Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries Read online

  John Aasen

  Born 1887

  Died August 1, 1938

  Giant among men. Norwegian-born Aasen stood 7́ 2˝ and so not surprisingly worked for a time as a circus giant. He even played a circus giant in Growing Pains (1928). His best-known film appearances were playing as Colosso opposite Harold Lloyd in Why Worry? (1923) and with Laurel & Hardy in Should Married Men Go Home? (1928) in which he played a giant golfer.

  CAUSE: Like many of extreme growth, Aasen suffered from poor health. He died in Mendocino, California aged 51.

  Abbott & Costello

  (WILLIAM ALEXANDER ABBOTT)

  Born October 2, 1895

  Died April 24, 1974

  (LOUIS FRANCIS CRISTILLO)

  Born March 6, 1906

  Died March 3, 1959

  The poor man’s Laurel & Hardy. Unlike Stan and Ollie, tall, thin Bud Abbott and short (5́ 5˝), fat Lou Costello were never great friends and Costello, for a time, wanted his name to come first in their billing. (Universal Studios refused to countenance the change to Costello & Abbott.) He also insisted on, and got, 60% of the money earned by the pair. Both had hair loss problems, as producer Sheldon Leonard revealed: “Bud wore a toupée and Lou used to blacken his scalp because his hair was very thin – unlike the rest of him.” Bud Abbott was born in Asbury Park, New Jersey, the son of the Lutheran Harry Abbott, Sr, a publicity man for Barnum & Bailey’s Circus, and Jewish Rae Fisher, a bareback rider for the same outfit. Not long after their son’s birth the Abbotts left the circus and moved to Coney Island where Harry Abbott set about organising the first burlesque touring circuit. In 1911 young Bud became an assistant treasurer of the Casino Burlesque theatre in Brooklyn where he was to meet dancer Betty Smith (née Jenny Mae Pratt). They married in Alexandria, Virginia, on September 17, 1918, and had a very happy marriage. They adopted two children – Frank James in 1944, and Rae Victoria five years later. Abbott would often watch acts from the wings critiquing them until his wife could stand it no more and insisted he give it a go himself. She became the comedian to his straight man – as Bud & Betty Abbott – but quickly found herself pushed to one side after a number of other successful comics expressed an interest in standing at Bud’s side. In 1936 he was partnering Harry Evanson at the Eltinge Theater on New York’s West 42nd Street. Also on the bill was another double act – Joe Lyons and Lou Costello. It wasn’t the first time the two men had met (that date is lost in the mists of time) but it was the first time they were able to become properly acquainted. Lou Costello was born at 14 Madison Street, Paterson, New Jersey, the younger son of three children. The family originally hailed from Caserta, Italy, and Costello’s grandfather was the local chief of police; one of his aunts joined a closed order. His father, Sebastian Cristillo, considered the priesthood at one point, but instead chose to emigrate to New Jersey in 1898. From the age of four Lou wanted to go into show business and bunked off school to go to the pictures, much to his father’s annoyance. Lou’s admiration for Charlie Chaplin encouraged him to become a comedian rather than a straight actor. In fact, one Halloween he won a prize for his impersonation of Chaplin. Like many entertainers before and since, Lou didn’t excel academically at school, although he was skilled at baseball, basketball and boxing. He would often find himself in detention, having to write “I’m a bad boy” over and over on the blackboard. It was a phrase that would return later in his life as a performer. In 1927 he set out for Hollywood, hitchhiking along the way. Arriving in Tinseltown, Lou landed a job as a general handyman at MGM, sleeping in cars until he had enough money to rent a flat. When he did find somewhere he lived on bread and jam for a month so he could afford to have the gas and electricity switched on. His first appearance before the cameras was as a stunt double for Dolores Del Rio in Trails Of ’98 (1928) after the real stuntman failed to show. He appeared in several other films before being advised to go to New York and learn his trade, advice he followed. However, his money ran out in St Joseph, Missouri, and he landed a job as a comic at a burlesque theatre paying $16 a week. After a year he headed for New York, by now calling himself Lou Costello. He began working burlesque theatres in New York and met a Glasgow-born dancer called Anne Battler whom he married in Boston on January 30, 1934. Like the Abbotts, the Costellos were to have a very happy marriage. They were to have four children: Patricia Ann ‘Paddy’ (b. Providence, Rhode Island, September 28, 1936); Carole Lou (b. Providence, Rhode Island, December 23, 1939); Louis Francis Jr, known as ‘Butch’ (b. Los Angeles, California, November 6, 1942, d. November 4, 1943 in a drowning accident) and Christine (b. Los Angeles, California, August 15, 1947). Abbott and Costello began working the burlesque circuit until the theatres were all closed on May 3, 1937, by order of New York Mayor LaGuardia who felt the houses gave the Big Apple a bad name. Moving to the Apollo Theater on 42nd Street, the pair perfected some of their most famous routines, including ‘Crazy House’, ‘The Lemon Bit’ and, best known of all, ‘Who’s On First’. In 1938 the duo began appearing on radio turning a ten-minute guest spot on the Kate Smith Show into a regular appearance for the next 18 months. When they left the show, Abbott & Costello were raking in $1,250 per week. In 1941 they landed their own show. Hollywood took note and MGM offered no less than $20,000 for a couple of guest slots in the big musicals. Costello refused, not wanting to play second fiddle to established names. While MGM decided whether or not to increase their offer, Universal jumped in and paid the pair $35,000 for what was to become their first feature, One Night In The Tropics (1940). The score for the film was written by Jerome Kern, who objected violently to the casting, but the final say was not his. The film starred Allan Jones and Nancy Kelly but it was Abbott & Costello who stole the movie. (Years later, Jones was furious when he saw a marquee advertising “Abbott & Costello in One Night In The Tropics ”.) It was the duo’s second film, Buck Privates (1941), that established them as stars – it also grossed over $10 million at the box office, the biggest return Universal had then seen. Universal signed them to a seven-year contract making four films a year on $50,000 per movie plus 10 per cent of the profits. In their first year, Abbott & Costello banked a cool $1 million. Buck Privates had the twosome enlist in the army and is generally regarded to be their best film. It was filmed in 20 days and cost $180,000 to make. (A sequel, Buck Privates Come Home, was made in 1947.) In 1942 Costello fell ill with rheumatic fever, necessitating a nine-month lay-off. On set, Costello laughed and joked with the crew while Abbott retired, alone, to his dressing room. He drank heavily and suffered from epilepsy. If an attack started when the pair were on stage, Costello would thump Abbott hard in the stomach in an attempt to stop the epilepsy. (Unknowing audiences laughed at what they presumed to be a slapstick routine.) Following the accidental death of his baby son (for which he held his wife responsible) those closest to Costello detected a change in him. The war years saw most of the pair’s best work, such as In The Navy (1941), Hold That Ghost (1941) and Pardon My Sarong (1942) although their rivalry continued to simmer just below the surface. (Interestingly, around this time they took out an insurance policy in case any member of the audience died laughing.) In 1945 they split up for the first time, over the fact that Abbott hired a maid formerly employed by the Costello family. Eventually, their manager, Eddie Sherman, reunited the pair after explaining that they would be sued for millions. Costello begrudgingly agreed to reform the partnership but for a very long time afterwards he only spoke to Abbott in front of the cameras. When Abbott bought a house, Costello bought a larger one and when Abbott had a swimming pool installed, Costello’s was exactly one foot longer and one foot wider. Both men were to run into problems over tax in later years, having been given poor financial advice when younger. The two became friendly again when Costello founded the Lou Costello, Jr Youth Foundation. In the late Forties and Fifties Abbott & Costello began making films for different studios and starring opposite established actors, many best known for their horror roles, viz: Boris Karloff (Abbott & Costello Meet The Kill
er, Boris Karloff [1949], Abbott & Costello Meet Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde [1953]), Charles Laughton (Abbott & Costello Meet Captain Kidd [1952]), Lon Chaney, Jr and Bela Lugosi (Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein [1948]), the Keystone Kops (Abbott & Costello Meet The Keystone Kops [1955]) and Marie Windsor (Abbott & Costello Meet The Mummy [1955]). On February 9, 1950, the McCarthy witch hunt for communists – real or imagined – began. Costello, a fervent Republican all his life, publicly supported the Wisconsin senator, believing there was a communist plot to take over the motion picture industry. He took petitions around the studios asking everyone he met to sign to confirm they were not communists or fellow travellers. John Grant, Abbott & Costello’s scriptwriter, refused to sign and never worked with them again. On December 5, 1952, the first episode of The Abbott & Costello Show aired, going on to become one of the most successful syndicated television shows in American history, despite being panned by the critics. Over two years, the boys made 52 episodes. On July 14, 1957, they finally split, Costello by now fed up by what he saw as the lack of recognition for comedians. He wanted to try more dramatic parts. It was said he was also disturbed by Abbott’s increasingly heavy drinking. Costello went on to make one more film The Thirty Foot Bride Of Candy Rock (1958) which bombed but, fortunately, wasn’t released until after his death. He made two appearances on television in dramatic roles. Following Costello’s death Abbott was pursued by the Internal Revenue Service to the tune of $750,000. He sold his home and his wife sold her furs and jewellery to help with his financial problems; moreover, Abbott also gave up his right to the profits of Abbott & Costello films. He even begged fans to donate 50¢ each to help him out, a plea that fell on mostly deaf ears. Another partnership, with pallid Costello imitator Candy Candido, failed to win him work and he suffered a stroke in 1964 that paralysed the left side of his body, though he recovered sufficiently to provide the vocals for Abbott & Costello cartoons. In 1972 he broke his hip and spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair. He once said of his former partner: “I never understood Lou. I never knew why he broke us up so suddenly.” To the public Abbott was polite and always ready with an autograph. Loyally, if not strictly accurately, he insisted: “We never had any arguments. Lou was the greatest.” In 1991 the duo were honoured in America with a commemorative stamp. Nine years later, in April 2000, FBI files were released that revealed that both men had been the subject of a ten-year Bureau investigation over allegations they were involved in “suspicious dealings with mobsters and prostitutes” and that both were regular customers of hardcore pornography, regularly buying “specially filmed loops from a ring of obscene motion picture operators in Hollywood”. CAUSE: Bud Abbott died of cancer, plagued by strokes and hip and leg fractures, at his home in Woodland Hills, California, aged 78. His ashes were scattered at sea. Lou Costello died of a heart attack in Doctors Hospital, Beverly Hills, three days before his 53rd birthday. He was buried, alongside his son, in Crypt B 1 Block 354 of the Main Mausoleum of Calvary Cemetery, 4201 Whittier Boulevard, Los Angeles 90023. Bud Abbott was one of the pallbearers. FURTHER READING: Lou’s On First – Chris Costello with Raymond Strait (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1981).

  Dorothy Abbott

  Born December 16, 1920

  Died December 15, 1968

  Tragic wannabe. Born in Missouri, Abbott was spotted in a nightclub and offered a contract by Paramount. She appeared, often uncredited, in 20 films, including A Virgin In Hollywood (1948) as Dorothy Sloan, Night Has A Thousand Eyes (1948), Take Me Out To The Ball Game (1949), My Favorite Spy (1951), Rebel Without A Cause (1955) as a nurse, Gunfight At The O.K. Corral (1957) and That Touch Of Mink (1962). She also appeared in Dragnet playing Sergeant Joe Friday’s girlfriend.

  CAUSE: Suicide. In a fit of depression over the break-up of her marriage to a former policeman, she killed herself in Los Angeles, California. She was just short of her 48th birthday.

  Gypsy Abbott

  Born January 31, 1895

  Died July 25, 1952

  Silent comedienne. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Gypsy Abbott began her career on stage aged eight and appeared with legends of the American theatre Minnie Maddern Fiske and Nat Goodwin. Work in vaudeville and repertory preceded her first films for Balboa Amusement Productions, an early film company that was operational between 1913 and April 1918 and run by H.M. Horkheimer and his brother Elwood. Abbott later moved to Mutual where she appeared opposite Crane Wilbur. In 1916 she became the face of Mutual’s Vogue comedies. Her films included: The Key To Yesterday (1914) as Mrs Marston, The Man Who Could Not Lose (1914) as Melissa, Beulah (1915), Who Pays? (1915), Vengeance Is Mine! (1916) as Marion Grey Loring, For Ten Thousand Bucks (1916), Some Liars (1916), Bungling Bill’s Dress Suit (1916), Her Luckless Scheme (1916), Going To The Dogs (1916), Rolling To Ruin (1916), Paste And Politics (1916), A Touch Of High Life (1916), Her Painted Pedigree (1916), Bungling Bill’s Bow-Wow (1916), Lost, Strayed Or Stolen (1916), With Or Without (1916), The Wicked City (1916), Shot In the Fracas (1916), Jealous Jolts (1916), A Lislebank (1917), A Circus Cyclone (1917), The Musical Marvel (1917), The Butcher’s Nightmare (1917), A Studio Stampede (1917), His Bogus Boast (1917), He Looked Crooked (1917) and Lorelei Of The Sea (1917) as Sea Lorelei. She was married to the 6́, Oscar-nominated director Henry King (b. Christiansburg, Virginia, January 24, 1886, d. Toluca Lake, California, June 29, 1982 of a heart attack).

  CAUSE: She died in Hollywood aged 57.

  John Abbott

  Born July 5, 1905

  Died May 24, 1996

  Reliable actor. Born in London, Abbott wanted to be an actor from early on, practising ‘faces’ in the mirror, but initially studied art, becoming a commercial artist. When an actor fell ill, Abbott found himself stepping in to perform in an amateur production, where he was spotted by Dame Sybil Thorndike who declared: “Now there’s a man who knows how to make an entrance.” Six years later, in 1936, he joined the Old Vic at the invitation of Tyrone Guthrie. The following year he made his film début in Mademoiselle Docteur (1937) opposite Claire Luce and Erich von Stroheim. He followed that up with The Return Of The Scarlet Pimpernel (1938), This Man Is News (1939) and The Saint In London (1939) as Count Stephen Duni. He made his first appearance on television in June 1937 in the BBC play The Harmfulness Of Tobacco. He spent the first year of World War II working in the British Embassy in Stockholm. Travelling via the Soviet Union to Canada he went to New York on holiday. On his last day in the States he landed a role in The Shanghai Gesture (1941) and stayed in America thereafter. He appeared in over 60 films, including Joan Of Paris (1942) playing an English spy, Mrs Miniver (1942) as Fred, Anna And The King Of Siam (1946) as Phya Phrom, Humoresque (1946) as Rozner, Madame Bovary (1949) as Mayor Tuvache, Omar Khayyam (1957) as Yusuf, Gigi (1958) as Manuel, Who’s Minding The Store? (1963) as Roberts and The Greatest Story Ever Told (1964) as Aben but believed his best work was as Frederic Fairlie in The Woman In White (1948). In 1950 playwright Tennessee Williams wrote the one-act play Auto-Da-Fé for Abbott.

  CAUSE: Natural causes. He died in Los Angeles, California, aged 90.

  Alfred Abel

  Born March 12, 1879

  Died December 12, 1937

  ‘The Lewis Stone of German pictures’, Alfred Abel was born in Leipzig, Germany. He worked in a number of jobs, including forest warden, designer and bank clerk, before he was discovered by Asta Nilsen and cast in Eine Venezianische Nacht (1913) playing Anselmus Aselmeyer. He was highly regarded in Germany in the years between the wars and also turned his hand to directing. He appeared in over 100 films, including Sodoms Ende (1913), Die Geschichte Der Stillen Mühle (1914), Peter Lump (1916), Lola Montez (1918), Die Dame, Der Teufel Und Die Probiermamsell (1918), Eine Junge Dame Aus Guter Familie (1919), Sappho (1921), Die Große Und Die Kleine Welt (1921), Dr Mabuse, Der Spieler (1922) as Graf Told, Der Bankraub Unter Den Linden (1925), Metropolis (1927) as John Fredersen, Rasputins Liebesabenteuer (1928) and Und Du Mein Schatz Fährst Mit (1937) as William Liners.

  CAUSE: He di
ed of natural causes in Berlin, Germany, aged 58.

  Walter Abel