Today’s Almanac-April 24, 2010
Bud Abbott died in the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital on April 24, 1972 at the age of 78. Groucho Marx lamented his passing and called him "the greatest straight man ever." Abbott was born as William Alexander Abbott in Asbury Park, New Jersey into a circus and carnival family. His mother had been a bare back rider and his father was an advance man for the Barnum and Bailey. He dropped out of school by age 12 and was working the attractions at Coney Island. By age 16 he was managing the box office of a Brooklyn burlesque theater. Soon he was producing his own traveling burlesque shows, which is how he met his wife Betty, a dancer and comedienne. They wed in 1918 and remained together until his death. He moved on to the more prestigious vaudeville circuits producing a touring “tab show”-a shortened and stripped down version of a Broadway show featuring just the main characters, comic relief and best known songs from the original. By the mid-Twenties he as a headliner in his own right as a comic straight man for his wife Betty and then such for leading vaudevillians as Harry Steppe and Harry Evanson. By the early ‘30’ Abbott had returned to burlesque as a producer and star of Minsky shows, which is where he met Lou Costello, a young comic doing a single. They occasionally worked together in skits. When reform mayor Fiorello LaGuardia finally succumbed to bluenose pressure to put the Minsky shows and burlesque out of business in New York City in 1937, the two decided to team up as a vaudeville act. It was the waning days of vaudeville and instead of a full bill, they often found themselves working between movies. But they were a hit with audiences and were soon on the radio. They made their broadcast debut on the Kate Smith Hour and were soon doing guest spots on other programs. They landed in the Broadway show Streets of Paris which got the attention of Hollywood. Their small rolls in the otherwise forgettable Universal musical One Night in the Tropics starring Alan Jones and Robert Cummings featured material from their vaudeville show, including a truncated version of the Who’s on First routine, and stole the show. Universal gave them their own film Buck Privates in 1941 making them first class stars. They became top box office attraction during World War II and after, making 36 movies between 1940 and 1956. Due to Abbott’s business savvy the duo not only pulled down a salary, but received a portion of the profits on each film, then a rarity. It made them among the highest paid Hollywood stars of the era. They also thrived on radio, getting their own show on NBC in 1942, moving it to ABC in ’47. The duo also toured relentlessly in support of War Bonds and by some accounts may have sold more than any other celebrities. They moved seamlessly into the new medium of television. They became one of the revolving hosts of The Colgate Comedy Hour, alternating with Martin and Lewis, Eddie Cantor, and others. They launched their own half-hour filmed comedy series, The Abbott and Costello Show in 1952. It ran two seasons and introduced a new generation to many classic Abbott and Costello routines and is now considered a certified classic of early TV. But all was not well between the partners. Early in their careers Abbott, the more established star and the producer of their sketches earned a 60-40 cut of the pairs’ earnings, which became a festering wound to Costello, even after they adjusted to a 50-50 split after the success of Buck Privates. In the ’50 Costello demanded that he now take the 60 share that Abbott had once commanded. Recognizing that Costello’s comic character was at the heart of the team, Abbott acquiesced. And Costello was the producer and owner of the Abbott and Costello show with Abbot just on the payroll with no participation at all. When the IRS went after both men for back taxes, they made them sell all of their assets, including Costello’s stake in the TV show, and much of their personal possessions down to Costello’s suits and Abbott’s children’s toys. Abbot was drinking heavily, mostly as self-medication for epilepsy, and both men also had heavy gambling debts. The strain was too much. They had a rancorous split in 1957. Costello died two years later. Abbott was a devoted family man. He adopted and raised as his own the two children his sister Olive after their father abandoned the family. He and Betty also had two other adopted children. In 1960 Abbott attempted to make a comeback with a new partner, Candy Candido, but despite good reviews abandoned the project acknowledging that no one could take the place of Costello. In 1966-67 he lent his voice to 152 episodes of Hanna-Barbera’s Abbott and Costello Cartoon Show. But his health was declining. He continued to suffer from epilepsy and the affects of alcoholism. He suffered a series of strokes in the ‘60’s and in 1972 broke his hip and was confined to a wheel chair. The same year he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, which finally killed him. Betty, his wife of 55 years died in 1981.