Universal-International released Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man on 7 March 1951.
Abbott and Costello made a number of “horror” films for Universal. And these started in 1949 with Hold That Ghost. But they quickly followed it with Who Done It? Then came five “meet” films:
- Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
- Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949)
- Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951)
- Abbott and Costello Meet Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1953)
- Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955)
What are we to make of these films? Should we be grateful because they kept the Universal monsters alive in the public mind? Or should we hate them because they trivialized these horror icons?
I think this is a question that honest people can answer differently. If you love these films, that’s great! Films are meant to be enjoyed, not criticized. But obviously, I disagree. I’m not interested in them. I think they take away from the earlier great films.
There are two competing interests with regard to film. On the one side, there is what I will call art. This is the effort to make something that is good. On the other side, there is commerce. But I don’t place one above the other. I understand that films need to make money. And the fact is that in the 1940s and 1950s, Abbott and Costello made money! And they were also masters of their art.
I have a different problem. The Universal monsters were a cash grab. Bela Lugosi recieved a payday for Frankenstein. So that’s good! (He was also on The Abbott and Costello Show.) But otherwise, I wish they didn’t exist.
It doesn’t help that I am just not that fond of Abbott and Costello. Even as a kid, I didn’t find them very funny. So I’m clearly not the target audience. But these films are quite watchable. Here is Invisible Man.
Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951) poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.
A&C are genuinely unfunny… but they did have one brilliant routine, “Who’s on First?” And I’ll prove it.
15 years ago, me and Mrs. James were working at a group home for adults with disabilities, and one of those adults, “X,” had cognitive/comprehension/communication challenges. Which were getting more challenging with age.
One of our newest co-workers was an instant natural at the job. She just got it. Some people do it for decades and don’t get it. The job is trying to understand where the people you serve are coming from. NOT trying to “make” them more “normal.” Few really grasp this. This co-worker got it immediately. Terrific lady to work with.
So this co-worker was intrigued by the individual X who had the biggest cognitive/communication challenges. Not frustrated, just puzzled.
Mrs. James one day said, “I should show her” (our excellent new co-worker) “the Who’s on First routine. That’s exactly what communicating with X is like.”
I agreed that the routine was spot-on. But I didn’t think our co-worker would get it. She was a Somali immigrant who spoke English well, but not with nuance. Plus she didn’t know bupkis about baseball. Mrs. James showed it to her anyway.
And that co-worker laughed her head off. It was exactly what talking with X was like.
When a routine crosses cultural/language barriers like that… it is gold!
It is an amazing routine. But I will defend them — against myself more than anything else. What I don’t like is how mean Abbott is to Costello. That’s one reason I like “Who’s on First.” Abbott is pretty nice, if frustrated. In the movies, he’s always yelling at Costello. And in all the Meet films, Costello turns out to be right!