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Abbott & Costello RARE Autographed Signed Business Check 1948

Sorry, this is sold out , but contact us for similar alternative we may have.
kevin@cvtreasures.com

Abbott & Costello
RARE Autographed Check
Abbott & Costello radio Show

 


Here is a highly scarce (first we've ever seen!) original signed business check from the Abbott & Costello Show. Signed by both Bud Abbott & Lou Costello. Plus, it has been made out TO and Signed AGAIN on the reverse by Lou Costello. This is an opportunity to own a rare piece of Vintage Hollywood from one of the greatest comedy teams in entertainment history.  This extraordinary piece has been in my private collection for over 20 years.  So with great reluctance, I am offering it here for another fortunate collector to own and enjoy. .

This document has historical significance for a number of reasons.  First, Note the date of the check, January 28, 1948.  This was the exact time Bud and Lou began filming their most important movie , "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein".  Also, it is one of the ONLY known examples in existence.  You will not find one currently or in the past ever being sold on eBay and if you Google "Abbott Costello check" you will not see any (except ours).  We know of only one other that sold by a major auction house about six years ago.  This is a large size business check measuring 8" long.

Note:  If you have never read the Wiki page about the history behind "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein", you're missing a real treat!    (we have the "A&C Meet Frankenstein" Original one sheet movie poster in our A&C Collection on this website).  See below under Also Recommended

Abbott & Costello Radio Show:
After working as Allen's summer replacement, Abbott and Costello joined Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy on The Chase and Sanborn Hour in 1941, while two of their films (Buck Privates and Hold That Ghost) were adapted for Lux Radio Theater. They launched their own weekly show October 8, 1942, sponsored by Camel cigarettes.

The Abbott and Costello Show mixed comedy with musical interludes (by vocalists such as Connie Haines, Ashley Eustis, the Delta Rhythm Boys, Skinnay Ennis, and the Les Baxter Singers). Regulars and semi-regulars on the show included Artie Auerbach ("Mr. Kitzel"), Elvia Allman, Iris Adrian, Mel Blanc, Wally Brown, Sharon Douglas, Verna Felton, Sidney Fields, Frank Nelson, Martha Wentworth, and Benay Venuta. Ken Niles was the show's longtime announcer, doubling as an exasperated foil to Abbott and Costello's mishaps (and often fuming in character as Costello routinely insulted his on-air wife). Niles was succeeded by Michael Roy, with announcing chores also handled over the years by Frank Bingman and Jim Doyle. The show went through several orchestras during its radio life, including those of Ennis, Charles Hoff, Matty Matlock, Matty Malneck, Jack Meakin, Will Osborne, Fred Rich, Leith Stevens, and Peter van Steeden. The show's writers included Howard Harris, Hal Fimberg, Parke Levy, Don Prindle, Eddie Cherkose (later known as Eddie Maxwell), Leonard B. Stern, Martin Ragaway, Paul Conlan, and Eddie Forman, as well as producer Martin Gosch. Sound effects were handled primarily by Floyd Caton. Guest stars were plentiful, including Frank Sinatra, The Andrews Sisters, and Lucille Ball.

In 1947 Abbott and Costello moved the show to ABC (the former NBC Blue Network). During their time on ABC, the duo also hosted a 30-minute children's radio program (The Abbott and Costello Children's Show), which aired Saturday mornings, featuring child vocalist Anna Mae Slaughter and child announcer Johnny McGovern.

BIO : Early Years:
Bud Abbott (1895–1974) was a veteran burlesque entertainer from a show business family. He worked at Coney Island and ran his own burlesque touring companies. At first he worked as a straight man to his wife Betty, then with veteran burlesque comedians like Harry Steppe and Harry Evanson. When he met his future partner in comedy, Abbott was performing in Minsky's Burlesque shows.

Lou Costello (1906–1959) had been a burlesque comic since 1930 after failing to break into movie acting and working as a stunt double and film extra. He appears briefly in the 1927 Laurel and Hardy silent two-reeler, The Battle of the Century, seated at ringside during Stan's ill-fated boxing match. As a teenager, Costello had been an amateur boxer in his hometown of Paterson, New Jersey.

The two men first worked together in 1935 at the Eltinge Burlesque Theater on 42nd Street[1]—now the lobby of the AMC Empire movie complex in New York City. This first performance occurred due to Costello's regular partner being ill. When AMC moved the old theater 168 ft (51 m) west on 42nd Street to its current location, giant balloons of Abbott and Costello were rigged to appear to pull it.

Other performers in the show, including Abbott's wife Betty, advised a permanent pairing. The duo built an act by refining and reworking numerous burlesque sketches into the long-familiar presence of Abbott as the devious straight man and Costello as the stumbling, dimwitted laugh-getter.


 



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