Trivially Speaking: When Abbott and Costello met movie monsters – Loveland Reporter-Herald

Let me state that Im not a fan of the current genre of horror movies splashed with gore (although I did vote for Al Gore). I am not entertained by a group of teenagers hiding behind chain saws waiting for a homicidal maniac.

If you are a fan of that kind of movie better skip this because Im writing of the scariest motion picture I ever saw at age 9. I think my father took me, perhaps because of the humor; the American Film Institute named this movie number 56 on its list of 100 Funniest American Movies.

Yeah, I guess it had its funny moments but when youre 9 years old, monsters scare the Dickens out of you.

This 83-minute creation of Universal Pictures featured three of the most frightening monsters of the period.

To a kid of that age Frankenstein (a misnomer), Dracula and the Wolfman were the worst you checked under your bed for (and hoped never to find).

The occasion for all three to come together was to meet Lou Abbott and Bud Costello and the movie was appropriately titled Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.

The original title for the picture was The Brain of Frankenstein but it was changed during filming to make it appear less of a horror movie and to capitalize on Abbott and Costellos marquee value. Abbott and Costello were one of the funniest comedy teams of all time and certainly of the 1940s and early 1950s.

The movie begins with Chick Young (Bud) and Wilbur Grey (Lou) as baggage clerks at a Florida Railway station.

Bud receives an urgent phone call from London long-distance international phone calls were very expensive in those days so you knew this was serious.

The caller warned of the danger of an incoming shipment for McDougals House of Horrors, a local wax museum. The shipment supposedly contains the remains of the Frankenstein monster and Count Dracula.

This is strange in itself as the caller is Lawrence Talbot who (under the influence of a full moon) transforms into the Wolfman and destroys his hotel room while on the phone to Wilbur.

Wilbur thinks its a prank call and ignores the warning. Well, that leads into all kinds of complications when Wilbur mishandles the crates on arrival.

McDougal cant deal with that and insists the boys deliver them to his museum for inspection by his insurance agent.

Oops, they open the first crate (Dracs coffin) then Chick leaves the room to retrieve the second crate.

Big mistake!

Wilbur begins to read aloud the legend of Dracula from an exhibit card. As he reads, the coffin slowly creaks open.

Wilbur is so frightened that he results in helpless stuttering (as only Costello could do) as he tries to call Chick.

In the meantime (not back at the ranch) Dracula slips out into the darkness.

This is only the beginning of a series of encounters and close encounters (not of the Third Kind) with all three monsters as the duo attempts to corral the demons they have unleashed.

The monsters were all played by the actors who made them famous: Dracula Bela Lugosi, the Wolfman Lon Chaney and the Frankenstein Monster by Glenn Strange.

Each deserves a column by himself so thats just what well do in coming Trivially Speakings.

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Trivially Speaking: When Abbott and Costello met movie monsters - Loveland Reporter-Herald

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero