Evening star., 1941-09-28


with Abbott and the two played in the Minsky
Brothers burlesque theater on New York's
Forty second Street for four continuous sea-
sons.
Bud and Lou have their memories of bur
lesque. There was the time in Montreal when
Lou, who almost never drinks, imbibed too
much Canadian ale.
I'm in foreign country" says Lou apollo
getically. The beers terrific. remember l
was in place called the Counts have eight
bottles. see? My head goes loose, and start
back to the hotel meet a milk wagon The
driver is somewhere delivering his Grade A.
Hi ya,' says to the horse. Come on up to
the hotel So unhitches him. gets him to the
hotel into the lobby, up some of the steps
and -"
Here Bud cuts in: I'm upstairs and hear
all the racket. could hear Costello arguing
l goes down and there's the horse and Lou,
four policemen, the milkman and the hotel
clerk. Everyone but the horse is talking"
Here Lou takes up the yarn. The Judge
was nice next morning" he went on. Il tells
him how unfamiliar l am with ale and that
i
bed. Dumb animals is my weakness. tell
him. The judge gets queer look in his eyes,
coughs, says, Sentence suspended, and Or
ders the milkman. who is getting argumenta-
tive, out of the court ROOM"
had been warned that Lou likes to give
unsuspecting folks the hot foot In case you
are unfamiliar with the hot foot, it's done
A &c into cola & ta
unobserving victims shoe, then quietly ig-
nited When the fame reaches the leather
there's a warm reaction.
There was the episode at meeting of the
Stagehands' Club in St. Louis. They pointed
out victim to Lou, bet him he couldn't hot
foot the fellow. Let Lou tell it: Il take the
bet, crawl in brand new suit under lot of
tables, hot-foot the guy. But never move
out of him, not even twitch of muscle.
I'm mortified - and out ten-buck bet -
when they tell me the secret: the guy has
wooden leg"
You readily can see that the lads have
quaint sense of humor. can only report that
they didn't succeed in hot-footing me. They're
still a little in awe of the press That will pass
in time, of course.
Two Busy Guys
AFTER their discovery by Ted Collins, Billy
Rose signed them for his Broadway revue.
Streets of Paris. For time they appeared
in this show, on the Kate Smith radio hour,
and in the after -theater revue at the Versailles
night club Even did flock of benefits"
adds Bud.
Universal signed them in 1899. first put
them in One Night in the Tropics" then in
Buck Privates," In the Navy" and Hold
That Ghost" When l talked with them dur
ing their recent quick visit in New York. they
we're about to start making Ride EN-. Cow
boy" with Keep EN- Flying" slated after
that.
Lou was a bit troubled about Ride EN-,
Cowboy" I've never been on horse" he
sighed. They'll have to get stunt man to
double for me. A stunt man for an ex-stunt
man. Amt that somethin'"
asked Bud and Lou where they got
their material. A man named John Grant,
it seems, puts it into form for them, but the
skits all date back to their burlesque days.
I'VE have twenty-seven thousand scenes
all waitin' to be done again" says Bud
"Twenty-eight thousand" oorects Lou
Suppose we use forty or fifty year - that
ought to last us ten years, anyway"
Watch your arithmetic" cautions Bud.
Abbott and Costello met their literary