It happened on NBC

Born William Abbott under a circus tent in Asbury Park, New Jersey, he was the son of a circus advance man and a bareback rider. His first job was in Coney Island's Dreamland Park where he did a kid prank in the Crystal Maze When the customers would get lost in the maze, Abbott would appear and lisp: 'Are you lost, mister? I'll take you outside for a dime."

At sixteen Abbott occupied the box office of a Brooklyn burlesque theater. He had just got this job when he walked into a waterfront café and woke up to find himself stoking coal on a Norwegian freighter bound for its home port. Back in Brooklyn he re- entered the box office field, and later with his brother operated theaters in six cities.

One night in a Pennsylvania town he was rushed on stage to replace an ailing comic. He never left the stage. In 1936 he joined a sad faced little clown named Lou Costello in a Minsky burlesque unit in Chicago.

In January, 1938, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were show. In October, 1942, under the sponsorship of Camel doing a five -a -day act at Loew's State Theater on Broad- Cigarettes, they began their own show on NBC. It im- way. Ted Collins, Kate Smith's business manager, was in mediately became one of the top Hooper -rated shows. the audience and spotted them. They appeared on the Back of their fun -façade, Abbott and Costello take life Kate Smith Hour. Soon they were regularly engaged on seriously. They pride themselves that in all their years in this show. In July, 1940, they moved to NBC as a summer burlesque they never used a profane word. Concerned with replacement for Fred Allen. The following April they began the growing juvenile delinquency problem, they have es- a regular spot on the Edgar Bergen -Charlie McCarthy tablished a national youth -serving agency to promote the

AMERICA'S NO. I NETWORK