Long before the Reagans came to town, Mr. Dickerson brightened Merrywood parties with a sprinkling of Hollywood, inviting stars like Jack Benny and Kirk Douglas and others he had met as a young actor in Los Angeles after World War II. Mr. Dickerson himself had never been a star in Hollywood: He played uncredited walk-on parts in movies like "Without Reservations," which starred John Wayne and Claudette Colbert, and "Buck Privates Come Home," with Abbott and Costello.
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In 1941, the Abbott and Costello film Buck Privates played for a record 14 weeks.
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Keep 'Em Flying was re-released with Ride 'Em Cowboy in 1949, and with Buck Privates in 1953.
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Fisher's compositions have been featured in several albums. One of his compositions appeared in the 1947 film Buck Privates Come Home.
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Buck Privates Come Home is a 1947 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. It was released by Universal International and is a sequel to their 1941 hit, Buck Privates. This film marks the final role of veteran actor Nat Pendleton and the film debut of Russ Conway (in the role of an unnamed medic).
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Their next film was a haunted house comedy, Oh, Charlie!. However Buck Privates was so successful that the studio decided to delay its release so the team could hastily make and release a second service comedy, In The Navy (1941), co-starring crooner Dick Powell and the Andrews Sisters. This film initially out-grossed Buck Privates. Loew's Criterion in Manhattan was open until 5 a.m.
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Thus, in Argentine Nights and the sisters' next film, Buck Privates, the Andrews Sisters dance like the Ritz Brothers. Buck Privates, with Abbott and Costello, featured the Andrews Sisters' best-known song, "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.""Songs That Won The War Vol. 4 The Home Front" CD program notes by Edward Habib This Don Raye-Hughie Prince composition was nominated for Best Song at the 1941 Academy Awards ceremony.
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It was filmed from November 18, 1946, through January 23, 1947. It was originally budgeted at $1,167,500 but came in $34,500 over budget, making it the most expensive Abbott and Costello vehicle produced at Universal. The leads were paid $196,133.Furmanek p 147-148 Arthur T. Horman, the writer for the original movie, Buck Privates, wrote the first treatment for this sequel, titled The Return of the Buck Privates, but it was not used.
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The song is closely based on an earlier Raye-Prince hit, "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar," which is about a virtuoso boogie-woogie piano player.Palumbo, Ron. "Buck Privates: The Complete Filmscript." Bear Manor Media.
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After Buck Privates became a huge hit, the studio rushed Abbott and Costello into a second service comedy. In the Navy was filmed from April 8, 1941 through May 9, 1941.Furmanek, Bob and Ron Palumbo (1991). Abbott and Costello in Hollywood.
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Abbott and Costello's Buck Privates (1941) was successful in America, leading to many further wartime comedies. Screenwriter Eric R. Williams contends that labels such as comedy or drama are too broad to be considered a sub-genre. In his screenwriters' taxonomy, Williams categorizes them as a “film type”.
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The team's breakthrough picture, however, was Buck Privates, released early in 1941. They immediately became the No. 3 Box Office Stars of 1941. After working as regulars on the Edgar Bergen-Charlie McCarthy radio program in 1941–42, they launched their own show The Abbott and Costello Show, in October 1942.
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"It was more or less straight comedy." As the film was nearing completion, Buck Privates became one of Universal's all-time biggest hits. Oh, Charlie's release was delayed so that the studio could hastily make and release a second Abbott and Costello service comedy, In the Navy.Furmanek, Bob and Ron Palumbo (1991).
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Calendar p. 1. Gary Arnold of The Washington Post called it "a peculiarly unappealing throwback to the traditional service comedies like 'Buck Privates,' 'Caught in the Draft,' 'See Here, Private Hargrove,' et al.," with an "aimless screenplay" that leaves Hawn's character "less likable than the one at the beginning."Arnold, Gary (October 10, 1980).
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Other notable films in which he appeared include: Two Against the World (1936), starring Humphrey Bogart; the Abbott and Costello vehicle, Buck Privates (1941); Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), starring Robert Montgomery, Evelyn Keyes, and Claude Rains; Howard Hawk's 1941 classic, Sergeant York, starring Gary Cooper; and The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944), starring Fredric March.
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In the Navy is a 1941 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. It was the second service comedy based on the peacetime draft of 1940. The comedy team appeared in two other service comedies in 1941, before the United States entered the war: Buck Privates released in January and Keep 'Em Flying released in November.
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Among the oldest military comedies in film are the Flagg and Quirt films. Comedy films about World War II include Buck Privates (1941), Stalag 17 (1953), Mr. Roberts (1955), Kelly's Heroes (1970) and Catch-22 (1970). The film Forrest Gump (1994) offers a glimpse of military humor when portraying Gump as a soldier in training and later fighting in Vietnam.
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He was one of the romantic leads in Abbott and Costello's first hit film Buck Privates (1941) and played composer Franz Schubert in The Great Awakening (1941). His chance for leading-man stardom came when he replaced the unwilling John Garfield in the production Flesh and Fantasy (1943). Curtis played a ruthless killer opposite Gloria Jean. However, the studio cut their performances from the final film version.
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Hold that Ghost (working title: Oh, Charlie) was made immediately after Buck Privates, from January 21 through February 24, 1941, on a budget of $190,000. The original screenplay opened with Chuck and Ferdie working at their gas station and featured many scenes of Mattson's gang planning or attempting to scare the boys out of the tavern.Palumbo, Ron (2018). Hold That Ghost: The Original Filmscript MagicImage Filmscript Series.
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Buck Privates is a 1928 American silent comedy film directed by Melville W. Brown and starring Lya De Putti, Malcolm McGregor and Zasu Pitts.Munden p.96 Two American soldiers serving as part of the Allied Occupation Forces in Germany after World War I fall in love with the daughter of the local mayor and engage in a series of battles to win her heart.
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While stationed in Burma, buck privates Jerry Miles and Mike Strager are assigned to kitchen duty when they end up captured and taken to a prisoner-of-war camp with other soldiers, including Sgt. Burke, a man they know well. The three escape and encounter two stranded American women, Connie and Janie, along the way. A clever ruse causes a company of Japanese soldiers pursuing them to plunge off a cliff.
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Keep 'Em Flying (aka Up in the Air) is a 1941 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello.Farmer 1984, p. 307. The film was their third service comedy based on the peacetime draft of 1940. The comedy team had appeared in two previous service comedies in 1941, before the United States entered the war: Buck Privates, released in January, and In the Navy, released in May.
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Both actors were under contract with RKO Radio Pictures. The two actors appeared in three films in 1943 when RKO decided to team them together as their answer to Abbott and Costello. Brown and Carney's first film as a team was Adventures of a Rookie, which has some similarities to Abbott and Costello's 1941 film Buck Privates. RKO Pictures sent Brown and Carney on a vaudeville tour together in 1944.
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From the 1930s to the 1960s in the United States, male comedy duos often appeared in buddy films. Laurel and Hardy and Abbott and Costello were popular in the 1930s and 1940s. Laurel and Hardy starred in films like Sons of the Desert (1933), and Abbott and Costello starred in films like Buck Privates (1941). Another comedy duo was Wheeler & Woolsey, who starred in Half Shot at Sunrise (1930).
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In 1940, Universal Studios signed them for a musical, One Night in the Tropics. Cast in supporting roles, they stole the show with several classic routines, including the "Who's on First?" routine. Universal signed them to a two-picture contract. Their second film, Buck Privates (1941), directed by Arthur Lubin and co-starring The Andrews Sisters, was a massive hit, earning $4 million at the box office and launching Abbott and Costello as stars.
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The sisters performed their hits in service comedy films like Buck Privates and Private Buckaroo. During the war, they entertained the Allied forces extensively in Africa, and Italy, as well as in the U.S., visiting Army, Navy, Marine, and Coast Guard bases, war zones, hospitals, and munitions factories.Andrews, Maxene and Bill Gilbert. Over Here, Over There: The Andrews Sisters and the USO Stars in World War II. New York: Kensington Publishing Corp, 1993.
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Comedies portrayed military themes such as service, civil defense, boot-camp and shore-leave. Abbott and Costello became a popular comedy duo who appeared in films, such as "Buck Privates." The war-time restrictions on travel made this a boom time for Hollywood, and nearly a quarter of the money spent on attending movies. The post-war period was an age of reflection on the war, and the emergence of a competing medium, the television.
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Rookies on Parade is a 1941 Republic Pictures musical–comedy film that was the studios entry into the pre-World War II Army comedy genre. The Army technical advisor was Captain Jack Voglin who performed the same duty on the 1941 films You're in the Army Now, You'll Never Get Rich, and Buck Privates. The film was directed by Joseph Santley. Bob Crosby, Ruth Terry, Eddie Foy Jr., and Marie Wilson star.
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At the climax, another faction of Mattson's gang who had escaped from prison arrives and the rival groups fight over the loot, which turns out to be counterfeit. The state police, who had picked up the wildcat bus driver, arrive and arrest the gang members. Chuck and Ferdie are still able to open a resort based on the therapeutic properties of the well water."Palumbo; 2018" Lubin said the film "had more of a plot" than Buck Privates.
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He can be seen as well in recurring roles in two MGM film series from the 1930s and 1940s. He is Joe Wayman, the ambulance driver, in Dr. Kildare and in its spin-off series Dr. Gillespie. He also portrays New York police lieutenant John Guild in The Thin Man series. The former wrestler's final screen appearances are the 1947 releases Scared to Death with Bela Lugosi and Buck Privates Come Home starring Abbott and Costello.
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This may have been a result of the tensions between them, plus the fact that their most recent films had not performed as well at the box office. Abbott resolved the rift when he suggested naming Costello's pet charity, a foundation for underprivileged children, the "Lou Costello Jr. Youth Foundation." The facility opened in 1947 and still serves the Boyle Heights district of Los Angeles. Abbott and Costello reunited as a team in Buck Privates Come Home (1947), a sequel to their 1941 hit.
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Privates (PV2) rank insignia are sometimes called "Mosquito Wings" (from the appearance of the single chevron). Privates are called "Buck Privates" because they are the lowest rank of private. An E-1 Private may be referred to as "E-Nothing", or "PV-Nothing" (as opposed to PV2, the next rank) due to their lack of rank insignia. E-1 Privates were also called a "Fuzzy" or "E-Fuzzy" during the War on Terror era due to the bare velcro patch-holders on the Army Combat Uniform (ACU).
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After the war, he joined Universal Pictures and his first production was the successful Buck Privates Come Home (1947) starring Abbott and Costello. He produced five further films for Abbott and Costello - The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947), Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), Mexican Hayride (1948), Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949) and Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950). He produced the first of the popular Francis the Talking Mule film series in 1950 as well as the last, Francis in the Haunted House (1956). He also wrote the story for Francis Goes to the Races.
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"Who's on First?" was first performed for a national radio audience the following month. They performed on the program as regulars for two years, while also landing roles in a Broadway revue, The Streets of Paris, in 1939. Abbott and Costello on radio (note Abbott without toupee normally worn in films) After debuting their own program, The Abbott and Costello Show, as Fred Allen's summer replacement in 1940, Abbott and Costello joined Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy on The Chase and Sanborn Hour in 1941. Two of their films (Buck Privates and Hold That Ghost) were adapted for Lux Radio Theater that year.
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In 1940, she signed a contract with Universal Studios, playing bit parts and minor roles in features (she is seen briefly in Abbott and Costello's Buck Privates) and serials (again briefly, in Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe and The Green Hornet Strikes Again). Brooks was awarded with her first leading role in a feature film, playing Laura in the adventure thriller The Devil's Pipeline in 1940. Her performance was not well received: Variety described her as "flat." Universal still saw her potential, and gave her the feminine lead in the all-star western serial Riders of Death Valley.
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In addition to Stewart and Dietrich, Margaret Sullavan, and Bing Crosby were two of the major names that made a couple of pictures for Universal during this period. Some stars came from radio, including Edgar Bergen, W. C. Fields, and the comedy team of Abbott and Costello (Bud Abbott and Lou Costello). Abbott and Costello's military comedy Buck Privates (1941) gave the former burlesque comedians a national and international profile. During the war years Universal did have a co-production arrangement with producer Walter Wanger and his partner, director Fritz Lang, lending the studio some amount of prestige productions.
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From 1946 on, he was a principal director of the Abbott and Costello comedies, such as The Time of Their Lives, Buck Privates Come Home, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, and Africa Screams. He later directed Walt Disney films such as The Shaggy Dog and Toby Tyler. His extensive career directing on television included every episode of Amos 'n' Andy in the 1950s, a total of 90 episodes of Dennis the Menace in the 1960s, and 106 episodes of Family Affair from 1967 to 1971. One obituary said he directed 580 television episodes, 70 feature films and dozens of commercials.
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After completing the comedy short An Hour For Lunch, in 1939, Lees and Rinaldo moved on to feature-length films with the 1940 drama, Street Of Memories. The pair worked on the sci-fi/horror films, The Invisible Woman and The Black Cat. In 1941, they wrote their first comedy for Abbott and Costello entitled, Hold That Ghost. In the following years, Lees and Rinaldo would go on to write six more movies for the comedy duo, namely, Hit the Ice, Buck Privates Come Home, The Wistful Widow Of Wagon Gap, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, and Comin' Round the Mountain (1951).
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Jane, age six, and her 12-year-old sister Ruth (1909–2001) formed a singing vaudeville act known as The Frazee Sisters.The New York Times Biography of Jane Frazee The act broke up in 1940, when Jane landed a leading role in the B film Melody and Moonlight (1940) for Republic Pictures. Shortly after the film's release she was signed by Universal Pictures and was featured in Buck Privates, the high-grossing 1941 comedy/World War II film starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. The strong impression she made in that film elevated her to leading-lady roles in Universal's popular "B" musicals, usually appearing opposite Robert Paige.
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AllMovie Guide profile/New York Times He was occasionally billed as Joseph I. Kirk, the "I" standing for his birth-name, Ignazio. Through his marriage to Marie Cristillo, the sister of Lou Costello, Kirk secured steady appearances (albeit in small roles) in Abbott and Costello films. His more prominent parts included the pet shop owner in Rio Rita (1942), Honest Dan the Bookie in Here Come the Co-Eds (1946), the shady real estate agent in Buck Privates Come Home (1947), an uncredited bystander in "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" (1948) and Dr. Orvilla in Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953).Mulholland, Jim.
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Keep 'Em Flying has been released twice on DVD. The first time, on The Best of Abbott and Costello Volume One, on February 10, 2004,"The Best of Abbott & Costello, Vol. 1 (Buck Privates / Hold That Ghost / In the Navy / Keep 'Em Flying / One Night in the Tropics / Pardon My Sarong / Ride 'Em Cowboy / Who Done It?): Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Moe Howard, Larry Fine, Richard Carlson, Joan Davis, Mischa Auer, Evelyn Ankers, Marc Lawrence, Shemp Howard, Russell Hicks, William B. Davidson, A. Edward Sutherland, Arthur Lubin, Charles Barton, Edward Bernds, Erle C. Kenton, Arthur T. Horman, Bradford Ropes, Charles Grayson: Movies & TV." Amazon.
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Abbott and Costello's first starring film for Universal pictures, "Buck Privates," was designed to capitalize on the recent Peacetime Draft. The studio added the Andrews Sisters, who were also under contract at the studio, for musical relief, and hired Don Raye and Hughie Prince to compose songs for the film. (The sisters also performed songs written by others in the film.) Raye and Prince had previously composed the hits “Rhumboogie” and “Beat Me, Daddy, Eight to the Bar” for the Andrews Sisters. The songwriters turned in "You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith," "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," and "Bounce Me Brother, With a Solid Four," while also composing a novelty tune, "When Private Brown Becomes a Captain", for Lou Costello.
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Hinds is perhaps best remembered for playing Peter Bailey, the father of James Stewart and founder of the Bailey Building and Loan, in It's a Wonderful Life (1946) and for his part as Paul Sycamore in You Can't Take It With You (1938), both films directed by Frank Capra. Hinds was also known for his roles in the Abbott & Costello films such as Buck Privates (1941), Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942) and Pardon My Sarong (1942). He also portrayed Lew Ayres' father in the Dr. Kildare film series during the early 1940s. Hinds mostly played supporting roles, often kind and dignified authority figures; often lawyers, doctors, mayors, judges or the father of the main figure.
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From 1940 to 1957 Schoen lived in Los Angeles and throughout those years was music director in residence for Decca Records, Kapp Records, RCA Records, Liberty Records, and Mainstream Records. He was musical director for Universal Pictures for three years, Paramount Pictures for four years, and was with ABC, NBC, and CBS for eleven years. Schoen arranged songs for many of the Andrews Sisters movies and Abbott and Costello comedies including Argentine Nights (1940), Buck Privates (1941), In the Navy (1941), Hold That Ghost (1941), What's Cookin'? (1942), Private Buckaroo (1942), Give Out, Sisters (1942), How's About It (1943), Always a Bridesmaid (1943), Swingtime Johnny (1943), Moonlight and Cactus (1944), Follow the Boys (1944), Hollywood Canteen (1944), Her Lucky Night (1945), and Make Mine Music (1946).
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By the mid-1920s, Greta had appeared opposite Joseph Schildkraut in a Los Angeles production of From Hell Came a Lady.1920 Federal Census, Fruitvale, Sunnyvale Township, Santa Clara, California One of her early film appearances was in a small role in Buck Privates (1928), with Hungarian film actress Lya de Putti, and made her sound debut in The Last Performance (1929). She continued to play mainly bit parts some of which were memorable. She appeared as Beulah Bondi's daughter in the crime drama Street Scene (1931) and as Margo's friend in Crime Without Passion (1934).Hollywood Friends website While in New York City, Greta appeared in three Broadway plays, the short-lived Tomorrow's Harvest (four performances, opened December 4, 1934 at the 49th St. Theatre), and the longer-running If a Body (45 performances, opening April 30, 1935 at the Biltmore Theatre).
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Among these were: Buck Privates (1941), the first film starring the comedy duo of Abbott and Costello; 1943's Du Barry Was a Lady, starring Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, and Gene Kelly; Orson Welles and Joan Fontaine in the 1944 version of Jane Eyre; the 1945 film The Picture of Dorian Gray, with George Sanders, Donna Reed, Angela Lansbury, and Peter Lawford; and the 1949 comedy A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, starring Bing Crosby and Rhonda Fleming. The last film Coleman would work on was the Gene Autry vehicle, The Blazing Sun, which was released in November 1950. Double Dynamite, starring Jane Russell, Groucho Marx, and Frank Sinatra, would be the final film released in which he would appear, which would premiere in New York City on Christmas Day 1951. Coleman had worked on the film in 1948, but it was shelved for several years by Howard Hughes, and not released until after Coleman's death.
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It was Universal's second film featuring the young actors, who would become better known as The Bowery Boys. That same year he would co-write (this time with Robert Lee Johnson) another screenplay featuring the Bowery Boys, Give Us Wings, directed by Charles Lamont. Other notable films on which he worked during the early 1940s include: the original screenplay for very successful Buck Privates, a 1940 slapstick comedy starring Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, and which turned them into legitimate movie stars; the original screenplay for another Abbott and Costello vehicle, also in 1941, In the Navy, which also stars Dick Powell; one of a team of screenwriters for the 1941 musical comedy, Navy Blues, which stars Ann Sheridan, Jack Oakie, Jack Haley, and Martha Raye; one of three screenwriters for the 1942 war film, Captains of the Clouds, starring James Cagney and Dennis Morgan, and directed by Michael Curtiz; and the original screenplay for Raoul Walsh's 1942 Academy Award nominated Desperate Journey, starring Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan. In 1943, according to the American Film Institute database, Horman made contributions to the screenplay for the Howard Hawks' film Air Force.
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He returned to the screen with a featured role in the 1930 melodrama, Swing High, starring Helen Twelvetrees. His more notable performances and roles include: the first talking version of the film Kismet (1930), starring Otis Skinner and Loretta Young; a featured role in 1934's Little Miss Marker, starring Shirley Temple and Adolphe Menjou; Michael Curtiz's Kid Galahad (1937), starring Edward G. Robinson, Bette Davis, and Humphrey Bogart; the Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn romantic comedy Woman of the Year (1942); the classic biopic The Pride of the Yankees (1943), starring Gary Cooper and Teresa Wright; another 1943 biographical film, Yankee Doodle Dandy, starring James Cagney; the Abbott and Costello comedy Buck Privates Come Home (1947); and the last film to be released in which he appeared was 1952's Somebody Loves Me, starring Betty Hutton and Ralph Meeker, which was released several months after Sheehan's death. While Somebody Loves Me was his last film to be released, the last film which Sheehan worked on was the 1952 Tracy and Hepburn romantic comedy Pat and Mike. Production on Pat and Mike was in early 1952, and it was released in June of that year, four months after Sheehan died.
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