User Reviews

Originally aired on December 14, 1952, The Colgate Comedy Hour starring Abbott and Costello begins with The Four Pipers singing about 11 shopping days till Christmas and how they can't wait. Bud and Lou then appear in front of various department stores as they scheme to get some money from various passersby but keep failing. For instance, Lou insults a man's wife's hat and the man agrees! Then, Lou accuses another man in a couple of kissing another woman, the lady standing next to him says that woman is his wife and begs Lou not to tell anybody! Finally, Lou accuses a man carrying a package of stealing it. The man confesses and gives it to him! As Lou hands it to Bud, the man that it was stolen from confronts Abbott and pushes him through a glass window! Costello lets Abbott stew for awhile as Bud tries to pin the blame on his partner but the man doesn't believe him as Bud once again gets pushed through a window! End of first sketch. After commercial, Buster Shaver and his little lady partner Olive dance to Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Hello, Young Lovers". Then acrobats Tom and Jerry do some stunts on some giant monkey bars. Next, Bud needs his scalp done and turns on the radio so Lou can follow everything the man on it says. As the announcer (Sid Fields) mentions how to apply solution on the scalp, Lou leaves for awhile as Bud sleeps and we find out what we heard was a commercial and the real program begins which is about how to prepare a turkey dinner! Every time the announcer mentions about what to do about the "noodle", Costello does everything he says to Abbott's head such as cracking eggs, putting a can of mushrooms on it (before being told to skip it if he wants!), and finally, putting a turkey on it before putting Abbott in the oven at 250 degrees! Abbbott, of course, threatens to kill him! End of second sketch. After another commercial, Margaret Whiting appears and sings, "Gypsy in My Soul", and "Why Won't You Believe Me?". Then, Abbott and Costello are delivery men who, in a variation of the "Pack and Unpack" routine, keep bringing and taking various presents whenever Mr. Fields and his wife keep arguing about whether or not to keep them. After Costello suggests a divorce for them, first the wife, then Mr. Fields, then Abbott leave the scene with Costello alone saying goodbye to the crew and props with a final goodbye to the fireplace as he shakes the fireplace's hand leaving Lou with shock as he falls over backwards! End of third sketch. After another commercial, announcer Hal Sawyer appears on screen to introduce The Nicholas Brothers as Fayard and Harold do their famous tapping routines ending with their well-known splits. Then Abbott introduces conductor Al Goodman as Costello causes havoc with the music director as they go offstage to punching sound effects and Lou comes back saying Al is in a straitjacket as he conducts and sings with The Four Pipers a pretty good version of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas". Then the show ends as a comical fight brews between Costello and various musicians ending with Goodman shooting the chandelier that lands on Lou's head! Then as curtain falls, Abbott and Costello say goodnight as credits roll...Mostly amusing show with many hilarious ad-libs from Lou that cause Abbott and many of the band members to crack up. Kinescope quality is excellent for a live broadcast from the early '50s transferred to a late '80s videocassette. Many of what I've just described can be a little silly but if you're in the right mood, it can also be highly amusing. Many Abbott and Costello regulars from their TV shows and movies to appear in this show besides Sid Fields include Gordon Jones, Dorothy Granger, and, Lou's friend in pranks, Bobby Barber. If you're an Abbott and Costello enthusiast, I suggest you seek this one out.

Great news, this is now available on Amazon Prime Video for free with membership. Mainly for fans of Abbott and Costello (I love them!), this is a 1952 television Christmas variety show preserved in a Kinescope but in really nice condition and now available colorized which is not important to me but can make it if you are trying to watch this with a younger generation like a millennial who doesn't watch anything in black and white (they are out there, trust me). As a variety show it was interesting to watch some of the non AC skits to get a taste of 1952 life (I was born in the 1960's), the version I watched was uncut and included the commercials from Colgate-Palmolive pitching their cleaning products like Palmolive bar soap and Colgate tooth paste (although I think it's called tooth "cream" not "paste", and has no fluoride yet). Outside of the "interesting" variety part for me it's not a spectacular variety show with the exception of the famous Tom and Jerry being involved at the end of the show. One of the singers is really homely, which makes me wonder about the talent available in 1952 television.

The main reason to watch this is similar to watching the 3 Stooges in their early television skits, that is to watch them in a live environment. Can the comedians score laughs (now in their middle ages) in front of a live audience and broadcast live as they can in a recorded film setting that enables retakes? The answer is yes! A&C were very active in front of live audiences on their own radio show which ran through most of the 1940's ending in 1949, and before that in their burlesque acts in the 1930's, so this pair was not subject to stage fright by any means. It looked like they rehearsed their skits well also, although they probably performed them many times before between the stage, radio, and feature film work they had already performed. A few times Costello is ad-libbing which is probably expected by the audience from their radio show, and a couple of times there are some live moment slips because the boys are working with props that don't always work correctly or on time, but that adds to the reason why I watched. One prop is a fresh uncooked turkey in all it's massiveness being placed on top of and covering Bud's whole head! I wonder if Mr. Bean, Rowen Atkinson took inspiration from this? Or now that I think about it, a joke probably done several times before in film and stage up to 1952. That same massage/radio skit was in their TV show in the very last episode, Abbott literally gets the whole house collapsed on him in that appearance and was so different it was really interesting! Amazing that Bud took all of that abuse at his age, I guess they were trying to keep up with Martin and Lewis the new talent around then. The skits are probably familiar to A&C fans but in the live environment they will seem unique and different. Technically it's great that public domain distributors are re-mastering these old TV shows and even the colorization looks better with the age of newer media technology. 8 of 10. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!

Watching this program will give you an idea just how unsophisticated live TV programming was in its infancy back in the Fifties. Even though the team of Abbott and Costello was well established as America's comedy kings at the time, their routines here seem almost unrehearsed and off the cuff, most evident in the one with Sid Fields and Dorothy Granger as a couple on the cusp of divorce. As a delivery man, Lou finds himself bringing in purchases made by the wife, only to reverse course and start returning them as the couple argues and then finds common ground to reconcile. As the pace gets more hectic, Lou achieves reckless abandon with the various objects and the scenario disintegrates into chaos. The bit with the Al Goldman orchestra reaches even greater chaotic heights as Lou and band members wind up in an epic spectacle of flailing bodies and mangled instruments due to a single unfortunate misunderstanding.

Because this was a variety show, other acts appear to entertain the TV audience with song and dance. Most notable among them were the Nicholas Brothers with a very energetic tap routine, but as the pace picks up, the smaller of the two does a completely unexpected and rather alarming split that will have you saying 'ouch' the minute you see it. Obviously unfazed, he and his brother proceed to do a variety of additional splits as part of their routine, which had to leave them pretty much as breathless as the audience.

My best recommendation for watching this program would not be so much for the quality of the show itself, but to get an idea how early television sought to find a way to entertain home audiences with a brand of amusement that would keep them coming back for more. You'll also get a look at early TV advertising with the sponsors of the Colgate Comedy Hour. These included Palmolive Soap, Colgate Toothpaste and Shaving Cream, and Fab Detergent. Special mention is made of Palmolive After Shave Lotion, which you could have bought for $1.00 plus tax! And if you thought it was a more modern saying, the entertainment portion of the show at one-point mentions 'shopping until dropping', which tells me that the desire for the buck well pre-dated the present day's obsession with crass commercialism.