Lou's on First: The Tragic Life of Hollywood's Greatest Clown Warmly Recounted by His Youngest Child by Chris Costello

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  • Publisher: St. Martin's Press
  • Pub. Date: December 1982
  • ISBN-13: 9780312499143
  • Sales Rank: 40,123
  • 276pp
  • Edition Number: 1
 
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Synopsis

This intimate portrait of Lou Costello (1906-1959) offers a rare look at one of the most talented comedians of all time. Starting in the 1930s, Costello attained enormous fame touring the burlesque circuits with straight man Bud Abbott (1895-1974). Their live skits (including "Who's on First?"), radio programs, and films such as One Night in the Tropics, Buck Privates, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, and In the Navy made comic history.

Behind the scenes, however, Costello faced numerous crises: a bout with rheumatic fever that left him bedridden for months, the drowning death of his young son, and constant haggles with Universal Studios over its reluctance to adequately finance productions of Abbot and Costello films. Lou's on First goes beyond Costello's clownish persona to explore his Pagliacci nature: the private demons behind the happy public face, the heartbreaking moments in an otherwise storybook marriage, the business ventures soured by unscrupulous managers, and the true nature of the breakup of his twenty-one-year partnership with Bud Abbott.

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Biography

Chris Costello is Lou Costello's youngest child. She runs her own public relations firm, Costello & Company.

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Lou's on First: The Tragic Life of Hollywood's Greatest Clown Warmly Recounted by His Youngest Childby Anonymous

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September 27, 2006: What an excellent novel. Looking back on Lou Costello's life you'd think it was all fun and good times, but it's really not. This book showed me the hardships Lou faced while being an aspiring actor, including his conflicts with Abbott and the death of a child.This book also showed the fun Lou had, the pranks he used to pull, and his childhood which led him to his career. Having it read through the perspective of his own child just made the book seem even better and more realistic. This is a must for anyone who likes biographies or plainly just a good story, because that's basically what this is. After reading, you'll never look at Lou the same again. I know I didn't. Now every time I look at him, there's always a smile on my face.