Topic: Abbott and Costello Show - Season 1, Ep. 7 - The Vacuum Cleaner Salesman (1953)

[metaldams]

      This week, Lou Costello is…..(Neil Peart drumroll)……..The Vacuum Cleaner Salesman.  Another in a long line of funny Abbott and Costello Show episodes.  Lou plays up to the title at about the halfway point, but before and during this we got a lot of good comedy scenes.

      The bench scene with Lou flirting with Robin Raymond is totally 1914/1915 Chaplin park bench comedy stuff.  Knowing Lou was a big fan of Chaplin’s I can’t help but think this was a tribute.  Completely silent, Lou and Robin pantomime a scene together where Lou puts his own childlike character into the proceedings, so adding his twist on Chaplin.  Lou uses a lot of props like ball tricks, a yo-yo and most entertaining and bizarre of all, that hand puppet! 

      We get a nice exchange between Bud and Lou - the kind we’ve seen a million times before where Bud gyps Lou out of money and yet it never gets old.  Then we get a Stinky Joe Besser scene (!) where Joe runs across the room trying to put a fire out with little glasses of water.  A great excuse for Joe to act overly hyper and done before in AFRICA SCREAMS and heck, this gag dates back to Arbuckle at least - probably even The Great Zando Burlesque and Medicine Show of 1834 or something.  But yes, familiar and fun gags performed well at a fast pace.

       The employment office scene, in addition to giving Sid Fields another chance to play multiple parts - and always a relative of the landlord - is good for the pinwheel gag and the fact there’s a female character named “Miss Yummy.”  Good scene overall.

      Lou actually being the vacuum cleaner salesman is the best part.  It’s a really nice opportunity for Bud and Lou to work together, as Bud works his straightman magic instructing Lou on how to get a sale.  He even gives Lou a big slap after Lou botches the sneaking in the house gag before selling the vacuum.  It’s always great when there is plot driven comedy where Bud and Lou make exchanges and this is a fine example.  Oh, and did you guys notice who the pretty blonde housewife is that Lou tricks so he can get into her house and make a sales pitch.  None other than Stooge fan crush Ethelreda Leopold!

      The episode ends with an excuse for Lou to get black soot all over Hillary Brooke and Sid Fields and an excuse for Stinky to return and think there’s a fire.  I have no complaints.  Another fun episode.
 

[HomokHarcos]

Another good episode. Seeing Lou do a job and fail is always good for comedy. There wasn't a stage routine here, they went straight to the story. The mime segment was just alright for me, I didn't really laugh and think it was funny.

Joe Besser was good as Stinky. He seems to be very excited by the fire, running around like a little child who wants something fun. At the end, he also is pretty happy to be there! Sydney Fields is another great actor. For classic comedy supporting actors, I think he's currently my second favorite, behind Bud Jamison, always really good. I like how he thought Lou would be a good fit for going the moon, little did he know Costello would be heading to Venus in a few years!

The vacuum cleaner part was pretty good. Bud seems to genuinely think Lou should have an easy time selling it. My favorite moment was when Lou knocked on the door and hid, he thought  that was really funny, almost like a game. The thing about this scene though, is the woman at the door does have a valid reason to be frustrated with Lou. It turns out he only needed to go home to sell a vacuum, as Hillary wants to buy a vacuum.

[NoahYoung]

I know I should re-watch them again before I comment, but...

In my notes, I gave this 1 out of 4 stars. It is a lackluster episode with only one good routine -- lend me 50 cents -- deflated from $50 from BUCK PRIVATES.
I dislike the "silent" scene on the bench -- I'm glad they never tried to repeat anything like this again.
Since this episode is heavily inspired by LITLLE GIANT, one of their worst films, is reason enough for me to pan it.

[metaldams]

Though the salesman stuff is similar to LITTLE GIANT, the comparisons end there for me.  I find this episode a lot more comic in tone.

[NoahYoung]

Though the salesman stuff is similar to LITTLE GIANT, the comparisons end there for me.  I find this episode a lot more comic in tone.

True. After you get through the first 26, if one tries to rank them, I believe many would put it near the bottom. That doesn't mean it is bad TV, but just that there are many better first-season episodes.

[Umbrella Sam]

Alright, The Vacuum Cleaner Salesman. The beginning with Lou doing pantomime was interesting mostly for the early silent comedy comparisons, but it’s not really all that funny and a bit repetitive. After a pretty good routine involving 50 cents, we then get a repeat of the Besser fire gags from AFRICA SCREAMS. On the one hand, you have Sid Fields being Sid Fields. I love seeing him lying on the floor after slipping and how Lou and Stinky just completely ignore his body being there. One downside, though, is that I think Besser actually kind of overdoes the buildup to the fire reveal. In AFRICA SCREAMS, he’s silently running back and forth before the big reveal, while here he’s constantly screaming for people to get out of his way. To be fair, the latter method is more believable, but I think the idea from AFRICA SCREAMS is funnier; Besser’s character is trying his best to not be disruptive or bother people while dealing with a tent fire! It’s little details like that that can affect how a gag plays out. But again, the reactions from Fields and Costello afterwards are great.

The employment agency scene provides us with yet another opportunity to see Sid Fields working hilariously off of Costello. I swear, that man was born to work with this duo. His eccentric jobs, the pinwheel, his overacting as the customer, it’s all very well timed and done in the way Sid Fields does so well. The vacuum cleaner salesman bits work here. My problem with LITTLE GIANT in general is that I thought the pacing was a bit off, and with the salesman scenes in particular, Costello seemed a bit lost. I think just having Abbott there in general gives it a bit more of a focus. Abbott gets to set up ideas and Costello can focus on his chances to humorously mess them up, getting his foot injured with the “foot in the door” method and thrown out by a jealous husband.

Overall, still pretty good. The beginning’s a bit slow, but the second half in particular is very funny.