Abbott and Costello on the Home Front: A Critical Study of the Wartime Films

Scott Allen Nollen

McFarland, Jun 8, 2009 - Performing Arts - 222 pages

As two of the most popular entertainers of the mid-century film industry, comic greats Bud Abbott and Lou Costello offered an essential balm to the American public following the sorrows of the Great Depression and during the trauma of World War II. This is the first book to focus in detail on the immensely popular wartime films of Abbott and Costello, discussing the production, content, and reception of 18 films within the context of wartime events on the home front and abroad. The films covered include the service comedies Buck Privates, In the Navy, and Keep 'Em Flying; more mainstream comic relief films such as Pardon My Sarong and Who Done It?; and post-war experiments such as Little Giant and The Time of Their Lives. More than 120 stills and lobby cards from the author's personal collection illustrate the text, including many showing outtakes or deleted scenes.

Contents

• Foreword: 1
• Preface: 3
• Introduction: 5
• 1 New Jersey Boys Make Good: 7
• 2 On the Land and On the Sea: 12
• 3 Money in a Moose Head: 27
• 4 In the Air Corps: 34
• 5 B Western Bunk: 42
• 6 The Nazis of MGM: 49
• 7 Widespread Comic Relief: 56
• 8 Stallions and Skaters: 72
• 9 Sickness and Slapstick: 86
• 10 Clique and Campus: 94
• 11 Whos in Uncle Toms Cabin?: 106
• 12 Lucy and Lou: 113
• 13 Postwar Experiments: 120
• 14 Back from the Front: 137
• 15 Cold War Monsters: 149
• Appendix: 181
• Chapter Notes: 205
• Bibliography: 207
• Index: 209

About the author

The late Scott Allen Nollen was educated in film and history at the University of Iowa. He had written and edited more than 40 books on the history of film, literature and music.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Abbott and Costello on the Home Front: A Critical Study of the Wartime Films
• Author: Scott Allen Nollen
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: McFarland, 2009
• ISBN: 0786453257, 9780786453252
• Length: 222 pages
• Subjects: History / Wars & Conflicts / World War II / General; Performing Arts / Film / General