Abbott y Costello en Hollywood

Can you imagine A Night at the Opera with only two Marx Brothers? That's essentially what you get in Abbott and Costello in Hollywood.

As good as they were, the Marx Brothers never got their names into the title of any picture they did. That's because they weren't half the box office draw that Bud and Lou were.

Like Chico and Harpo, Bud and Lou are barbers who get the idea to be agents. They decide to handle the career of Robert Stanton the same way Chico and Harpo sign up Allan Jones. And crooner Stanton does get into the picture in just about the same way Jones broke into Il Trovatore.

Too bad though that Stanton never got to sing some songs as good as Cosi-Cosa or Alone. Might have a career for him.

A&C got some good bits in. They had a good scene with MGM comedian Rags Ragland after Ragland comes in for a shave. And Costello being chased through the finale in a midway sequence is pretty funny.

This was the last of three films that Universal loaned out the boys to MGM for the glossier productions than what they were used to at Universal. My favorite of the three MGM films has always been Lost in a Harem. That has more the zany quality of the Universal films than either Abbott and Costello in Hollywood or Rio Rita has.

This one did only so-so box office as compared to the Universal product and Carl Laemmle, Jr. lent them out no more.