Customer Reviews

Legends of Laughter: Abbott & Costello

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a collection of THE COLGATE COMEDY HOUR shows that were hosted by Abbott & Costello. Do not confuse this with their later filmed sit-com which is also out on DVD.

I think Abbott & Costello are seen at their best in these live performances, improvising as they go along. I have read stories that Lou was like this on the Universal set & the directors always tried to keep a camera focused on Lou in case they catch something ad-libbed. Watch Bud Abbott's reaction as Lou breaks the set, changes the lines or gets carried away.

This would have been a 5-star set, but there is a major problem with the second show in the set, IT IS MISSING 15 MINUTES at the 23:00 mark! The entire sequence with Abbott & Costello meeting the Frankenstein monster is missing. I have heard theories that this may have been removed by the DVD companies so as not to get into trouble with Universal, who owns the monster costume. But if that is the case, then why is it OK to include the movie trailer for A&C Meet Frankenstein? The monster appears in that trailer? I have an old EP VHS tape (hard to watch) which does include the missing portion.

Overall, they look good considering that the live performance was filmed off of a TV screen onto 16mm film (called kinoscoping), there was NO Video Tape in those days. So you have poor early TV Video cameras capturing the live image, and poor early TV sets playing it out to be filmed. This is the best you will get without any expensive computer cleaning up. You will enjoy it for all of the frantic live action, and the image will transport you back to 1951!

*** Note there is a menu error on disc #5, the shows are swapped ***

Disc #1 - 3 Colgate Comedy Hours (2 hours 50 minutes total)
01-07-51 Evlyn Knight & Howdy Doody (59:33)
03-11-51 Lon Chayney (44:58) *** this includes the Colgate commercials, so 15 minutes is missing!!!***
10-11-51 Phil Regan & Gale Storm (59:39)
Trailers: One Night In the Tropics & Buck Privates

Disc #2 - 3 Colgate Comedy Hours (2 hours 56 minutes total)
11-18-51 Luis Armstrong (58:16)
01-13-52 Errol Flynn & Rhonda Fleming (51:08) - no commercials -
04-06-52 Charles Laughton (59:36)
Trailers: In The Navy & Hold That Ghost

Disc #3 - 3 Colgate Comedy Hours (3 hours 04 minutes total)
05-04-52 Vera Zorina (58:28)
10-19-52 Lizabeth Scott (1:00:30) - odd that this runs over an hour -
12-14-52 Margaret Whiting (58:35)
Trailer: Keep 'em Flying

Disc #4 - 3 Colgate Comedy Hours (2 hours 56 minutes total)
01-11-53 Victor Borge (59:00)
04-26-53 Hoagy Carmichael (51:02) - missing commercials -
03-21-54 Les Paul & Mary Ford (58:00)
Trailers: Ride 'em Cowboy & Who Dunnit?

Disc #5 - 2 Colgate Comedy Hours, shorts & bloopers (3 hours 13 minutes)
04-18-54 Jane Russell (59:13) **note the disc menu erroneously calls this 04-25-53 Hoagy Carmichael**
05-23-54 Hoagy Carmichael (53:12) **note the disc menu erroneously calls this 04-18-54 Jane Russell** This is a different show from the one on disc #4.
Short: Autobiography of a Jeep 1943 (A & C only make a very brief cameo at 7:21, blink & you will miss them. This is a rare appearance of them with Laurel & Hardy!) (09:40)
Short: Army Navy Screen Magazine Mail Call 1942 - A&C perform the uncensored version of WHO'S ON FIRST at 4:00 into the short. (10:52)
BLOOPERS (34:40) from:
Pardon My Ski (production title for Hit The Ice, actual title card appears briefly)
Noose Hangs High
It Ain't Hay
Pardon My Sarong
Naughty Ninties
In Society
Here Come The Co-eds
TRAILERS (26:00):
In Society
In Hollywood
Lost In A Harem
Time of Their Lives
Whistful Woman of Wagon Gap
Meet Frankenstein
Meet The Killer
Meet The Invisible Man
Meet Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
Go to Mars
30 ft Bride of Candy Rock
Dance With Me Henry
Jack & The Beanstalk

Disc #6 - 2 movies & 17 Radio Shows
Africa Screams
Jack & The Beanstalk
17 Radio Episodes (audio only)

While most of this has been available before, it is great to have it compiled into one set.

MISSING SHOWS NOT IN THIS SET:
11-23-52 Peggy Lee
11-01-53 Martin & Lewis (Bud Abbott is credited as hosting alone)

You will want to print this review as there are no liner notes or lists on the case.

Most people only know Abbott & Costello from their films and their half hour filmed comedy series. Here is a chance to see them performing live on an early TV variety show. Included is their first TV appearance. You get 14 of A & C's 19 Colgate shows. The 5 shows not included are probably lost. Video quality is not bad considering that they are from Kinescopes which were filmed off a TV screen. (The only way to record live TV before video tape). And yes there are 15 minutes missing from the second show (Lon Chaney). This is due to a rights problem. The missing scene deals with a haunted house skit based on the A & C film "Hold That Ghost" and features the moving candle gag. This skit has been deleted from all DVD versions of the Colgate shows and can only be found on several VHS tapes that were released in the early 1980's. Plus you get trailers and bloopers and two A & C films that they made for studios other than Universal plus 17 of their radio shows from the 1940s. For the price this is a great set.

...the presentation of the of the project comes across very badly. There are numerous typos on the DVD menus and even stranger is that the my TV chops off the edges of the DVD menu so it makes hard to see the text on the extreme right side of the menu. Overall this comes off as a very amateur effort with no real care put into it. great idea marred by poor execution.

Now the real reason to get this set if for the wealth of Abbott & Costello material contained within, A & C once again prove why they are funnier than most of the so called funny guys of today, and they do all this while being family friendly.

If you do get this set, don't get it for the blooper reel which is not really funny and barely be called a "blooper reel" most of the bloopers just seem like unused takes and nothing really funny.

Many thanks to Paul J Mular for his review above. Reviews of this sort sell the product better than the makers of the set do!

For the sake of completion let me add one correction and a bit more info.

-The show on Disc #1 dated as 10/11/51 is actually 10/14/51

-There were 6 other A & C appearances on The Colgate Comedy Hour not included in this set (very likely, as stated above, some or all of these may be lost shows. Some may have been excluded due to A & C's more minor role):

11/23/52 w/ Peggy Lee is the only missing show in which A & C were hosts
3/22/53 was an anniversary show featuring all regular hosts including A & C
11/1/53 Bud Abbott hosted alone (presumably Lou was ill) Martin & Lewis guest with others
2/21/54 Gene Wesson hosts, A & C among guests
3/13/55 Gordon MacRae hosts, A & C among guests
5/15/55 Rhonda Fleming and Gordon MacRae co-host, A & C among guests

All in all this is a more complete collection of A & C on 'Colgate' than has been seen to date. Thank you for leaving the commercials in too! Complete treatments like this are long overdue, although there are some gaps here, it is the best yet. Thank You!

Now if we could just get someone to do the same or better for the Martin and Lewis 'Colgate' appearances. Better yet, for the entire run of the 'Colgate Comedy Hour'. So many great people hosted and appeared on that show and many programs, no doubt, still exist. If ignored much longer though they may be forever lost.