The Abbott and Costello Show (1952-1957) [Season 1, Disc 3/3]

Stars: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Sid Fields

One of the most influential comedies in television history, The Abbott and Costello Show - Season 1 makes its Blu-ray debut from ClassicFlix with all 26 stunningly sharp episodes in this 3-disc set.

When Bud Abbott and Lou Costello became part of the permanent rotating group of weekly hosts on TV's The Colgate Comedy Hour, it revitalized their careers and led to the birth of The Abbott and Costello Show, a syndicated half-hour program that premiered in 1952. The premise of the show was disarmingly simple: Bud and Lou played themselves, a pair of unemployed actors living in a rooming house run by the apoplectic Sid Fields, also playing himself.

Easing their way through life in a neighborhood where crooks and sharpies lay in wait around every corner, and women walk right up to Costello for no other reason than to slap his face ("How dare you look like someone I hate!”), Bud and Lou keep the show fresh with new routines, but also perform many of their classics, including "Who's on First?", "Dice", "7 x 13 = 28" and so many, many more.

Newly restored from original 35mm master elements by the 3-D Film Archive, in cooperation with the Library of Congress, The Abbott and Costello Show features Hillary Brooke (as Lou's cultured girlfriend), Gordon Jones (as stupefyingly dumb "Mike the Cop"), Joe Besser (as "Stinky"), Joe Kirk (as "Mr. Bacciagalupe"), Bingo the Chimp, as well as many other well-known TV and film entertainers.

Film Distributor: ClassicFlix


BONUS FEATURES:
- Commentaries on 10 episodes featuring Lou Antonicello, Paul Castiglia, Ray Faiola, Stu Fink, Shane Fleming, Gilbert Gottfried, Bob Greenberg, Jim Mulholland, Gerry Orlando, Ron Palumbo, Toby Roan, Lou Sabini, Frank Santopadre, Jack Theakston and Michael Townsend Wright.


EPISODES:
DISC 3

CHIMPANZEE - Working in a pet shop, the boys bring home a chimp, Bingo, but learn that the animal must have a license and that Mr. Fields prohibits pets. With full and partial audience laugh track.

HILLARY’S BIRTHDAY - Mr. Fields posts new house rules, but Lou, at Bud’s insistence, infuriates the landlord by playing loud music during Hillary’s birthday party. With full and partial audience laugh track.

TELEVISION SHOW - Bud and Lou appear on the TV game show “Hold That Cuckoo” and Costello wins a pack a bubblegum. A drunken neighbor slips on the gum outside the rooming house and takes Mr. Fields to court for negligence. Audio Commentary by Jim Mulholland. With and without audience laugh track.

LAS VEGAS - The boys win a trip to Las Vegas and invite Hillary to come along. After they buy a used car to get there, Lou loses all his money without placing a bet. With full and partial audience laugh track.

LITTLE OLD LADY - The boys play games at an amusement park to win enough money to help a little old lady who has been dispossessed. (Mel Blanc voiced the parrot.)

ACTOR’S HOME - A philanthropist gives the boys two $500 bills, but Bud assumes they are fake and tears them up. When he learns the money was real, Bud loses his mind and is taken to the Retired Actor’s Home. Audio Commentary by Lou Antonicello, Shane Fleming, Bob Greenberg, Jack Theakston and Michael Townsend Wright.

POLICE ROOKIE -The boys enroll in the police academy, where Professor Melonhead tries to whip them into shape and Lou terrorizes everyone at the firing range. (Martial arts expert John Halloran makes a cameo appearance.)

SAFARI - When Bingo becomes ill, Lou figures that the chimp misses his family, so the entire gang heads to the Belgian Congo to find Bingo’s father. With full and partial audience laugh track.