Hanna Barbera ABBOTT & COSTELLO Animation Drawing 67

HANNA BARBERA STUDIOS

ABBOTT and COSTELLO

Original Animation TELEVISION SERIES 1967

 

Type: AWESOME Original Production Animation MODEL Drawing of WHALE and GIANT TERMITE from the 1967 HANNA BARBERA Animated TELEVISION SERIES

 

This is one of the original Production MODEL (Pencil Drawings) that was used to DESIGN THE ART that appeared under the camera during

the production filming of the original Television Commercial.

 

Size: 12 field 12.5 x 10.5

Type: . Vintage Hand Drawn Art

Condition: EXCELLENT

Featuring ABBOTT and COSTELLO Character

Date 1967

NOTES:

 

The Abbott and Costello Cartoon Show is an American half-hour animated series that aired in syndication from September 9, 1967 to June 1, 1968. Each of the 39 individual episodes consisted of four five-minute cartoons. [1] The cartoons were created jointly by Hanna-Barbera, RKO and Jomar Productions between 1965 and 1967. The series was syndicated by Gold Key Entertainment and King World Productions.

 

The primary feature of this cartoon series was the fact that Bud Abbott supplied the voice for his own character. (Because Lou Costello had died in 1959, his character's voice was performed by Stan Irwin.)

William (Bud) Abbott and Lou Costello (born Louis Francis Cristillo) performed together as Abbott and Costello, an American comedy duo whose work in radio, film and television made them the most popular comedy team during the 1940s and 50s. Thanks to the endurance of their most popular and influential routine, "Who's on First?"—whose rapid-fire word play and comprehension confusion set the preponderant framework for most of their best-known routines—the team is, as a result, featured in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. (Contrary to popular belief, however, the duo was not inducted into the Hall.)

 

 

The team's first known radio appearance was on The Kate Smith Hour in February, 1938. "Who's on First?" was first performed for a national radio audience the following month.[1] Abbott and Costello stayed on the program as regulars for two years, but the similarities between their New Jersey-accented voices made it difficult for listeners (as opposed to stage audiences) to tell them apart due to their rapid-fire repartee. The problem was solved by having Costello affect a high-pitched childish voice, and their remaining tenure on the Smith show was successful enough to get them roles in a Broadway revue "The Streets of Paris" in 1939.

 

In 1940 they were signed by Universal Studios for the film One Night in the Tropics. Cast in supporting roles, they stole the show with several classic routines, including "Who's on First?" The same year they were a summer replacement on radio for Fred Allen. Two years later, they had their own NBC show.

 

Universal signed them to a long-term contract, and their second film, Buck Privates, (1941) made them box-office stars. In most of their films, the plot was a framework for the two comics to reintroduce comedy routines they first performed on stage. Universal also added glitzy, gratuitous production numbers (a formula borrowed from the Marx Brothers comedies) featuring The Andrews Sisters, Ted Lewis and his Orchestra, Ella Fitzgerald, and other musical acts. They made 36 films together between 1940 and 1956. Abbott and Costello were among the most popular and highest-paid entertainers in the world during World War II. Other film successes included Hold That Ghost, Who Done It?, Pardon My Sarong, The Time of Their Lives, Buck Privates Come Home, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, and Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man.

 

In 1942, Abbott and Costello were the top box office draw with a reported take of $10 million. They would remain a top ten box office attraction until 1952.

 

In 1951, they moved to television as rotating hosts of The Colgate Comedy Hour. (Eddie Cantor and Martin and Lewis were among the others.) Each show was a live hour of vaudeville in front of a theater audience, revitalizing the comedians' performances and giving their old routines a new sparkle.

 

Beginning in 1952, a filmed half-hour series, The Abbott and Costello Show, appeared in syndication on local stations across the country. Loosely based on their radio series, the show cast the duo as unemployed wastrels. One of the show's running gags involved Abbott perpetually nagging Costello to get a job to pay their rent, while Abbott barely lifted a finger in that direction. The show featured Sidney Fields as their landlord, and Hillary Brooke as a friendly neighbor who sometimes got involved in the pair's schemes. Another semi-regular was Joe Besser as Stinky, a 40-year-old sissy dressed in a Little Lord Fauntleroy suit. Gordon Jones was Mike the cop, who always lost patience with Lou. The simple plotlines were often merely an excuse to recreate old comedy routines—including "Who's on First?" and other familiar set pieces—from their films and burlesque performances

 

 

Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. ( /ˌhænə bɑrˈbɛrə/) was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century. The company was originally formed in 1957 by former Metro Goldwyn Mayer animation directors William Hanna and Joseph Barbera in partnership with Columbia Pictures' Screen Gems television division, as H-B Enterprises, Inc.[1] Established after MGM shut down its animation studio and ended production of its animated short films, H-B Enterprises, Inc. was renamed Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc., in 1959.

 

Over the next three decades, the studio produced many successful animated shows, including The Flintstones, Jonny Quest, Scooby-Doo, The Smurfs, Yogi Bear, The Jetsons, The Huckleberry Hound Show, Top Cat, Wacky Races, The Quick Draw McGraw Show, Tom and Jerry, Space Ghost, and The Magilla Gorilla Show, among others. The studio also produced several feature films and cartoon shorts for theaters along with a number of specials and movies for television, both animated and live-action. While Hanna and Barbera's theatrical work awarded them seven Oscars, their television productions have earned the company eight Emmys[2] and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In the mid-1980s, the company's fortunes declined somewhat after the profitability of Saturday morning cartoons was eclipsed by weekday afternoon syndication.

 

In 1991, the company was purchased by Turner Broadcasting System, who began using much of the H-B back catalog to program the Cartoon Network the following year.[3][4] Both Hanna and Barbera went into semi-retirement after Turner purchased the company, continuing to serve as ceremonial figureheads for and sporadic artistic contributors to the studio. In 1994, the company was renamed Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, and in 1996, Turner merged with Time Warner. By the time of the merger, Turner had turned Hanna-Barbera towards primarily producing new material for Cartoon Network, including the successful Cartoon Cartoons shows such as Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, The Powerpuff Girls, and many others.

 

With William Hanna's death in 2001, Hanna-Barbera was absorbed into Warner Bros. Animation, and Cartoon Network Studios continued the projects for Cartoon Network output. Joseph Barbera remained with Warners until his death in 2006. H-B is currently an in-name-only unit of Warner Bros. Animation and its name and studio is today used only to market properties and productions associated with Hanna-Barbera's "classic" works such as The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo and Yogi Bear.

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