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Lou Costello

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This article is about the American actor. For the English footballer, see Lou Costello (footballer).
Louuuuu Costelloooo
Costello in Africa Screams, 1949.
Born
Louis Francis Cristillo

(1906-03-06)March 6, 1906
Paterson, New Jersey, U.S.
DiedMarch 3, 1959(1959-03-03) (aged 52)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of deathHeart attack
Resting placeCalvary Cemetery (Los Angeles)
Occupation(s)Actor, comedian
Years active1926–1959
Spouse
Anne Battler
​
(m. 1934)​
[1][2]
PartnerBud Abbott
ChildrenPaddy Costello-Humphreys (born 1936)[3][4]
Carole Costello (1938–1987)
Lou Costello, Jr. (1942–1943)[5]
Christine Costello (born 1947)[6]
Parent(s)Sebastiano Cristillo and Helen Rege[7]

|THE REAPER FILES 2.0 = THE DEATH OF LOU COSTELLO ]] Lou Costello (March 6, 1906 – March 3, 1959) was an American actor, best known for his film comedy double act with straight man Bud Abbott.

Born Louis Francis Cristillo, he had started as an athlete, before working in burlesque on Broadway, where he stood-in for Abbott’s partner who had failed to show up. They formally teamed up in 1935. Their signature routine, "Who's on First?", was carried through to radio and then to their film debut One Night in the Tropics (1940) and Buck Privates (1941). The duo would go on to make 36 films.

During World War II, they were among the most popular entertainers in the world, and sold $85 million in war bonds. A winter tour of army bases caused a recurrence of the rheumatic fever which Costello had contracted in childhood, and his health was badly affected from then on, worsened by the tragic death of his infant son. They launched their own long-running radio show in 1942, and then a live TV show. But by 1955, they were felt to be over-exposed, their film contract was terminated, and the partnership split soon afterwards.

Early life

Costello was born Louis Francis Cristillo on March 6, 1906, in Paterson, New Jersey, the son of Helen Rege and Sebastiano Cristillo.[7] His father was Italian (from Caserta, Italy) and his mother was an American of French, Irish,and Italian ancestry.[8][9] He attended School 15[10] in Paterson and was considered a gifted athlete. He excelled in basketball and reportedly was once the New Jersey state free throw champion (his singular basketball prowess can be seen in Here Come the Co-Eds (1945), in which he performs all his own tricky hoop shots without special effects). He also fought as a boxer under the name "Lou King".[11] He took his professional name from actress Helene Costello.[12]

Family

On January 30, 1934, Costello married Anne Battler, a burlesque dancer. Their first child, Patricia "Paddy" Costello, was born in 1936, followed by Carole on December 23, 1938, and Lou Jr. (nicknamed "Butch") on November 6, 1942.[13] On August 15, 1947, their last child, Christine, was born.[14]

Career

As a young man, Costello was a great admirer of silent movie comedian Charlie Chaplin. In 1927, Costello hitchhiked to Hollywood to become an actor, but could only find work as a laborer or extra at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Warner Bros. His athletic skill brought him occasional work as a stunt man, notably in The Trail of '98 (1928). He can also be spotted sitting ringside in the Laurel and Hardy film The Battle of the Century (1927).[15]

Burlesque and Bud Abbott

In 1929, with the advent of talking pictures, he headed back east intending to get the requisite stage experience. He stopped in St. Joseph, Missouri and convinced a local burlesque producer to hire him as a Dutch comic ("Dutch" was a corruption of "Deutsche", and the comic performed with a German accent). By the end of the year he was back in New York and soon began working in burlesque on the Mutual Burlesque wheel[16] during the Great Depression.

After the Mutual Wheel collapsed, Costello went to work for the Minskys, where he crossed paths with a talented producer and straight man named Bud Abbott.[16] In 1935, they first worked together at the Eltinge Theatre on 42nd Street in New York City when Costello's partner failed to show. Abbott and Costello formally teamed up in 1936.[16]

Reportedly, their first disagreement was over a booking in a minstrel show at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Costello wanted to take the gig, but Abbott was resistant. Costello offered to give Abbott a larger split of their salary, and Abbott agreed.

Radio and Hollywood

Abbott and Costello were signed by the William Morris talent agency, which succeeded in landing them featured roles and national exposure on The Kate Smith Hour, a popular variety show, in 1938. The team's signature routine, "Who's on First?", made its radio debut on Smith's show that year. Many of the team's sketches were further polished by John Grant, who was hired soon after the team joined the radio show. They had their own program, The Abbott and Costello Show, on radio from 1942 to 1949.[citation needed]

Their success on the Smith program led to their appearance in a Broadway musical in 1939, The Streets of Paris. The following year they were signed to a movie contract with Universal Pictures.[citation needed]

They only had supporting roles in their first picture, One Night in the Tropics (1940), but stole the film with their classic routines, including a much-shortened version of "Who's On First?" (a more complete version was performed in The Naughty Nineties, released in 1945). The team's breakthrough picture, however, was Buck Privates, released early in 1941. They immediately became the No. 3 Box Office Stars of 1941.[16]

Fame and tragedy

The duo made 36 films from 1940 to 1956, and were among the most popular and highest-paid entertainers in the world during World War II. Among their most popular films are Buck Privates, Hold That Ghost, Who Done It?, Pardon My Sarong, The Time of Their Lives, Buck Privates Come Home, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein and Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man.[citation needed]

The team also appeared on radio throughout the 1940s. On October 8, 1942, they launched their own weekly show on NBC, sponsored by Camel cigarettes.[citation needed]

In the summer of 1942, the team went on a 35-day cross-country tour to promote and sell War Bonds. The Treasury Department credited them with the sale of $85 million in bonds.[16]

In March 1943, after completing a winter tour of army bases, Costello had an attack of rheumatic fever and was unable to work for six months. On November 4 of that year, he returned to the team's popular radio show, but a tragic event overshadowed his comeback. Upon arriving at the NBC studio, Lou received word that his infant son, Lou Jr., had accidentally drowned in the family pool.[13] During an afternoon nap, the baby worked loose one of the slats on his crib, climbed out and fell into the pool, unnoticed by the nanny.[17] The baby ('Little Butch') was just two days short of his first birthday. Lou had asked his wife to keep Butch up that night so the boy could hear his father on the radio for the first time. Rather than cancel the broadcast, Lou said, "Wherever he is tonight, I want him to hear me", and went on with the show. No one in the audience knew of the death until after the show when Bud Abbott explained the events of the day, and how the phrase "The show must go on" had been epitomized by Lou that night. Costello's close friend, Maxene Andrews of The Andrews Sisters, said that his entire demeanor changed after the tragic loss of his son, saying, "He didn't seem as fun-loving and as warm ... He seemed to anger easily ... there was a difference in his attitude."[18]

Also in 1943, he was drafted into World War II and went to court to seek a deferment.[19] It was about this time that serious cracks began to appear in the relationship between Abbott and Costello. In 1945, when Costello fired a domestic servant and Abbott hired her, Costello announced that he would no longer work with Abbott.[20] However, they were still under contract to Universal and required to complete two movies in 1946. They did Little Giant and The Time of Their Lives, but barely appeared together in both films and hardly spoke to one another off-camera.[21][citation needed] Abbott reached out to heal their relationship, suggesting that the foundation he and Costello had founded for underprivileged children be named the Lou Costello Jr. Youth Foundation, which touched Costello deeply.[16]

Their radio program moved to ABC (the former NBC Blue Network) from 1947 to 1949. It was pre-recorded.[citation needed]

In 1951, the duo began to appear on live television, becoming one of the rotating hosts of The Colgate Comedy Hour (Eddie Cantor, Martin and Lewis and Bob Hope were among the others) and the following year they began their own filmed situation comedy, The Abbott and Costello Show. Costello owned the half-hour series, with Abbott working on salary. The show, which was loosely adapted from their radio program, ran for two seasons, from 1952 to 1954, but found long life in syndicated reruns.[citation needed]

Lou Costello being surprised on This Is Your Life

They were forced to withdraw from Fireman Save My Child in 1954 due to Costello's poor health — he had been plagued by heart problems all his life due to a childhood bout of rheumatic fever — and were replaced by look-alikes Hugh O'Brian and Buddy Hackett. The team could not reach a contract agreement with Universal the following year and left the studio after 15 years.[16]

Costello was surprised and honored by Ralph Edwards on NBC's This Is Your Life in 1956.[22]

Abbott and Costello split

By the mid-1950s, Abbott and Costello films were no longer box-office gold, and after failing to come to terms with the team, Universal dropped their movie contract in 1955. With radio, film and television vehicles, they suffered from overexposure, and were eclipsed by the team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, who were the hot entertainment commodity that Abbott and Costello had been a decade earlier.[citation needed]

In 1956, after troubles with the Internal Revenue Service forced both men to sell their large homes and the rights to some of their films, Abbott and Costello made their final film together, an independent production called Dance with Me, Henry. The film was a box-office disappointment and received mixed critical reviews[according to whom?].

Abbott and Costello dissolved their partnership in 1957 amicably.[23] Costello went back to his roots of stand-up, including stints in Las Vegas, and sought film projects for himself. He appeared several times on Steve Allen's fledgling The Tonight Show, but most often in variations of his old routines, with Louis Nye or Tom Poston taking on the straight man role. Costello sought to be known as something other than the funny fat man in the baggy clothes, and in 1958, he played a dramatic role on The Tobias Jones Story episode of Wagon Train.[24]

Death

The crypts of Lou Costello and his wife Anne

Shortly after completion of The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock, his only starring film appearance without Abbott, Costello suffered a heart attack. He died at Doctors Hospital in Beverly Hills on March 3, 1959, three days before his 53rd birthday.[7] Sources conflict on the circumstances of his last day and final words. By some accounts, restated in numerous "quotes" aggregates, he told visitors that the strawberry ice-cream soda he had just finished was "the best I ever tasted", then expired.[25] By other reports, including several contemporaneous obituaries, the ice-cream soda exchange occurred earlier in the day; later, after his wife and friends had left, he asked his private-duty nurse to adjust his position in bed. "I think I'll be more comfortable", he said; but before the nurse could comply, he suffered a cardiac arrest and died.[26][27][28][7]

After a funeral Mass at his parish, St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Sherman Oaks,[29] Costello was interred at the Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles, on March 8.[30] His wife Anne died from an apparent heart attack nine months later on December 5, 1959, at age 47.[31][32]

Family legacy in the entertainment industry

Costello's older brother, Pat Costello (Anthony Sebastian Cristillo 1902–1990) was a stuntman and an actor, mostly performing the stunts in Lou's place.[citation needed]

Costello's sister, Marie Katherine Cristillo (1912–1988) was married to actor Joe Kirk (Nat Curcuruto), who portrayed "Mr. Bacciagalupe" on the Abbott and Costello radio and television shows [33] and appeared in supporting roles in several of the team's films.[34]

Lou and Anne's second daughter, Carole, appeared in uncredited baby roles in several Abbott and Costello films. She went on to become a contestant coordinator for the game show Card Sharks as well as a nightclub singer. She died of a stroke on March 29, 1987, at age 48 while married to Craig Martin, eldest son of Dean Martin.[35] Carole's daughter, Marki Costello, is an actress, director and producer in film and television.[citation needed]

Lou and Anne's youngest daughter, Chris, published a biography, Lou's On First, in 1981.[36]

Memorials

The Lou Costello statue in Paterson, New Jersey

On June 26, 1992, the city of Paterson, New Jersey, in conjunction with the Lou Costello Memorial Association, erected a statue of Costello in the newly named Lou Costello Memorial Park in the city's historic downtown section. It shows Costello holding a baseball bat, a reference to the team's most famous routine, "Who's on First?". The statue has had brief appearances in two episodes of The Sopranos: "Big Girls Don't Cry" and "Cold Stones". The statue and the "Who's on First?" routine also featured in the film Paterson (2016). In 2005, Madison Street, in the Sandy Hill section of Paterson, where Costello was born, was renamed Lou Costello Place.[citation needed]

The centennial of Costello's birth was celebrated in Paterson on the first weekend in March 2006. From June 24 to June 26, 2006, the Fort Lee Film Commission held a centennial film retrospective at the Fine Arts Theatre in Hollywood. Films screened included the premiere of a digital film made by the teenagers of the present day Lou Costello Jr. Recreation Center in East Los Angeles. Also premiered was a 35 mm restored print of the Lou Costello-produced 1948 short film 10,000 Kids and a Cop, which was shot at the Lou Costello, Jr. Youth Center in East Los Angeles.[13]

In 2009, Costello was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame.[citation needed]

Abbott and Costello are among the few non-baseball personnel to be memorialized in the Baseball Hall of Fame, although they are not inductees of the Hall. A plaque and a gold record of the Who's on First? sketch have been on permanent display there since 1956, and a video of the routine loops endlessly in the exhibit area.[37]

Filmography

Year Film Role Notes
1926 Bardelys the Magnificent Extra[citation needed]
1927 The Battle of the Century [15]
The Taxi Dancer Extra[citation needed]
The Fair Co-Ed Extra[citation needed]
1928 Rose-Marie Extra[citation needed]
Circus Rookies Extra[citation needed]
The Cossacks Extra[citation needed]
The Trail of '98 Stunt Double[38]
1940 One Night in the Tropics Costello Film debut of Abbott and Costello
1941 Buck Privates Herbie Brown
In the Navy Pomeroy Watson
Hold That Ghost Ferdinand Jones
Keep 'Em Flying Heathcliffe
1942 Ride 'Em Cowboy Willoughby
Rio Rita Wishy Dunn
Pardon My Sarong Wellington Phlug
Who Done It? Mervyn Milgrim
1943 It Ain't Hay Wilbur Hoolihan
Hit The Ice Tubby McCoy
1944 In Society Albert Mansfield
Lost in a Harem Harvey Garvey
1945 Here Come the Co-Eds Oliver Quackenbush
The Naughty Nineties Sebastian Dinwiddie
Abbott and Costello in Hollywood Abercrombie
1946 Little Giant Benny Miller
The Time of Their Lives Horatio Prim
1947 Buck Privates Come Home Herbie Brown Sequel to Buck Privates
The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap Chester Wooley
1948 The Noose Hangs High Tommy Hinchcliffe
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein Wilbur Gray
Mexican Hayride Joe Bascom/Humphrey Fish
10,000 Kids and a Cop Himself Documentary short
1949 Africa Screams Stanley Livingston
Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff Freddie Phillips
1950 Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion Lou Hotchkiss
1951 Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man Lou Francis
Comin' Round the Mountain Wilbert Smith
1952 Jack and the Beanstalk Jack In color
Lost in Alaska George Bell
Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd Oliver "Puddin' Head" Johnson In color
1953 Abbott and Costello Go to Mars Orville
Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Tubby
1955 Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops Willie Piper
Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy Freddie Franklin
1956 Dance with Me, Henry Lou Henry
1959 The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock Artie Pinsetter Only starring film without Abbott
1965 The World of Abbott and Costello - Compilation film

Television

References

  1. ^ "Star Dust". The Mirror. Vol. 32, no. 1758. Western Australia. 5 February 1955. p. 13. Retrieved 12 August 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ "Films: LAST OF THE GREAT COMEDY TEAMS". The World's News. No. 2571. New South Wales, Australia. 31 March 1951. p. 20. Retrieved 12 August 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ "LOU COSTELLO'S DAUGHTER WEDS". The Barrier Miner. Vol. LXVI, no. 17, 558. New South Wales, Australia. 11 November 1953. p. 12. Retrieved 12 August 2017 – via National Library of Australia., ... Patricia Anne Costello, 17, daughter of Abbott's comedy partner Lou Costello, after her marriage in California last week to James Cardinet ...
  4. ^ "GRANDFATHER". Cootamundra Herald. New South Wales, Australia. 4 June 1954. p. 1. Retrieved 12 August 2017 – via National Library of Australia., ... SANTA MONICA, THURSDAY — Film comedian Lou Costello Is now a grandfather with the birth of a boy yesterday to his daughter, Patricia Cardinet ...
  5. ^ "Lou Costello Broadcasts After Son's Death". The Advertiser. Vol. LXXXVI, no. 26549. Adelaide. 6 November 1943. p. 5. Retrieved 12 August 2017 – via National Library of Australia., ... The one-year-old son of comedian Lou Costello fell into the family swimming pool and was drowned this afternoon ...
  6. ^ "Gossip Of Stars". Sunday Times (Perth). No. 5284. Western Australia. 31 August 1947. p. 12 (SUPPLEMENT TO THE SUNDAY TIMES). Retrieved 12 August 2017 – via National Library of Australia., ... Mrs. Lou Costello has just given birth to a baby girl. This is her third daughter. It is to be named Christine, after Lou's father ...
  7. ^ a b c d "Lou Costello, 52, Dies on Coast. Comic Had Teamed With Abbott. 'Little Guy Trying to Be a Big Shot' in Films and on TV-Partners Broke Up in '57". The New York Times. March 4, 1959.
  8. ^ http://www.louandbud.com/Lou.htm, accessed January 30, 2007
  9. ^ Thomas, B. (1977). Bud & Lou: The Abbott & Costello Story. Lippincott. ISBN 9780397011957. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  10. ^ "Public School #15". paterson.k12.nj.us. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  11. ^ C. Costello (1961), p. 7.
  12. ^ Smith, Jr., EW (2009). Athletes Once: 100 Famous People Who Were Once Notable Athletes. Cortero. ISBN 9781611790689.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ a b c "Mrs. Lou Costello Fatally Stricken". Reading Eagle. 6 December 1959. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  14. ^ "Daughter to Lou Costellos". The New York Times. August 14, 1947.
  15. ^ a b "Laurel & Hardy Films | Stills". laurelandhardyfilms.com. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g Furmanek, Bob and Ron Palumbo (1991). Abbott and Costello in Hollywood. New York: Perigee Books. ISBN 0-399-51605-0
  17. ^ Sherman, Eddie (Lou's manager) interviewed on the program This is Your Life, NBC TV, presented by Ralph Edwards, 1956 (16:08), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWpEOXvnOmA, accessed January 20, 2014
  18. ^ Sforza, John: Swing It! The Andrews Sisters Story; University Press of Kentucky, 2000; 289 pages.
  19. ^ "Lou Costello Called. His Draft Case Is Transferred From Paterson to Hollywood". The New York Times. November 20, 1943.
  20. ^ C. Costello (1961), pp. 119-120.
  21. ^ C. Costello (1961), p. 120.
  22. ^ http://www.encyclopedia.com/.../c8v0xBFJMOI-this-is-your-life-lou.aspx [dead link]
  23. ^ "Abbott, Costello Split. Comedy Team Breaks Up to Let Abbott Raise Horses". The New York Times. United Press International. July 15, 1957.
  24. ^ Fitzgerald, Mike. "Beverly Washburn Interview". Western Clippings.com. Mike Fitzgerald. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
  25. ^ "dying words". corsinet.com. Retrieved 6 September 2015.
  26. ^ "Death Takes Lou Costello". The Milwaukee Journal. 4 March 1959. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
  27. ^ Los Angeles Times, March 4, 1959.
  28. ^ Los Angeles Evening Mirror News, March 4, 1959.
  29. ^ "Lou Costello". Los Angeles Times.
  30. ^ "Costello Rites Held. Comedian Mourned by 400 at Requiem Mass on Coast". The New York Times. March 7, 1959.
  31. ^ "Lou Costello's Widow Passes". Sunday Herald. 6 December 1959. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  32. ^ "Mrs. Lou Costello, 47. Widow of Movie Comedian is Dead in California". The New York Times. United Press International. December 6, 1959.
  33. ^ Eder, Bruce. "Joe Kirk: Biography". AllMovie. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  34. ^ Nollen, Scott Allen (2009). "Appendix". Abbott and Costello on the Home Front: A Critical Study of the Wartime Films. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. pp. 192-199. ISBN 978-0-7864-3521-0. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  35. ^ "Carole Costello, 48, Comic's Daughter, Dies". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. April 3, 1987. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  36. ^ Costello, C. Lou's on First: A Biography: The tragic life of Hollywood's greatest clown warmly recounted by his youngest child. St. Martin's Press (1981). ISBN 0312499132
  37. ^ Dunning, J. On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford Univ. Press (1998), pp. 2-3. ISBN 0-19-507678-8
  38. ^ Abbott and Costello on the Home Front: A Critical Study of the Wartime Films, By Scott Allen Nollen, Page 8
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