The Abbott & Costello Show – Season 2

The Abbott and Costello Show – Season 2
Blu-ray
ClassicFlix
1952-54
Starring Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Sid Fields
Written by Sid Fields
Directed by Jean Yarborough

Familiarity breeds contempt someone said, but in the case of Abbott and Costello, that familiarity was an essential part of their appeal. In the late fifties the boys were still riding the success of Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein and they were meeting with any monster that would return their calls; The Invisible Man, The Mummy, Mr. Hyde, even the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

That last encounter took place on a 1954 episode of the Colgate Comedy Hour—by that time they had ruled the airwaves for two years in The Abbott and Costello Show, a weekly program that transformed the American living room into a burlesque house. Lou, the “little giant”, was the man in charge of that production and he made no bones about resurrecting the routines that made Bud and he famous.

Costello also understood that the right deal would give the duo ownership of tried and true comedy classics like “Who’s On First” and “The Susquehanna Hat Company.” Lou enlisted Sid Fields as a quasi-showrunner. An itinerant vaudeville performer, Fields made his way up through the same burlesque circuit that featured Bud and Lou—he rode their coattails into films and eventually radio where he did double duty as a writer and actor.

Fields had a workman-like approach to comedy, if the jokes smelled of mothballs, they also worked like gangbusters. The veteran gag-man not only wrote the shows but played the landlord of the barren apartment house where most of the action played out (the show was filmed at the Hal Roach Studios in Culver City). He followed Lou’s directives to the letter, concocting a loose (very loose) storyline that could withstand any routine Lou wanted to resurrect.

That template had  real historical value; decades-old burlesque routines were being preserved, inadvertently, thanks to Lou’s monetary ambitions. And better than just memorialized, the team’s timing in these classic skits is impeccable, the television version of “Who’s On First” is generally considered their best rendition of the piece.

The original cast of characters included Hillary Brooke, a one-time Universal starlet and the epitome of the “good sport”, Gordon Jones as “Mike the Cop”, the none-too-bright flatfoot forever flimflammed by Lou, and Joe Kirk (Lou’s brother-in-law) as Mr. Bacciagalupe, an outrageous caricature of an Italian character (he made the Mario Brothers look like Vittorio De Sica). But what gave the series a real hot foot was the introduction of Stinky, a petulant man-baby in Little Lord Fauntleroy attire played by former Stooge Joe Besser.

The show already had a rambunctious, catch-as-catch-can quality—the energy level was through the roof—but Besser’s appearance as the infantile Stinky, clearly a middle-aged bald man in short-shorts and ankle socks, introduced a perverse current of surreal humor to the proceedings. Lou was child-like but Besser was a monstrous toddler sprung from the nightmares of Dr. Spock.

Those 52 shows are burned in the brains of a legion of boomers and are endlessly quotable thanks to Lou’s unflagging spirit and Field’s corny patter. Naturally Lou was up for a second season but Bud wanted no part of it unless he would be paid up front. The animosity that had simmered for decades rose to the top. Deals were made and the show went on, but the air was slowly escaping  the balloon. There are still plenty of laughs in the second season but the show’s switch to a more restrictive sitcom format robbed it of its uniquely go-for-broke style. Gone is the anything-can-happen atmosphere and worse, so were Stinky and Mr. Bacciagalupe.

ClassicFlix, the company responsible for the gorgeous restorations of the Our Gang comedies, has followed up their immaculate release of Abbott and Costello’s first season with The Abbott and Costello Show: Season 2, restored from original 35mm master elements by the 3-D Film Archive in collaboration with the Library of Congress. The results are razor sharp.

With that pedigree it’s no surprise the episodes look flawless and they come with several extras including audio commentaries by Stu Fink and Ron Palumbo, a version of “Vacation” without the audience; a scene restoration from season 1, a Campbell’s Soup Promo and more. You can find more details—and order a copy—at the ClassicFlix site.