Customer Reviews

Lou's on First: The Tragic Life of Hollywood's Greatest Clown Warmly Recounted by his Youngest Child

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In this bio.Chris Costello(Lou's Costello's third daughter)tells the true story of her father's life.And gives us all real insight into who Lou Costello really was.She covers his life from his humble beginnings in Patterson,New Jersey to his cross country trek to Los Angeles,Cal. to try and be a movie star.To his difficult days as a studio laborer(Studio set designer)and stuntman to his early days as a Burlesque clown working with several partners and the true story of how Lou Costello first met Bud Abbott and how they really teamed up.She also tells what caused the problems between the two men and the actual events that lead to the untimely death of the little brother that she never really knew(Lou Costello Jr."Little Butch")and the real cause of the team's second and final breakup.There are also insights into Lou's family.His relationship with his Wife Ann(Which was not as bad as what was depicted in Mr.Bob Thomas'book:Bud & Lou)and his three daughters.And the problems that were instigaited by Lou's mother:Mrs.Helen(Lolly)Cristillo and the team's manager:Eddie Sherman.Both Mrs.Cristillo and Mr.Sherman made an effort to destroy Poor Lou's career and personal life.This is one of the few bios on a famous performer that shows us a more three dimenstional look at this talented but troubled clown.Without the book turning into an ugly scathology.A book worth having.Bravo Chris! Kevin S.Butler.

Chris Costello does an amazing job of letting you know who Lou Costello the person was. I very much enjoyed the family man attributes of Lou Costello, always going out of his way to entertain people, especially children. Many people can write books about Bud and Lou, but with Chris' book you can an inside the house look at a man we all know and love. After reading the book I felt like I knew Chris and her family personally. Bravo Chris on a job well done.

I bought this book back in 1979 and I have not put it down since. It is the true story of a clown that had his heart broken more than once but always had a smile and a warm heart for those he loved and those he never knew. I live one town over from Paterson NJ where Lou was from and I had the pleasure to meet his daughter Chris at a fan club gathering and if Lou were with us today he would be very proud of his little girl. God bless Lou and Bud and God Bless Chris for sharing her very special story with us.

It seems as though a lot of bios written by the children of famous parents run to the two extremes of villifying the parent or sugarcoating the parent. This book does neither, and fits nicely in between. Though Ms. Costello was only eleven years old when her dad passed on, and therefore didn't know or remember him in the same way as if he had passed on when she was an adult, she does still manage to be both loving and honest in her treatment of him. The Lou Costello who comes to life in these pages is largely a really nice generous guy, who was absolutely devoted to his parents, children, siblings, wife (even if he didn't show much physical affection around others, since that wasn't part of his upbringing), and friends, and who was also very generous and kind to the other performers he worked with, particularly the ones who were just getting started in the business and needed someone to look out for them and show them the ropes. And while it is true that some people really are so uniformly good, Ms. Costello does not paint her father as an utter saint either. There's not a lot of dirt to dig up, but not everything about him was perfect. Among the character/personal flaws she discusses are his habit of stealing stuff from Universal's movie sets, how he was quite the McCarthyist, and his bad gambling habits.

The book seems like much more of a personal bio than a career bio. It focuses on Lou and his family and friends, instead of rehashing a lot of stories most fans have heard already. Most of his movies aren't discussed in any detail at all, many of them just mentioned in passing, and while this might frustrate people who are looking for more in-depth information on that rather important side of his life, you can always find more thorough discussions of the movies in another book. This book is to tell the personal side of his life, as remembered and researched through the eyes of a daughter who loved him. I really enjoyed reading about things such as his early family life, the beautiful lavish mansion he had in Sherman Oaks, his family's life on the ranch they moved to after his problems with the IRS, his relationship with his parents, siblings, wife, and children, and his solo acting at the end of his career. With obvious notable exceptions such as the tragic loss of his only son days before his first birthday, the start of his movie career, and the version of "Who's on First" that he and Bud Abbott used on their debut radio performance of it, most of the stories and anecdotes in this book aren't to be found anywhere else. It goes beyond and doesn't dwell on oft-repeated statements such as "He was never the same after the loss of his son" and "He and Bud Abbott didn't get along off-camera." The truth is so much more interesting. Overall, it's the complete and personal picture of a very talented, funny, giving, sweet man, delving beyond simplistic stereotypes and myths.

I am a huge Lou Costello fan and reading this book just brought tears to my eyes. A man who was that funny, and to have that bad of a life? I mean it was terrible. But Lou never let anything get in his way. Since the book is written by his daughter, all of the facts in the story hit home harder since she was there to witness it all. Truly a sensational novel, of a very funny man.

Like every kid in America, afternoons after school meant watching television and who better to watch than Abbott and Costello?

This book took me by surprise. For years I heard stories about the tragic events that happened in Lou Costello's personal life but somehow images of him in HOLD THAT GHOST or bothering the Andrews Sisters didn't jive with those images.

Lou's daughter, Chris, wrote a loving tribute to her father that is accurate, on point but never gets syrupy sweet. Nor is it a "Daddy Dearest" where she portrays anyone as a monster.

Although she was not born at the time, Chris traces her father's roots from New Jersey all the way through vaudeveille and finally Hollywood. In a sesntive way, she recounts the tragic loss of Lou's son, Butch and with just as much delicacy she handles the problems of her mother's drinking.

Although I would have liked to have had a better insight into what went on as the team created some memorable movie scenes, Chris concentrates solely on the man. You put down the book and wonder how Lou Costello - plaqued with IRS problems as well as health issues - could be so funny and so giving all the time.

Even if you are not an A&C fan, this book will show you the side of a professional comedian who gave the gift of laughter to others despite his own problems.

As a book written by his daughter it is very selective in its memory of Lou Costello...second hand memory mostly since she is Lou's youngest child and only witnessed his final 10 years in a somewhat lucid manner.
Nevertheless there is a lot of love that comes out of her description of Lou's complex life. A love that she obviously gets from an idolizing and idealised image she has formed of her parents...losing both of them at a very early age and not being on the best of terms with a lot of the rest of the family(a somewhat glossed-over fact, only tentatively described in the very last pages of the book)she writes in a rather simple somewhat scattered and disjointed manner(even though helped by a ghost writer who obviously can't do much better)about the life of her famous parent. Totally uncritical, Lou comes over in these pages as somewhat of a saint, so good it is hard to believe...somehow I feel there is another book that can be written about this elusive character..but that was obviously not the goal of Chris Costello. She does tackle the strains on the family relations, particularly the problems between Lou's overbearing italian clan and her mother and the latter's alcoholism.
Still, it is a labour of love, and for all its faults and glossing-over it is in the end a catartic book for the author who hints at a paradise lost she all too briefly inhabited in the confines of the luxurious pleasure dome her troubled and much lamented parents provided for her....

This is an excellent book and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about one of the greatest comedians of all time, Lou Costello. The book traces Lou's life from childhood to meeting Bud Abbott to his untimely death at such a young age. Chris Costello does not sugar coat the story and manages to give the reader an honest look into her fathers fasinating yet often troubled life. This book is a MUST HAVE for any Abbott and Costello Fan!

Chris Costello's bio of her Dad is a charming, funny and more often than not, touching memoir. Lou and Bud were terrific men and wonderful comedians and this book is a warm salute to them, not only as comics, but as men, husbands and fathers!

I have been a devoted fan my entire life. This is a must read for any Lou Costello lover. A gripping account of the professional and personal life of the greatest comic of the Twentieth Century. This was clearly an extrodinary man with no more or less imperfections than the next. He possessed an exceptional desire for generosity, charity, and good will, that is clearly and warmly recounted by his daughter. Despite the tragic loss of his son, of which he never truly recoved, he continued to bring a smile to the face of millions, which continues to this very day.