Abbott & Costello

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Abbott & Costello
A&C title card.png
On-screen title card.
Network Syndication
Production company Hanna-Barbera
RKO General
Original release September 9, 1967June 1, 1968
Run time 5 minutes
Starring Bud Abbott
Stan Irwin
Producer(s) William Hanna
Joseph Barbera
Music composed by Hoyt Curtin
Writer(s) Neal Barbera
Director(s) William Hanna
Joseph Barbera

Abbott & Costello, also known as Abbott & Costello Cartoons, is an American animated comedy television series produced by Hanna-Barbera and RKO General. It first aired in syndication. It ran from 1967 to 1968, airing 39 episodes that spanned one season.

A half-hour show starring the comedy duo, it follows the animated misadventures of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. The two were wildly known for their personalities, with Abbott acting as the cunning straight man, and Costello as the innocent, yet bumbling foil to the former.

The series was originally syndicated by Gold Key Entertainment and King World Productions, with the rights later being acquired by Warner Bros. Television Distribution, who currently holds rights to the cartoon.

Although Warner Bros. holds rights to the cartoon, they, unsurprisingly, haven't done much with it aside from releasing the episode "Gadzooka" on the DVD, Best of Warner Bros. 25 Cartoon Collection: Hanna-Barbera back in 2013.

Production

Development

During production, Bud Abbott, an original actor for the Abbott & Costello series, provided the voice of his animated self in the hopes of getting some more money. By the time the cartoon was produced, Lou Costello had already passed away, so his voice was done by a close friend named Stan Irwin.

Since the actual Abbott was near death during production of the series, Costello was more so the focus of the cartoons' plots.

Music

The music was composed by Hoyt Curtin.

Episodes

Title Original air date
1x01 September 9, 1967
1x02 September 16, 1967
1x03 September 23, 1967
1x04 September 30, 1967
1x05 October 7, 1967
1x06 October 14, 1967
1x07 October 21, 1967
1x08 October 28, 1967
1x09 November 4, 1967
1x10 November 11, 1967
1x11 November 18, 1967
1x12 November 25, 1967
1x13 December 2, 1967
1x14 December 9, 1967
1x15 December 16, 1967
1x16 December 23, 1967
1x17 December 30, 1967
1x18 January 6, 1968
1x19 January 13, 1968
1x20 January 20, 1968
1x21 January 27, 1968
1x22 February 3, 1968
1x23 February 10, 1968
1x24 February 17, 1968
1x25 February 24, 1968
1x26 March 2, 1968
1x27 March 9, 1968
1x28 March 16, 1968
1x29 March 23, 1968
1x30 March 30, 1968
1x31 April 6, 1968
1x32 April 13, 1968
1x33 April 20, 1968
1x34 April 27, 1968
1x35 May 4, 1968
1x36 May 11, 1968
1x37 May 18, 1968
1x38 May 25, 1968
1x39 June 1, 1968

Cast

Critical reception

The series was not received well by its viewers, as many found the show to be not very funny nor hardly anything like the original live-action Abbott and Costello in which it was based on, and instead using stereotypical cartoony humor done with many other cartoons from around the time. Many point out that the series also bared similarities to previous Hanna-Barbera series, Laurel & Hardy, but being less funnier than the latter.

References