Comedians, Radio, Film and TV Stars
Bud Abbott born: Oct. 2, 1897, in Asbury Park, New Jersey
Died: April 24, 1974 in Los Angeles
Lou Costello born: March 6, 1906, in Paterson, New Jersey
Died: March 3, 1959, in Beverly Hills, California
New Jersey Hall of Fame, Class of 2009: Arts & Entertainment

Lou Costello was the short, roly-poly funny man. Bud Abbott was the tall, lean straight man. As the comedy team Abbott and Costello, they became movie stars in the 1940s and TV pioneers in the 1950s, with legions of adoring fans for their large body of work.

Abbott (born William Alexander Abbott) was the son of show-business parents. His mother was a bareback rider for the Barnum and Bailey Circus; his father was a circus concessionaire and advance man for burlesque shows. When Abbott was a small boy, the family moved from Asbury Park to Brooklyn, where the young Bud dropped out of grammar school to work at Coney Island’s Dreamland Park. By his late teens, Abbott was working in box offices on the burlesque circuit.

Moving up the entertainment ladder, Abbott began producing a small-time vaudeville show. At one point, he could no longer afford to pay a straight man (the performer who set up the jokes for the comedian) so he took on the role for himself. In the early 1930s, Abbott crossed paths with the young Lou Costello; they performed together for the first time in New York when Costello’s regular partner fell ill.

Costello (born Louis Francis Cristillo) was the son of an insurance agent dad and a silk weaver mom. Growing up in Paterson, he excelled in basketball, tried his hand at boxing, and adored the films of Charlie Chaplin. At 21, he hitchhiked to Hollywood to become an actor, but found only menial studio jobs, occasionally working as an extra or stuntman. In 1928, he headed back to New Jersey and began working as a burlesque comic. Then came the fateful meeting with Bud Abbott.

Abbott and Costello formally teamed in 1936. Within two years, they were featured on “The Kate Smith Hour,” a popular radio variety show. It was on Smith’s show that Abbott and Costello debuted their classic “Who’s on First” routine—the definitive representation of Costello’s frustrated, often-clueless funnyman and Abbott’s imperious foil.

In 1939, Abbott and Costello signed a film deal with Universal Pictures; by 1941, they starred in their first big movie, “Buck Privates.” The team would appear in 36 films together from 1940-1956, ranking among the biggest box-office successes of the era. Among their film classics were “Who Done It” (1942); “The Time of Their Lives” (1946); and “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” (1948). The latter is generally considered the best of their many pseudo-horror films.

As they kicked off their film career, Abbott and Costello also became radio regulars on Edgar Bergen’s “The Chase and Sanborn Program.” They next launched their own radio series, which ran for much of the 1940s. In the 1950s, they began guesting on early television; in 1952, they debuted “The Abbott and Costello Show,” a half-hour situation-comedy series on TV. The program ran for two seasons (52 episodes), but maintained a long afterlife in syndication, tickling the funny bones of the huge Baby-Boom audience for several decades.

Amid all the success, Costello was beset with health issues as early as 1943, when he was stricken with rheumatic fever. That same year, his infant son, Lou Jr., drowned in the family swimming pool while in the care of the family’s nanny. Still, Costello soldiered on. His partnership with Abbott also hit some rough patches over the years—and both men had financial issues with the IRS. The pair finally split amicably in 1957. Costello suffered a heart attack and died two years later. Abbott outlived Costello by 15 years, but rarely performed after his comedy partner’s death.

Abbott and Costello remain ubiquitous on cable TV outlets spotlighting classic TV and film. Their TV show, in particular, reflects the innocence and optimism of the post-war 1950s. In one typical episode, Lou, trying his hand as a door-to-door vacuum salesman, dumps a pile of dirt onto a would-be customer’s rug–only to learn that her home has no electricity.

For all of their comic output, Abbott and Costello are best-remembered for “Who’s on First,” a masterpiece of wordplay they performed hundreds of times, even for President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1956, a gold record of “Who’s on First” was placed in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. It plays continually in the museum. Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are the only non-baseball professionals so enshrined.