Abbott & Costello

Abbott & Costello
On-screen title card.
Network	Syndication
Production company	Hanna-Barbera RKO General
Original release	September 9, 1967–June 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 "Cops and Saucers" "Dog Gone Dog" "Go' Go' Goliath" "In the Soup"	September 9, 1967
1x02 "The Cloud Monster" "The Gravity Grabber" "There Auto Be a Law" "Tiny Terror"	September 16, 1967
1x03 "Big Bird Break Out" "Going Buggy" "Sahara You?" "The Vikings"	September 23, 1967
1x04 "Down in the Dumps" "Eskimo Pie-Eyed" "Lube-a-Tuba" "The Forty Thieves"	September 30, 1967
1x05 "Frail Whale" "Sitting Pity" "Tooth or Consequences" "Wizardland"	October 7, 1967
1x06 "Catman on a Hot Tin Roof" "Elephantasy" "Shutter Bugged Sea Serpent" "The Mark of El Zap"	October 14, 1967
1x07 "Kooks and Spooks" "Mouse Route" "Stand-In Stand-Off" "Super Lou"	October 21, 1967
1x08 "Dinosaur Dilemma" "Frigid Fugitive" "The Astro Nuttys" "The Indestructible Space Suit"	October 28, 1967
1x09 "Galoots in Armor Suits" "Mighty Midget Mustang" "The Bouncing Rubber Man" "The Purple Baron"	November 4, 1967
1x10 "Blunderand" "Going to Pot" "Skyscraper Napper" "The Two Musketeers"	November 11, 1967
1x11 "A Creep in the Deep" "Crying High" "Germ Squirm" "Weird Neighbors"	November 18, 1967
1x12 "Lashed but Leashed" "Pigskin Pickle" "The Moleman Mine" "Two on the Isle"	November 25, 1967
1x13 "Space Toy Tyrants" "The Little Fat Boy Cried Wolf" "Wacky Wax Work" "Werewolf Whim-Wham"	December 2, 1967
1x14 "A Goose Misuse" "Invader Raider" "Monster Muddled" "Monsterkeet"	December 9, 1967
1x15 "Going, Going, Gun!" "Paddle Boat Pirate" "Road Race Ruckus" "Who Needs Arrest?"	December 16, 1967
1x16 "Baby Buggy" "Drumsticks Along the Mohawk" "Gone Ghosts" "Hey Abbott!"	December 23, 1967
1x17 "A Car is Born" "Lumbering Lummoxes" "Professor Uncle's Ants" "Teenie Weenie Genie"	December 30, 1967
1x18 "Fish-Hooked" "High Wire Lion" "Magic Monster" "Planet Plant"	January 6, 1968
1x19 "Baby Shoo" "Marauding Mummy" "Space Beard" "The Long, Long Camper"	January 13, 1968
1x20 "Fumbled Fable" "Phantom of the Hoss Opera" "Puppet Enemy Number One" "Rabbit Grabbers"	January 20, 1968
1x21 "Phony Express" "The Big Cannon Caper" "Vacuum Villain" "Throne of a Loss"	January 27, 1968
1x22 "A Guest in the Nest" "Concrete Evidence" "Glass Reunion" "The Lava Monster"	February 3, 1968
1x23 "Broom Gloom" "Gadzooka" "Gone Like the Wind" "Merry Misfits"	February 10, 1968
1x24 "Fighting the Clock" "Rescue Miscue" "Sinister Professor Sinister" "The Hound Hounders"	February 17, 1968
1x25 "Bully Billy" "Pigs in a Panic" "Ship Ahooey" "Underworld Whirl"	February 24, 1968
1x26 "Dragon Along" "Mounty-Bounty" "Password to Panic" "Super Terror Strikes Again"	March 2, 1968
1x27 "No Place Like Rome" "Not So Sweet Sioux" "Texas Jack" "Follow the Bouncing-Blob"	March 9, 1968
1x28 "Luna Tricks" "Pearl-Diving Perils" "Picture Frame-Up" "The Queen of Diamonds"	March 16, 1968
1x29 "Booty Bounty" "Dangerous Buck" "G.I. Jokers" "Tasmanian Terror"	March 23, 1968
1x30 "Gaitor Baiter" "The Fiendish Farmer" "The Gadget King" "The Ice-Tronauts"	March 30, 1968
1x31 "Rabbit Rouser" "Save a Cave" "Which Witch Is Which" "Wild Man, Wild"	April 6, 1968
1x32 "Doggies by the Dozen" "Shooting the Works" "Son of Konk" "Super Knight"	April 13, 1968
1x33 "Bully for Lou" "Cherokee Choo Choo" "Hotel Suite & Sour" "Rhino Riot"	April 20, 1968
1x34 "Carnival of Menace" "Shoo-Shoes" "Teensy Weensys" "Tragic Magic"	April 27, 1968
1x35 "Get 'Im, Tiger!" "Hullaba-Lou" "Mountain Mischief" "The Drastic Driller"	May 4, 1968
1x36 "Gorilla Thriller" "The Eighth Dwarf" "Turkish Daffy" "Yankee Doodle Dudes"	May 11, 1968
1x37 "Rodeo Rumpus" "Desert Danger" "Super Car" "The Sinister Stinger"	May 18, 1968
1x38 "Bad Day at High Noon" "Magic Mix-Up" "Shock Treatment" "Tom All-Thumbs"	May 25, 1968
1x39 "Pinocchio's Double Trouble" "Private General Nuisance" "Starlight Starfright" "Trigger Tricks"	June 1, 1968

Cast

• Bud Abbott as himself
• Stan Irwin as Lou Costello

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.