The Norman Abbott Centennial

I was tempted to describe Norman Abbott (1922-2016) as a link from the era of classic comedy to today…but his last screen credit was in 1989, so I guess it would be more complete to say that your link from the time of Norman Abbott to today is ME.

It’s been a delight bringing him into focus, for he really did learn at the feet of comedy giants during the Hollywood studio period, and was then able to bring forward the aesthetics of that time deep into the television era. He was a nepo baby, of course, (Bud Abbott’s nephew) but that is more than okay. In his youth he performed comedy in the Catskills, and whatever other variety venues in New York were still around to hire him. Fortunately, Uncle Bud took him under his wing, for Abbott and Costello were making it big just as Norman was coming of age. Norman was Bud’s stand-in in several of the team’s early films, and had bit roles in Rio Rita, and Who Done It? both in 1942. In that busy year he also had small roles in Whistling in Dixie with Red Skelton, and the B pictures Grand Central Murder and The Affairs of Martha. The following year he actually had the opportunity to STAR in a picture when he replaced Bernard Punsly (with whom he shared a birthday) as “Ape” in the Dead End Kids/ Little Tough Guys team-up Keep ’em Slugging (1943).

During World War Two, Abbott served bravely as one of the original Navy SEALS. He returned to the Abbott and Costello fold afterward with a new ambition: he wanted to direct. He worked as dialogue director on the team’s pictures through the end of the 1940s, while studying the methods of their director Charles Barton carefully. As an actor he appeared in two additional pictures, Katy Did It (1950), and Walking My Baby Back Home (1953), and did a bit on the Colgate Comedy Hour (1954), his tv debut. The rest of his career would consists of directing and producing for television.

Abbott’s most significant relationship during the TV era was working with Jack Benny, producing and directing dozens of episodes of The Jack Benny Program, as well, as all of his specials until the end of his life. Abbott also directed 43 episodes of Leave it to Beaver (and a couple of the ’80s reboot); 23 of Welcome Back, Kotter; 16 of I’m Dickens, He’s Fenster; 13 of The Don Knotts Show; 12 of The Munsters (and a couple of the ’80s reboot); 11 of Sanford and Son; 8 of the original Ghost Busters; 7 of Blondie; 6 of The George Gobel Show; 6 of Alice; 5 of Love American Style; 4 of Get Smart; and dozens of others besides.

Abbott also produced and directed one theatrical film. Co-written with Mel Tolkin of Your Show of Shows, it was the 1966 Marty Allen-Steve Rossi vehicle The Last of the Secret Agents? It also harnessed the talents of Nancy Sinatra, John Williams (the actor), Lou Jacobi,Sig Ruman, Harvey Korman, Edy Williams, and Ed Sullivan as himself. This attempt to turn Allen and Rossi into a new Abbott and Costello or Hope and Crosby or Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis was sadly not a success however, in spite of its then-popular James Bond spy spoof theme, and the fact that Abbott had worked on Get Smart.

Abbott did finally get to work with Hope himself though, when he directed the 1981 special Bob Hope’s Spring Fling, with Loni Anderson, Brooke Shields, Melissa Manchester, Jill St. John, Morgan Fairchild, and (Mrs. Dan Aykroyd) Donna Dixon. Abbott’s last directing gig was coverage of the 1989 Newport Jazz Festival.

For more on the history of show business,consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, for more on classic comedy please check out my book: Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube. And stay tuned for my upcomingElectric Vaudeville: A Century of Radio and TV Variety.