Hollywood Photo Archive - Abbott & Costello - German - Meet Frankenstein
{"Image ImageWidth": "7500", "Image ImageLength": "10314", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image ImageDescription": "Born William Abbott in New Jersey on October 2, 1895 (some sources cite 1897), Bud Abbott was born into show business, as his parents worked for the Barnum & Bailey Circus. As a juvenile he dropped out of school and worked in carnivals. As he matured into a young man, Abbott worked the vaudeville circuit as a 'straight man' for various comics; after his marriage to wife Betty in 1918, Abbott also worked as a theatre manager to make ends meet. He was in his mid 30s by the time he first teamed with Lou Costello, whose straight man had taken ill. Abbott, working as a box office manager at the time, filled in for the ailing performer. The two became friends, but it would take about five more years for Abbott and Costello to officially become a team, which they finally did in 1936.\n\nLou Costello was born Louis Francis Cristillo on March 6, 1906, in New Jersey. Standing only 5'3\" but very athletic, Costello went to Hollywood as a young man in the 1920s to break into films. However, he could only secure work as a stuntman and in bit parts. Feeling defeated, he went back east in the late 1920s and entered burlesque. After his initial meeting with Bud Abbott, the duo developed an instant rapport. They honed their act in vaudeville and burlesque houses; since the act was becoming successful so quickly, they soon found themselves ascending to greater heights. Comedian Henny Youngman, who was a great fan of theirs, pulled some strings and got them a one-time booking on a 1938 episode of the Kate Smith Radio Hour, one of the most popular radio programs at the time. The team proved to be such a hit with audiences that they returned to the show numerous times, eventually doing their famous \"Who's On First?\" routine. Several studio executives took notice of Abbott and Costello's growing popularity, but Universal Studios, known at the time for its horror films, made the best offer, so the team signed a contact with the studio in 1939.", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CC 2018 (Windows)", "Image DateTime": "2018:10:01 11:40:29", "Image Artist": "Colin Slater", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image Copyright": "Hollywood Photo Archive", "Image ExifOffset": "2272", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2434", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10339", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF SubSecTime": "531", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "7500", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "10314"}