Trivia / Abbott and Costello

• Acting for Two: In Little Giant, Bud Abbott plays the cousins John Mortimer and Tom Chandler. He also appears uncredited as their grandmother.
• Corpsing: It's possible to hear the crew failing to stifle laughter during the "Who's on First" routine in The Naughty Nineties.
• Hostility on the Set: To what level varies depending on accounts, but it was no secret that the duo had a rocky relationship in real life. This was especially evident in some of their 40s films where they barely appear onscreen together. Allegedly their final parting in 1957 was on amicable terms, and Bud visited Lou in the hospital before his death.
• Playing Against Type: They went through a rough period in their friendship in the mid-'40s that severely impacted their chemistry, resulting in two films, Little Giant and The Time of Their Lives, where they're simply part of an ensemble cast rather than working as a duo. In the latter Lou even suggested they could switch parts, though the director didn't go for it.
• Referenced by...: In Rain Man, Raymond stims when he's distressed by reciting the Who's on First? routine to himself despite not getting the joke. Late into the film, Charlie gifts him a videotape of Abbot and Costello routines that includes "Who's on First?"
• Sequel Gap: The duo's film Buck Privates had a sequel, Buck Privates Come Home, released in 1947 — six years after the first film's release in 1941.
• Troubled Production: An extremely tragic aversion occurred during the duo's NBC radio act in 1943. While rehearsing for the upcoming act (their first show since Lou Costello's leave from rheumatic fever), Lou was called back home. The likes of Mickey Rooney and Bob Hope all offered to fill in for Costello in his absence, but he returned on time and performed the show near flawlessly before leaving the stage weeping. Bud Abbott empathetically told the crowd that earlier that day, Lou's infant son Lou Jr "Butch" had passed away and praised his co-star for taking the old phrase "the show must go on" to such a steadfast level (Lou had promised Butch he'd hear his voice on radio before the incident and was adamant he still would wherever he was).
• Write What You Know: In Africa Screams, there's a scene where Joe Besser keeps running in and out of his tent with a glass of water; when asked by Abbott and Costello what he's doing, Besser explains the tent is on fire. This was based on a real-life event with the film's co-star Max Baer. As a little boy, Baer accidentally set his bed on fire and kept running to the kitchen for water to put the fire out. He finally admitted what happened to his father when asked what he was doing!

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