Next film on our Abbott and Costello agenda, 1944’s IN SOCIETY, may be the most frustrating Abbott and Costello film of them all. The frustration lies in the, “Oh, what could have been,” type. There are a couple of bits here that rank among the funniest bits Bud and Lou ever did, yet the romantic subplot is one of the more nauseating and comic flow destroying they ever did.
The first seventeen minutes or so of IN SOCIETY makes a classic Bud and Lou would be two reeler, very Three Stooges like in bits. High society guy has a plumbing issue, so he calls plumbers, who are of course Bud and Lou. Clever little bit with the more expensive service they offer and the referral to the cheaper service...which unbeknownst to the customer, Bud and Lou also own. High society guy wants rest so Bud and Lou must be quiet, which of course does not happen. Bud really shines here trying to quiet Lou while being as loud and abrasive as he’ll ever be. Lou is also great screwing up the plumbing along with his frustrated reactions. Nice bit when Bud tells Lou to whistle when help is needed, so a pretty maid enters, causing Lou to whistle. Water is flying through every wall and sink you can imagine, comic frustration is boiling over from two legendary comedians, I’m laughing, what else do we need? I know you answered cut away to romantic couple complete with song and dance, right. No? Well, neither did I, yet that’s exactly what we get. If this paragraph, to an extreme level, doesn’t sum up everything right and wrong with these World War II era Abbott and Costello films, I don’t know what does. Once the song and dance is over, we got back to a flooded bedroom with Bud and Lou, in a bathtub, row boating their way through. Call me crazy, but my comic instincts say a build up to that wonderful image would work better than a song with the young lovers.
As far as the young lovers, in some of these films, they really aren’t too intrusive, but here, that unfortunately can’t be said. What little they have to do with the comics is that Lou likes the leading lady, but we get a scene where Lou feels sorry for himself when he finds out the couple are together. Why would she fall for a fat little plumber? Too bad for the self pity, but at least it goes fast. But yeah, some cheesy Cinderella lines and an inability for the leading man to believe she’s really a taxi driver but she won’t explain what happened is the premise here. A class based romance. Not for me, but who am I to argue with the 1944 public? These films sold like hot cakes with this formula. The last musical number is a huge production that is very syrupy, and the middle one is an excuse for the producers to hire lots of young girls - yes, forties babeage (I made a new word!), abound.
So yeah, a lot of non comic stuff here and minus the last thing I mentioned, I don’t find it entertaining. Your mileage may vary, of course. Again, the general public at the time must not have minded, so I can’t blame the producers since the money was pouring in. But back to the comedy, the other real classic bit here is the “Susquehanna Hat Company” routine, one of the great burlesque routines Bud and Lou did that yes, again, could also be found in the television show. Bud and Lou have to deliver hats to said hat company on Bagel Street. Lou asks various people on the street how to get to Bagel Street and the hat company, it spurs some traumatic memory about the street to the various people he asks (Dorothy Granger and Luis Alberni amongst them), the people go crazy in their own peculiar way, destroy a hat, Lou gets a great hyper reaction, and Bud blames Lou for the way each passer by acts. A very funny bit and this is the type of thing that makes me a Bud and Lou fan. I also love the surreal bit where Lou saves a drowning man’s life, Bud yells at Lou for putting some licensed lifeguard out of work, so the drowning man settles the argument by jumping back in the water! Great routine and the type of thing that fits the zany mood of the television show. It should be mentioned this is the first time Bud and Lou worked with director Jean Yarborough, who would be the television show director.
The ending is another chase scene that may be familiar to W.C. Fields fans - it uses stock footage from NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BREAK. There is a tacked on plot device to save a revealed painting at a swanky party, somewhat, but not exactly the same as to what was done in The Marx Brothers film ANIMAL CRACKERS, which I just watched again a few months back.
So overall, a typical Abbott and Costello film of the first half of the forties to the extreme. The funny stuff is REALLY funny and the annoying stuff is REALLY annoying. A few more years they’ll be making straighter comedies, thank God, because the talent they had as comedians warrants it.
