informed, "The entire school is praying for your recovery, Lou." So must many of the millions of theater fans who have set Lou and Bud up as the comedy kings of motion pictures. You mention that elegant title to Bud and Lou — and they'll say "of corn ! — don't you mean !" SCREENLAND 83