abbott and costello Archives

Abbott and Costello Meet Jason Voorhees?!!

Posted on October 7, 2013 by sexyarmpit

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Abbott and Costello Meet Jason! by Primo Cardinalli

painted in the style of the classic Abbott and Costello theater one-sheets
Check him out at a future Monster Mania Con!

1948’s Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is my earliest and most memorable experience watching a horror comedy. In many ways, this film was an economical choice for me to watch as a young horror-loving kid because it combined the classic band of Universal Monsters (save for Gill-Man) and a comedy team who I watched in other exploits with my Dad who introduced me to them.

In Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, the legendary comedy duo from New Jersey found themselves face to face with Dracula, the Wolfman, and Frankenstein, in what is considered the last hurrah for Universal’s Monsters. It was silly and spine tingling at the same time. It’s been a wish of mine for many years that Abbott and Costello could come alive in some way and run into some of my favorite modern horror icons. As you can see in the painting above, it’s not just a pipe dream of mine, but also of artist Primo Cardinalli who envisioned Abbott and Costello Meeting Jason at Camp Crystal Lake. With the original Camp Crystal Lake located in NJ, this would be the ultimate Garden State horror mash-up and it desperately NEEDS to be made! But how is it possible? It IS…read on!

In reading more about the film on its Wikipedia page, I never realized that this film was considered the culmination of a long run of monster movies for Universal. Fortunately though, popularity of the film revived the public’s interest in monster movies and prompted Universal to produce a new wave of monster films throughout the ’50s. Abbott and Costello’s meeting with Frankenstein collected $3.2 million dollars at the box office in 1948. You better believe that this kind of box office magic would still work today.

The idea of seeing Abbott and Costello trapped in today’s horror landscape excites me to no end.

It’s obvious that Hollywood just can’t seem to get horror comedies right and it’s a shame because there’s a place for them as long as they’re respectful to the genre. There’s been a slew of films that have incorporated classic movie monsters in a comedic way that have worked like Monster Squad and Hotel Transylvania amongst others.

Instead of poking fun at the Universal Monsters, Abbott and Costello’s adventures always paid them the ultimate tribute by presenting them properly and without compromising the monster’s scare factor. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein wasn’t exactly chilling, but the monsters maintain their imposing nature. Interestingly, Boris Karloff supposedly refused to be a part of the production because he felt it would be insulting to mix slapstick and horror.

As the Scary Movie franchise and this year’s A Haunted House have proven, poking fun at horror isn’t making any friends in the horror community, nor does the formula produce hit movies which is why it’s time for to get a little retro. A Haunted House 2 is coming next year, but what for? Nobody wants that and it’s time to go back to the basics. At first, old fashioned spooky fun may seem far fetched, but I believe that there’s still hope left to one day experience this type of throwback.

Scoot Cooper's Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein photo scottcooperaacmf1.jpg

art by Nickelodeon storyboard artist Scott Cooper

I always thought it would be such an awesome idea to pit Abbott and Costello vs. Jason Voorhees. You may be thinking that I’m totally off my rocker for trying to cast two dead comedians to appear in a new movie, but bear with me. If I had it my way, this movie wouldn’t be some weird CGI movie where real footage from other Abbott and Costello films was culled together to create a whole new one because that’s silly Hollywood crap reserved for Super Bowl commercials. My thinking is that the best presentation of a film like this would be in a lush, 1940’s style 2-D animation. The voices can be provided by Abbott and Costello impersonators or any number of the best voice over guys in the business could do it. Bud and Lou would have to be skewed a little but younger, but I can totally see the duo being revived in cartoon form for a modern kids audience. Just take a look at Scott Cooper’s art above and you’ll see what I mean.

Who would Abbott and Costello run into in this movie? Jason Voorhees is easily my top choice for his own feature, but if there were an ensemble cast of monsters like in Meets Frankenstein, I’d love to see them have run-ins with Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, Leatherface, Chucky, and maybe even an appearance by Jigsaw and Billy the Puppet? You can use your imagination, because with 2-D animation the sky is the limit. We already know who’s going to paint the poster and the bluray box, thanks Mr. Cardinalli!

New York Comic Con 2011 Recap Part 1: Artist’s Alley

Posted on October 17, 2011 by sexyarmpit

2011 will go down as one of the best times I’ve had at New York Comic Con yet. There was a fun vibe going on and less people were in my face begging for attention this year. Attendants seemed to be having a blast as usual. All the interactive displays and photo ops were bigger and better than previous years. The main floor attractions advertised for properties like Star Wars, Marvel, and DC Comics, and your other usual suspects. As for The Sexy Armpit, sure I dabbled in the mainstream stuff, but as usual, most of my time was spent in Artist’s Alley.

My first stop was to Laurie B’s table. I first discovered Laurie’s art several years back while on a Google image search and continued to check her site often. Her artwork reminds me of Disney animation, especially wide-eyed girls like Ariel from The Little Mermaid. Ordering prints from her shop was always something I planned on doing, but when I recently saw she’d be coming to NYCC, I held out. I bought some awesome pieces from her. One piece I’ve wanted to hang above my toilet for the longest time, to go with my Vigo print on top of my toilet. Then I also picked up a Stay-Puft Marshamllow man holding a cute Ghostbuster girl in addition to The Sorceress from Masters of the Universe, and a cute girl version of Snap, Crackle, and Pop for my kitchen.

abbott and costello meet frankenstein,scott cooper,artist

You never know what kinds of cool art you’ll see when you aren’t even looking for it. My meeting with Scott Cooper is a prime example. Scott had the exact type of toonish art that I dig. One piece in particular caught my eye. He had on display an animated version of The Sopranos crew. Imagine The Sopranos had a Saturday morning cartoon show on Nickelodeon! HA! Fuggedaboutit! I felt that I’d like to buy this print, nay, needed to own it desperately. Once Scott and I got into talking, he mentioned he had 2 different Sopranos prints and he offered a third print of my choice for free. What a guy! Naturally, when I saw a print of Bela Lugosi’s Dracula, it was easily my pick.

After getting home and finding his blogspot site, I hit the jackpot. I found out that the Dracula print I brought home was actually from his animated illustration of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein! With 2 classic Jersey icons like The Sopranos and Abbott and Costello, stopping at Scott Cooper’s table was an awesome surprise. Check out his illustrations and storyboards at his official site.

The fun didn’t stop there! I bought a few Spookshow Pinups from Ant Lucia, a digital pinup artist who you may know from his retro “Join the Rebellion” propaganda posters featuring Princess Leia. And finally, I couldn’t pass up an extremely cool tattoo art style print of Josie from Josie and The Pussycats by Archie artist Dan Parent. I discussed the upcoming ARCHIE MEETS KISS mini-series with him and now I’m even more pumped for it. Can’t wait!

Before my go around in Artist’s Alley came to an end, I stopped at one last table. The cute leather clad girl on the cover of The Saga of Pandora Zwieback lured me over. I’ll admit, the name alone did not compel me to stop and find out more, but the art by Eliseu Gouveia sucked me in. Steven A. Roman, author of X-Men The Chaos Engine Trilogy and Final Destination, Dead Man’s Hand, was promoting his new series of novels starring a goth girl named Pandora. The book’s tag line reads “Vampire Fashionistas, Paranoid Werewolves, Sugar Addicted Zombies, Welcome to Gothopolis.” If it sounds familiar, it might contain some similar ingredients and pop culture references, but this monster slayer story is all newfangled because only Pandora can see the creatures that are converging on the city.

Cooler than Buffy, tougher than the emo wimps in Twilight, Pandora is a teenage goth girl fighting off ghouls and monsters in New York City. She’s drawn to be really hot, but the problem is she’s underage! Hey Steve – what are you trying to do to us, couldn’t you have made her 18? No worries though, if things get inappropriate with your first Pandora experience, feel free to fantasize about her mentor, Sebastienne Mazarin, a chick who’s quite attractive for a 400 year-old monster hunter. All this was in the preview comic that Roman handed me (read the comic book HERE), but the novel is the real deal. Since alluding to Pandora’s box would be tasteless, why not open up Pandora’s book? It’s called Blood Feud and it’s available now at http://www.pandorazwieback.com/.

Jim Norton and Rich Vos Induct Abbott and Costello Into NJ HOF

Posted on August 17, 2011 by sexyarmpit

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Today is National Tell a Joke Day. What’s weirder, the fact that our nation has actually dedicated a specific day to telling a joke or the fact that I actually know what day it falls on? Either way I thought the best way to celebrate this momentous occasion is to spotlight a couple of NJ’s best comedians. I can’t fully endorse the NJ Hall of Fame until they induct The Sexy Armpit for being the greatest New Jersey Pop Culture website of all time. Even if that never happens I can still enjoy this induction of the legendary comedy duo from Jersey, Abbott and Costello. Check out two of Jersey’s funniest comedians, Jim Norton and Rich Vos honoring their predecessors.

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein at The Union County Arts Center 1998

Posted on October 26, 2008 by sexyarmpit

I’m definitely on board with the whole nostalgia fascination, but I have to say…it’s making me feel so damn old! Digging back into The Sexy Archives has really made me start to think that I need to reserve my space at the senior citizens home. I guess that’s what I get for keeping old stuff.

Here’s my ticket to a special Halloween showing of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein on October 29th, 1998 at the Union County Arts Center in Rahway, NJ. The Union County Arts Center is the former Rahway Theater which was an old silent movie palace built in 1928 that has been fully restored. The theater is listed on the National and State Registers of Historic Places.

It was free to get in to see the film since it was sponsored by AMC’s Monsterfest House of Horrors. Every year AMC is known for showing a shitload of great horror movies during the month of October. Earlier today during an exciting fun filled weekend of doing laundry, I was lucky enough to catch AMC’s marathon of Halloween films! When a movie is airing on TV, I’m more inclined to watch than if I have to dig into the vast abyss of my DVD collection to find the specific film. For this year’s lineup you can check out AMC’s Fear Fest schedule.

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) has always been a favorite film of mine, especially as a kid during Halloween. My father showed me a bunch of the Abbott and Costello films and I always enjoyed their brand of humor. This film was the ultimate meeting of humor and horror. The universal horror icons, Dracula, Frankenstein, and Wolfman (and perhaps another special guest!) were all weaved into the plot in an ingenious way. What makes the film stand out as a classic film, not just a horror film or comedy, was its atmosphere. There were some genuinely spooky parts of the film that always attracted me to watching it, but there were also a slew of really funny moments. The typical Abbott and Costello hijinks are present and the “funny” seems to be intensified since they were both experts at acting scared out of their minds.

From Wikipedia:

– In 2001, the United States Library of Congress deemed this film “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry

– In September 2007, Reader’s Digest selected the movie as one of the top 100 funniest films of all time.

I’m glad I got a chance to see Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein in a classic movie house. It’s disappointing because there aren’t too many opportunities in the NY/NJ area to get to see classic films on the big screen. It’s a treat to visit The Landmark Loews Jersey Theater when they have film festivals, and it’s rare but Radio City Music Hall has them once in a while as well. I wish there was a theater that was dedicated to showing only horror movies old and new. That’s an idea that would rake in the dough. I know I’d be there at least once a week!

Check out Denizens of Darkness who has a great original piece of artwork inspired by a scene from the film.