Abbott and Costello in Hollywood

Infobox Film
name = Abbott and Costello in Hollywood


caption = "Abbott and Costello in Hollywood" Theatrical Poster
director = S. Sylvan Simon
producer = Martin A. Gosch
writer = Nat Perrin
Lou Breslow
starring = Bud Abbott
Lou Costello
Rags Ragland
Lucille Ball
music = George Bassman
cinematography =
editing = Ben Lewis
distributor = MGM Studios
released = August 22, 1945 (U.S. Release)
runtime = 83 min.
language = English
budget =
preceded_by = The Naughty Nineties (1945)
followed_by = Little Giant (1946)
imdb_id = 0037492

"Abbott and Costello in Hollywood" is a 1945 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. This film's full onscreen title is "Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood".

Plot

A barber, Buzz Curtis (Bud Abbott), and a porter, Abercrombie (Lou Costello), 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) 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), 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

This movie was filmed 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".

This is the last of three films that Abbott and Costello made on loan to MGM Pictures while under contract to Universal, the other two being "Rio Rita" and "Lost in a Harem".

Many stars appear as themselves in this film, such as Lucille Ball, Rags Ragland, Preston Foster, and a young Dean Stockwell.

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 on 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 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 MGM Pictures, Warner Brothers currently owns the rights to this film and it is through them that this film has been released on DVD.

References

External links

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