Bud Abbott Biography

Fast Facts

• Parents both worked for Barnum and Bailey Circus
• Dropped out of school and began working at Coney Island
• At 16, was hired by his father, then working at Columbia Burlesque Wheel, to work the box office at the Casino Theater in Brooklyn
• Produced a vaudeville show with wife Betty Smith called Broadway Flashes
• Crossed paths with Lou Costello a number of times on the burlesque circuit and eventually teamed up with him in 1936
• Earned first national exposure with Costello on the Kate Smith Hour radio show in 1938
• Along with Costello, signed by Universal Studios in 1940 to his first film contract for One Night in the Tropics
• The duo were not the headliner, but they stole the show with an abbreviated version of their classic bit "Who's On First?" Memorialized with Costello in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, NY
• They are two of a select few non-baseball players or managers honored with the distinction
• Was honored with three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio, television and film