Bud Abbott Penniless - Taxman Took it All
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.ย. 2024
- #thelifeandsadending #abbottandcostello
The life story of comedian Bud Abbott. He was famous for being a part of the comedy duo Abbott and Costello. With commentary and reaction.
I met Bud in the 60s. I was working at a Pier 1 Imports in Encino CA, and got to deliver and setup a Mexican braiser for him. When I saw the name of the receipt/work order was Bud Abbott I was astonished. Doing what I did at Pier 1, I met a lot of people "in the Industry", but Bud Abbott! When I got to the house, But was in bed (the night table was covered with cigarettes, a lot just lose and lots of unopened packs.) A woman was there, might have been his wife, Bud told me to put it together in the livingroom and she'd show me exactly where is was supposed to go. Gave me a nice tip. Never found out who came into the store and bought it.
That's a cool story, you must be as old as me 68.
@@TheLifeandSadEnding You're just a young whipper snapper. I just turned 73.
@@DerBingle1 You young folks make laugh, why you've hardly come out of diapers. I'm an octogenarian of 82. A super aged winter chicken, who can lead most spring chickens way behind in my dust.
"Abbott and Costello Meets Frankenstein" was my favorite. The fact that Lon Chaney, Jr.; Bela Lugosi; and the Monster [by Glenn Strange] played their parts seriously straight is what added to the comedic dimension in the movie.
One of my all time favorite movies. I try to watch it every year around halloween.
I remember reading, in the '70's, that Bud was penniless. That struck me as particularly sad considering how many people's blues their movies helped chase away. Thanks.
It's sad that they (A&C) didn't know how to handle money. It was estimated that in the 1940's they made around $50 million EACH. That's around $250 million in today's money. The blew the money competing with each other on things like who has the longest limo. They gambled a large part of it away. A crooked accountant skipped town with around $3 million dollars and didn't pay their tax bill, leading A&C in deep debt with the IRS. The IRS decided to make an example of A&C and came down hard on them. That really sucked because the raised MILLIONS for the war efforts and Costello almost died doing so.
I probably have not seen them all, but I truly loved "The Time of Their Lives". The local station in Miami during the 70s had Abbott and Costello movies on every Sunday.
that is my favorite also... a little ironic, because that was during one of their falling outs and the script was written in a way that the two didn't really have to interact much with each other... I have often thought that Lou and Marjorie Reynolds could have continued on as team....they really had a chemistry in this movie.
When I was a kid there would be Abbott and Costello movies every Saturday afternoon on TV. My little brother and I always looked forward to that. Happy New Year 🥂
Thanks for sharing!
Loved them both in "Jack and the Beanstalk", a movie that impressed me greatly as an impoverished child.
Without Bud, Lou was just another comedian. Lou was born in my hometown of Paterson, NJ, which he mentioned often.
Abbott and Costello Meets Frankenstein!!. So many Great memories of these guys on TV. the only other older show to compare is "March of the wooden soldiers" Thanks Steve, I'll wait for your next video unless i meet my own sudden ending~
My friend wrote to him in the 60’s asking for an autograph. You a got a very nice thoughtful handwritten and signed letter in response which he still has.
I live in Ireland and grew up in England - Bud and Lou were very popular on this side of the pound -when Channel 4 started in 1982 -reruns of their television shows were among the first programs they screened - their films were very popular on Saturday afternoons - only last year Sky Arts run a series of their movies on Sunday afternoons
I love all of there shows, there was nobody like them .
I’m 34 years old and my dad and Mom had me pretty much at 40 so I grew up old-school seeing all these old shows that they used to watch and grew up with throughout the 90s that were from the 30s 40s 50s and 60s and 70s and 80s so I really enjoyed watching those movies and TV shows and listening to that music which I still do today and I buy media physically on DVD if I can get a hold of it so seeing this channel and hearing about these people stories is interesting, but sad at the same time and I’m glad that you upload these videos. I’m hoping to pass these down to the next generation anyway possible. They don’t make movies like these anymore and things are just changing in Hollywood that older actors would just find astonishing and current actors of your generation are finding the astonishing as well as Gene Wilder stopped making movies as well as Charles Groden.😊
I watched so many of their movies, and they were all good, so it’s hard to say which one I liked best. But, the funniest comedy skit ever was, “Who’s on First.” It will always be the best because I don’t think anyone will come up with something better. What’s sad is, there are so many crappy actors today that make a fortune, then you have Abbott and Costello that were far, far better and only made a pittance in comparison. They were two of the best.
Lovef Abbott and Costello! The Time of their Lives was a funny movie and loved Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein!
I read an article in the National Enquirer encouraging readers to send him cards and letters.
I remember riding home from school and heard Abbot died on the radio
Sheldon Leonard proclaimed that Costello's double take in Hold That Ghost was the greatest double take ever in film. That was my favorite A and C movie.
Buck Privates and when they met Frankenstein.
My sister and I use to watch the marathons on the holidays, we would just crack up no matter how many times we saw their movies.
Costello did it good but Don Knotts played scared/nervous the best!
Yep, Costello made me laugh when he pretended to be nervous---Don made me nervous!
I watched their TV show as a kid in syndication. It ran in the early 60's after school where I grew up outside NYC. I think I liked it better than the movies. Movie I liked best was probably the "A and C Meets Frankenstein."
They should have always split 50/50, they are both needed in their craft for their specific talent.
Originally they did split 50/50 even though at the time it was customary for the straight man to get a 60/40 cut. They agreed to 50/50 partly due to Bud's inability to keep a partner due to his epilepsy. After Lou's son died, he became bitter and demanded a 60/40 split and the billing changed to Costello and Abbott. Abbott agreed with the 60/40 cut but Universal said they hired Abbott and Costello and that's the way they were going to be billed.
Great video, keep’em coming. My favorite movie was the same as yours, Abbot & Costello meet Frankenstein.
* Yet Bud Abbott made a comeback in 1960's doing his own voice in syndicated Abbott & Costello cartoons! ☺
Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein was my favorite of their movies too!
I'm glad I discovered your channel. I have a curiosity too, as to how people died, what happened.
I think that a man who dies deeply in debt got more out of life than he should have.
I saw Bud Abbott as a guest on the Officer Joe Bolton show telecast via WPIX weekday afternoons during the late 60s. Don't recall what was said but he briefly discussed some things and showed some things and both parties seemed very agreeable.
Officer Joe Bolton?! Oh wow, that unlocks some forgotten memories. Hadn't thought of that show in decades. Thanks!
The who’s on 1st bit, an all time great! Thx for the video, love them all!!
My favorite is Abbott and Costello Meets Frankenstein. But I love them all.
Lou Costello had the makings of a fine dramatic actor based upon his guest appearance in the "Wagon Train" TV series, where he played a character of pathos; a well-meaning person that due to drinking, disappointed a child in that western TV drama.
I remember hearing that people really thought he was drunk after that...
Favorite Abbott and Costello movie was "The Time of Their Lives".
Heaven was "Closed for Washington's birthday". 😮
You seem to have access to info most of us do not have. I am wondering if you could investigate the life of Kevin Tate. He is most known as the boy in The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao. He died in 1999 at the age of only 44, but no one seems to know what his adult life was like or how he died.
Thanks Steve. I grew up watching and loving A&C. I love A&C meet Frankenstein as well, and I knew who's on first? by heart when I was a kid.
Wow! I'm always enjoying your features. Still blows my mind that at the young age of five, six and beyond I would be so captivated by this amazingly funny duo. You got me at the meet Frankenstein movie. Don't we all just love the who's on first bit. Thanks for what you do Steve.
Wow, thank you!
I agree with u on the best movie they did. Love the Frankenstein movie.
I watch Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein at least once a month.
As a young kid of 7 or 8 years old my favorite TV Shows were always anything with Abbot and Costello . And my favorite Movie was and is the Frankenstein Movie . Thank you for putting this together . You did a great job . Will you be doing a Video about Lou ?
It does make one wonder. They were millionaires yet he died impoverished. Lou died young but might have, too. The IRS got them. Did they cross someone? Perhaps NOT do something expected of them? Guess we’ll never know. ☹😡
from what I have read.,, they had a lot of "hanger's on" who took advantage of their generosity....and "bad investments"..
It’s against the law not to pay your taxes. Nobody was out to get them. If people don’t pay then you pay their taxes and that’s wrong.
I'm with you. I think Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein has it all and is the best.
Patrick Knowles, Don Porter, Mary Wicks, Thomas Gomez & many other Character Actors are also great in Who Done It? Thomas Gomez, who plays Colonel JR Andrews, was only in his Second Film (The First was Sherlock Holmes & The Voice Of Terror/Nazi Agent Meade).
There's a channel called Top Discovery that sometimes uses the title "life & Sad Ending" and half the time the celeb is still alive.
Yes, and the biggest insult is that they are probably are getting ad revenue. arrrggh!
@@TheLifeandSadEndingIsn't your name trademarked? If so you may be able to do something legally about that ...
In the 1960s, Bud Abbott did the voice of himself on the Abbott and Costello cartoons.
$750,000 in 1959 = $7,702,344.29 in 2023.
750k in 2023 = you're set!
Hi Steve, good to see you! My favorite Abbott and Costello movie has to be "Africa Screams." Favorite comedy skit, without a doubt, is "Who's On First." Can't find good comedy like these two guys!
🎉 HAPPY NEW YEAR 🎉
Candy Candido made a living with Cartoon voices and Supper clubs shows
You are the new google. Thanks for doing my work for me.
@@TheLifeandSadEnding He was in Peter Pan (Disney) as the Indian Chief with the crazy low voice, and he was the one who said in the WB cartoons "I'm feeling mighty low", again in the crazy low voice. That line was also used in the same crazy low tone by Ernie Kovacs.Candy did a single release of I'm Feeling Might Low with Jimmy Durante too. He was a bit of a big deal, even if he was feeling mighty low.
A Tale of Two Kitties 🤣
@cthewave9955
Babbit & Cat-stello.😅😅😅😅😅😅😅
I WAS DEFINITELY A FAN; MY FAVOURITE ONE WAS "WHO'S ON FIRST." IT WAS KIND OF A LEARNING TOOL!!! SAD HE DIED BROKE BECAUSE SCRIPTURE TELLS US TO LEAVE AN INHERITANCE FOR OUR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN!!! I ALSO WONDER WHY HE NEVER STARTED FINALLY GETTING ROYALTIES FOR HIS WORK, BUT THEN AGAIN THERE PROBABLY WAS NOT AN ADVOCATE FOR HIM!!!
GREAT STORY, THANK YOU!!!
🙇🏾♀️🙇🏾♀️🙇🏾♀️💝💝💝🕊🕊🕊
I'd have to say Buck Privates. It not only has Great Comedy, but, it has The Andrews Sisters and The Great Boogie Woogie Songwriting Team (Beat Me Daddy , Eight To The Bar, Scrub Me Mama, With A Boogie Beat, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, and countless others) Of Don Raye & Hughie Prince, who have A Cameo or Two in The Movie. Of The Movies That Don't Have Music, Who Done It? They play Soda Jerks trying to solve A Murder Mystery at a Radio Station. With William Gargan & William Bendix as The Real Police Detectives & Bud & Lou Counterparts. Let me know what you think
I didn’t realize Lou Costello died so young
A lot of stars back then gave their accountants power of attorney to pay their bills. Unfortunately a lot of those accountants "borrowed" money out of their clients accounts leaving them broke to face the tax man who doesn't care who robbed them.
Hold that Ghost is the best of their movies.
Hold that Ghost was my favorite movie of theirs.
Loved them all
My pick of their movies is 'In Society'. Groucho, who rarely praised colleagues, said Bud was the best straight man he ever saw.
A & C were not great slapstick performers like Laurel and Hardy, who were evenly matched facially and vocally as well as bodily. Neither Bud nor Lou was a gifted inventor like Stan; their schtick rested on a handful of filched vaudeville routines. Yet they managed to keep going for 15 years in pix- latterly with help from a gallery of Hollywood's grotesques as guest stars- so they must have been adaptable and cooperative.
Contrast similar teams which soon fizzled, such as Olsen & Johnson, Wheeler & Woolsey or the Ritz Brothers. Moreover A & C's chemistry was potent enough for features, not just short subjects... unlike, say, the Stooges.
I watched all their reruns as a kid and to this day I didn't know Lou passed away before I was even born. My favorite film is the one where they inherit the gambling hotel from the mobster, don't even know the title. I watched it every time it came on TV
Hold that Ghost ..I think
Their first movie appearance was A Night in the Tropics, a year or so BEFORE Buck Privates.
According to their biography they split the money 50/50 at first, partly due to Abbott having and losing 5 comedians in one year due to his epilepsy. After Lou's son died be became bitter and started to make demands. He demanded a 60/40 split with Bud and to have the act's name changed to Costello and Abbott. Abbott agreed to the money split but Universal said they hired Abbott and Costello and that's the way they were going to be billed.
He made big bucks during the era of extremely high top marginal rates (70 to 90+%), so like many then fell victim to the IRS.
Good old FDR. WE couldn't have had a Great Depression without him or his policies that kept business terrified of expansion. Once he died the animal spirits of the US were unleashed again.
My favourite A&C movies are "Buck Privates Come Home" and "The Time of Their Lives."
Oh man, me too, but in the opposite order. I watch The Time of Their Lives every fourth of July and when I saw another super old movie called Rebecca about 15 years ago, all of sudden that greeting where the actress says, [to Emily] Pardon me, but did I see you in "Rebecca?" instantly made sense and was so true.
As for Buck Privates, that movie gave us The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy From Company B. Another huge hit for the boys and for the Andrew Sisters singing it.
You have awesome taste!
People like to rib the National Enquirer about its choice of topics and approach. But they very often ran full articles about famous entertainers forgotten and broke, and poor health. Bud was a choice of the editors. They did a lot of those.
Well i was really into Laurel and Hardy not that couple. They were really popular and glad for their success and thanks for his story.
I don't believe he died penniless. Everybody's got a few pennies under their sofa cushions.
I remember my mom told us when we were young this guy held up a fifty cent piece in public asking his fans (and Costello's) to make a match donation...[???]
Good video. Moe Howard felt Costello took a lot from Curly.
A&C meet Frankenstein
They split 60/40 when Lou wanted to play the Steel Pier in Atlantic city and Bud wanted to stay in Burlesque. Other than that they split 50/50 until they hit it big in the movies, then Costello got 60% but they still split 50/50 for live appearances.
I always enjoyed their TV series, with Sidney Fields, Hillary Brooke, and Gordon Jones.
There was a TV film in the Seventies, “Bud & Lou,” with Harvey Korman and Buddy Hackett. It was pretty bad, really!
I think someone posted that movie on TH-cam. Buddy Hackett was no Lou Costello.
@@TheLifeandSadEnding Costello’s daughter, Chris, made the rounds of daytime talk shows promoting her memoir. She said how much she hated that film, for the negative portrayal of her dad!
Scene from the TV show: Mike the Cop is leaving the guys’ apartment, saying, “You guys give me a headache!” Bingo the chimp hurls a frying pan at the back of his head. I still find it funny!
My vote goes to Who done it.
Quick paced and the bots are in excellent form.
What?
Random question: Did you make a Life & Sad Ending video about Bobby Darin? Because if you did, I can't find it anymore
I have taken it down in an effort to figure out why youtube demonetized my channel. My suspicion is that they object of my use of wikipedia material. By the way, wikipedia is not copyrighted and I always gave them credit. I can reapply soon and if I am approved for monetization, I will begin to redo each of my previous videos using fact bullet points and doing it in a more freestyle presentation. Wish me luck.
It's always been interesting to me to that comedy, unlike drama, tends not to age well. Drama tends to be, or often is, timeless but comedy is usually about a moment in time. To watch stuff like Abbott & Costello or W.C. Fields, etc., at least for me, is almost more an historical exercise than it is comical. It's about warching what people used to think was funny more than it is about what actually is funny today. One example: "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" came out in 1948, and so did "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre." Am I saying that the former contains nothing funny? No, just that the themes explored in the later movie are timeless and will still bear watching 100 years from now. The comedy in the former not so much -- even today much less 100 years from now. Or so it seems to me. BTW, I'm also 68 years old.
Really? My favorite was 'meet Frankenstein' also. When I was a kid, my nickname was 'Chick'. I always thought it was from the character Chick Young in the movie. But nope...
You’re back!?!
Maybe
Candy Candido is more famous for his voice over work.
He was the Indian chief in Peter Pan.
Thanks for the info.
Jack and the Beanstalk
Abbott and Costello go to Mats
Knights of the Bath
Woodland Hills is not exactly the seat of poverty in Southern California.
Probably means he was living in the Motion Picture Home; a nursing home for older actors with limited funds.
Bud Abbott got screwed badly.
You got two tens for a five? 🤔
Feel sorry he didn’t manage his early wealth very well. He was a trailblazer, but alcohol is a rapacious creditor.
It occurs to me that Bud’s character was earning this karmic outcome in every scene. I thought it was just an act. Go figure.
When I was a kid my uncle had a bar in his basement & on the walls he had all these dirty comic strips. There was one of Bud Abbott embracing a woman (both naked) in an old fashion fat jiggling machine. Beside them Lou Costello is rushing to get his clothes off. I can't remember what the caption read & I've tried to find it online, but haven't yet. I wonder if it was in Playboy....
I never saw that. I think you are making it up. lol
@TheLifeandSadEnding Sometimes my brain remembers things that never happened, but I think that was real, lol
It would've been in the late 70s, early 80s, that he had his basement set up like that.
Let me know if you find it.
@@TheLifeandSadEnding I will
How about that they were paid. Dollar to make Buck Privates and gave their salary for the war effort?
1:43 No the straight man didn’t get more….Dean Martin didn’t get more…
But Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were known as Laurel and Hardy.
Burns and Allen?
@@TheLifeandSadEnding Well that's three against one.
Remember, Laurel and Hardy was a combination put together at the movie studio. They weren't a stage act previously and the studio decided on the billing.
@@barryputterman2412 yeah Laurel and Hardy has a ring to it.....Hardy and Laurel, not so much...
The happy ending to his life he’s not here anymore so no more crap 😂
So your the one who does all of these "sad" endings" stories . Are they all really THAT SAD ? Most of us have terrible sad times in our life . And we usually end up sadly . That's a sad part of our miserable life . If we all worked on our own life every day maybe we wouldn't wind up so broke and sad .
Two greats but they are so outdated by today
Nice tribute thank you, I am not a fan of Lou and Bud, or Dean and Jerry, their comedy just didn't seem funny just annoying,, But perhaps trying to follow Stan and Ollie was a big ask?, How ever Bob and Bing was very clever comedy
At one point... he was reduced to voicing himself in a short-lived cartoon show for the $$$. Sad.
That was when I first heard of A&C; I was too young to remember them from the movies. Stan Irwin provided the voice of the Lou Costello character.
Abbott clearly hated the fact that Costello was the real star of the act in much the same way Curly Howard was in The Three Stooges. You can almost see him seethe with resentment in the actual movies the two did together. Aside from his work in A & C, Bud Abbott was a lousy actor.
These two were NOT funny, and their movies sucked.......
There is a lesson to be learned here. Save your money. Because you're going to need a lot of it, in your golden years.
or else you will regret it to your dying day...if you should live that long....
also, be nice to the people you meet on the way up,,,because you're going to meet the same people on your way down....
I'm not sure where the idea that most comedy teams billed the straight man first (and that he got paid more) came from. It's one of those things that get repeated ad nauseum but doesn't seem to be true.
TH-cam has a bad history problem. Most everything we hear on these kinds of channels is unresearched beyond Wikipedia.
A few comedy teams (including two of the biggest) in which the straight man's name is presented last:
Hope and Crosby
Laurel and Hardy
Allen and Rossi
Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner
And from vaudeville days, the idea still doesn't seem to be true:
Shaw and Lee
Wheeler and Woolsey
Carney and Brown
Savoy and Brennan
Benson and Mann
Clark and McCullough
For many comedy duos, it is hard to designate a straight man.
For instance:
Cheech and Chong
Nichols and May
Stiller and Meara
Bob and Ray