You might say that Bud Abbott (born William Alexander Abbott in 1895) was destined from the day he was born to be in show business. He was born into a show business family – both parents worked for the Barnum & Bailey Circus: His mother, Rae, as a bareback rider and his father, Harry, as an advance man.
Abbott eventually dropped out of school as a child and went to work at Coney Island. At the age of 16, he was put to work in the box office of the Casino Theatre in Brooklyn by his father, who worked for the Columbia Burlesque Wheel (“wheel”=circuit) at the time.
It wasn’t long before Abbott began putting together his own touring burlesques shows. The woman who he would be married to for 55 years, Betty Smith, was a burlesque dancer and comedienne. The two married in 1918 and shortly thereafter the newlyweds began producing a vaudeville “tab show” called Broadway Flashes. (A tab show was a short or “tabloid” version of various popular musical comedies performed in the United States at this time). In 1924, Abbott began performing acts as a straight man with Betty.
Abbott first ran into Lou Costello in burlesque in the early 1930′s. At this time, Abbott was producing and performing in Minsky’s Burlesque show. They worked together sporadically for a while, but officially became a comedy duo in 1936, performing together in burlesque, vaudeville, and minstrel shows. They first received national attention in 1938 when they performed on the Kate Smith Hour, a popular radio show at the time. This led to their first movie together in 1940. They would go on to make 36 films together from 1940 to 1956.
Illustrating the extent that show business was indeed in Abbott’s blood, you can find not one, not two, but three stars with his name on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: one for radio, one for motion pictures, and one for television.
As a tribute to Abbott’s long and brilliant career in the entertainment business, Groucho Marx, when asked about Abbott shortly after his death, said he was “the greatest straight man ever.” Well said.