Immortal Befuddled
"Dying is Easy, Comedy is Hard"
Edmund Keane, 1834
Part One: Double Trouble
by Dennis E. Power
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The many faces of Ollu and Buzsla
Timeline
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1902-1906 Ollu and Buzsla were
out of the navy and settled down to a life of wedded bliss. Because
they had a small nest egg cached in The Music Box Laurel and Hardy film (1932) The Laurel
and Hardy Transfer Company foundered 1931 has to deliver a player
piano. The address is at the top of a huge flight of steps. They
prepare to unload the piano from their wagon but Susie the horse
deliberately moves and the piano crashes on Ollie. They struggle half
way up the stair case meeting a nurse with a buggy. They try to make
room for her but piano slides to the pavement. When the nurse laughs at
their predicament Stan kicks her in the rear. Ollie's own mirth is
quelled when the nurse breaks the baby bottle over his head. The
nurse complains to a cop who calls Stan down. He tells Stan he doesn't
want him, he wants the other monkey. Stan calls Ollie who makes his way
down the stairs followed by the piano which runs over him. After
receiving a reprimand and a smack from the cop, they go back up the
steps with the piano. They are met halfway up the steps by Professor
Swartzenhoffer whose dignity forbids him from walking around the piano.
Stan knocks the professor's hat off where it is flattened by a
car. He storms off screaming threats. The boys reach the top of the
stairs and ring the doorbell but loose their grip on the piano which
slides all the way back down the steps. The film has a
contemporary feel of 1933 about it and even has a specific date with
the founding of the Saps at Sea Laurel and Hardy film (1940) Stan and Ollie work as testers for the Sharp and Pierce Horn Company, an occupation noted for creating nervous wrecks. Ollie is the latest victim and after he goes berserk at the factory, he is sent home to the attention of Stan and Dr. Finlayson. The diagnosis is hornaphobia, an ailment treatable by goat's milk and sea air. The pair acquire a goat, which turns out to be a male and rent a small vessel that is considered safe only if kept to the moorings. It remains tethered until the goat chews through the rope. Drifting out to sea overnight they are at the mercy of an escaped murderer Nick Grainger who has taken refuge on board. The stowaway demands food and having none to give, they create a "sympathetic' meal creating bacon out of lampwick and biscuits out of talcum powder. Catching them the killer makes them choke down the meal. Stan has an idea; he has been learning to play the trombone and brought the instrument with him, despite Ollie's condition. A few notes from the trombone send Ollie into a fury and he attacks the murderer. Fortunately the police who have been looking for the missing boat arrive, as Ollie is finishing off the killer. Unfortunately Stan demonstrates how his playing sent Ollie into a frenzy and the battered policemen lock them in a cell with the murderer. Having their fill of moving things, Ollu and Buzsla took jobs at a horn factory. However Ollu did not take well to the repetitive motion and confined spaces and the constant blaring of the horns. He began to suffer from a nervous breakdown. Given that the boys later made up another disease to go on a trip, this hornophobia may well have been partially a ploy for the boys to go on a fishing trip. They rented a small boat and ended up adrift in the bay with a killer on board. The Coast guard arrived as Ollu was driven into a frenzy by the sound of a horn and attacked the killer, the Coast Guard attempted to interfere and got caught up in the thrashing. Ollu and Buzsla spent a couple of days in jail. 1905 Noose Hangs High (1948) Abbott and Costello feature film Ted and Tommy, employees of the Speedy Service Window Washing Company, are mistaken for the employees of the Speedy Messenger Service by Nick Craig, a bookie. He sends them to Mr. Stewart's office to collect 50,000. Stewart however plans to have two of his hoods hold up the boys and take the money back. Chased by the gangsters, Tommy ducks into an office where a corps of girls is mailing face powder samples. He shoves the money in an envelope which he intends to mail to Nick. His envelop is switched with another envelope containing a sample. Meanwhile Nick discovers his mistake and telephones J.C. McBride to whom he owes the windfall to ask for an extension. Nick orders his gorillas, Chuck and Joe to find Ted and Tommy but the boys show up at the office and explain what happened. The money they assure Nick will be in the next day's mail. But the next day a powder sample arrives instead of money. Nick gives the boys twenty-four hours to contact every prospect on the company's mailing list. They finally locate the recipient, Carol, who has spent most of the money on luxuries. The three of them hope to parlay the remaining 2,000 into 50,000 by betting on a horse race. At the Television Club, Ted, Tommy and Carol meet an eccentric little man named Julius Caesar, who had never lost a bet. Caesar's horse wins but Ted, Tommy and Carol lose the rest of their bankroll. With no possible way of paying back Nick, Ted decides that the safest place for them is in jail. The boys run up a 500 dollar tab at the swank nightclub and are about to be arrested when Nick and his boys arrive and demand the money. When Ted and Tommy confess that they haven't got it, Nick plans to fit them with cement shoes at a nearby construction warehouse. Carol meanwhile wins 50,000 from Caesar by betting on fish in the club's aquarium. They arrive at the construction site with the money just in the nick of time. Caesar explains that he is J.C. McBride and the debt is settled.
Film based on For Love of Money Ollu and Buzsla worked as messengers and also spent quite a bit of time hanging out at the track. Their mixup with the money and subsequent involvement with J. C. McBride is well known. It as through his influence that they were able to get jobs at the track when they were fired from their jobs as messengers. Wrong Again (1929) Laurel and Hardy
Once again this falls into the odd but true category. The millionaire should not have been upset at the destruction of the painting however since it turned out to be a clever forgery. Sons of the Desert Laurel and Hardy film (1933) Stan and Ollie are pledged to attend the Chicago Convention of their lodge of the "Sons of the Desert". Mrs. Laurel is willing to let Stanley go but Mrs. Hardy has plans for a trip to the mountains, forcing Ollie to feign illness. The boys engage a doctor, actually a veterinary surgeon who is willing to prescribe an ocean voyage to Honolulu, a trip designed to exclude the sea sick prone Mrs. Hardy. Stan and Ollie have a wild time in Chicago unaware that the ship they are supposedly on succumbed to a storm. While awaiting news of survivors their wives seek temporary escape in cinema, where they see news of a different sort, film taken at the Chicago convention complete with footage of their husbands cavorting in a parade. Returning home the boys hear of the shipwreck just as their wives arrive by cab. Taking refuge in Ollie's attic they make the best of the night in exile until disturbed by a thunderstorm. Mrs. Laurel investigates the noise shotgun in hand, forcing Stan and Ollie up to the roof. Climbing down they are discovered by a policeman who insists on checking their identity with the occupants. They are welcomed indoors and allowed to tell their wild version of what took place. Mrs. Hardy and Mrs. Laurel have a wager to see who has the most honest husband. A tale of ship hiking home is followed by the collapse of Stan who confesses all. He is pampered by wife while Mrs. Hardy buries her husband amid pots and pans. We Faw Down (1928) Laurel and
Hardy short subject silent These domestic shenanigans also appear to be based on actual events that happened during this period in San Francisco. One must ignore the contemporary references and some of the exaggerated comedy to get a glimpse of the real Ollu and Buzsla. The veterinary surgeon was most probably one of the horse doctors from the tracks. Their wives were becoming suspicious for their husbands were never sick and unlike them showed no signs of aging, not even a little bit. Although they had only known their husbands for five years, they would have expected men in their late twenties or early thirties to have aged somewhat in that time. They were suspicious mainly because they thought their husbands were philandering. The wives were tired of the extravagant lies, of their inability to hold down steady serious jobs and their generosity with money that should have been going to maintain the household. These served to solidify their suspicions that their husbands were unfaithful. The incident in We Faw Down confirmed their wives suspicions and they filed for divorce. No amount of pleading would stop the wives from seeking this separation. Buzsla looked upon the end of their marriages philosophically. They were bound to end sooner or later, at least this way they did not have to go through the agony of seeing their loved ones age and die. 1906 It Aint Hay (1943) Abbott and Costello feature film Wilber Hoolihan feeds candy to a hack horse belonging to King O'Hara and his daughter Princess and the horse dies. Anxious to replace it Wilbur and his friend Grover visit a gambling parlor and win enough money to buy a new horse but Wilbur is duped out of the bankroll by a con man. Three touts, Umbrella Sam, Harry the Horse, and Chauncy the Eye inform the boys that an old nag is available at the Empire Track. But that night at the stables, Grover and Wilbur unwittingly steal the champion, Tea Biscuit and give him to King O'Hara. Tea Biscuit's owner, Colonel Brainard, post a reward for the return of the horse. King meanwhile drives a fair up to Saratoga and the boys realizing their error follow him. Sam, Harry and Chauncy also realized what happened and seeking to get the reward pursued them. Wilbur and Grover recover Tea Biscuit and conceal him in their hotel room. The Hotel's new manager, Warner, discovers the ruse. Fleeing Warner, Wilber rides Tea Biscuit to the track in time for the big race. Colonel Brainard has entered the missing thoroughbred as a sentimental gesture. Wilbur Inadvertently switches horse with another jockey and Tea Biscuit actually wins the race. Sam, Harry and Chauncey hastily buy Wilbur's horse for 500 dollars believing it to be Tea Biscuit. When they attempt to collect the reward however, Colonel Brainerd withdraws it, since it appears that Tea Biscuit was never actually missing. Grover holds the only winning ticket and with their windfall the boys buy King a new horse and carriage and finance a camp show for their friend Joe. While Ollu and Buzsla were being divorced they continued to work at the track. When their friend King O'Hara's hack horse died. They at first tried to gain enough cash through gambling to buy the hack a new horse but were duped out of the money by con men at the stable. The conmen convinced them that they were buying an old nag which was retiring, its racing days over. Ollu and Buzsla purchased the horse with their winnings. The con had been going to steal Teabiscuit and so remove it from the big race but used these dupes to do their dirty work. After it was announted taht the champion horse Teasbiscuit had ben stolen, Ollu and Buzsla realize they had bought the champion horse. They informed King O'Hara of their error. They returned the horse just as the race began, the owner of the horse had kept him listed as a sentimental gesture. They quickly placed a bet on the missing horse and won a landfall when the horse won. The result of this, besides creating a big scandal and investigation, was that Ollu used the money to buy their friend a legitimate draft horse. Ollu and Buzsla were fired and banned from the race track. During this incident or shortly thereafter they renewed their acquaintance with Al Runyon who now called himself Alfred Damon Runyon. Al had been fired from the Denver Post and was working for the San Francisco Post but only did so for a brief time for before returning to Denver. Ollu and Buzsla were socially adrift for a while living as vagrants when the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire occurred. Duck Soup (1927) Laurel and Hardy short silent. The Sheriff is rounding up vagrants to help fight forest fires. Two unwilling volunteers are Laurel and Hardy, whose flight from the scene takes them on a wild down hill bicycle ride. They take refuge in a deserted mansion but the arrival of prospective tenants forces Ollie to pose as the owner and Stan as the maid. Their impersonation is barely convincing but succeeds until the unexpected arrival of the real owner. The pair are arrested by apprehended by the Sheriff and the final scene shows them at the mercy of an uncontrollable fire hose. Later remade as Another Fine Mess. Ollu and Buzsla were forced into fighting fires in the wooded areas of San Francisco and north of the city. They feared fire for they believe that it was one thing that could truly kill them and if it didn't it would really, really hurt for a long time. They escaped from the fire fighting duties and took refuge in an abandoned mansion, still fairly intact. They soon discovered that the mansion's owner had not fled because of the quake and fire but rather had gone on a African hunting trip and was leasing his home. Ollu and Buzsla had to pretend to be the owner and maid to dissuade the prospective tenants from taking the place. However the real owner returned having heard about the quake and fire returned in a few days. Ollu and Buzsla were given over to the sheriff, who once again made them fight fires. Ollu
and Buzsla left San Francisco behind and made their way to Seattle.
They took lumber jacking jobs from the McCord and Pratt Lumber company,
stating they were friends with George and Sam. A telegram confirmed
this. The McCord and Pratt Lumber company received a large contract to
lumber trees in Canada. Ollu and Buzsla were among the men sent on this
logging trip. |
1907 Lumbering Lummoxes Abbott and Costello Animated Series
Abbott and Costello are up in the North woods working as lumberjacks. Their nemesis is Big Pierre, the giant lumberjack boss who's out to get them to Costello's costly and constant bumbling. He threatens to fire the boys unless they can clear an entire hill of trees before sundown, which Costello manages to do, thus saving their jobs.
Ollu and Buzsla and the rest of the men were placed under the leadership of Pierre L'Ourang. He had been hired to supervise the cut because he was a well known lumberjack and he knew the area very well. He however resented Yanks having been sent up to do work that should have been done by Canadians and so used every means possible to get Ollu, Buzsla and rest of the crew from the States fired. Ollu and Buzsla managed to do every task he set them to although barely. It was soon discovered that Big Pierre was skimming from McCord and Pratt and selling a lot of the cut wood to Canadian lumber companies. Ollu and Buzsla captured Big Pierre and turned him into the Royal North-West Mounted Police. Their actions in capturing the villain lead to them being hired as members of the Royal North-West Mounted Police. They were assigned to the Northern Territories.
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Northwest Mounties Abbott and Costello are out to get the giant King Kong Kanuck of the North. Mounty Bounty Abbott and Costello Animated Series episode Mounted policemen Abbott and Costello have to bring in the Mighty Maurice, the outlaw. He proves to be big, rough and tough but Bud and Lou remain true to the Northwest Mounted tradition. They finally get their man, after he gets them a few times. Ollu and Buzsla spent 18 months in the frozen north before becoming tired of the freezing weather. They spent several months tracking one outlaw through the arctic lands. Their superiors were so impressed they were given a similar assignment a couple months later. The cartoon adventures of course exaggerate the physical characteristics of the two criminals but they were both large violent men with wily and cunning natures. Ollu and Buzsla both agreed to go some place very warm and to find employment that did not involve violence. |
1909 Jitterbugs Laurel and Hardy film
Traveling two man band are stuck in the desert due to an empty fuel tank. Eventually a car stops from which emerges Chester Wright, a con man claiming to invented gas pills, guaranteed to turn water into gasoline. He fill the boys with real gasoline before noticing their profession. He suggests that they join him in nearby Midvale to make some money. Stan and Ollie's ingenious remote controlled instruments start the crowd dancing and more importantly attract attention for a sales pitch. Chester makes the acquaintance of a local girl Susan Cowan. As unwitting con men Stan and Ollie do a good job until one purchaser staggers back from an exploded car. Chester posing as a detective hustles the boys out of town. en route he discovers a bag left in the car by Susan but is saved the job of returning it, Susan having hitched a lift on the back of Stan and Ollie's trailer. Susan tells Chester of a property deal involving her family. Chester recognizes the financier as a crooked gambler and determines to recover the cash invested by Susan's mother.
Back in Midvale the family lawyer discovers the money placed in his safe to be newspaper clippings, switched using twin marked envelopes. Chester devises an intricate sting in which Stan and Ollie assume the guise of several people as they use different ploys to sucker the three sets of swindlers that had taken the money from Susan's mother. At the conclusion, Susan's mother has gotten her money back and Ollie and Stan are being chased by a New Orlean's gangster who had eluded justice.
Ollu and Buzsla left the frozen north to live in the United States Southwestern states. In Albuquerque, New Mexico they used their Mountie salary to purchase musical instruments and an automobile. They acquired some bookings as a two man band in Albuquerque and were offered a three week stint at a Spa in Salt Lake City. They set out in their car across the desert but they miscalculated in the fuel they needed to get to Santa Fe and ran out of gas just before reaching Salt Lake City. They were stranded for some time when a man happened by and demonstrated his new gas pill which miraculously changed a gallon of water into gasoline. Having missed their engagement, they agreed to work with Chester Wright in helping him sell the gas pills, although it is not known for certain they were entirely fooled by his presentation.
Chester was a con man with a heart of gold whose criminal skills could be directed towards a good cause, at least when the good cause is a beautiful young woman like Susan Cowan. With Buzsla and Ollu's help he managed to sting the crook gamblers that had cheated Susan's mother. At Chester's direction Ollu and Buzsla used a variety to guises to sting the crooks. Chester's sudden attack of virtue however did not extend to sticking his neck out when one of the crooks that had escaped being arrested decided to hunt down Ollu and Buzsla.
1911 Swiss Miss (1938) Laurel and Hardy feature film
Compose Victor Albert arrives at a Swiss hotel hoping to gain inspiration for his new opera. The hotel's staff have been persuaded to wear traditional costume. Another reason for his retreat is to escape from his wife Anna an opera star he believes would distract him from composing music about an ordinary, unsophisticated girl. Stan and Ollie are in Switzerland to sell mousetraps, acting on Stan's theory that Switzerland has the most cheese and consequently the most mice. They accept an offer to buy out their business but when living it up at the Alpine Hotel discover they have been paid with currency from a non-existent country.
The pair are forced to work as kitchen hands to pay off the bill, with the extra complication of working an extra day for every plate they break. The tyrannical chef makes certain that plenty plates are broken. Anna has traced her husband to the hotel and is determined to prove that she has the qualities to interest an ordinary man and is happy to encourage the romantic interest of both Ollie and the chef. To reinforce her point and to further pester Victor she takes a job as a chambermaid. Unaware that she is married Ollie falls for Anna. He and Stan nearly take a different fall when transporting the composer's piano across a rickety rope bridge, a maneuver complicated by the appearance of a gorilla. At Stan's suggestion Ollie invites Anna to the Alpenfest, a local carnival. Serenading her they are soaked by a jug of water by Ollie's rival, the Chef. At the Alpenfest, Anna makes a convincing gypsy singer and is reunited with Victor. Stan and Ollie escape the chef and learning of Anna's marriage leave the hotel pursued by the gorilla they had met earlier.
Relentlessly pursued by a crook out for revenge, Ollu and Buzsla fled to Europe. They end up Switzerland selling Mouse traps. They were doing quite well when the crook caught up to them. Ever the wheeler dealer Buzsla agreed to sell him their profitable business at a reduced rate. He complied readily. The money he had given them was counterfeit. Ollu and Buzsla worked at an Alpine lounge and became involved in the marital problems of a famous composer and his wife. Ollu had fallen for the wife believing that she was a chambermaid. He was crushed to discover that she was married. Ollu and Buzsla left Switzerland to go to Paris.
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1911-1915 Flying Deuces (1939) Laurel and Hardy film Stan and Ollie are staying in Paris when Ollie falls for an innkeeper's daughter, Georgette. Ollie proposes marriage but is refused gracefully. He is unaware that Georgette is married to Francois, a Foreign Legion officer. Ollie decides to jump in the Seine, persuading Stan to come along. They pause to discuss the possibility of reincarnation, Ollie decided to come back as a horse. Further delays ensue until they meet Francois, who suggests the Legion as an alternative. The suicide is abandoned but Ollie still lands in the river, narrowly missing an escaped shark. In the Legion they disrupt a parade, while their familiarity with Francois is taken as insubordination. They rebel when the Commandant tells them how little they will be paid but are soon washing a mountain of laundry. Ollie conveniently forgets Georgette, which they think, entitles them to leave. On their way out they meet Georgette who has arrived to be with her husband Francois. Francois is enraged to see Ollie kissing his wife. Worse still they are charged with desertion and sentenced to be shot at sunrise. A note arrives telling them of an escape route via a trap door but they are pursued. The tunnel leads into a wine cellar from which they enter the main building. Unwittingly they stumble into Georgette's bedroom, she faints and Francois arrives just as they are attempting to revive her. The chase continues into an aircraft hangar and they are soon airborne in a runaway aircraft. They crash. Stan emerges unscathed as he watches Ollie's angelic figure float skyward. The scene dissolves to Stan as a carefree wanderer, his attention caught by a whistle and Ollie's voice. Stan his overjoyed to see his old friend who has been reincarnated as a horse. Beau Hunks Laurel and Hardy short subject Devastated
at being brushed aside by his dear "Jeanie-Weenie," Ollie decides to
join the Foreign Legion to help forget. Of course, Stan must go along
too. The boys run up against a tough commandant who sends them to Fort
Arid to protect the fort from the "Riffs." Abbott and Costello in the French Foreign Legion (1950) Abbott and Costello feature film
Wresting promoters Bud Jones and Lou Hotchkiss are dismayed when their
star, Abdullah refuses to follow their script, which indicates he is to
lose and he returns to his native Algeria. Because they borrowed 5,0000
dollars from the syndicate to import him, Bud and Lou follow to bring
him back. Abdullah's cousin, Sheik Hamud El Khalid and a traitorous
French Foreign Legionnaire Sergeant Axeman have been organizing raids
on railroad construction crews with the intention of extorting money
from the railroad. The villains assume the Bud and Lou are spies for
the railroad and order them killed. Lou further infuriates Hamud by
inadvertently outbidding him for the purchase of six slave girls,
including Nicole, a beautiful agent from French Intelligence who
intends to gain entry into Hamud's camp. The boys seek refuge at the
headquarters of the French Foreign Legion, where the devious Axeman
dupes them into enlisting. Sahara You Abbott and Costello Animated Series episode Lost on vacation, Abbott and Costello wind up as foreign legionaries. They get out only after capturing a desert villain. As a hero, Costello signs an autograph that turns out to be enlistment papers for the Mongolian air force. As with many of their adventures the events of several years in the lives of Buzsla and Ollu are compressed and rearranged for the plot lines of one or more films by one or more artists. Such was the case here. Our task is to attempt to rearrange the events from clues in the films into a narrative that bears some historical truth. Their Foreign Legion period appears to have begun in Paris. Ollu and Buzsla were fight promoters whose latest fighter Abdullah the Unmerciful was creating a sensation in the French boxing world. Too much of a sensation, for he was winning too much to suit some of the more established boxers and their managers and the boxing promoters and the French gangsters behind the gambling. The gamblers wished for Abdullah to take a dive, he refused and instead left Paris to return home. Ollu had once again lost his heart to a married woman, Georgette the daughter of the inn keeper where they were residing. With the rejection of his troth and the loss of their boxing champion, Ollu decided to join the French Foreign Legion. Buzsla of course joined him. The section of the film Beau Hunks where Ollie decideed to commit suicide and Stanley agreed was of course fictional comic hijinks of the actors Laurel and Hardy. Ollu and Buzsla were after all Immortal and knew they could not die by drowning. They discovered after joining the French Foreign Legion that Georgette was married to an officer of the Legion, yet that had not stopped her from toying with the affections of many men in the Legion. She was well acquainted with everyone in their barracks including the Commandant. Although this was a relatively peaceful time for the Legion, there were still problems with the native populations, especially since the railroads were expanding through Algeria and Morocco. The desert tribes had been raiding the railroad construction crews under the leadership of Sheik Hamud El Khalid. The Commandant wa scertain there was an inside leak. The Commandant trusted Ollu and Buzsla because they were fresh on the scene and Americans without political bias. He gave them the mission of helping to uncover the spy. As Ollu and Buzsla struggled through basic training they heard that Georgette and her husband, the officer had returned to Algeria where he commanded a nearby fort. They later heard that Georgette had been taken captive by a desert tribe in a raid while accompanying her husband who had been touring a railroad construction site. On their first leave Ollu and Buzsla visited the town nearest to where Georgette had been abducted with the idea of perhaps finding her. As chance would have it they did find her being sold in an auction for harem girls. Ollu and Buzsla outbid the Sheik who vowed revenge. They did not have the money and so grabbed Georgette and fled. When Georgette struggled in her panic, Ollu and Buzsla had to bind her. They returned her to her husband's fort. She was quite angry with Ollu and Buzsla. She was not a promiscuous woman, as everyone thought, well, not without cause. She worked for French Intelligence and she had been assigned to discover who had been working with the Algerian and Moroccan natives raiding railroad construction sites. To this end she had become friendly with many members of the Legion and had even married an officer to gain access to the areas of the Legion that would otherwise be closed to her. She had allowed herself to be captured so she could infiltrate Sheik El Khalid's household. Having vented her anger, she softened and told Ollu she thought his affection and misplaced heroism were sweet. Georgette's husband walked in as she was kissing him. Since they had chosen to bring Georgette home rather than report to their own fort on time they were charged with desertion and sentenced to be shot at sunrise. Their Sergeant and a platoon had been ordered to reinforce Fort Arid and to pick up the two idiots on the way. Georgette's husband however had other ideas and wished to continue with the execution. Ollu and Buzsla were broken out of jail by a masked figure who led them into trapdoor inside the wine cellar. The door opened into a tunnel which exited in a building near the Fort's walls. Inept as always Ollu and Buzsla failed to make their escape with any stealth were pursued inside the Fort. Desperate they jumped inside an observation balloon and took off. The Sergeant and his troops were dispatched to capture Ollu and Buzsla. However the balloon was shot at by an excited Legionnaire and the gas bag explodeed in mid air, the remnant plummeted to the ground. Ollu and Ballu were believed killed in either the explosion or the fall. They were not killed but rather wandered lost in the desert. Sgt. Axmann and his men were sent to reinforce Fort Apar with Georgette's husband's troops to follow soon afterwards. Ollu and Buzsla watched in stunned disbelief as a group of natives attacked and butchered the sleeping Legionnaires, sparing only Sergeant Axmann. The Arabs stripped the Legionnaires of their uniforms and march towards Ford Arid under the command of Sgt. Axmann. Although Ollu and Buzsla attempted to beat the disguised Arabs to Fort Apar, they were slowed by a sand storm. When they arrived at the fort and were allowed to enter, they quickly let everyone inside know that the Arabs were going to trick their way inside. They then noticed all the dead bodies and the fact that they were talking to Arabs in Legionnaire uniforms. Sheik Haman al Khalid told them he was aware of the plot. Prior to the reinforcements arrived walking into a death trap, Sheik Haman wished for some entertainment. He wanted to have Ollu slowly killed for stealing a woman from him, his wrestlers would pull him to pieces. He smiled this would happen even though he eventually got the woman. Georgette sat beside Haman looking contemptuously at Ollu and Buzsla. As luck would have it one of the wrestler's was Abudullah the Unmerciful. He and Ollu had a long prolonged fight. During which Georgette slipped away and freed Buzsla. Buzsla and her quickly put into motion her plan to dynamite the gunpowder stores. In the store room they also found kegs of nails. Buzsla quickly poured gunpowder in many of these kegs and set fuses in them. They set the fuse for the gunpowder stores and lit the fuses in the kegs of nails that they rolled into the crowd of onlookers watching. As the smoking kegs rolled into the crowd it turned into a melee. Abdullah and Ollu joined Buzsla and Georgette who waited with camels. They rode out of the fort and pushed the gates shut. The nails kegs began exploding sending deadly shrapnel every where. The powder stores also blew. They opened the gates again and began shooting at the survivors. Sheik Haman shoots down Sergeant Axemann and he is in turn wounded by Ollu. When the Legionnaire reinforcements arrive. Buzsla and Ollu hand over Sheik Haman to their Commandant and show him the body of the traitor. Georgette is reunited with her husband. Although all three
films end with Ollu and Buzsla leaving the foreign legion after this
incident they did not do so for a few more years. After the Moroccan
War they were sent to pacify Madagascar. They returned to North Africa
and then were released |
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1915 Lost in a Harem (1944) Abbott and Costello feature film
When the International Review a small vaudeville show becomes stranded in Port Inferno, a bizarre city in the mystic East, singer Hazel Moon lands a job at the Cafe of All Nations. She persuades the owner to hire the revue's prop men Harvey Garvey and Pete Johnson as a comedy team. Their magic act starts a brawl in the club and Hazel and the boys are thrown in jail. Ramo, a desert sheik offers to help Hazel and boys escape if they help him regain the throne of Barabeeha, which his wicked Uncle Nimativ, has usurped with the aid of two hypnotic rings. Pete, Harvey, and Hazel escape and join Ramo's band of desert riders. Ramo explains that his uncle is susceptible to blondes. With Hazel to distract him, Pete and Harvey can steal the rings.
Posing as Hollywood talent scouts the boys enter the capital city with Hazel. Nimativ is captivated by Hazel but despite this distraction, he quickly hypnotizes Pete and Harvey and learns of Ramo's plans. The boys are tossed in jail and Hazel is hypnotized to become wife number thirty-eight. Ramo rescues the boys and smuggles them into the palace where Harvey wins the cooperation of Teema, chief wife of the Harem by promising to get her into the movies. Harvey disguises himself as Teema and Pete impersonates Nimativ. During a great celebration, they boys steal the rings and hypnotize Nimativ into abdicating. Ramo is restored to the throne Hazel becomes his wife and the heroes are off to America.
Upon leaving the Foreign Legion the Ollu and Buzsla were still in need of money to return to the states. They latched onto jobs as prop men in the International Review, a small vaudeville show. As in the film the show became stranded in Port Inferno, which lay between Tunisia and Libya. Buzsla and Ollu's magic act started a riot, which landed them in jail, and they met a crazy man and a desert sheik. They became involved in the political machinations of the tiny state of Barabeeha, also on the Tunisian coast. Ramo, who had an unusual Arabic name, has had his throne usurped by his uncle Nimativ, also a rather unusual Arabic name.
Ramo's uncle possessed a pair of rings that had hypnotic powers. These rings seem similar it seems to those possessed by the vigilante the Shadow. So could these rings be the ones owned by the Shadow? Even though his career as the Shadow does not seem to have started until 1929, (31)he already possessed one of the rings by 1913, given to him by the Tsar of Russia. The other ring he would create from a girasol stone he would find in a Xincan idol. So this appears to rule out that line of inquiry. However there may be a connection although a very tenuous one. Russia is the only one of the Great Powers that did not have a presence in Africa. Yet it may have attempted to establish a presence at one time. Ramo could very well be a corruption of Romanov and Nimativ could be a corruption of another Russian name. The Russians may have attempted to establish a port in the Tunisian area for further incursions into Africa but something went wrong, the Romanov princeling sent to conquer the area went native. He converted to Islam and married into a local ruling family. His troops followed suit and they broke off ties with Mother Russia.
The rings were part of the crown jewels originally owned by Ivan the Terrible; they were akin to the girasol but that stone was added to the Russian crown jewels at a later date. Once Ollu and Buzsla saw the stones set in the hypnotic rings they recognized them immediately as being similar to those they had found on Skull island. They were also similar but not exactly similar to those they had found in the Giant's castle back in Medieval England. The stones were power crystals left over from the Ancient civilization of Lemuria. The girasols were probably also remnants of this far flung empire, although they were eventually set into an Xincan idol as the eyes of a god. In addition to being power sources for an advanced technology the gems were also slightly psionically reactive and could enhance the psionic commands of certain people. This may have been originally geared towards technicians being able to use the powerstones to operate various devices triggered by a sort of thought recognition.
Over the millennia distorted explanations of the use and usage's of these power crystals from Atlantis and Lemuria gave them all sorts of mystical origins, powers and connection. While it is true they could in some cases amplify psionic abilities, generally they were nothing more than sophisticated power sources, a crystalline fuel cell.
Ollu and Buzsla managed to steal the rings and Ollu was able to mesmerize Nimativ into abdicating. Ramon was grateful to the Ollu and Buzsla but considered their help in restoring him to his throne simply fulfilling the promise they made in jail so no further reward was forthcoming.
Ollu and Buzsla worked their way back to America on an Ocean Liner as a steward and purser.
1915 Sailors, Beware! Laurel and Hardy film (1927)
Cab driver Chester Chaste (Stan) is taking Madame Ritz and her baby to a quayside rendezvous with the SS Miramar. Madame Ritz is an international jewel thief and the baby is really her midget husband, Roger in disguise. Chester's cab is accidentally loaded aboard ship, an error that leads Chester becoming a reluctant Steward under the Captain and Purser Cryder (Ollie) Cryder's favorite passengers are blondes and brunettes but his attempts to make conversation with such lovelies such as Baroness Behr are interrupted by the new steward. Chester becomes involved in gambling with the disguised midget whose obviously loaded dice make it a one sided contest. Later Chester, having foiled Madame Ritz crooked card game has the job of bathing the bogus child. He discovers the truth from the midget's hairy chest, he alerts Purser Cryder and the midget takes revenge by beating up Cryder.
Although the tale of how Buzsla was taken aboard the ship is fictitious, the tale of Ollu and Buzsla catching an international jewel thief and her midget husband is quite true, although naturally the Captain got all the credit.
1916 In Society (1944) Abbott and Costello feature film
Plumbers Eddie and Albert are called to repair a lead in the bathroom of wealthy Mr. Van Cleve, whose wife is giving a costume ball. The plumbers arrive at the Van Cleve mansion in a Taxi driven by Elsie Hammerdingle. Playboy Peter Evans mistakes Elsie for a costumed guest and a romance begins. He invites her to spend the weekend at Mrs. Winthrop's estate, Briarwood. Meanwhile, Eddie and Albert devastate the upstairs bathroom and flood the master bedroom. Mrs. Van Cleve writes an indignant letter to the plumbers but accidentally mails her own invitation to the Winthrop's society weekend.
Eddie and Albert are delighted at the prospect of meeting so many new and wealthy customers. Drexel, a loan shark demands that the boys help him steal the Winthrop's famous painting, "The Plunger" but the boys refuse. Eddie, Albert and Elsie arrive at Briarwood. The boys spend a riotous weekend putting on airs, confounding the butler and participating in a fox hunt. Drexel shows up and enlists Marlow a shady chauffeur to steal the painting. Gloria Winthrop, jealous of Elsie denounces her, Eddie and Albert as the thieves. As Drexel and Marlow flee, Eddie and Albert pursue them in a fire truck, capture them and return with the painting.
With the exception anachronistic references and the omission of Ollu's and Buzsla's competing Plumbers who turned out to be the Three From The Other Tribe this hews pretty close to the truth.
Ollu and Buzsla had decided to become plumbers after returning to the United States. How hard could it be to twist pipes together? When called to the Van Cleve Mansion, they discovered just how hard it could be. They devastated the Master bedroom. Mrs. Van Cleve sent them a scathing letter only she put it in the wrong envelope and enclosed an invitation to a society weekend in theirs. Yet the bathroom still was not fixed as the weekend approached so Mrs. Van Cleve engaged the services of Mough, Lorenzo and Caerlugh of the Day and Nite plumbers.(32) They were more experienced plumbers than Ollu and Buzsla but as always they could not leave well enough alone and decided to improve on the existing plumbing with ultimately disastrous results. They worked on the plumbing during entire weekend and joined in the ferreting out the thieves of the painting. Their primary suspects were Ollu and Buzsla. They even managed to capture Ollu and Buzsla as Ollu and Buzsla were returning the painting having retrieved it from the real thieves.
The romance between the female cabdriver and the society boy appears to have been placed in the picture for matinee romance purposes.
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1917-1919 Buck Privates (1941) Abbott and Costello feature film Sidewalk tie
salesman Slicker Smith and his shill Herbie Brown, elude their nemesis
Patrolman Collins by ducking into the movies. But the Theatre has been
converted into an Army enlistment center and before they now it the
boys have become involuntary volunteers. Bound for boot camp with them
are Randolph Parker III, a spoiled playboy and Bob Martin, his long
suffering valet, the Andrews Sisters and Judy Gray who will serve as
camp hostesses. Great Guns (1941) Laurel and Hardy Feature Stan and Ollie enlist in the army to protect their sickly, recently drafted friend. During war games, the boys are taken as prisoners by the enemy camp. Thanks to their friend and Stan's pet crow, the enemy's secrets are discovered and the battle is won by the Laurel and Hardy camp. Although these two films by two different sets of artists appear to be two different films they actually appear to be two differing versions of the same incidents. In Great Guns Laurel and Hardy combine the roles of Abbott and Costello and of the valet/rival of Buck Privates. Upon having been sued out of their plumbing business Ollu and Buzsla were forced to eke out a living selling ties on the street without a peddlers license. They were constantly pestered by a beat cop who finally decided to run them in. They ran into a recruiting center and decided to join up. Reporting for duty was a rich young man named Parker in Buck Privatesand Forrester in Great Guns we will call him Parker Forrester who had been drafted. Joining him was his valet/chauffeur, Bob Martin, who appears have been a former childhood friend of Parker Forrester. Parker Forrester was arrogant and was a hypochondriac to boot. Although Buck Privates shows him wishing to use his relatives influence to get out of the Army and Great Guns showing him as wishing to remain to prove he was not an invalid, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Parker Forrester believed that he was sickly and would fail at being a soldier. He had been convinced of his weak condition by his aunt who had, for the most part raised him. His father was a widower and was not at home much and so left it to his wife's spinster sister to raise the boy. The father refused to use his influence to allow Parker out of the army and he asked Bob Martin to help make a man out of him. Bob Martin continually challenged Parker and challenged his so-called diseases as being symptoms of a spoiled, lazy good-for-nothing rich boy. They even became rivals for the same girl Judy Gray/Ginger. On the other end of the spectrum, Ollu and Buzsla were hired by Parker's aunt who came across them doing a punishment duty of cleaning everyone's gear with a toothbrush and believed that they were diligent, kind and concerned for the welfare of others. She explained Parker's condition and asked that they keep him away from strenuous duties. The attempts by the platoon's worst soldiers to help out the poor Parker were so humiliating that Parker swallowed his arrogance, forgot about his allergies and proved how good a soldier he could be. He was shown to be an exemplary shot in Buck Privates and a great horseman in Great Guns. Parker Forrester and Bob Martin eventually attended Officers Candidates School together. Parker Forrester would marry Judy and they would have a daughter. 1917 The Purple Baron Abbott and Costello Animated Series A World War One ace is outfought by blundering Costello in an old fashioned dogfight. The incident although minor did occur although by this time the infamous Manfred Von Richtofen had already been killed in combat. Separated from their platoon during a firefight, Ollu and Buzsla wandered into British lines. They came across a downed plane. The plane was intact but the pilot head been shot in the chest and throat. The fastest way to get him a hospital was to fly. Buzsla insisted that flying is just like driving a car but with wings. Ollu was convinced and they actually managed to get the plane off the ground. However Ollu's first unplanned loop throws Buzsla from the plane and he landed in a water filled trench. Flying erratically, Ollu attracts the attention of the German Flyers. He is attacked by the infamous white plane of the current head of the Flying Circus. Ollu's erratic flying style made it extremely difficult to get a bead on and the German ace was only able to do minor damage to Ollu's plane. Through some very lucky shots Ollu managed to hit vital rudders of the German Ace's plane. The German ace turned purple with rage at being defeated by so inept a foe. Unfortunately Ollu did not manage to kill this ace. He would live to become one of Adolf Hitler's main henchmen. His name was Herman Goering. 1919 Buck Privates Come Home (1947) Abbott and Costello feature film Slicker
Smith and Herbie Brown after serving in World War II return to the
States on board a troop ship. When Sergeant Collins discovers that they
have smuggled aboard Evey, a six year old French orphan, she is held
for the immigration official by Lieutenant Sylvia Hunter, a nurse. Evey
escapes from immigration and heads for Times Square where Slicker
and Herbie are once again selling ties. They are about to be
pinched by Collins who is now a cop. When Evey helps them escape.
Herbie learns that he must be married and have a steady income before
he can adopt the girl. Evey suggests Aunt Sylvia as a likely candidate
and they seek her help. Pack up your Troubles Laurel and Hardy Film 1932 When
America enters the First World War Stan and Ollie try unsuccessfully to
dodge the recruiting officer and are soon disrupting military drill.
Their efforts are rewarded with a job emptying bins. On asking the cook
where the bins should go, they are told sarcastically to take them to
the General. This they do landing themselves in a cell with the cook
who vows revenge with a carving knife. Ollu and Buzsla became minor heroes when they captured a German platoon using a runaway tank caught in barbed wire. This acclaim but this was tempered by the death of their friend Parker Forrester a few days later. They began watching out for a French orphan they found in a bombed-out building. With the aid of their army buddies they managed to hide her. The buddies even aided Ollu and Buzsla smuggle her onto their troop ship returning to the United States. Their Sargeant, the former cop, however discovered the little girl aboard ship. She was placed into the custody of a navy nurse pending being placed with the immigration authorities. Mustered out of the service, Ollu and Buzsla returned to street peddling. Their old nemesis, their former sergeant was about to pinch them when they were helped to escape by Evey, who had escaped from the custody of the Immigration service. Ollu and Buzsla inquired about legally adopting the girl. They were told that only married couples were allowed to adopt and the husband must have a steady income. Buzsla and Ollu realized that it was best for the girl to be adopted by a couple. Evey suggested Sylvia Hunter as the mother and Buzsla and Ollu believed that their friend Bob Martin would be a good father. Bob and Sylvia had gotten to know each other on the ship. One of the main sticking points of their relationship was Bob's chosen profession, the former chauffeur had decided to become a professional automobile racer. Neither Sylvia or the immigration officials saw this as a steady income. Ollu and Buzsla helped Bob borrow money so that he could fix up his racer and win the Gold Cup Stakes. Collins led the immigration officials to the race track. Ollu grabbed Evey and attempted to get away in Bob's souped up racer. Although because of Ollu's attempt to escape the immigration authorities disqualified Bob from the race, the design for the automobile interested an Auto manufacturer who ordered twenty cars and two hundred engines from Bob. Bob's steady manufacturing position gave him the wherewithal to marry Sylvia and to adopt Evey. After Evey was squared away, Ollu and Buzsla went about keeping a promise they had made to a comrade in arms. This had been made to Parker Forrester. He wished for them to make certain that his wife and child were doing okay. Ollu and Buzsla soon discovered the Forrester's wife had been killed in the Swine Flu epidemic. Their child had been placed with a court appointed guardian, an uncle of Ginger's. He was a layabout whose only concern for the child was in the money he received for support. Ollu and Buzsla took the little girl into their own custody and set about finding the little girl's grandparents. Since Parker's family had never approved of his marriage they looked for Ginger's parents whose name was Smith. The
Orphanage officials were soon after the boys who had taken the girl
into their custody without formal approval. Needing money to flee the
state Ollu and Buzsla tried to obtain a bank loan using their
lunchwagon as security. The Bank manager told him that he would have to
be unconscious to agree to such an agreement. When a falling ornament
rendered the bank president into such a state, Ollu and Buzsla took him
at his literal word. Soon the police and their old nemesis Collins were
after them. The police captured them and the Bank manager recognized a
picture of his son among the returned money. The Banker was Parker
Forrester's father. After Ollu and Buzsla explain themselves they were
freed. Collin's Captain sarcastically tells them with their ability to
define the law so clearly they should be lawyers or policemen. Not
wishing to go to school for several years they decide to become the
latter. |
1920 Midnight Patrol (1933) Laurel and Hardy film
Police men Laurel and Hardy interrupt night duty for a snack, which they have concealed in a police telephone. Back in their car they receive a radio message to the effect that their tires are being stolen. The robbers are disposed. They are next summoned to investigate a burglary. They botch the address and arrive at a jeweler's where a safe cracker is at work. They arrest him. Ollie calls in for the address of the Burglary. They arrive at the correct address and see a man enter the house via a storm cellar door. They follow. The door is locked so they break it in and enter the dark cellar. They fall into a barrel of sauerkraut. The owner investigating the noise is knocked out cold by the two officers. They proudly haul their prisoner to the station only to discover he was the Chief of Police. The chief borrows a revolver. Stan and Ollie's off screen demise is evident when fellow officers remove their caps, send t for the Coroner says the chief.
Although Ollu and Buzsla gave it their best shot they were really not suited for the life of policemen, especially in the urban climate of the early twentieth century when you had to be a politician and had to ride a fine line between corruption and virtue. The incident described above in which they arrested the Chief of Police was an apt example of their ignorance of the politics connected with the job or their unwillingness to compromise the oaths they had taken to become Police officers.
Despite their many years of life Ollu and Buzsla did not become cynical. Even as police officers they believed that although criminals should be caught and crimes should be prevented people should be allowed to comport themselves with dignity and should be given the benefit of the doubt. An example is when they accidentally went to the wrong address and found a burglar in the process of robbing a jewelry store. Since they were pressed for time and needed to go to the correct address they told the Burglar to turn himself in. What is not shown in the film is that the burglar actually did turn himself having had a change of heart at being treated like a human being for once.
When they finally did make it to the house that they had been called, they caught a man sneaking into a house via the storm cellar door. Being the diligent public servants that they were, they did not let barriers such as a locked door keep them from carrying out their duty. The man of the house came to investigate, he was indeed knocked cold by Ollu and Buzsla for resisting arrest. When they hauled their prisoner in they discovered to their error that he was the Chief of Police. Ollu and Buzsla were not shot as depicted in the film but they were bounced from the force. The Chief might have been in a more forgiving mood had it been his own house he had been sneaking in through the backdoor. His arrest threatened to expose his off duty activities.
1920 Do Detectives Think? Laurel and Hardy short subject 1927 Silent
A judge who has just sentenced a man to death calls on two detectives (Stan and Ollie) for protection.
Judge Foozle sentences the Tipton Slasher to hang. The Slasher vows revenge and escapes, gaining entrance into Foozle's home by posing as the new butler. One of his first duties is to greet the detectives Ferdinand Finkleberry (Stan) Sherlock Pinkham (Ollie) that the Judge has engage to protect him. Their William Tell style demonstration of target practice is enough to convince anyone of their incompetence. While taking a bath, Foozle sees the butler approach with a large scimitar. The detectives are of little use until Foozle falling from the stairs, appears with a horrible mask jammed over the back of his head. The terrified Slasher thinking Foozle to be a ghost and is lead away.
Ollu and Buzsla obtained employment with a well known private detective agency, using their background as police officers to demonstrate that they hadthe necessary background. Ollu and Buzsla were competent if not brilliant detectives. They were successful in discovering the identities of a fraud ring which operated out of a major department store, they nabbed the culprits in a pension check stealing ring, they thwarted a big store con and got the ring leader sent to jail. In this case however they made an error for the person they pegged as the ringleader, Dick Muldoon, was an innocent dupe. He spent six months in jail before the real culprit was uncovered if not caught, although Muldoon was released the mistake had cost him his wife and his reputation.
Ollu and Buzsla guarded Judge Foozle from the vicious killer, the Tipton Slasher and inadvertently captured the escaped killer. Because of this success, Ollu and Buzsla were given their most delicate and complex case to date; to capture a pair of slippery swindlers that no one had ever been able to pin anything on.
The two swindlers were Gus Adamson and Nellie Brown who had been dubbed Larceny Nell. According to the information which Ollu and Buzsla's superiors received, Nell and Gus were going to hook up in Mexico and run an extensive scam on Mexican and American businessmen. The fear is that their efforts would not only affect the perilous peace in Mexico which had been achieved with the presidency of Álvaro Obregón but also that their meddling in stock fraud could destabilize the Mexican markets and set up a cascade effect which would affect the United States economy. Ollu's and Buzsla's mission was to go undercover as a pair of swindlers on the run, hook up with Adamson and Nell, gather concrete evidence on their activities and their involvement in the illegal doings, thwart their schemes before they came to fruition and bring the two swindlers to justice.
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1921 Mexican Hayride (1948) Abbott and Costello feature film Joe Bascom
catches up with con man Harry Lambert at a Mexico city bullring.
Lambert swindled Bascom and his friends with a phony oil stock deal
back in Iowa. Lambert is now promoting Joe's ex-girlfriend Mary, as
Montana, a great toreador. Montana will launch the Amigo Americana Week
festivities by tossing her hat into the crowd and the lucky recipient
will be named good will ambassador. Lambert has arranged for Montana to
select Gus Adamson, another confidence man from the states. Through the
resulting publicity Lambert, Adamson and Dagmar hope to sell shares in
a fictitious silver mine to unwary tourists. Montana, however spots
Bascom in the crowd and in anger throws her hat at him, accidentally
making him the honoree. Lambert and Dagmar conspire to continue with
their plan and use Bascom in the silver mine scam. Bascom also a
fugitive takes on the alias of Humphrey Fish. The Bullfighters (1945) Laurel and Hardy Feature film Now living
in Mexico, Richard K. Muldoon remembers the two men who sent him to
prison and promises revenge on them. The two men are the boys, who are
detectives in Mexico. Muldoon and his partner have booked famed
matador, Don Sebastian (an exact double of Stan), for a bullfight. When
Sebastian doesn't show up on time, Stan and Ollie try to fool
Muldoon-unsuccessfully. Buzsla went down to Veracruz first to establish his identity as an American "entrepreneur". A female operative of the agency accompanied him. Using the name Harry Lambert, Buzsla attempted to make waves by getting Mary to fight as a toreador. His efforts gained notoriety and got him the attention of Nellie and Adamson. As part of their scheme, Ollu burst in on Buzsla as he was meeting with Adamson and Nellie, discussing his plans for an Amigo American festival that would culminate with a good will ambassador. Ollu, using the name Bascom, pulled a gun on Buzsla and said he was taking Buzsla to the authorities. Ollu claimed that Buzsla had swindled he and his friends with a phony oil stock back in Iowa. Buzsla had also convinced Ollu's girlfriend that Ollu was the crook and had convinced her to accompany him to Mexico. Buzsla began fast talking telling Ollu that if he calmed down, he could get in on sweetheart of deal which would allow him to pay back his friends, make up his own losses and have a lot to spare. Ollu told him to start laying it out. Buzsla told Ollu, Adamson and Nellie how he had planned to use this phony Amigo Americana scam to segue into a build up and sales pitch for a phony silver mine in Monterrey and possibly some other businesses as well. Half angry at being taken and admiring of Lambert's audacity, Nellie and Adamson demanded to be in on the plan. It was soon arranged that Adamson would be picked as the good will ambassador and he would be the point man for the phony stock sales. However when the day arrived to pick the goodwill ambassador the notorious female toreador was supposed to throw her hat at random but she angrily threw it at Ollu and he "accidentally" became goodwill ambassador. Nellie and Adamson stayed with the plan despite this new wrinkle. After Ollu gave a speech extolling the silver mine and a couple of factories in Monterrey, several Mexican and American investors lined up to invest in these ventures. Adamson and Nell were secretly photographed exchanging money for fraudulent stocks. Despite Ollu and Buzsla's careful plans things went awry when Nellie doublecrossed everyone. She visited the American Consul and blew the whistle on Adamson, Ollu and Buzsla providing evidence that they were well known con men on the lam from the United States. As the three men were arrested Nell fled to Mexico City with all of the stolen money. Unwilling to blow their cover Ollu and Buzsla had Mary help them escape from the Veracruz prison. She enlisted the help of a local woman she had met Patrice Amati del Grande.(33) With Patrice's help they avoided a police roadblock dressed as Mexican women. As they had expected Nell was working the bullring as means of meeting potential suckers. There were many wealthy Americans and Mexicans in the city at the moment, all having come to see the premier matador of Spain give five performances at the Mexico City Bullring. The premier bullfighter was named Don Sebastian and he bore a remarkable, if not exact, resemblance to Buzsla. In fact Buzsla was mistaken for Don Sebastian by several persons including the American promoter of the event, Richard Muldoon. Upon a double take Muldoon realized that Buzsla was one of the two detectives that had ruined his life. He demanded to know what they were doing hounding him. Ollu quickly explained that they were not following him that they were in fact traveling incognito after the partner of the crook who had cheated and framed Muldoon. The main crook Adamson was already in custody. Muldoon burned for revenge against Buzsla and Ollu. When Don Sebastian failed to show up, Muldoon begged for Buzsla and Ollu to help him out. Since Buzsla looked like Don Sebastian he wanted Buzsla to pretend as if he were Sebastian. Muldoon promsed to send tame bulls against him; if Buzsla did not do this Muldoon would be ruined. They had already ruined his life once. He also alluded that if they chose not to help him he would expose their identities and make it appears as though they were trying to work both sides of the fence. Buzsla reluctantly agreed to help and fortified himself with alcohol prior to the bullfight. Muldoon did not choose a tame bull to pit against Buzsla but rather the worst tempered and violence prone bull he could find. At first Buzsla was too drunk to realize the danger he was in and he eluded the Bull's rushes with drunken lurching that the spectators took as skillful buffoonery. When Buzsla came to his senses the bull chased him all over the ring, he was joined by Ollu who had jumped into the ring to provide a distraction and was unable to get out. Although Nell was a swindler she was not a killer and hated to see her former partners get killed. When the Bull was tossing Ollu on his horns, Nell tried to pull him into the stands but missed. Her actions alerted Muldoon who crept up behind her and grabbed her. She threw her sombrero into the Bullring which distracted the Bull long enough for Buzsla to drive the sword into the bull's heart. Nell had not intended to provide a distraction but rather to get rid of the evidence, she had thought Muldoon was a copper come to pinch her. She tossed the sombrero with the stolen money in it to get rid of the evidence. Since Nell had saved their lives, the boys were inclined to be lenient. In return for all of the stolen money and a promise never to engage in crooked activities again, Nell was let loose. After returning the money, the boys returned to New York, quite a bit richer from side bets that Ollu had made prior to the bullfight. Muldoon had a last bit of revenge. As a sportswriter as well as sports promoter he was in a position to smear Ollu and Buzsla and did so in a column that alluded that they had skimmed money when they were supposed to capturing con men. The detective agency could not afford the bad publicity and so had to let them go. This was fine by them for they were tired of being detectives and wished to enter the movie business. Despite their experience at confidence games, they fell for one in 1922. |
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1922 Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Cops (1955) Abbott and Costello feature film Pierce and Piper, two men of a little means, decide to invest in the motion picture industry which they envision to be the coming thing. Reading an ad in the paper they bought a studio from a man named Joe Gorman, who owned two studios and found that commuting back and forth was too much too handle. The studio was located in West Orange. The boys at first thought they had bought a dump because the place resembled a tar paper shack. As it turned out the boys had not bought anything, the studio belong to Thomas Alva Edison. The police informed Harry Pierce and Willie Piper that Gorman had lit out for California. They lit out after him, hopping trains and hitchhiking. Gorman on the other hand was traveling under the assumed name of Sergei Toumanoff, a famed Russian director. He was hired as he disembarked the train by Amalgamated pictures to do epic dramas. Pierce and Piper accidentally walk onto a location shooting hopping aboard a conestoga wagon. The wagon was attacked by Indians and the driver was killed. Willie grabbed the reins and galloped the wagon team away from the Indian raiders. The road ended abruptly and the wagon team had to jump across a ravine. Toumanoff recognized Pierce and Piper but they did not recognize him because of the wig and monocle he wore. The head of the studio insisted on hiring the boys as a pair of stuntmen. Mr. Snavely even promised to help find the crook Gorman. Toumanoff decided to use this opportunity to kill them off. Scheduled to film an aerial dogfight he used a henchman. It was arraigned for Willie to go in a plane without a pilot, the other planes were fixed with live ammunition and the struts and wings of the plane were weakened. Pierce was helping Willie into the plane when it took off so he was caught in the death trap as well. Despite their falling out of the plane seats, flailing around on the wings and tail and fighting over the only parachute, they managed to steer the plane over the ocean before it crashed. Everyone who saw the footage of Piper and Pierce thought that they were the funniest thing going. Snavely told Toumanoff that they were going to become the studio's next big stars and that he was going to direct them. Toumanoff balked, claiming he only directed dramatic pieces. Snavely told Toumanoff that he knew he was Gorman, that he had made a deal with the police that if the money was paid back, Gorman would not serve jail time. Snavely was taking the money out of Gorman's salary. Piper and Pierce begin to suspect that Toumanoff is Gorman and break into his house. Pierce is dressed as burglar and Piper as a cop who would arrest Pierce if he got caught. The boys got mixed up with a real burglar and cop but failed to find any evidence. Toumanoff's henchman Hinds is demanding to be paid. Gorman no longer likes the straight life since he is no longer receiving the top drawer salary of a premier director. The henchman tells Gorman that Snavely keeps the payroll in cash in his office safe. Gorman and his wife steal the studio payroll but are spotted in the act by Piper and Pierce. Gorman and his wife make good their escape. Willie calls for a nearby patrol car filled with police to follow after him. These turn out to be the Keystone Kops. After a comical chase, Gorman ends up at the clearing where Hinds had parked their escape plane. Pierce and Piper captured Gorman but the plane propeller blows the payroll away. Having hung onto a few of their winnings from their Mexican adventure, Ollu and Buzsla went to New York looking for investment opportunities. They bought the movie studio from Gorman as portrayed only to discover that they had been swindled. They followed Gorman to California. Gorman had been planning on leaving New York for some time and had already made arrangements for Sergei Toumanoff to arrive in California before Piper and Pierce had even walked into his office. He could not resist fleecing two more suckers before he left the city. It took several months for Ollu and Buzsla to make their way to Hollywood. They had left in such haste that they had not even stopped to borrow money from any of their acquaintances. 1922 A Haunting We Will go Laurel and Hardy short subject Wanted Criminal Darby Mason plans to travel incognito to collect an inheritance, this to achieved by posing as a corpse. The coffin will be delivered to a sanitarium run by fellow crook, Doc Lake. An escort is needed for the train journey, Ollie and Stan ordered out of town for vagrancy see their advertisement in the newspaper and take the grisly job to avoid arrest. The board the train but fall victim to a pair of confidence men selling a fake money making machine. Ordering a meal with nothing but counterfeit money. Stan and Ollie are conned into escorting a coffin that actually contains a gang leader who is eager to collect an inheritance once they reach Dayton, Ohio. En route the coffin is inadvertently switched with a prop coffin used by Dante the Magician, whereupon Stan and Ollie end up as assistants to the illusionist. While traveling to California chasing after Joe Gorman, Ollu and Buzsla were down on their luck and were ordered out of town for being vagrants. Faced with arrest and needing money to travel further, they found advertisement that would kill two birds with one stone; they would get paid and get further along on their way to California. The job entailed traveling to Dayton, Ohio the only snag was that the job was to guard a coffin. In the film Ollie and Stan were cheated out of their money by a confidence man who had a money making machine. While it would not be out of character for Ollu and Buzsla to fall for such a trick given their generally trusting natures they were on the look out for con men having been so recently stung by one. It is true however they paid for or attempted to pay for their meal with counterfeit money. This was in fact the money that they were given by their employer for business expenses. They were rescued from their embarrassing situation by kind hearted magician Dante. He lent them money for their aid in moving a prop coffin that he used in his act. While working in the dark Ollu and Buzsla mixed up the coffins. The prop coffin arrived at the sanitarium and the crooks quickly ascertain where the coffin containing Mason must have gone. They went to the theatre and cornered Ollu and Buzsla at gun point demanding to be taken to the coffin. The coffin has been suspended from the ceiling prepatory to Dante's trick. As Dante's show started, the gangsters chased Ollu and Buzsla through the theatre. Ollu and Buzsla ducked on stage. Dante asked them to help with the Indian rope trick. After the trick the boys went backstage again. The gangsters who still have not found the coffin once again chase the boys. Ollu hid in a sword cabinet and was nearly skewered when the propane began thrusting sabers into it. The gangsters finally found the coffin and asked Buzsla for an exit other than the stage door. Ollu directed them into a lion's cage. Dante fired a bullet into the coffin. When the coffin was lowered and opened it was discovered to contain the body of Doc Lake, who had been shot once through the heart. The police suspected the stage manager, who had been acquainted with Doc Lake. The real culprit was Darby Mason who wished to cut Doc Lake out of his piece of the inheritance. The inheritance was actually a scam set up by the FBI to discover the whereabouts of Darby Mason. He was taken into custody. Collecting a reward, Ollu and Buzsla have enough money to complete their journey to California. Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Cops (1955) continued By the time Ollu and Buzsla were able to get to Hollywood, Toumanoff was a highly respected and powerful director. Ollu and Buzsla suspected that Toumanoff was Gorman almost immediately but could not expose him without proof. They accidentally landed jobs as stuntmen.Their suspicions aobut Gorman being Toumanoff were confirmed when Toumanoff kept trying to kill them. They survived Gorman's attempts at assassination and the dangerous stunts they were required to perform because of the powerful regenerative ability. Ollu and Buzsla were indeed about to launch a career as a silent film comedy team for Amalgamated Pictures when Gorman stole the studio's operating funds. Amalgamated was a small studio which managed to make single or double picture deals with prominent artists and directors. This is why Mack Sennett and his Keystone Kops were on the Amalgamated Studio lot when Piper and Pierce were working for Gorman. Unfortunately most of the footage from Amalgamated pictures was poorly stored and combusted in a fire. Piper and Pierce's inability to save the operating money for the studio spelled its early demise and with it the promising film career of Ollu and Buzsla. |
1924 Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949) Abbott and Costello feature film
Famed criminal attorney Amos Strickland checks into the Lost Caverns Resort Hotel, where Freddie Philips, an inept busboy later discovers the lawyer murdered in his room. The house detective, Casey Edwards, begins an investigation to clear Freddie but Inspector Wellman and his assistant, Sergeant Stone, order Freddie held. Stickland was about to publish his memoirs that would compromise seven of his former clients, Swami Talpur, Angela Gordon, T. Hanley Brooks, Mrs. Hargreave, Mike Relia, Mrs. Grimsby and Lawrence Crandall. All of them have come to the resort and all are under suspicion. At a meeting, they decided that their pasts must remain secret and that Freddie must be made the fall guy. Angela attempts to charm Freddie into signing a confession and Swami Talpur tries to hypnotize him into committing suicide but both fail.
Casey, Wellman and Freddie plot to let the other suspects know that Freddie found a bloodstained handkerchief at the scene of the murder. The real killer, they reason, will go to any lengths to get it. After Freddie is nearly killed in a steam cabinet, he rigs several traps in his room. A mysterious voice instructs Freddie to bring the handkerchief to the resort's Lost Cavern, where Freddie nearly falls into a bottomless pit. A masked figure offers to save him in exchange for the handkerchief but when Freddie inadvertently reveals that it is in his room, the cloaked figure leaves him in danger of being drowned. Wellman and Stone rescue Freddie and race back to the hotel. As the remaining suspects gather Stone returns with a pair of mud stained boots belonging to Melton, the hotel manager, proving that he was the masked figure in the caverns. He and Gregory Milford, Strickland's secretary had entered into a scheme to blackmail all of Strickland's former clients. Trapped Melton, pulls a gun and attempts to make his escape out of a window when one of Freddie's boobytraps knocks him out.
Their fleeting taste of fame soon turned to fear, as they began to realize that many, many people would see the pictures of Piper and Pierce, the great comedic team. Some of these people might realize the Ollu and Buzsla were immortal. This could mean that creditors from ages past might wish to be repaid or worse yet those nutty decapitating immortals might start looking for them again.
Ollu and Buzsla took various menial jobs and ended up working at an obscure Arkansas resort near Lost Caverns (Mystic Caverns) Ollu was the head bellboy and Buzsla the house detective. One morning Ollu started the cleaning the room of guest, Amos Strickland only to find him dead. The famed lawyer had been murdered and Ollu became the main suspect according to the police because he had his prints all over the room and on the murder weapon, which he had picked up in the course of his tidying, up the room.
Strickland however was about to publish his memoirs which would have compromised several of his former clients. As in the film the former clients all conspired to keep their sordid pasts a secret and make certain that Ollu took the fall for the murder. Despite the misleading title, the Killer in the film was not the actor Boris Karloff, he merely played one of the more menacing suspect in the film. After Ollu and Buzsla emerged from this crisis unscathed, they decided to lose themselves in a large city so they moved to Chicago and became bus drivers.
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1924 Pardon my Sarong (1942) Abbott and Costello feature film
Playboy Tommy Layton charters a Chicago City bus for a ride to Los
Angeles, where he his due to compete in a yacht race to Honolulu,
Hawaii. The errant bus drivers, Algy and Wellington are pursued by
Detective Kendall, hired by the bus company. The boys escape
Kendall by accidentally driving the bus off a pier. They are rescued by
Layton on his yacht and became his crew for the race. Layton also
shanghais Joan Marshall, a competitor in the race who dismissed his
original crew. Going to Pot Abbott and Costello Animated Series Abbott and Costello are on the island of Boola Boola as members of the Friendship Corps. Their task is to make friends with the formerly savage natives. One cannibal in particular keeps grabbing Costello and trying to cook him. Things went along swimmingly for about six months at their jobs as Chicago Bus drivers when Ollu decided to show a little initiative when a wealthy playboy offered to charter his bus for a non-stop ride to Los Angeles. He convinced Buzsla to be his spot driver. Ollu was convinced that the bus company would be pleased by the large bonus that Layton agreed to pay for the charter. Since Ollu neglected to inform the bus company of the arrangement they believed that the bus had been taken for a joy ride.The bus company hired an off duty Chicago cop to track down Ollu and Buzsla and return the bus. Kendall caught up to Ollu and Buzsla at the pier where Layton's yacht was tied up. When Kendall attempted to arrest them Ollu accidentally drove the bus off of the pier. They were rescued by Layton who no longer had a crew to man his Yacht. The crew had all been paid off and dismissed by his competitor in the race, Joan Marshall. For revenge Layton shanghaied Marshall and forced her to work as part of his crew. Joan sabotaged some of the yacht's instruments and they were blown off course in a hurricane. They landed on a South Seas island. Despite its being uncharted and off the normal trading routes, the island had some other western visitors, a Dr. Varnoff and his assistants. Dr. Varnoff was a geologist and a medical doctor who has been providing the natives with some advanced medical treatments while studying the island's volcano. Varnoff was every interested in the Eye of God, a large gem which was shown to all visitors by the tribal shaman. The gem glowed when exposed to sunlight or fire. When touched during its glowing state it filled the favored of the gods with energy but could injure or kill the disfavored of the Gods by burning. The stone had to be freely given to be held or an immediate death would strike the attempted thief. One of Varnoff's former assistants' greed had gotten the worst of him and he had fallen dead after attempting to run away with the gem. Ollu was mistaken for a legendary hero and indeed some of the carvings did resemble Ollu. He was betrothed to the chief's beautiful daughter much to her former beau's dismay. Ollu learned that the culture hero that he resembled had showed the natives forefathers how to trap the boar and domesticate it. He had also given them the Eye of the Volcano God. Ollu realized that this was the island that they had stopped at after leaving Skull Island. The gem had somehow gotten larger and achieved a golden luster. (34) Buzsla and Layton discovered that Varnoff and his men had rigged the island's dormant volcano to erupt by planting explosives in key vents and gas pockets. The eruption would be very temporary but Varnoff would use his seeming ability to quell the Volcano God to get his hands on the gem. Despite Buzsla and Layton's best efforts to stop them, Varnoff and his men set off the explosive charges which caused the volcano to erupt. It was Ollu however whom the shaman entrusted with the Eye of the Volcano God to quell the anger of the Volcano God. According to the shaman once the Volcano god was assured that his other eye was in safekeeping his anger would be quelled. All Ollu had to do was climb up the volcano and show the gem to the fiery eye, the center of the volcano. As Ollu made tracks for the Volcano, Varnoff and his men chased him all over the island. Varnoff's two henchmen fell into lava pits. Ollu dropped the gem and Varnoff snatched it up. His hands began to smoke as the gem seared them. Varnoff surrendered after that. Using Varnoff's maps Latyon and Marshall plotted a course to the Lima, Peru where they planned to get the yacht repaired and get married. Although Varnoff wished to stay on the island, Layton informed him that he was going to accompany them and leave these peaceful people alone. Also accompanying them on this trip was Luana, Ollu's wife. Once they were at sea, Varnoff slipped his bonds and took Luana hostage. He did not wish to go to South America or any of the Americas since he was wanted for various crimes pertaining to falsification of antiquities and theft of antiquities. Varnoff insisted that they visit a place called Lincoln Island (35) where he had heard were treasures to be had. They changed course for Lincoln Island yet had to put in for fresh water at an island on the way. The natives were friendly and had come into contact with French missionaries who had convinced them to give up their ways of incest, infanticide and cannibalism. However the changes in culture had occurred with a rise in venereal disease and its resultant ill effects on the population. The disease may also have been a gift of civilization. A faction on the island believed that all the evil that had come to visit them was from giving up the old ways. One of these faction leaders wished to reintroduce cannibalism, starting with the newcomers. They eyed the stocky Ollu as prime meat. Varnoff continued to hold Luana hostage but she finally escaped from him and attempted to drown herself. When Ollu discovers that Varnoff had forced himself on Luana he wanted to kill him but the village elders would not allow him to violate the killing tabu. Varnoff began to talk to leader of the faction who wished to reintroduce cannibalism and told him why it would be a good idea and why eating the flesh of the foreigners would give him great power. Ollu and Buzsla were captured by the cannibal faction and Varnoff accompanied them. He wished to see them die for ruining his plans. Ollu and Buzsla demonstrated to the natives that they were in fact gods in human form. Buzsla demonstrated by stabbing Ollu through the heart with a spear. Varnoff attempted to flee. In a few moments Ollu is alive and well. Stunned, they ask the gods what they must do. Ollu tells them that cannibalism was wrong and that they should give up forever... after one last meal. Pointing to Varnoff, they tell them good appetite and walked back to the yacht. Layton and Marshall were ready to leave and asked if Varnoff were ready. Buzsla replied that Varnoff was staying for one last meal and that they should just up and leave him. Layton agreed, although he hated to inflict Varnoff on the natives it was better having him along with them. |
1925-31 Dinosaur Dilemma Lost World Abbott and Costello Animated Series
Abbott and Costello fall from a plane into a prehistoric world and involved with giant beasts, birds and cavemen. The site turns out to be an amusement park.
Dino Boy animated series, Hanna-Barbera, CBS, 1966-1968
The Yacht made it to Lima, Peru in a few days but Ollu and Buzsla decided not to wait to return to the United States with Layton and Marshall. Instead they found a airplane carrying a scientist and his crew traveling to Quito, Ecuador and then to Panama, City. The scientist was an archaeologist taking aerial photos of the jungle for signs of ancient Incan, Aztec or other Pre-Columbian civilizations.
As they were flying a sudden storm rose up, although they rose above the storm, an electrical bolt hit the plane's tail rudder damaging it. The plane subtly went off course until they found themselves deep over the Amazonas area and running out of gas. The pilot barely managed to climb over a sheer wall of cliffs before plummeting into a deep valley. Ollu, Buzsla, Luala and Todd, the teenage son of the scientist were all that survived from the plane. Had Ollu and Buzsla been mortal they would have perished as well. Ollu and Buzsla were astounded to discover yet another area where dinosaurs had survived to the present day. This hearkened back memories of their time in Bedrock. The plane crash victims also discovered that the plateau was host to a number of human and non-human sapient species; there were ape-men, possibly a close relative to the mangani, a race of humanoid reptiles called variously the Lizard or Snake people, pygmies, offshoots of the Aztecs and tiny men only a foot or so tall. They discovered a recently abandoned tree house which had many modern conveniences made from primitive materials, again like Bedrock. There was even a sort of survival guide which outlined many of the hazards of the plateau, the edible and poisonous plants and various herbal cures and counteragents.(36)
They spent several years looking for a passage through the sheer walls of the plateau but the only exit seemed to be blocked by an avalanche. A primitive tribe called the Moss Men captured Buzsla. As Ollu and the others tracked the Moss people to their territory, Luala was stung by a Death Wasp, a species of giant wasps which had survived from the age of dinosaurs and whose toxins had evolved to be deadly to the behemoths of that age. As Luala lay dying, Ollu was confronted with a choice of saving his wife or saving his best friend.
Ollu traveled to the area where they knew were herbs that counteracted the Death Wasp poison. Todd went after the Moss people. He rescued Buzsla by stampeding the Moss people village with a group of mastodons. Despite Ollu's best efforts Luala had expired. After carrying Luala back to the Treehouse, Buzsla and Todd returned while Ollu was burying his wife.
After many attempts to create hot air balloons and other plans to escape from the plateau they were rescued by outsiders who blasted their way onto the plateau, searching for Challenger's fabled land and hoping to bag some dinosaurs. These were ruthless, cold blooded hunters whose mission was to bring back dead specimens. When greeted by a friendly Neanderthal tribe they opened fire and collected the dead bodies. Ollu, Buzsla and Todd organized a resistance from among the various groups on the plateau. The invaders had their weapons and supplies stolen which left them unarmed and without supplies to survive on the hostile plateau. Some of the tribes seeing how they had treated the Neanderthals paid them back in kind.
Ollu and Buzsla departed the plateau but Todd wished to stay. He had come to regard this as his home and felt that someone familiar with the outside world needed to stay and keep it safe from attack. Ollu and Buzsla sealed the passage shut with some of the dynamite from the recent visitors to the plateau. (37)
Ollu and Buzsla would later use their experiences on the plateau to help create the cartoon show Dino Boy. Their characters were merged into a not too bright but loyal cave man named Ugh. Todd actually did have a pet apatosaurus until it became too large and became a danger to the castaway's encampment.
1931 Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942) Abbott and Costello feature film
Bronco Bob Mitchell is the author of best-selling western novels and songs, yet according to a newspaper expose he has never been west of the Hudson River. To bolster his flagging image, Bob makes an appearance at a Long Island charity rodeo. When a steer escapes Bob panics and is thrown from his horse. One of the cowgirls, Anne Shaw, quickly bulldogs the steer and saves Bob's life. But she is injured and must forgo the competition and a chance to win the 10,000 prize. Bob is grateful but Anne is angry and disillusioned. She returns to her father's dude ranch in Arizona followed by Bob who is eager to make amends and learn how to be a real cowboy.
Duke and Willoughby are two inept vendors at the rodeo. Hiding from their boss, they accidentally stow away in a cattle car and find themselves on the same westbound train as Anne and Bob. Soon after arriving in Gower Gulch, Willoughby accidentally shoots an arrow through the teepee of a plump Indian maiden, which she takes for a proposal of marriage. Willoughby and Duke flee to the ranch, where they are given jobs by the foreman, Alabam, but are still menaced by the angry Indians. Anne secretly teaches Bob who to ride and rope. Alabam has included Bob on the Lazy S team for the state rodeo championship. But a local gambler Ace Henderson, has bet against the Lazy S and to ensure his bet he kidnaps Bob and Alabam. Willoughby and Duke fleeing from the Indians once more, come to the rescue and deliver Bob to the rodeo on time. Bob manages to stay on a bucking bronco long enough to win the championship for the ranch.
Ollu and Buzsla returned to the United States forthwith using the little gold they could carry out of the plateau to pay for transportation. Arriving in the US, they found it in the throes of an economic depression. In New York they looked up their old friend Al Runyon. Al was not doing too well despite having given up the booze. He had throat cancer and could barely speak. Patrice had come to New York as threatened and was now Mrs.Damon Runyon. Runyon regarded Ollu and Buzsla with some bitterness and wryly joked in a strangled voice, "I hope Nicely and Nathan are as immortal as their inspirations. It was nice seeing you boys, let's make this the last time." Patrice Runyon used some influence to get the boys jobs working at the Madison Square Garden's annual Rodeo as part time animal sanitation engineers and peanut vendors during the annual Madison Square Garden Rodeo. Ollu decided to see if he could make it as a more lucrative rodeo clown. His antics irritated a bull which went wild when released and attacked the star attraction Bob Mitchell, a writer of western tales and a singer of western songs who has never been west. Mitchell was saved by a fast-acting cowgirl who was injured in the attempt, causing her to loose a chance at winning the 10,000 prize.
Disillusioned, Anne Shaw left the rodeo and returned home to her ranch. Bob Mitchell had entered the rodeo after a newspaper article had exposed him as purely Eastern cowboy. He had thought that his appearance at the rodeo would dispel the rumors but his panicked reactions at the rodeo had only made things worse. Feeling depressed by this and shamed that he had disillusioned a fan who also happened to be an extremely attractive woman, he followed Anne Shaw to the train and offered her a deal. If she would teach him to be a real cowboy he would give her the ten thousand dollars she should have won.
Because her father's dude ranch was in financial trouble, she agreed to his offer, even though it entailed keeping up the pretense that Bob was a real cowboy and she was taking pointers from him.
After their debacle of maddening the bull Ollu and Buzsla were fired from Madison Square Garden. They followed Bob Mitchell to the train station, Buzsla had the idea of selling him authentic Western tales which he and Ollu had experienced. When Bob embarked on the train, Ollu and Buzsla scrambled to stay up and ended up stowing away in a cattle car.
Arriving at Gower Gulch, Ollu and Buzsla departed from the opposite side of the train as the paying passengers and lit out for the bush. They found a picturesque Indian village on the path to the train station. As soon as Ollu and Buzsla walked into the village they were subjected to a various sales pitches for everything from authentic Indian blankets, jewelry, moccassins, authentic Indian weapons, etc. Ollu hefted a bow and noted that it was extremely light weight and poorly balanced. He tested the bow at the insistence of the peddler. Ollu's arrow went wild and landed in the skin of a Tipi. A plump Indian maiden popped out of the tipi that Buzsla noticed was too pristine to actually be someone's living quarters. She told Ollu that according to tribal law they were betrothed, she expected a nice engagement present and her father expected a hefty bride price. When Ollu stammered and flustered over this change of events an older Indian offered him a way out, he could pay an annulment fine which would end the marriage before it started.
While Ollu was negotiating a fair price for the annulment Buzsla paid another Indian for directions to the dude ranch. Buzsla whispered to Ollu that this was group of scam artists who did not even live in this "village". This was a front to fool the tourists at the various dude ranches situated around the area.
Buzsla and Ollu told the leader of the Indian tribe he would gladly pay him Tuesday. All their cash and cheques were at the dude ranch. The chief Wild Cat said he would gladly accept payment on Tuesday provided that they give him something as collateral today. Creating a diversion by knocking over a table filled with "genuine" trinkets Ollu and Buzsla fled to the dude ranch pursued by the Indians who stopped short at the property line of the dude ranch.
They demonstrated some familiarity with horses and cattle and persuaded the ranch foreman Alabam to give them jobs as wranglers. As they carried out their duties they are aware of being watched by various Indians hanging about just on the outskirts of the ranch. Ollu and Buzsla surreptitiously also helped Bob Mitchell improve his cowboy skills.
Believing the hype about Mitchell's skills as a cowboy, Alabam had entered him in the state rodeo championship as a part of the Lazy S' team.
A local gambler who also had aspirations of owning the troubled dude ranch, bet heavily against the Lazy S and then had Bob and Alabam kidnapped. Ollu and Buzsla attempted to track down Mitchell and his kidnappers. They were surrounded by the Indians who had been watching them. Ollu and Buzsla were forced to make an additional deal so that the Indians would help track and rescue Mitchell and Alabam.
Mitchell and Alabam arrived at the rodeo in time to win their events. Just prior to Alabam and Mitchell arriving at the rodeo, the Indians using intermediaries had covered all of Ace Henderson's bets. His losses were staggering and he was forced to turn his nightclub and gaming parlor over to the Indian tribe. In gratitude, the Indian tribe released Ollu from his debts or most of them. To discharge his debt to them they send him undercover to investigate the financial well being of a company that they were thinking of investing in.(38)
1932 Little Giant (1946) Abbott and Costello feature film
Benny Miller a country bumpkin from Cucamonga, California takes phonograph lessons in salesman from a correspondence school then leaves his mother, girlfriend to seek a career in Los Angeles. Benny looks up his Uncle Benny a book keeper for the Hercules Vacuum cleaner company. The sales manager, John Morrison, mistakes Benny for a model and orders him to strip down to his underwear to access his physique. Hazel Temple, the advertising manager and secretly Morrison's new wife, suggests that they hire Benny to keep him quiet. Morrison agrees, he cannot afford a scandal since he has been cooking the books. But after Benny has a disastrous first day on the job Morrison fires him. Uncle Clarence arranges for Benny to transfer to the company's branch office in Stockton, which is run by Morrison's upright cousin, Tom Chandler.
Chandler's secretary Ruby befriends Benny but his bad luck continues. One night the other salesmen play a prank on Benny and convince him that he can read minds. This gives Benny the confidence he needs and he actually becomes Hercules salesman of the year and is summoned back to Los Angeles to receive a reward. When Benny demonstrates his psychic ability by alluding to Morrison's secret bank account, Morrison dispatches Hazel to coax information out of Benny at her apartment. Benny becomes ill from smoking a cigar and falls into the bathtub. Hazel attempts to put him to sleep with a sedative which she inadvertently takes.
Inevitably Morrison and Martha walk in on the sleeping pair and assume the worst. Martha pleads with Morrison to let her take Benny back to Cucamonga. He agrees and at the awards ceremony that night, Morrison disparages Benny. Benny returns to the farm to discover Chandler, Ruby, Martha and the company president Mr. Van Loon waiting for him. They explain that Chandler has replace Morrison and they offer Benny the job of sales manager of the Cucamonga district.
The film version is once again a bit at odds with the real events. Ollu pretended to a country bumpkin who landed a sales job at the Hercules vacuum cleaner company in Los Angeles. Buzsla meantime was hired as the manager of the Stockton branch. The Indians' inside man Clarence Goodring helped Ollu and Buzsla get their jobs at Hercules. Ollu's attempt to get in good with the General Manager almost succeeded when the GM's girlfriend took a shine to Ollu. He was down to his underwear when the General Manager Morrison walked in. Hazel quickly asserted that she thought Benny was a model. Pouncing on this Ollu said he had just come in for a sales job and this lady made him strip down. Morrison agreed to hire Benny as a salesman to keep him quiet. As Ollu dressed he learned that Morrison and Hazel were not merely dating but were secretly married.
This being the height of the depression it was rather common for the salesmen to not make their quota's however, Morrison used Ollu's one day sales record as an excuse to transfer him to a less challenging environment, Phoenix, Arizona. Clarence however altered this to the Stockton branch where Buzsla was located. Clarence thought that together Ollu and Buzsla might be able to discover something about the company.
Buzsla had discovered that Morrison was indeed doing something shady. He was shaving the sales at the branches and probably at the main location in Los Angeles. He would cook the books so that the actual sales and contracts were reported less than actually transacted by as much as a third or even half so that it appeared the company was not doing as well as it was. Normally a GM would worry about his salary with those drastic losses but Morrison was supplementing his salary with the unreported earnings.
Ollu called on skills he had learned over the course of the millennia and mesmerized people into buying vacuum cleaners. He had the greatest single sales day in the history of the company. Since the radio and newspapers picked up his epic deed of salesmanship with a little push from Clarence, Morrison could not very well hide these sales.
Ollu was recalled to the main branch to receive an award for the best salesman of the year. Once Ollu had returned to Los Angeles Hazel had decided to recruit Benny into their scheme believing that she could manipulate him through sexual wiles. She believed that if Benny were brought aboard he could travel the various branch stores as a motivational person, improving the sales which Morrison and she would then reduce when it came to the actual accounting, there would be more to skim.
Ollu planned to use the opportunity of meeting in her apartment to search for evidence. She and Ollu both planted sedatives in the other's drink, causing both of them to pass out. Ollu was less affected and began to search her apartment, he had found a legitimate financial statement of the company's sales record when he heard the door open. He quickly feigned sleeping in Hazel's arms. Morrison was a crook but he was dismayed at his wife's behavior. He sent Ollu packing and told him he was fired.
Ollu and Buzsla had enough information about Morrison's wrong doings that Morrison was soon deposed as General Manager. His swindles and the change in management brought the price of the Hercules Vacuum company down. At this point the Indian tribe bought up all of the stock that they could and soon controlled the company. Ollu and Buzsla were thanked for a job well done and sent on their merry ways.
1932Buzsla ran into a descendent Dr.Ralph Greenway who bore a remarkable resemblance to him.
1933 Hold That Ghost (1941) Abbott and Costello feature film
Chick Murray and Ferdie Jones are gas station attendants who aspire to better jobs, waiting tables at the Chez Glamour. But their first night on the job they disrupt the club and promptly land back at the gas station. the boys are accidentally kidnapped while servicing gangster Moose Matson's car when Matson flees from the police. Maston is killed during the chase and through his strange will, Chuck and Ferdie inherit his abandoned tavern.
Chuck and Ferdie hire a wildcat bus to take them to their new property. The unscrupulous driver maroons the boys and other passengers, Dr. Jackson, Norma Lind, Camille Brewster and Charlie Smith at the old tavern. Smith a member of Matson's gang searches the cellar for Moose's bankroll. Although Moose always claimed that he kept his money in his head, the gang believes that it is hidden somewhere in the old tavern. Smith is murdered by other gang members also after the loot. Their attempts to scare off the intruders and locate the money fail. Ferdie discovers the loot in a moose head. After thwarting the criminals, Chuck and Ferdie transform the tavern into a swank health resort with Dr. Jackson, Norma and Camille on staff and hire Ted Lewis and the Andrew's sister to entertain.
The essence of this story is true. Ollu and Buzsla were gas station attendants who wished to be waiters at a classy joint but their one experience as waiters in such a place had led to them being blackballed as waiters in that town. At the gas station one of their best customers was Moose Matson, a former bootlegger and mob boss. As in the film Moose was shot while fleeing from the police and died at the gas station. Moose had been indicted under a tax evasion charge. He was under the impression that people chasing him were his rivals and had fired. The police returned fire. Spotting a familiar place, Moose had driven into the gas station to make a last stand.
His will had been drawn up shortly before his death.It was designed to thwart the government's attempts to pry into his affairs by diversifying his visible assets into charities and leaving the run down Inn in Wisconsin to Ollu and Buzsla. He had double crossed his partners and left it to these two bumblers as parting gestures, one of kindness to them and another type of gesture to his former partners.
When Ollu and Buzsla went to take possession of the Inn they were stranded along with some unintended guests who had been on their way to the Little Bohemia Lodge. Ollu and Buzsla had also been accompanied by one of Moose's associates who went by the name of Charley Smith. Smith and other associates of Moose Matson's were convinced that Matson had a hidden stash of wealth in the Inn. Smith and other members of the gang had a falling out and Smith ended up dead. The other members of the gang attempted to terrorize Ollu, Buzsla and the other guests into fleeing the Inn, on foot if necessary, while they looked for the hidden wealth.
Ollu did find the wealth hidden in a Moose head. Once Ollu and Buzsla and the other guests realized the true nature of the weird happenings at the Inn they were able to outsmart and capture the crooks. Ollu and Buzsla used the cash to transform the old Inn into a swank health resort with Dr. Jackson on staff. However the place was only open for a few months when the Internal Revenue Service and the Justice Department confiscated the Inn because it had been built with illegal funds obtained from criminal enterprises. Ollu and Buzsla had to cut a deal so that they would not liable for any of Moose's other criminal enterprises. A crony of J. Edgar Hoover eventually bought the confiscated Inn.
1933-1936 Ollu and Buzsla worked as vaudevillians and met John Grant who would become the writer of many of the Abbott and Costello films and a friend to the actors Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.
1936 Rio Rita (1942) Abbott and Costello feature film
Rita Winslow, owner of the Hotel Vista del Rio, awaits the arrival of her childhood sweetheart, Ricardo Montera, now a popular radio star. Also looking forward to his arrival are Maurice, Jake, Trask and Gus. Nazi agents who plan to use Montera's national radio broadcast to transmit coded messages to their fellow saboteurs. When Montera arrives he carries two stowaways in the rumble seat of his car, Doc and Wishy. Half-starved the boys steal a basket of apples from the hotel managers desk but the apples turn out to be miniature radios, to be distributed to other foreign agents for the broadcast.
Rita hires Doc and Wishy as house detectives and they soon discover that the hotel is crawling with spies. They recover the Nazi's code book and hand it over to Ricardo. Doc and Wishy are captured, tied up and left in a room with a time bomb. Wishy however manages to slip the time bomb into Jake's pocket. Craindell and Trask force Ricardo and Rita to begin their broadcast but Ricardo fights them off until the spies hear the Texas Rangers approaching. Wishy has fooled them with a parade of donkeys with blaring radios. As the spies attempt to escape by car, the bomb in Jake's pocket explodes.
Many reference books cite this film as a remake of a Wheeler and Woolsey Film of (1929) which was an expensive cinematic version of the legendary Florenz Ziegfeld-produced Broadway musical of 1928. However while some of the characters have the same names the plot line and storyline are so different that they are distinctly different works. What appears to have happened was to prevent any legal difficulties about using the name Rio Rita, the Studio made the necessary legal arrangements for a remake of a previous work despite the fact that the storylines were totally different. The writers were forced to use some of the names of the locations and characters in their script and fit in the songs.
The location of the first film and the stage play was Mexico, the Production Code Office however had this film version's action placed in Texas so as not to offend Latin American countries. The incident with Ollu and Buzsla took place in Brazil.
Rita Winslow(39)owned a small resort outside of Rio Janeiro, which did a fair business. She hoped that her friend's remote broadcast from the resort would bring an influx of business to the resort and to Brazil in general. Because of Brazil's recent political upheavals many nations and their citizens were wary of doing business with Brazil. It did not help matters, in her opinion, that the clannish German-Brazilians seemed more and more German all the time. Brazil's President Getulio Vargas had a loose ideology which seem to be based in promoting the rights of labor while expanding industrialization and capital. To many Americans this smacked of the National Socialism doctrine.
Ollu and Buzsla had been on the vaudeville circuit for three years. Their paths had crossed with the "Three From The Other Tribe" and their look-alike descendents a few times. As vaudevillians Ollu and Buzsla had become semi-famous and their agent was certain that with the right help they could be playing the major venues. Afraid that their talent would make them too visible, Ollu and Buzsla made their agent book them on a cruise ship and in small engagements in South America. They told him that they needed to look up an old friend in South America.
On the cruise ship Ollu and Buzsla ran into an old acquaintance, Bud Fisher, who was a bit shaken to see the men he had based his Mutt and Jeff cartoon on still about the same age as when he had known them in 1905. Ollu and Buzsla tried to muddle through the sticky situation by claiming to be the sons of the men that Fisher had known. Fisher however saw through the guise and avoided them.
Fearful that Fisher would alert the Brazilian authorities of their immortality, Ollu and Buzsla failed to go through the proper channels of getting the correct papers to work and perform in Brazil. When after a few days of their performance at one of Rio de Janeiro's hot spots, they were approached by two police officers. Panicking they ran away and hid inside an open car trunk. The car took off. The car belonged to Ricardo Montera, Brazil's first radio star with international appeal. His broadcasts were picked up by many of the major networks in Latin America, North America and Europe. He was on this way to the Hotel Vista del Rio to visit an old friend and to do a remote broadcast from her resort.
Upon arriving at the Hotel Ollu and Buzsla made a break for it when the bellboy opened the trunk to remove the luggage. Starving they snagged a basket of apples from the hotel manager's desk. The apples turned out to be miniature radios. They returned the apples to the owner of the hotel but she could not imagine why anyone would have sent the miniature radios to the hotel unless it was a publicity stunt for the upcoming broadcast. According to the film Rita Winslow hires Ollu and Buzsla to be house detectives to investigate this odd occurrence. Actually she thought little more about it and had the basket sent on to the correct room. Rita however did not send Ollu and Buzsla away but hired them to be entertainment for the upcoming weekend.
Being paranoid about the radios, Ollu and Buzsla kept their eyes and ears open. They soon discovered that the hotel is crawling with Nazi agents. This is not so outlandish as it seems. Brazil had a large German immigrant population. National Socialist Organizations had sprouted up, beginning with Hitler's rise to power in 1933. Three years after the conception of the first pro-German organization in 1933, a solidarity movement among the various groups took place. The cohesive force that bonded the groups was Nazism, their primary function was to "express their solidarity with the fatherland." (40) These elements were working to make Brazil a German satellite state in Latin America. Spain and Portugal had fascist organizations under Franco and Salazar. Mexico and other Latin American nations had many fascist organizations many with strong ties to the Falanage, Franco's political party. Most of these organizations were probably not tied to the Nazis except through shared ideology. The fascists in Brazil however, being comprised of Brazilians of German descent probably had stronger ties to the German Nazis and may in fact have been tools of the Germans. In 1936 Germany began lending tacit aid to the Republican forces in Spain, they may have seen Brazil as location from which they could expand their influence and doctrine.
Ollu learned that the radios disguised as apples were to be distributed to various locations around Brazil. Hidden in the Radio Broadcasts would be coded messages. Although the film makes it seem as though this one broadcast was going to be the signal for a general uprising sponsored by the Nazis, in fact this was planned to be the first of a series of broadcasts. They intended to slip coded information in the broadcast and then blackmail Ricardo Montera into cooperating by making it appear as though he was a willing participant in the treachery. Each week from then on the sleeper agents would receive instructions on what assassinations, sabotage or acts of terrorism to commit.
Ollu and Buzsla found the code book and gave it to Ricardo Montera. The German spies took Ollu and Buzsla hostage and left them tied up in a room with a timebomb. During a fight Ollu slipped the timebomb into one of the Nazis' pockets. Knowing that their plan was shot the Nazis took more direct action and held Rita and Ricardo hostage while they made the broadcast. Ollu used the radio equipment to make it seem as though the Brazilian police forces had arrived to take the Nazi's into custody. The Nazis fled in a stolen car and the bomb exploded, killing everyone in the car.
This incident led the United States to back off its close relationship with Brazil. Unfortunately this had the consequence of increased Nazi influence on the government of Brazil. Vargas suspended the constitution in 1937 and began instituting many governmental polices which were similar to those of the third Reich. That Brazil entered World War II on the side of the allies was a matter of prudence and also because Germany made the mistake of sinking two of Brazil's ships.
After their short but rather enjoyable experience in radio, Ollu and Buzsla decided to become writers for radio. They traveled to Los Angeles and attempted to break into the radio business. While hawking their script ideas they worked at the newly built Radio Center Restaurant which was near the CBS and NBC radio affiliates.
1937 Who Done It? (1942) Abbott and Costello feature film
Chick Larkin and Mervyn Milgrim are soda jerks at Radio Center but yearn to be radio mystery writers. Along with Jimmy Turner, the new writer and Jane Little the program's producer, the boys attend a broadcast of the Murder at Midnight program. As he is to introduce the show, the network president, Colonel J. R. Andrews is electrocuted. Hoping to solve the crime and get their own mystery show, Chick and Mervyn impersonate detectives. They question the suspects, which include Andrew's personal physician Dr. Marek and the show's writer Marco Heller.
But real detectives Brannigan and Moran arrive to unmask Chick and Mervyn, considering them the prime suspects. During a chase through the studio offices, the boys discover that Dr. Marek has also been murdered. The boys are briefly chased out of the building but learn that Mervyn has won 10, 000 on the wheel of fortune program. When they return to the studio to claim the prize, Moran and Brannigan arrest them. But Jimmy and Jane convince the detectives to trap the real killers by staging a reenactment of the events leading up to the crime. It seems that a spy has been using one of the network's programs to relay information to his homeland. Colonel Andrews and Dr. Marek were about to unmask the foreign agent when they were murdered. As the reenactment reaches a climax, Art Fraser betrays himself as the murderer. He races to the roof but Chick and Mervyn manage to subdue him.
While peddling their scripts Ollu and Buzsla became involved in a true life murder at a radio station. They used their previous backgrounds as detectives to investigate the crime. They were interested by the actual detectives reliance on crime scene photographs. Because of their intrusion in the case, they quickly found themselves under suspicion. In a real sense of deja vu, the case revolved around a Nazi spy sending coded messages to his homeland. A re-enactment of the crime exposed the real killer and the real spy. Ollu and Buzsla did manage to keep the foreign agent from throwing himself off the roof but later in police custody he swallowed a cyanide capsule and so the spy ring was not completely broken.
Although the name is tantalizingly familiar Detective Moran seems to have no connection to Colonel Moran. Also if Marco Heller was any relation to the private detective Nathan Heller we do not know what it was. Detective Brannigan however would go to work for the Chicago Police Department after WWII.
1937 Hit the Ice (1943) Abbott and Costello feature film
Flash Fulton and Tubby McCoy are sidewalk photographers who hope to land a job on a newspaper. A childhood friend, Dr. Bill Burns, takes them with him on an emergency call to a building fire. Tubby is hurt taking photographs of the fire and is brought to the hospital. A gangster named Silky Fellowsby has checked into the hospital to establish an alibi while he and his men rob a bank. They mistake Tubby and Flash for two gunmen from Detroit and the criminals expect them to take part in the robbery. Tubby and Flash think that they have been hired to take pictures. When the bank is robbed Tubby and Flash are accused of the crime.
Fellowsby plans to recuperate at Sun Valley and he hires Dr. Burns and nurse Peggy Osborne to attend him. To clear themselves, Flash and Tubby follow the gangsters to the resort where they take jobs as waiters. Tubby develops a crush on Marcia Manning, a singer at the resort. The boys attempt to recover the money by blackmailing the gangsters but their photograph proves worthless. After a fight, the boys escape on skis with the loot and after the chase the gangsters are captured.
The notoriety attached to Ollu and Buzsla after solving the radio murder mystery allowed them to sell single scripts for various shows but they were unable to get a show which would have made full use of their talents. Feeling that their radio writing career was stagnating and somewhat leery about continually running into Nazi agents in the radio business. They found another profession to pique their interest, photographers. Specifically they became interested in becoming newspaper photographers.
In the film the boys met up with an old childhood friend of theirs named Dr. Bill Burns who was a physician at a nearby hospital. He was treating a puzzling case of a man with a recurrent fever and pains but with no discernable cause.The Hospital was located across the street from a Bank. Dr. Burn's patient was a gangster planning on robbing the bank. The mob leader had been faking illness to establish an alibi. When the time was right he planned to slip from his hospital bed, rob the bank and slip back into bed before anyone knew he was missing.
Doctor Burns was not a childhood friend of Ollu and Buzsla but rather this was Dr. Jackson from the incident which the film company labeled Hold that Ghost. When Ollu and Buzsla were in the hospital looking for Jackson, they wandered into the gangster's room. A mistaken identity caused some gangsters planning to rob a bank to believe that Ollu and Buzsla were hitmen from Detroit who had been brought in to act as back up men in the bank robbery. At the robbery, Ollu and Buzsla shot pictures of the robbery in progress instead of actually participating in the gunplay. As is usually the case in this situation their nervousness made them suspicious to the police and they were accused of the crime.
Dr. Jackson was leaving the hospital, his short term work at Ollu and Buzsla's resort had enabled him to get a position as staff physician at the recently opened Sun Valley resort.(41) His patient, Fellowsby insisted on coming along and Dr. Jackson agreed that a change in location might help his mysterious condition. Dr. Jackson was accompanied by his girlfriend and nurse, Norma Lind, called Peggy Osborne in this film version
Ollu and Buzsla followed the doctor and the gangsters to the resort. Finding the gangsters at a remote lodge the boys pretended to knock off the pesky nurse that had been suspicious of Fellowsby all along. She went for the police. They attempted to blackmail the gangsters into giving back the money and clearing them but the photo they had taken of the robbery proved worthless. After a fight, they fled from the gangsters with the loot in their hands. A mad ski chase ensued. The gangsters were captured and the loot was returned to the bank. Fellowsby vowed revenge. He escaped from prison. The boys decided to find a secure position where they could be protected from Fellowsby. They joined the Army Air Corps.
1938 Keep em Flying (1941) Abbott and Costello feature film
Daredevil stunt pilot Jinx Roberts and his assistants Blackie and Heathcliff are fired from McGonigles Carnival and Air show after an argument with the boss. Jinx decides to enlist in the army air corps at Cal-Areo academy and the boys celebrate at a night club. where Jinx falls for the beautiful singer. Linda Joyce, Linda becomes a USO hostess at Cal-Areo where her brother Jimmy is enrolled as a cadet. Jinx clashes with his instructor at the academy, Craig Morrison. Years before Morrison was Robert's co-pilot on a commercial airline. Heathcliff and Blackie sign up as ground crewmen and fall for twin sisters Barbera and Gloria Phelps, who are also USO hostesses.
Jinx in a botched effort to help Jimmy solo breaks regulations and nearly gets the boy killed. Jinx is washed out of the corps, along with Blackie and Heathcliff. But at the base, Morrison during a parachute jumping demonstration gets his chute caught on a transport planes fuselage. He dangles precariously until Jinx in a spectacular maneuver rescues him with his plane. Jinx is reinstated and Linda forgives him.
Although the writers were once again forced to replay the troubled romance plot, basically rechurning the storyline from Buck Privates and spinning it off into a tale about the Army Air Corps, some of the story is true. Ollu and Buzsla did befriend Jinx Roberts, a barnstorming pilot who had formerly been a commercial air pilot. Jinx Roberts had joined the Army Air Corps when his flying circus went bust. Ollu and Buzsla were assigned to be his landing crew. They however had not known him previous to meeting him in the Air Corps. Jinx did know one of the instructors at the Air Corps Academy. The Instructor had flown with Robert a few times back when they were both commercial pilots. The Instructor did not like Roberts because of his checkered career as a risk taking commercial pilot but also because unlike Jinx, the Instructor had joined the Air Corps out of a sense of patriotism, not because he needed a job. Jinx Roberts was indeed headstrong and arrogant and he did bail out on a cadet to force him to fly solo. The kid nearly died. Roberts was washed out of the Air Corps. Ollu and Buzsla were also disciplined but were not dismissed. Jinx Roberts did save his rival in a spectacular move when the man was hanging from a plan by his parachute. The Air Corps allowed him to re-enlist but as a low ranking support personnel until he had proven that he could adhere to military discipline.
Roberts straightened his act out and was eventually rose through the ranks to become a pilot. Sent to the Pacific fleet he became an accomplished ace against the Japanese pilots. During the end of the war when Japanese were using Kamikaze pilots to crash their planes into ships, Roberts was part of the patrols to shoot down the plans before they could reach the battleships. In his last battle, Roberts shot down two Kamikaze plans but his weapons ran empty when he was trying for a third. There was not another plane nearby and it was close to the ship. Roberts dove his plane into the Kamikaze plane and knocked it from the sky and into the drink before it reached the battleship. Another Kamikaze plane hit Robert's tail and flipped him against the battleship. The Kamikaze's plane drilled into Robert's plane and into the battleship. Ironically Jinx Robert's cousin Douglas was sitting in the mess hall having a cup of coffee and was among the men killed when the planes tore through the mess hall. (42)
Ollu and Buzsla never made it to the war as members of the Air Corps. When their three year terms of enlistment were finished they were released from the Air Corps. The Air Corps never made it clear why they were not allowed to re-enlist although one officer mumbled something to the effect that our fighting men were in enough danger from the enemy.
January-June 1941 Bouncing Rubber Man Abbott and Costello Animated Series episode
Abbott and Costello are guarding a scientists new formula for rubber. While keeping it from a spy, Costello swallows some and becomes a rubber man. He bounces about fighting the spy and his assistant the Crusher.
This cartoon episode reflects the animated series penchant for making every possible mishap or freakish incident happening to Costello (Ollu). Ollu was not turned into a bouncing rubber man but he and Buzsla did meet one. After being released from the Air Corps they decided to travel to New York and try to enlist in another branch of the armed forces. However when they learned that the Armed forces were starting to use fingerprint identification they changed their minds.
While in New York they found jobs working as security guards for a chemical laboratory that was working on a form of synthetic rubber derived from yams based on the work of Dr. Carver. The lab created a stabilized synthetic rubber. Nazi spies found about the formula and broke into the laboratory to steal it. Ollu and Buzsla were on duty. They tried to stop the enemy agents but were overpowered. The enemy agents regarded Ollu and Buzsla, suspiciously wondering the government would assign such buffoons to guard an important discovery. One of the spies remarked in German, which Buzsla and Ollu dimly remembered, That it might be worthless but they could not afford to take the chance. They of course could leave no witnesses. He aimed his gun at Buzsla and the beige counter behind him transformed into a sinuous human form. They shot at the form but to no avail. Desperate they threw chemicals on it. The beige form bubbled and rolled into a ball that bounced away.
The two spies ran from the building out into an dark alley. Ollu and Buzsla gave chase. Each of them tackled one of the Nazi agents. Buzsla and his captive were knocked apart by the bouncing beige form. The spy took off running. Buzsla started after him but collided with the bouncing beige ball. The spy rounded the corner and jumped into a waiting car, which sped away.
The beige ball formed into a naked humanoid form but with minimal facial features and no visible genitalia(43) Buzsla screamed at him. "That was the one with the secret formula and you let him get away. What the hell are you anyway?"
"Just leave it that I am a government agent, I go under the code name of Plastic Man for obvious reasons. (44) Thanks for your help boys you made the Nazi's believe they were getting the real deal. They will divert resources and manpower to the recreation of that bogus research and may just save some of our boys live. This lab will be gone tomorrow."
The Plastic Man took them into custody for debriefing. They were as a matter of course fingerprinted and their identities were established as recent veterans of the Air Corps. Although Plastic Man nor his superiors knew why Buzsla and Ollu had a "do not let re-enlist" stamp when their service records showed nothing untoward. The Plastic Man and his superiors offered them a chance to serve their country without being in the service, although Ollu and Buzsla did not get the sense that they could say no.
Ollu and Buzsla spent several months working with the Plastic man as they investigate espionage activity, criminal mob activity, stopped a couple of megalomaniacs from causing problems in New Jersey, Washington D.C. Baltimore and various other cities. By June however it was felt that they had become a liability because while the Plastic Man could assume any shape and so infiltrate any organization, they could not. Their ability to withstand most serious injuries, an ability that had been discovered accidentally, was also becoming widely rumored. They were becoming too well known as the side-kick of the Plastic Man (45)
Yet their obligation to the government had not ended. They were bundled into a truck and sent to a secret installation in New Jersey.
June-December 1941Abbott and Costello go to Mars (1953) Abbott and Costello feature film
Orville the oldest orphan at the Hideaway Orphan Home accidentally stows away in a truck headed to a top secret experimental laboratory. After questioning Orville is turned over to Lester to help load supplies into an experiment rocket ship. When Orville accidentally pushes the ignition, the rocket blasts off with he and Lester aboard. After terrifying the citizens of New York, they rocket to Louisiana where they set down in the woods near New Orleans. The Mardi Gras is in progress and when Lester and Orville see the celebrants in grotesque masks and costumes they believe that they have landed on Mars.
Meanwhile Mugsy and Harry the Horse, escapees from a nearby penitentiary come upon the rocket, discard their convict uniforms for space suits and head for New Orleans to pull a bank job. Lester and Orville, similarly dressed are blamed for the robbery and quickly return to their ship. Mugsy and Harry force Lester to take off and the ship ultimately lands on Venus. Orville is captured by female guards and brought before Queen Allura, where he learns that Venus is inhabited only by women. Allura takes a fancy to Orville and says he can be her consort if he remains true to her. Orville has Mugsy and Harry thrown in jail but Mugsy dispatches one girl to flirt with Orville to prove to the Queen that Orville cannot be trusted. Furious the Queen orders all four men to leave Venus. The rocket returns to Earth for a hero's welcome. Allura watches the celebration from Venus and sends her regards to Orville. A flying saucer hovers high above Manhattan and drops a huge egg on his head.
Ollu and Buzsla were "hired" as laborers in a top secret experimental laboratory. Although this was a private concern it did have governmental backing via the War Department. The goal was to build a spaceship to visit the nearby planets and investigate them to see if the signals they have received via the Gridley Wave were accurate. If so then along with the biological, geographical and anthropological data that the scientists gathered they were also to being back working models of the Amatorian rayguns or Barsoomian radium pistols or rifles to use against the Axis Menace.
Ollu and Buzsla launched the ship prematurely after the fuel was loaded. (46) They tried to control the rockets flight path but flew erratically through the stratosphere and back. A problem with the oxygen feed also aided in making them slow witted, dizzy and disoriented When they finally landed and touched town in the Louisiana swamps outside of New Orleans. They believed that they had landed on Mars. When they saw the Mardi Gras celebrants in their grotesque oversize paper mache heads, they were certain they were on another planet. They were remember recovering from oxygen deprivation. While they were exploring this strange new world a couple of convicts who had escaped from a prison farm had found the spaceship and stolen some suits. Dressed as spacemen they robbed a bank. Ollu and Buzsla who were dressed the same way were blamed for the robbery and fled back to the ship. They took off only to discover that they had armed guests. The convicts made them fly them to Mars where Earthmen were treated like kings. Knowing little of astrogation, Ollu and Buzsla were lucky to hit anything at all. Although the film has them traveling to Venus, the journey did not take that long. They were also nearly upon the planet before they realized it. They actually landed upon the Planet Mongo, which was in permanent orbit between Earth and Mars but not entirely phased into our reality. This was a result of Ming the Merciless' attempt in 1940 to once again destroy the earth which backfired leaving Mongo in a dimensional plane between two universes. For all intents and purposes Mongo was invisible and insubstantial in our universe but if a celestial body or a space ship happened to be moving across a path that intersected Mongo, Mongo's gravitational force would capture the smaller object and draw it into the planetary orbit. The average Mongovian would have been unaware of the transdimensional nature of its planet except for occasional odd flickerings of the stars and sun.
The spaceship landed in an area of Mongo ruled by Queen Allura who ruled an all woman Kingdom in the Southern Continent. The kingdom was isolated from most of Mongo by choice. They retained most of the high technology of the ancient past that had been lost when the Mingikyu barbarians had seized power. Knowing that they would be subject to enslavement and that their technology if used improperly could bring death and misery to untold millions, Allura's kingdom remained hidden. Allura's kingdom was unique in that it was an Mongovian analog to an earth's legendary Amazonia. It was an all female society that nearly four thousand years before had sent away all its men, because Queen Allura had discovered her King being unfaithful. The members of Allura's kingdom also either had very long natural life spans or access to some sort of life extension techniques because they were all several hundred to thousands of years old.
Queen Allura found Ollu, Buzsla and the rest fascinating because they were from another planet rather than because they were men. If they had wanted men they could have taken their pick from the rest of Mongo's population. However as Ollu, Buzsla, Mugsy and Harry stayed on for an extended visit, the many of the women began to realize how much they missed having men around, even the poor specimens that had dropped in on them. Queen Allura took a shine to Ollu and told made him her consort, but told him his life would be forfeit if he was unfaithful. Mugsy however was not content to be out of prison and surrounded by beautiful woman who doted on him, he wanted to be the head honcho yet knew the Queen would never accept him. He put into motion a plan to discredit Ollu with the Queen and then to remove the Queen with a rebellion.
Although Queen Allura was enraged by Ollu's betrayal, believing it without a second thought, he soon proved his innocence. Queen Allura then recalled one of the main reasons she had expelled the men was not only because of the way men acted but also because of the way women acted around men. Sadly she announced she had no recourse but to exile Ollu and his crew, to be put to death if they ever returned. (47)
Allura's scientists were able to set the rocket's course for Earth. However they could not have predicted the damage to the engines that leaving the Mongo's gravitational path and traveling through interdimensional space would cause. By the time they had reached earth their engines were seriously compromised, leaking radioactive material and losing power. They had to use all the available fuel to through Earth's atmosphere. Ollu and Buzsla fought the controls of the rocket as it plummeted to the earth, in a controlled fall. Seeing the United States they aimed for it. The ship broke apart as it fell flaming through the sky, only the reinforced cabin with the side stabilizing wings remained to the end as was planned to happen in such dire straits.
The spaceship landed in a Minnesota lake. Buzsla, Ollu and Harry crawled from the wreckage. Mugsy was dead on impact. Harry was severely wounded and suffering from radiation sickness. Ollu and Buzsla dropped him off outside a local hospital. Harry would eventually recover from his physical wounds but the long exposure to radiation had caused neurological damage. When his identity was finally discovered he was committed to a hospital for the criminally insane and would for the rest of his life rave about traveling to Mars and being married to several booteeful Mars dames. His psychiatrists found some literature on such cases the most renown being Doctor Wykoff's study of Benjamin Russell who went from writing speculative fiction to believing he was a far future space captain.
Although the film shows Ollu and Buzsla or Lester and Orville receiving a hero's welcome, they were actually thought to have been killed when rocket took off in February. Ollu and Buzsla now had even more reason not to be fingerprinted, they would have to answer for the missing rocket.
1942 Time of their Lives (1946) Abbott and Costello feature film (continued)
One hundred and sixty six years later the ghosts of Horatio and Melody are still bound to Danbury Acres. The mansion has been restored by playwright Sheldon Gage whose psychiatrist Dr. Ralph Greenway is a descendent of the butler Cuthbert Greenway. Sheldon, his fiancée June Prescott, her Aunt Millie and Dr. Greenway arrive to survey the completed house and spend the night. Their psychic maid Emily however senses that the estate is haunted and Horatio and Melody eagerly oblige. Horatio takes particular delight in terrorizing Greenway. Emily contacts Horatio and Melody through a seance and learns of Washington's letter. Sheldon explains that the clock is actually in a New York museum. Dr. Greenway steals the clock in an effort to make amends with Horatio. Although Greenway is pursued by the state police the letter is found and the curse is broken. Melody and Horatio are free to join Tom and Nora in Heaven.
In searching for another job, Buzsla and Ollu came across several newspaper articles about a psychiatrist and psychic debunker named Ralph Greenway. A photo demonstrated a remarkable resemblance to Buzsla. The articles described how as a therapeutic treatment Dr. Greenway encouraged playwright Sheldon Gage to rebuild the Danbury estate. This despite that odd accidents and work stoppages were rumored to the result of the ghosts of the estate. Two cursed traitors forever bound to that estate. Greenway said that Gage should rebuild the mansion if for no other reason than to prove the so-called parapsychologists wrong.
Reading this article Buzsla had the idea that they could work with Greenway and use their somewhat rusty but still remembered slight of hand and escape artist tricks to help Greenway debunk spiritualists. Ollu had a refinement of the plan, they could use their expertise in trickery to make it appear that a place said to be haunted was in fact haunted but that Greenway would expose the mediums or whatever as fakes by exposing the trickery which Ollu and Buzsla had provided. Greenway might get a reward for exposure or it could translate into article or books or speaking engagements from which Ollu and Buzsla would take a cut.
They decided to prove their abilities to fake spiritualist tricks by playing a gag on Dr. Greenway. Ollu visited the doctor's office and claimed to be a medium who had been receiving messages from Cuthbert Greenway about the building of the Danbury estate. Ollu provided answers about Cuthbert which Greenway checked against the family papers. Intrigued that Ollu was running a clever scam he invited him into his apartment so that Ollu could manifest the spirit of Cuthbert Greenway.
Ollu went into a channelling trance and summoned Cuthbert Greenway. Ollu had contrived to make certain that Greenway's door was unlocked. Buzsla had slipped in behind them and hid. He was dressed in revolutionary era butler's garb and covered his clothing, hair and skin with a luminous paint.
Buzsla stepped into the room. Seeing the glowing figure which had features nearly identical to his own Ralph Greenway let out small shriek and died of a massive coronary. Disregarding their first impulse, which was to run screaming from the apartment, they decided to have a drink or two to think about this horrible situation they had found themselves. It was somewhere into their third bottle of Dr. Greenway's imported scotch when Ollu had the idea for them to go ahead with their original plan only this time Buzsla would be playing Dr. Greenway. All he had to do was study a few volumes of psychiatry and get the jargon down right. Ollu doubted that even psychiatrists understood all their psychobabble. Drunk as he was Buzsla thought that was a good idea. They disposed of Dr. Greenway's body by burying it in an already dug grave at a local cemetery. They dug down a few feet further and then covered the body, hoping that the coffin would cover the corpse.
Dr. Greenway went on vacation. As Buzsla boned up on psychiatry and studied Greenway's patient files, Buzsla began investigating Greenway's financial records to see how much capital they had inherited. Quite a bit it would appear. Dr. Greenway had not been the most ethical of caregivers, double billing his patients, acquiring property in lieu of fees. Buzsla and Ollu felt less guilty about having caused his death.
Ollu and Buzsla had implemented their plan of staging faking spiritualist seances and then exposing them on a limited scale when Sheldon Gage began to call upon Greenway quite a bit for advice on the restoration of Danbury Manor. He found the oral history of Greenway's family invaluable in how the house looked on the interior and exterior. Greenway began spending a lot of time with Gage and his circle. Ollu worked with the construction crew and took the advantage to set things up so that when the time came for them to "expose" a fake medium that summoned the Danbury Manor ghosts all their devices would be in place.
When the estate was finished, Gage invited Greenway to stay the weekend at the estate along with Gage's fiancée and her aunt. Ollu would be on hand to become the ghost of Horatio Prim. Greenway helped find a local housekeeper who had the reputation for being something of a psychic. Buzsla believed he could manipulate her into "talking" to the ghosts. Ollu and Buzsla's plan went awry because Emily actually was a bit psychic and could feel the presence of the ghosts. Of the ghost that is, there was only one poltergeist and this was Melody Allen, Tom Danbury's fiancée who had been mistakenly shot as a traitor. The spirit of Melody Allen became rather perturbed that Horatio and Cuthbert were still alive while she remained trapped in a non-corporeal form and could not make the final transition. Melody vented her ire on Cuthbert a.k.a. Dr. Ralph Greenway who was accompanied by Gage and his guests and also on Ollu who remained hidden but garbed in luminous paint and luminous colonial garb. The psychic Emily came face to face with him and believed him to be a spirit. He fled when she went to get to the others.
Emily successfully channeled Tom Danbury who left a clue that the evidence that would clear Melody was hidden in the clock in the library. Gage said that particular item was a reproduction the real clock was in a museum. Feeling somewhat guilty about Melody Allen's predicament and claiming that he was a particular target because of the wrong he had done Melody and Horatio Dr. Ralph Greenway volunteered to get the clock. Buzsla was accompanied by Ollu who had hid in the car. They planned to retrieve the clock, exorcise the ghost and then debunk the proceedings as a means of propelling Dr. Ralph Greenway as the premier psychic investigator.
The museum refused to allow even so eminent a psychiatrist as Dr. Ralph Greenway to borrow the clock. While Buzsla created a diversion, Ollu absconded with the clock. However the quick thinking guards noted the theft and placed the blame squarely on Dr. Ralph Greenway. The guards called ahead to the local police near the Danbury estate and had them wait for Greenway to show up.
Upon arriving at the Danbury estate, Dr. Ralph Greenway's car was signaled to stop and pull over. Ollu and Buzsla's attempt to escape with the clock ended with Buzsla crashing into a tree, Ollu was thrown out of the car and into a tree's branches. He hid there. Buzsla "miraculously" escaped with minor injuries but the antique clock was destroyed. In the wreckage was a letter from George Washington praising the patriotism of Horatio Prim and recommending his services as tinker to Mistress Melody Allen. Washington remarked that a loyal American such as Miss Allen could do little better in securing Prim's services.(48) Because of the theft and destruction of the clock Ralph Greenway was charged with criminal offenses, despite having "saved a ghost."
This lead to a complete investigation of Dr. Greenway's practice, the financial discrepancies began to show up. While Buzsla was out on bail, Ollu and Buzsla took what cash they could from Greenway's frozen assets and skipped town. They traveled to and hid out in a small town on the California coast.
1942 Air Raid Wardens Laurel and Hardy feature film
The small town of Huxton greets the outbreak of the war with a calm determination to help Uncle Sam on the home front. Stan and Ollie a trail of failed businesses behind them try to enlist but are rejected by each of the services. Dan Madison, editor of the local newspaper and head of Huxton's civil defense persuades them to help as civilian volunteers . Returning to their current business, a bicycle shop they find the premises being emptied by removal men. The new proprietor walks in, Eustace Middling. They compromise by sharing the business. When Stan and Ollie leave to put up posters for the defense meeting, Middling calls an associate. He is a Nazi spy. At the meeting Madison speaks of a need to protect a nearby magnesium plant and delegates various key tasks. Stan and Ollie arrive late and carrying a yapping dog. The volunteer as Air Raid Wardens. They are given a harmless task during an exercise. Receiving the wrong orders, they are sent to rescue the local banker with whom they have had several altercations. Norton is accidentally knocked cold and demands the boys dismissal. Madison persuades him to give the boys one more chance. Late at night Stan and Ollie receive a call for duty. Unaware that the all clear was sounded, they call at a house asking that the lights be put out. The uncooperative owner keeps turning the lights on. Stan and Ollie are knocked out with a bottle of booze and accused of being drunk on duty. They are dismissed.
They discover German speaking at their shop talking to Middling. After some mishaps including crashing a car into a tree they prevent sabotage of the magnesium plant and capture Middling.
Ollu and Buzsla opened up a bicycle shop in Huxton, California. They were soon looked upon with a mixture of contempt and wonderment as why two healthy men were not in the Armed Services. This was because of the fingerprinting which the armed forces were doing they would be identified not only as former Air Corpsmen but also as the fugitive Dr. Ralph Greenway, and the guys who lost the spaceship. Covering for this contingency they had purchased forged papers which demonstrated their 4-F status but this was not enough to stop the stares. The editor of the local newspaper urged them to help out as Air Raid Wardens. Because of the war rationing of rubber and metals their bicycle shop only sold bicycles with wooden wheels and seats, as a result, their bicycle shop did not have many sales. In a few months time their business failed and a man named Eustace Middling bought the building. After some wrangling and dickering Middling agreed to share the building with Ollu and Buzsla. Middling had a small tool and die shop. Since Ollu and Buzsla's business was pretty dead they had extra time on their hands and spent a good deal of time acting as Air Raid Wardens. They did this too enthusiastically. After several altercations with stubborn people who refused to obey a blackout orders, among them the town Banker who thought he was above such petty laws. In once case they were unaware that an all clear was ordered and kept turning the light off in a house. The owner knocked them out with a bottle of booze and they were dismissed from the Air Warden corps for being drunk on duty.
Dejected they returned to their shop at night and found it filled with German speaking intruders and hide in the back of their car. The Germans drove to a small house on the outskirts of town, near the Magnesium plant. The Germans met with Middling their landlord. Captured by the spies. Middling and most of the other spies leave to carry out their dirty work. Their two captors force Buzsla and Ollu to play a game of William Tell by having the German's shoot an apples off of their heads. Timing things just right, Ollu and Buzsla leapt on their captors while they were reloading. They ran from the house, stole a nearby car only to crash it into a tree. When they reached a telephone they called the authorities who believed that their call about the attack on the Magnesium plant was part of the drill.
Making their way to the plant, Ollu and Buzsla gathered a few other Air Raid Wardens and stopped the saboteurs.
1943 The Big Noise (1944) Laurel and Hardy Film
Eccentric inventor Alva P. Hartley submits another idea to the patents office, a powerful explosive called the big noise has some use to the war effort and for a chance is taken seriously. Hartley's small son fakes a call from Washington requesting sight of the invention. Hartley calls a detective agency to obtain guards for the bomb. The place is empty except for janitors, Stan and Ollie who take the opportunity to become detectives. They guard the invention, thwart the advances of the professor much married aunt and manage to keep thieves from stealing the invention. Hartley receives a real phone call from Washington. Stan and Ollie travel by train carrying a decoy version of the bomb in a concertina. They discover that they are actually carrying the real bomb. They elude thieves and foreign spies. Getting off of the train they plan to travel by air. Flying over the harbor they notice an enemy sub in the waters and drop the bomb on it, sinking the enemy sub.
Having received some small notoriety for stopped the saboteurs Ollu and Buzsla were called by eccentric inventor Alva P. Hartley to guard his new invention the Big Noise. Although the call from Washington that Hartley had received turned out to be a prank call made by his son, Hartley's bragging about the invention had piqued the interest of some crooks. Ollu and Buzsla scared off some thieves from Hartley's home who had wanted to steal the invention for the criminal purpose of blowing bank vaults. When Professor Hartley did receive an actual call from the War Department expressing interest in his new invention. Hartley dispatches Ollu and Buzsla to Washington carrying a decoy version of the bomb in a concertina. This brought back memories of their visit to Kentucky in the late 1800's. They disguised themselves lest Federal agents recognize them. They discovered to their great dismay that they were carrying an actual sample of the high explosive. Ollu and Buzsla elude crooks and foreign spies while on the long train trip to Washington. They let the train leave them behind in Baltimore, taking with it the foreign spies and crooks who thought Ollu and Buzsla were still on train. They traveled by airplane the rest of the way to Washington.
According to the film during their flight to Washington, they spotted an enemy sub in the harbor and dropped the concertina on it, sinking the sub. However spectacular this sounds it was purely a war time cinematic morale booster. Ollu and Buzsla reached the War Department without incident. They handed over the sample and then underwent interrogation about the process of creating the explosive material. Professor Hartley who had come to Washington by plane had also been subjected to such close scrutiny. The Big Noise was tested on a bombing range. The invention did indeed cause a big noise but a miniscule explosion. The War Department passed.
Tired of crooks and intrigue, Buzsla and Ollu decided to return to a town they knew to be free of those two types of people... Hollywood.
Ollu and Buzsla became barbers, their tonsorial skills having come from thousands of years cutting each others hair. They landed jobs at a posh Hollywood salon.
1944 Abbott and Costello in Hollywood (1945) Abbott and Costello Feature film
Buzz and Abercrombie, a barber and a porter in a posh Hollywood salon are dispatched to the office of super agent Norman Royce to administer a haircut and a shine. En route they meet Claire Warren a former manicurist at the salon who has landed the lead in a big budget musical. Her co-star Gregory LeMaise, coincidentally drives up and invites her to lunch, which she declines, which angers LeMaise. In the agent's office Buzz and Abercrombie witness Royce making fantastic deals simply by picking up a telephone. When LeMaise declares that he refuses to work with Claire, Royce offers the role to Jeff, A young singer, Jeff Parker a young singer who had auditioned for the role. LeMaise quickly reconsiders and Royce agrees to drop Jeff. Buzz and Abercrombie appoint themselves Jeff's agent and promise to get him the part by talking to Mr. Kavanaugh, the head of the studio.
But when Buzz and Abercrombie crash into Mr. Kavanaugh's car at the studio gate, Kavanaugh orders the boys barred from the lot. They sneak in with a bunch of extras and before they know it the costume department has outfitted Buzz as a cop and Abercrombie as a tramp and they roam the lot. Claire, meanwhile introduces Jeff to Mr. Kavanaugh and he agrees to sign the newcomer. But at Ciro's that night LeMaise tells Kavanaugh that he has decided to take the part after all. Abercrombie and Buzz hatch a plan to get rid of LeMaise. The boys visit LeMaise on his boat and attempt to provoke an argument that will result in a fight with Abercrombie. Buzz will photograph the fight and have LeMaise arrested, keeping him out of the movie. But when LeMaise knocks Abercrombie overboard, it appears as though the little fellow is really drowned. LeMaise panics and drops out of sight, so filming begins with Jeff in the role. Buzz disguises Abercrombie as his East Indian chauffeur but at a nearby cafe, LeMaise also incognito recognizes him and chases him onto the soundstage where the film's elaborate rollercoaster finale is being filmed. After a wild ride, LeMaise is subdued. The picture makes stars of Claire and Jeff and Buzz and Abercrombie become Hollywood's hottest agents.
Ollu and Buzsla while still barbers aided a young singer get a part in a motion picture although they used unconventional methods to do so. Although their client became a minor star in musical productions, they did not as the film alludes, become Hollywood's hottest agents. They had a moderate success for a year landing clients in B-films. Yet as their client list winnowed, they became unable to maintain their posh offices and accrued a large amount of debt. Forced to liquidate, Ollu and Buzsla took jobs at the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History as guards.
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1945 Marauding Mummy Abbott and Costello Animated Series episode Abbott and Costello, as museum guards have the job of guarding a fabulous ruby stone that is supposed to have a curse on it. Costello has a bad time with a mummy trying to do away with him. The mummy turns out to be a notorious jewel thief that is after the stone. 1945 Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955) Abbott and Costello feature film
Pete and Freddie two Americans stranded in Cairo, overhear archeologist
Dr. Gustav Zoomer reveal that he has unearthed the mummy of Klaris,
guardian of the Tomb of Princess Ara and a sacred medallion that
points to its legendary treasure. The news is also overheard by members
of two dangerous groups, the age old Followers of Klaris, led by Semu
and his aids Hetsut, Iben and Habib: and by Madame Rontru and her
henchmen, Charlie and Josef. Pete and Freddie show up at the Doctor's
home to apply for a job accompanying the Mummy back to the United
States. But shortly before they arrive the doctor is killed by Iben and
Hetsut who steal the mummy. However they leave behind the medallion.
The next night, in an effort to trap the killers, Pete and Freddie
return to Dr. Zoomer's home but Iben, and Hetsut as well as Rontru,
Charlie and Josef turn up to search for the medallion. The boys manage
to find it and escape. After Ollu and Buzsla foiled a thief who disguised himself as a mummy, Dr. Zoomer, the archaeologist who had found the ruby stone believed that the so called curse was one "fulfilled" by by the deeds and actions of a mysterious sect dedicated to avenging the desecration of the Tomb of Klaris. Professor Zoomer became convinced that the Jewel thief was actually a member of the Followers of Klaris. This solidified his belief that he was correct in his theories on the location of Klaris' tomb. He offered Buzsla and Ollu a chance to accompany him to Egypt and take part in the find of the century. Having a nostalgic urge to see Egypt once again they agreed. The search was longer than anticipated because Professor Zoomer's calculations were a bit off. He became irritated at Ollu and Buzsla and fired them, stranding them in Egypt. When Zoomer did find the tomb of Klaris he was conciliatory and offered the boys a job accompanying the Mummy back home. However the Followers of Klaris and some jewel thieves overheard Professor Zoomer describing the sacred medallion which contained a map to the treasure of Klaris. As in the film Zoomer was killed and Buzsla and Ollu ended up with the sacred medallion. Although the film shows Ollu eating the medallion accidentally, he actually swallowed it on purpose to keep it out of the hands of their enemies. Faced with either vivisection or a fluoroscope, Ollu chose the fluoroscope.
Madame Rontru's gang of thieves were guided to the Tomb of Klaris by
Semu, the leader of the Followers of Klaris. The Followers planned to
revive Klaris and have him kill the infidels who had learned the secret
of the Tomb. Why they had to revive him instead of doing the deed
themselves is not known. Ollu overheard Semu's plan to have them
killed. Madame Rontru captured Semu, and with her henchman Charlie
disguised as Klaris she entered the Tomb to dupe the Followers of
Klaris into giving her the treasure. Buzsla however also disguised
himself as Klaris. Choosing the Lesser of Two Evils, the boys rescued
Semu and entered the Temple. As all three mummies converged on the
temple Madam Rontru dynamited a wall that led to the treasure. Klaris
was destroyed in the explosion but the treasure was revealed. Madame
Rontru and her henchmen were captured by the remaining Followers of
Klaris. Their suggestion to Semu that he open a nightclub in honor of
Klaris memory was made with the idea that as enterprising Americans
they would run it for him. Semu decided to use all Egyptian help. The
Klaris Club was a hopping joint for about two years but fell victim to
the Egypt-Israeli War in 1948. Some say that it was not Klaris that was
destroyed in the dynamite blast but rather it was Charlie who had been
killed. |
1946-1948 Ollu and Buzsla were staked to a boat ride home by Semu. They arrived in New York amidst a group of Veterans and were thought to be veterans by two of the young ladies who met the arriving military men. Caught up in the passion of the moment and the post war fervor, Ollu and Buzsla found themselves married to these two young women in a whirlwind romance. They found the only jobs they could Ollu cited his experience as a Chicago bus driver to get a job as a New York bus driver, and Buzsla, well, he became a sewer worker. As often happened their domestic lives of early bliss soon soured, this was especially true in this case when neither Buzsla or Ollu knew anything about their wives before their marriage. Ollu's wife turned out to be something of a shrew and Buzsla's was nice but rather dim. To appease their wives, Ollu and Buzsla moved from one get rich scheme to another. In the end, they merely pretended to be working on great schemes just to escape their wives and the tedium that their lives had become. They hung out in middle-level nightspots to
seamy dives in the New York area. At several of these clubs they ran into a young man working as a stand-up comic and a master of ceremonies. He was fascinated with their pursuit of the American dream through get-rich schemes. His name was Jackie Gleason. One night after returning home late after a "lodge" meeting they boys found that were locked out and their keys would no longer work. Taking this as a sign, they left New York and decided to find the good life in Florida. After a stint of orange pickers they ended up in LaMirada, Florida working as railroad baggage clerks.
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Werewolf
Whimwham Abbott and Costello Animated series episode 52 1948 Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein (1948) Abbott and Costello feature film Chick
and Wilbur, railroad baggage clerks in LaMirada Florida receive two
huge crates addressed to MacDougal's House of Horrors. MacDougal
confides to Wilbur's beautiful girlfriend Sandra Mornay, that the
crates contain the remains of the Frankenstein Monster and Dracula.
When Wilbur mishandles the crates, MacDougal demands that they boys
deliver them to his museum for inspection by an insurance agent. Chick
and Wilbur open the crates but find them empty. Wilbur knows that the
monsters are alive and have in fact escaped but Chick refuses to
believe him. While MacDougal has the boys arrested, the Monster and
Dracula rendezvous with Sandra at a castle on an isolated island.
Sandra is a gifted doctor who has mastered Frankenstein's notebook. She
plans to install a harmless, pliable brain in the monster. The brain
presently belongs to Wilbur. Meanwhile Lawrence Talbot has tracked the
monsters from Europe in hopes of destroying them. An investigator from
MacDougal's insurance company, Joan Raymond, is also on the trail of
the exhibits and pretends to be enamored with Wilbur. For once the action and storyline of the film actually coincide with reality. The only real difference was the reason why Sandra Mornay wished to plant Ollu's brain into the Frankenstein Monster's body. Sandra Mornay had somehow discovered, possibly from gypsy sources that Wilbur and Chick were two immortals who had been around for quite some time. Although not as dim as they were portrayed in the film, they did tend to be followers, submitted readily to authority and were easily hypnotized. These traits may be a remnant of their primitive origins in which they were used to being on the lower hierarchy of the tribe. Sandra also planned to transplant the brain of Buzsla into the Wolfman, which later was translated into the cartoon adventure listed above. She wished to see if the brains would retain immortality once removed from the bodies. Also to see if the brains would retain any personality once removed from the body. If the brains retained the personalities of Ollu and Buzsla she intended them to become the immortal slaves of her Master Dracula. A side experiment was to see if the bodies would die without the brains or if they would regrow the brains. Another minor change was in Buzsla's skepticism about Frankenstein and Dracula. Unlike the film version he did not doubt their existence or that they were reanimated corpse and vampire but rather Buzsla found it extremely hard to believe that both of them would end up in a tiny back water Florida town, especially at the same time. A combination of odd events and their eternal good luck allowed them to not only retain their bodies and brains but also destroy or at least place the monsters out of circulation for a while. Their nemesis in the film Mr. MacDougal who insisted that they guard Dracula's coffin did not fare so well. He was bitten by Larry Talbot and became the notorious Beast of LaMirada. For more about Count Legos, Sandra Mornay and her mysterious servant please see Chuck Loridans Monstaah timeline. While rowing away from the burning castle, Ollu and Buzsla encountered Geoffrey Radcliffe the Fourth Invisible Man. This oddly enough preshadowed an event, which would occur in the next year. Upon reaching LaMirada they jumped the first train headed north and ended up in Boston. In Boston, they once again pretended to be private detectives but specializing in Divorce work, figuring it would be a safe route to take. |
1948 Abbott and Costello meet the Invisible Man (1951) Abbott and Costello feature film
Bud Alexander and Lou Francis no sooner graduate from private detective training school when their first case bursts in. Middleweight boxer Tommy Nelson, accused of murdering his manager has escaped from jail. He persuades Bud and Lou to accompany him to the home of his fiancée Helen Gray. Helen's uncle, Dr. Philip Gray is working on a serum for invisibility and the re-agent to counteract it. Tommy wants Dr. Gray to inject him with the serum that will make him invisible and enable him to prove his innocence. As the police arrives, Tommy injects himself with the serum. While Detective Roberts questions Helen and Dr. Gray, Bud and Lou attempt to capture Tommy themselves. Bud locks Lou in a room with Tommy who becomes invisible before Lou's eyes and escapes.
Back at their agency Tommy and Helen persuade Bud and Lou to work with them to clear Tommy's name. Tommy explains that he was ordered to throw a fight with Rocky Hanlon but that he knocked Rocky out instead. Tommy's manager was then beaten to death by goons employed by promoter Morgan, with the blame placed on Tommy. Tommy has Lou pose as a fighter and Bud act as his manager. They work out at Sillwell's gym where Rocky goads Lou into a fight. When the invisible Tommy knocks Rocky out, everyone things Lou did it and a real bout between Hanlon and Lou is arranged. Morgan enlists the voluptuous Boots Marsen to persuade Lou to take a dive. But with the invisible Tommy at his side in the ring, Lou flattens Rocky. Morgan decides to give Bud and Lou the same treatment the gave Tommy and his manager. Tommy, Bud and Lou thwart the gangsters although Tommy is nearly killed by a knife. At the hospital, a blood transfusion with Lou as the donor saves Tommy's life but some of Tommy's blood, full of the serum backs up into Lou's veins, making him invisible. Lou expects to become the world's greatest detective. When the serum wears off however, Lou finds that his legs are on backwards.
After beginning their detective agency one of their first cases was Tommy Nelson a fugitive wanted for murder.
For an account of how this incident relates to the other Invisible Men please visit, The Invisibles, Part Eight.
This case with Tommy Nelson ended their brief stint as private eyes. After years of excitement and turmoil they had looked forward to peace and quiet. They took jobs as clerks in the book department of Klopper's Department store.
After all, how exciting could that be?
Buzz Johnson (Abbott) and Stan Livington (Costello) work as book salesmen in Klopper's Department store. Stan touts himself as the store's resident expert on African safari's and big game hunting. Two gentlemen inquire about Dark Safari by famed explorer Cuddleford. The book is sold out. One of the gentlemen asks Stan if he was familiar with the map inside the book, he says yes. They offer him 500 bucks to draw a copy. He arranges to meet them after the store closes.
In another part of the department, Buzz waits upon a beautiful yet no nonsense woman who wants a copy of the same book. When told that it was sold out she asks when a new shipment will arrive, she needed a copy of the map inside it. Buzz tells her that Stan could draw the map for her. They agree on a price of 2500 dollars. They arrange to meet at her house.
The two gentlemen Stan had talked with also worked for Diana Emerson. Hearing that their guy never showed up to meet them she described him. It was the same person, she thought he was working an angle. He told the two gents to jump Stan and Buzz after they had left from her house and steal back the money that she paid for the map.
While Buzz meets with Diana to arrange for the details of the payment, Stan begins talking to a stranger also waiting to see Diana. Stan brags to the stranger that he was a big game hunter. He taught that Clyde Beatty everything he knew. As a matter of fact he trained the animals for Beatty so that Beatty could look good. Smiling the stranger introduced himself as Clyde Beatty.
Buzz had convinced Diana that the best way for Stan to draw a very accurate map was to accompany the expedition to Africa. She agrees reluctantly.
The object of the expedition is to collect specimens for circuses and zoos but also to find the mysterious Orangutan Gargantua, a sixty foot ape. Along with her two henchman's Diana's group consists of Gunner, a very near sighted professional hunter and Harry her effeminate houseboy.
In Africa Buzz convinces Diana that it would be better for Stan to physically guide her rather than to just draw a map. Again she reluctantly agreed. Fortunately Stanley had practically memorized the book and successfully guides them along Cuddleford's route.
Arriving at the river which would take them close to where Cuddleford had seen the Orangutan Gargantua they made camp for the night, believing it would be best to tackle the river in the morning. Buzz was convinced that Diana was after the diamonds that Cuddleford had mentioned in the book and induced Stan to cross the river with him to search for them. They became lost and separated. Stan heard Buzz fall into a lion pit and threw him a vine rope. However it was not Buzz who climbed out of the lion pit but rather a six and half foot tall gorilla looking ape. The ape was highly intelligent and seems human like in its expression and gestures. Seeing what he believes is a gorilla Stan runs blindly through the jungle and falls into a lion pit. He is rescued by white hunter and his party. Stan tells the hunter that this was an accident, he was really a renown white hunter. He had in fact taught Frank Buck everything he knew. The hunter is of course Frank Buck who is searching for the Orangutan Gargantua.
Frank Buck fed Stan and Buzz and led them back to their camp. Diana seemed little concerned that Frank Buck was also looking for the Orangutan Gargantua.
Stanley demonstrated his courage by entering Clyde Beatty's lion taming cage with an untamed lion. He thought that it was Buzz in a lion suit. Beatty ends up having to rescue Stan.
Buzz confronts Diana with his suspicions that she was actually looking for diamonds. He claims that he could lead her right to them for a percentage. She agreed to the deal. She told Beatty that she thought that they had collected enough specimens and believed that the tale of the Orangutan Gargantua was a myth. Beatty packed up his camp in a few days and took the animals with him.
As Beatty was breaking his camp Buzz and Stan decided to once again look for the diamonds themselves. Along a game path they found a diamond and another one. They followed a trail of diamonds right into a village of cannibals. Captured and tied up they watched as the cooking pots were prepared. The intelligent ape that had followed Stan from a distance through most of the distance untied Stan who then untied Buzz. They made their escape from the native village.
Seeing how many diamonds the natives had Buzz renegotiated his deal with Diana. This negotiation was cut short when a contingent of natives arrived to parlay with Diana. They offered Diana a deal, they would exchange all the diamonds they possessed for Stanley. The Chief wished to eat Stanley, thinking that he would make a tasty morsel.
Diana agreed to the deal and called for her henchmen, including Gunner and Sam to hunt down Stanley. Stanley returned to the camp and burst into Diana's hut, telling her that there were cannibals in the area. Recognizing the natives in her hut as the cannibals he fled once more, pursued by Diana and the natives as well as Diana's henchmen and Buzz.
Diana was eventually snared by one of Frank Buck's cages. A group of Chimpanzees and Gorillas caused Diana's henchmen to fight among themselves.
The natives were frightened by the appearance of an Orangutan Gargantua.
Buzz found the bag of diamonds that the natives had dropped in their pursuit of Stanley. He hid them so he could return to them later. When he returned they were gone. In disgust he left Stan to his fate in the jungle.
The intelligent gorilla had found the diamonds and gave them to Stanley. Stan used the diamonds to buy the department store and hire Buzz as his personal elevator operator. The intelligent ape was his partner.
The events of Africa Screams did happen as described. Ollu and Buzsla convinced adventuress Diana Emerson (47) that they knew the area of Africa that she sought. She was seeking diamonds as well as wildlife. She never bought the idea of a Orangutan Gargantua but used this ploy to convince Clyde Beatty to accompany her. Beatty knew that his rival Frank Buck was also searching for the Orangutan Gargantua and thought it would be a coup to capture it before he did.
Stanley did meet an intelligent ape that he rescued by accident. The intelligent ape resembled a gorilla but in was in fact a female mangani. The original script called for a female gorilla to fall in love with Stanley but the censors thought that smacked of bestiality and had the studio portray the gorilla as male. This female mangani belonged to an odd sort of tribe or band created by the encroachment of civilization.
In the film the gorilla was seen as directing some chimpanzees to harry Stanley's pursuers. Actually these were not Chimpanzees but Pygmy mangani, a separate species of mangani which shared the same culture and language. The Pygmy mangani resembled Chimpanzees except that they could walk upright when they desired and had language and higher cognitive functions than the Chimpanzees. This collection of differing Mangani banding together had come about as the waning numbers of Mangani joined together for survival. (48)
This odd assortment of mangani had also rescued some of the living legacy of fallen Opar. When Tarzan had last visited the city in 1946 he found it abandoned. A disease had ravaged most of the inhabitants. La was gone for the time. The remaining inhabitants had been driven from the city by a cannibalistic tribe who adopted some of the ways of western civilization in terms of use of objects and clothing. The cannibals captured several of the male children who were kept in cages and used in sacrifices and cannibalistic rites. Believing that these male Oparian children were mangani children, the group of mangani lead by Leota rescued as many of these children as possible.
The diamonds that the cannibals possessed which were coveted by Diana and her cohorts were in fact looted from the vaults of Opar. The natives knew that white men valued these stones and so used them as lures to capture the unwary treasure seeker.
The female mangani named Leota rescued Stanley but at the cost of her life. A couple of the cannibals shot her dead with rifles given to them by Diana Emerson. The rest of the mangani scattered, leaderless without Leota. As she was dying she led Stanley to a small enclosure where three younger smaller "apes" were located. One was a child male mangani (actually a Oparian male) a female mangani in her adolescence and an adolescent male mangani.(49)
1950-51 Events of Abbott and Costello television show
The events of the Abbott and Costello television show 1952-54 were based in part upon Ollu and Buzsla's careers as actors and so were in essence compilations of different periods in their lives given a contemporary setting. The running gag of two main characters Mr. Bacciagalupe and Hilary having different occupations every week was in inside joke reference to Ollu and Buzsla having so many differing occupations through out the ages.
The character of Mike the Cop represented the "Boys" continual attempts to conform to an increasingly legislated civilization and falling short.
Two of the more bizarre characters Stinky Davis and Bingo the Chimp were apparently based on real characters who had lived with Ollu and Buzsla at different periods in their lives.
Stinky Davis was a supposed ten year old played by a middle aged man, comedian Joe Besser. Although he had created the Stinky character prior to the Abbott and Costello show and was featured because of his true life friendship with Lou Costello. Ollu and Buzsla included the character in their discussion about the show because the ten year old played by an adult resonated with a character that Ollu and Buzsla had run across some time before. This was an orphaned ten year old boy who they took in circa 1910's. He had stayed with them for two years before it became apparent that he like them did not age. When they confronted him about it, he said that he was immortal but not like them. He had learned about Ollu and Buzsla from various other immortals and had heard that they were very old. He had been tempted several times to take their heads but had stayed his hand because he did not believe that he would achieve a quickening from their deaths. This ten year old boy was one of those crazy immortals that went around cutting each other heads off. The boy disappeared one day after sensing that one of his enemies was close by. (50)
The truth about Bingo the Chimp as even harder to pin down. In the show Costello adopted Bingo as his son and even dressed him as if he were a human being. I thought at first that Bingo might be a pygmy mangani, a subspecies of the Great Apes raised who raised Tarzan, such as Cheetah or Bobo the Detective Chimp which I first speculated on in Tarzan? Jane? and Tarzans in the Valley of Gold. I even thought that Bingo might be Bobo the Chimp but I was quite surprised when Bingo turned out to be something entirely different. Although I was correct that Bingo was not a Chimpanzee, I was incorrect that he was a Pygmy Mangani. Bingo was a child of Opar. In 1948 Ollu and Buzsla had traveled to Africa on a forced safari to find a native tribe which had an diamond mine. They had "accidentally" discovered a lost city inhabited by refugees from Opar. A small group of Oparites had fled from their native city because of disease, when Tarzan last visited their home in 1946, he found the city abandoned. Ollu and Buzsla had taken the young child of a female captive who had been killed at the hands of the evil Diana Emerson. Upon returning to the United States they had raised the child who displayed the attributes of a typical Oparite male, a hybrid of Mangani and Homo Sapiens. His "ape-like" features caused some people to believe that the child was an ape.
As Bingo grew his more hybrid nature became more apparent. Rather than subject him to too much scrutiny or perhaps even ignorant hatred, Ollu and Buzsla decided to leave the United States. Scraping together some money they bought a small cargo ship and began to haul cargoes among the South Pacific and East Asian Islands. This would nearly be their undoing....
1954 Gadzooka Abbott and Costello Animated Series episode Godzilla
Abbott and Costello are cops trying to protect their city from the gigantic monster Gadzooka. After wrecking most of the city, the beast is tamed when Lou pulls a thorn from his foot. New problems arise when Gadzooka's whole family want to move in with the nice guys Abbott and Costello.
This cartoon was based on the encounter the actual encounter that Ollu, Buzsla and Bingo had with Godzilla. Ollu and Buzsla's cargo ship was very nearly to Japan, loaded up American beer, nylons and other items, which those soldiers in Occupation Japan would buy up like crazy. When Japan was in sight, Buzsla saw the flash of a swordfish fin and thought to bag a swordfish to sell. He primed the boats deep sea fishing gun and waited. When he saw the flash again he fired and the line and bolt landed solidly behind the fin. The line pulled taut and soon was pulled to its limit. The boat was pulled along by a force more powerful than the engines. The engines began smoking so Ollu shut them off.
The boat went skimming along the surface of the waters as if it were on were on skis. As they approached Tokyo harbor the "fin" rose out of the water and was revealed to be part of a scaly hide covering a massive lizard's head. As the giant lizard's head rose it yanked the hook and line upwards. Buzsla who was strapped into the chair was pulled upwards as well. The chair's bolts in the deck popped out and Buzsla went flying upwards as the gigantic head continued to rise. Ollu grabbed onto the chair and was pulled upwards as well. In a few seconds Ollu and Buzsla found themselves a couple hundred feet above the ocean surface dangling from a fishing line that had its hook wedged into the top scales of a giant lizard. They held on for dear life, bouncing and swaying. The Monster was so large and its hide so tough that they were like gnats to a Komodo dragon. They were still dangling from the line when the Monster entered Tokyo and began smashing its way through the city. As the fishing line rubbed against the huge scales, Ollu and Buzsla could see it fraying. They wondered if this was it for them. The line snapped and Buzsla and Ollu fell about ten feet to land on the roof of a tall building. They breathed a sigh of relief which lasted for about thirty seconds as the swinging tail smashed into the bottom of the building they were on, weakening it's foundation. The building toppled and Buzsla and Ollu were thrown forward. As the building they were on fell they were tossed off the roof and through the windows of another building. Bleeding and bruised Buzsla and Ollu found the stairs. As they neared the bottom of the building they heard a loud crash and saw the structure of the building they were inside begin to fall. They cleared the door as the building imploded but were still knocked a pretty fair distance.
Recovering from their wounds, Buzsla and Ollu began helping the Tokyo Police finding victims. After Gojira had left Tokyo they had discovered that Bingo and his tutor had taken control of the boat and had the foresight to stay some distance from Tokyo.(51)
1956 Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Moreau (never filmed)
Abbott and Costello are members of a cargo ship plying its trade in the South Seas. Their captain is a drunken lout. They are heading towards an isolated island that receives supply shipments every six months. Most ships will not go there despite the bonus they will collect for deliveries. Once arriving on the island Bartholomew and Chick are startled and frightened by the ugly, hairy dock workers who unloaded the cargo. The head of the island is Dr. Andrew Moreau who claims to be doing research on tropical diseases and their effects on the physiognomy of Island dwellers. He is interested in Bartholomew's cranial development stating he had not seen the like outside of his island home. He claimed Bartholomew had the natural traits of a sheep and a human. He asks them to stay with him for a while to help with his research, when they refuse Moreau pays the drunken cargo skipper to leave without them.
Bartholomew takes sick after eating and the good Doctor give him a shot to help settle his stomach. Bartholomew begins growing wool. Chick is disgusted with Bartholomew. "Look at you. This is the thanks I get after all I have put up from you. Now you go and grow wool. Would it have been too much to at least have grown cashmere? At least then I could have gotten a nice coat.
What else could Costello have said but I am a baaaahhhd boy!
Costello becomes more animalistic and escapes through the compound fence. He meets up with other bestial men and women. They tell him the Law. He asks if House of Pain was a branch office of the IRS.
Dr. Moreau, Chick and the Moreau's assistant find Bartholomew who had once more regressed to his more natural human state. Bartholomew's attempts to civilize the beast-men by using the game of baseball as a metaphor for society and then explaining the rules of baseball have made them discontent.
Later that night the beasts surround the house. Dr. Moreau attempts to keep them at bay with whip and fire. The Sayer of the Law says "From Beast to Man, that is the Law. From Man to Beast that is the Law." The beastmen use brute strength to break into the house. As Chick and Bartholomew run from a horde of Beast-men, Chick quips "Typical Lawyer, twisting words around to suit his case! "
Bartholomew and Chick jumped into a rowboat and are joined by Moreau's assistant. Moreau is captured by the beast men and carried to his House of Pain. He is given an injection that turns him into a swine-man. He faces the camera and stutters, "Th-th-that's All Folks!"
Unfortunately his film only exists as a general idea tossed out in concept meetings during the latter portions of the comedians' careers. Although the monsters of Frankenstein, Wolfman and Dracula had been used effectively for a comic horror blend, the writers agreed that the nature of Dr. Moreau was such that the comic elements would be forced and would not flow naturally. Charles Laughton was also unwilling to parody his portrayal of Dr. Moreau. The idea for the film was scrapped but the reason behind why John Grant had the idea in the first place is as follows.
Ollu and Buzsla continued with their cargo shipping business. For a large amount of money they agreed to take a shipment of wild animals and foodstuffs to a small island in between Micronesia and the Hawaiian chain. They arrived while the leader of the island, a Doctor Paul Moreau and his assistant were somewhat occupied by their work and by the budding romance between Andrew Braddock and Moreau's ward, Maria.
Their cargo was unloaded by some odd looking men supervised by an elderly man wearing a bush outfit with a Boer hat. Moreau wandered down to see the unloading of the cargo is stunned when he caught a glimpse of Bingo who was about fourteen and had come into three quarters of his growth. Moreau had Mountford offer a hundred pounds for the boy. The offer was rejected out of hand. Although Mountford increased the offer, Ollu refused. To alleviate any hurt feelings Moreau invited Ollu, Buzsla and their crew for dinner. Andrew the tutor and most of the crew stayed aboard the cargo ship. Andrew dimly remembered something about the name Moreau and wished to look it up. During dinner Ollu and Buzsla realized that the romance between Braddock and Maria was rather serious but they both felt something distinctly odd about the beautiful woman.
Mountford invited Ollu and Buzsla to his cabana to play poker and drink whisky. Moreau offered to escort Bingo back to the cargo ship. As Ollu and Buzsla were playing poker, they heard a great scream of pain and rage. Although Mountford did not move they started for the door. Mountford told them to sit quietly they turned and saw him holding a gun on them. Looking at one another, Ollu and Buzsla reached under the card table and tipped it atop of Mountford. They heard a great crashing and followed the noise. They found Moreau in a laboratory sprawled over a examination table. He clutched a bloody nose and split lip.
Moreau said that he had decided to show Bingo the wonders of science when one of the laboratory animals had escaped. Bingo had run amuck and knocked Moreau aside. Bingo had run from the compound and into the jungle beyond followed by the wild cheetah. Ollu and Buzsla insisted on going out there at once to find Bingo. Moreau agreed readily and gave Ollu and Buzsla pistols and he and Mountford followed behind them. Moreau carried a pistol and a whip.
About a half a mile in the jungle Ollu and Buzsla found themselves alone in the jungle. Moreau and Mountford had disappeared.
Moreau's notes as gathered by Andrew Braddock, show that Moreau intended to leave the two interfering men to fend for themselves. He had no worries that Bingo being part ape would easily survive. He could be collected later. (52)
Moreau and Mountford went on a search party a few days later but failed to find any trace of Buzsla , Ollu or Bingo. He told Andrew that Ollu, Buzsla and Bingo had died of a highly contagious tropical disease and suggested that he and his crew depart the Island immediately. The natives blamed the new arrivals for having brought the deadly jungle fever. Andrew doubted Moreau's story because he had never seen Buzsla or Ollu sick. Also having found out about Moreau's family he felt the Doctor was up to no good. Andrew and the cargo ship crew unfortunately did not have the resources or man power to take on Moreau and his odd natives in a fight. He circled the island for two weeks until he saw a signal fire on a bluff on the southern portion of the isle.
Andrew anchored the cargo ship just under the bluff. A bundle began swinging down to the sea on a vine rope. Inside the bundle was a child about ten years of age. Two more such bundles followed. Then came respectively Bingo, Buzsla and Ollu. Ollu lost his grip on the rope and fell into the ocean. He had to be fished from the drink.
Buzsla explained that they had found Bingo after a half of day staying among some bizarre looking animalistic men. They had these odd Laws which they adhered to as if it were a religious doctrine. All in all they were a docile bunch, especially after they received the food with the Creator's medicine in it. Buzsla had remembered the story of Dr. Moreau from the picture shows and realized that these were animals carved into the shape of men. To their horror they found some human children living among these Beast People. Although unlike the picture show there were females among the Beast Folk, Buzsla and Ollu did not believe their stories of them having given birth to these human children. They were certain that Moreau had purchased these children from among the Islands to be raised by the Beast as some kind of experiment. They told the Beast People that they would be returning to sea and tried to talk the "mothers" into letting them take the children with them. Despite the Sayer of the Law's belief that this was a good think, that it would spare them from the House of Pain, the mothers for the most part would not give up their children. Three mother's of the oldest children finally relented after much exhortation from the Sayer of the Law.(53)
Ollu and Buzsla and their crew attempted to get Japanese and American law enforcement interested in the bizarre doings on Moreau's island but they did not believe them and claimed that the island was out of their jurisdiction. They did however interest a group of scientists from the International Science Research Institute temporarily based in Osaka. A group of twenty scientists accompanied Ollu and company back to Moreau's island. Ollu, Buzsla and crew arrived six months after they had left.
1957 Follow the Bouncing Blob Abbott and Costello Animated Series episode
Abbott dumps Costello's chemistry experiment into the sink and it starts bouncing higher and higher. The least angle deflects it in a new direction. It makes a shambles of the house and soon is all over the neighborhood. A motorcycle cops becomes involved and takes a beating. Abbott dynamites the superblob. This action does not solve the problem but turns it into many, many small ones.
Except for the existence of the blob creature most of this cartoon episode is fictitious.
Ollu, Buzsla and their cargo ship return to Moreau's island six months after they had left. They are carrying twenty scientist-adventurers from the International Science Research Institute. Many of these scientists had intelligence backgrounds and so were familiar with weaponry and guerilla type raids. They found the island oddly deserted except for exotic wild animals and the decomposing bodies of two men. One corpse was draped acorss the compound wall, Ollu and Buzsla identified as Moreau. His body was badly torn. Mountford's badly torn body was found in jungle near the burnt remnants of the Beast folk village He had been shot to death. Ollu and Buzsla wondered if the Beast people were hiding and if not what had happened to them and to the rest of the human children the beast people had been raising. They never found them. Moreau's laboratory and house had been ravaged by fire. The laboratory revealed no hidden documents despite the Japanese Scientiest methodically disassembling the walls and floors. Only a sealed canister hidden on a support beam was discovered. Next to the cannister was a charred note. "Odd organic material, possibly extraterrestrial. Found near Bikini atoll after atomic blast. Highly radioactive. Sluggish to respond to stimulus. Infused with human germ plasm. Responded to stimuli with more alacrity."
The scientists wished to take this back to Japan. Buzsla and Ollu agreed that they could but made them keep it safe in the cargo hold of the ship. Unfortunately one of the scientists took it upon himself to examine the material before they had reached Japan. The organic material latched onto his hand and quickly absorbed his flesh. The humanoid looking blob of green goo then began stalking and absorbing the others on the ship. Nine of the twenty scientists were absorbed into the green blob before they were able to maneuver it into a tarp, wrap it up and throw it overboard. As the mass slithered out of the tarp and onto the water's surface, Buzsla threw a lit stick of dynamite into its center. The blob exploded into several smaller pieces which quickly formed into about six smaller versions of the blob. Ollu discovered that fire would destroy the blobs. As the blobs returned to the ship the scientists and crew went about burning them with different materials. They managed to destroy every piece of the blob, although they caused extreme damage to the ship. (54)
Ollu and Buzsla received a bonus from the International Science Research Institute despite failing to bring back any samples of Dr. Moreau's work, their efforts at fighting off a deadly menace and keeping several key scientists alive were considered worthy efforts. Ollu and Buzsla decided not to repair their ship but to retire from their business. They sailed to northern California and sold their boat and bought a small amusement park. They renovated a couple buildings as living quarters. Andrew the tutor decided to that since he had come back to America he might as well return to his hometown of Carvel, Idaho. (55)
1957-1960
Ollu and Buzsla found three married couples who agreed to work at the amusement park and to foster the three kids they took off of Moreau's Island. In addition to operating the amusement park Ollu and Buzsla once again tried their hand at writing film scripts, although this time they removed their involvement and added fantastical elements to make the films more palatable to modern audiences. Although American film makers for the most part refused to see the greatness in their film ideas, European film companies loved them. They became writing film treatments for the historical epics of Hercules, Samson, Maciste, Atlas, Sinbad and a host of others. (56)
1960 The married couples soon quit their jobs however one by one as their foster children upon hitting puberty began to exhibit the physical and behavioral traits of animals, specifically a lion, an elephant and a dog. "Beastie Boy" as they called themselves worked around the amusement park. People believed them to be men in very elaborate costumes. Along with Bingo they began to take a great interest in music and began playing various musical instruments.
1960-1968 Ollu and Buzsla worked as freelance writers for Hanna-Barbera Inc and also continued to write historical scenarios for the European film industry.
1964 Creep in the Deep Abbott and Costello Animated Series episode
Neptune's Nephew, an evil reincarnation of the legendary undersea ruler has created an undersea kingdom. With his army of obedient sharks, octopuses, sawfish etc he raids passing cargo ships for their valuables. Abbott and Costello as the world's foremost underwater agents are sent to capture him.
A Turkish director was filming an epic historical film based on one of Ollu and Buzsla's scripts about the battle between Hernando Cortez and Attila the Hun over the lost civilization of Atlantis. He insisted that Ollu and Buzsla join him where he is filming on location in the Philippines. Ollu and Buzsla agreed to two weeks and left Bingo in charge of the amusement park. They flew to Manila and then were booked on a passenger shuttle to the island where the filming was taking place. Along the way something hard slammed into the passenger ship and ripped a hole in the hull. Some passengers said that it was a man who had ripped the hull open with his bare hands. The ship began to sink. There were not enough lifeboats and Ollu and Buzsla give their seats to women and children. They remain aboard the sinking ship. They knew from previous experience that although it would be extremely unpleasant, their bodies would adapt to the liquid environment and allow them to take oxygen from the water.
To their horror they see sharks, dolphins and whales smashing the lifeboats. Riding on an orca is a man dressed in shorts and a odd belt.
A submarine rises out of the waters and along side it come several persons riding small water jet propelled sleds wearing wetsuits, aqualungs and face masks. In their hands they carried harpoon guns which they shot at the marine life. The submarine began shooting some kind of bright red ray at the man on the orca. The whale and the man dove beneath the waves.
Ollu and Buzsla sank beneath the waves and were unable to see much more of the action, they were too busy remaining conscious while their bodies adapted to the liquid environment. As they began to climb out of the wreckage of the sunken passenger ship and begin walking across the ocean floor to their destination, they see the young man who had been riding the orca swim down to the ship and enter the breached hull. Upon a closer look he is not entirely human having odd protruding eyes, webbed hands and dorsal fins on his feet.
They realized who he must be and began to hustle as fast as they could across the ocean floor away from the sunken ship.. After a few minutes Namor came out of the sunken ship and did a double take as he saw Ollu and Buzsla running across the Ocean floor in slow motion. He swam up to them and asked who they were. Having gills he could speak under water, Ollu and Buzsla could not speak because their respiratory systems were filled with water. Namor grabbed them by the collar and swims rapidly away. He carried them to a undersea cavern. Inside this cavern is glass wall behind which is a pressurized room with air. Once inside the air filled room Ollu and Buzsla began a paroxysm of coughing which emptied the water from their lungs.
Namor believed them to be Dyzan-Human hybrids, with too much of the damned human in them. They did not understand what he is talking about but do not dispel his notion. He asked them how often they had to immerse in water before they became weakened unto death. They truthfully told him they could live in water or not. (57)
He elaborated on how they could be useful in his war against the Surface Dwellers who had begun a campaign of genocide against his people. They agreed, wondering how to escape. Namor said he was destroying any ship that passed through his territory and then plundering the sunken ships for loot. He would eventually have enough financial wherewithal to create a surface dweller identity. He would then create a financial empire and use it to disrupt the surface dweller's worldwide economy. The surface dwellers would be so busy with their petty affairs they would leave the oceans alone.
Namor's underground lair was rocked with explosions. The glass cracked and flooded the chamber with water. Several people wearing water jet packs and diving suits came swimming at Namor and shooting guns filled with orange rays or harpoons on lines. Hit by several of the rays and shocked by several of the electro-harpoons, he fled. Two divers swam up to Ollu and Buzsla and handed them aqualungs.
Ollu and Buzsla were taken to the submarine they had seen earlier. This was a joint UNCLE and UNDERSEA operation to drive Namor back to his Antarctic home land or kill him. Lt. Davy Jones thanked Ollu and Buzsla for having lead them to Namor's lair. (58) The submarine dropped them off at the Island where the motion picture was being shot. It would run out of money before Ollu and Buzsla could be paid.
1965 The three young men rescued from Dr. Moreau's island who now resembled an anthropomorphic dog, elephant and lion. They along with Bingo formed a band, called the Beastie Boys. A promoter saw them performing at the amusement Park and thought they would be a great gimmick band. He however thought the name was too provocative and convinced them to change it to something more innocuous such as the Banana Splits. The band consisting of funny animals was also spotted by Joe Barbera. He had the idea of building a television show around them. This was turned into a kid's television show, which was produced by Ollu and Buzsla's employer Hanna-Barbera The promoter filmed the boys playing their instruments and their antics around the amusement park and the nearby Dune Buggy place. These films eventually became the basis for the live action portions hit television show, although most people believed that the band members were men in suits. Their biggest hit was written as a paean to Bingo's Oparian roots, worshipping the Priestess-Goddess La, although most people did not understand the fertility cult's symbolism hidden in the "innocent" lyrics.(59) Most of the information Bingo knew about La was from the Tarzan books and from the not entirely reliable sources of Ollu and Buzsla.
1967 The Banana Splits promoter/agent insists that they make a nation wide tour. They refuse and are dropped from his stable. Although the show continued for a bit the Banana Splits are never heard from again. The sad fact of the matter was that as Droopy, Snorky and Fleagle progressed into their twenties they lost more and more of their humanity exhibiting more and more pronounced animal traits and behaviorism. Rather than have them live an unhappy life in the United States in some zoo or cage. Bingo, Ollu and Buzsla returned them to Moreau's island where they hoped others like them still existed. (60) After dropping his friends off on Moreau's island, Bingo was devastated by their loss. He traveled to Africa, wishing to see if any of his people were still alive. Although he could not find any of the Oparians or their Mangani cousins he did stumble on an archaeologist Dr. Theo O'Day and his beautiful daughter Angela also looking for Opar. Although he hid from them at first he saved them from a group of Belgian Congolese soldiers who weren't above looting and raping during the breakdown of social order.
Professor O'Day was surprised to find a talking gorilla and Bingo was not disposed to correct him. He told them that there was a whole city of them in a secret African location. He had left because he wanted to travel to America. When asked his name he said Sam Simeon. Professor 0'Day was at first blissfully unaware that Bingo was pulling his leg. Angela explained it to her father.(61) Bingo decided that he liked the name and he also liked the company of Angel and accompanied them back to the United States. Using the name Sam Simeon, he started a career as a cartoonist working on funny animal books and also political cartoon. Since he did all of his submissions by mail, no one knew that he was an "Ape"
Angela 0'Day was 5'10" and 140 pounds, had blue eyes and platinum blonde hair and favored short dresses and skirts. She spoke twelve languages. She had a brilliant logical mind, excelled at Karate and Kung Fu was a world-class fencer and a crack shot. So what did she do with all that knowledge? She opened a private detective agency. Although some may say that by starting a Detective Agency she was wasting a brilliant mind, she had always been interested in mysteries and had wanted to be a detective from an early age. Her father was good friends with Charlie Chan and Chan informally trained her as a Detective. Chan's motivation however may have been to prod his sons to do better with the detective studies and not be shown up by an unworthy female. Soon after opening the agency, Angela began taking on cases for people who needed detectives but could not afford them or could not get the police interested in their cases. If Angel was wasting her talents on the Angel and Simeon Detective Agency at least she was doing much better than her twin sister(62)
Angel asked Sam to join her for when she needed back up. He had a way of looking at things from different perspectives than she did, perhaps because of his artistic side or his simian brain. The agency eventually became known as the O'Day and Simeon Detective Agency although Angel mostly ran the business while Sam remained a cartoonist and part time private eye. (63)
1969-1994
Although Buzsla and Ollu's movements become harder to trace after this year it appears that they lived in New York and continued to sell movie and television ideas to movies and television using their "expert" knowledge of history. Although this cannot be verified they may be responsible for the so called anachronisms and conflicting continuities of such shows as Xena: Warrior Princess, The Adventures of Hercules, Sinbad the Sailor and a few others. Having lived through this periods they are undoubtedly more accurate than the decrying "historians" While in New York they have known a young writer named Larry David and been partial inspirations for his television show called Seinfeld, although there are conflicting reports about this. Given the often very bizarre shenanigans and antics of the characters on Seinfeld, although written with a cynical New York twist, it seems possible that the two eternal bumblers may have inspired some of them.
1994 The All New Adventures of Laurel & Hardy: For Love or Mummy, (1998)
The last known appearance that I have been able to track of Ollu and Buzsla was in Florida circa 1994. Fearing exposure from the Seinfeld show they altered their appearances a bit and took menial jobs working at a Museum in Miami. Oddly enough they used the identities of the nephews of the comedians Laurel and Hardy, who men who had of course portrayed them. Their ability to find trouble also manifested here. The Museum director of Antiquities Dr. Leslie Covington was the daughter of a renown Egyptologist whose wife had perished in Egypt nearly thirty years before. Dr. Covington had been instrumental and in locating a lost tomb. The relics having been catalogued and studied by the Egyptians for nearly thirty years were now being lent for an exclusive exhibition at the museum.
Ollu and Buzsla soon discover that this is actually a plot by a secret Egyptian cult to resurrect a High Priest of the Set cult and provide him with a bride. The bride would then bear the incarnation of Set. Leslie had been "marked" by Set when she had been in the forgotten tomb with her mother and father. Although Professor Covington had refused to acknowledge it he had seen his wife killed by spectral serpent, although outwardly she had died of a massive stroke. Leslie had been bitten by the spectral snake and had been sick for some time before the wound had healed. He had convinced himself that the wound had merely been a scrape that had become infected.
Although the cult and the name of the Mummy are different in the film version the Mummy is their old friend Klaris and his followers. So apparently it had been Charlie who had been blown up back in 1946. Despite their general bumbling, once again their eternal luck wins out. Leslie is saved, the bad guy is punished and the Mummy is destroyed.
Ollu and Buzsla disappeared shortly after the premier of this film and have not yet surfaced.
Timeline
NOTES
31. Full details about the Shadow's early career and speculations about the girasol rings can be fond in Chronology of Shadows by Rick Lai
32. See the 1915 entry in Immortal Befuddled: Part Two Terrible Trio.
33. During their trip escaping from the Mexican authorities, Ollu remarked that it reminded him of the time they had eluded the Manila authorities with the help of Al Runyon. Patrice Amati del Grande revealed that they had a mutual acquaintance in Runyon. Runyon had met her when he was down in Mexico covering Pancho Villa. She had been one of Villa's rebels. Runyon had paid for her schooling and promised her a job in New York. She had been thinking about making him keep that promise.
34. This was another of the Lemurian power crystals that turned up previously in Ollu and Buzsla's careers. When they had given it to the Natives in 1700 it had been rather small, cracked and discolored as if by great heat. The power crystals had the ability to regenerate themselves. They also responded to simply mental commands. The original function of this crystal seems to have been to absorb solar or radiant heat. It appears to have two or three function, to operate as a power source, to be a weapon and if necessary provide its carrier with energy stimulation. to alleviate fatigue, aid in internal repair and provide temporary sustenance. The crystals were keyed to react to mental and emotional responses. There was a security protocol built into the crystals matrix which triggered a defensive reaction if the crystal was not given freely or if the carrier had malevolent purposes.
35. Lincoln Island was the island upon which Cyrus Harding and some others had been marooned circa 1865 after a hurricane had blown them there. They had ridden in an observation balloon. As they would discover the island was the refuge of Captain Nemo (Prince Dakkar). As Rick Lai has speculated Verne edited the tale of the Mysterious Island slightly to make it seem as though Captain Nemo and Dakkar were only one person. Although Dakkar was recovering from radiation poisoning as a result of sabotage his submarine, he still found some time for experimentation and to help the marooned American soldiers. The nature and results of his experimentation were also either unknown to Verne or excised as being too fantastic. As a by product of his chemurgy on sea plants, Dakkar had developed a serum which increased the size of animals to titanic proportions, it would only work on the unborn however, the changes had to take place in utero otherwise the body was preset in a particular size. His idea was to increase the food sources of high population centers. He soon realized a basic flaw in his approach, the animals were larger and would provide more food per individual yet each individual anima also consumed food resources geometrically to its size. In short the large animals were ecologically unsound.Harding and his marooned companions fought off giant crabs, Chickens, and bees in their four year stay on the island.
Harding was present at Dakkar's "death" Harding followed instructions and sent Dakkar's submarine to rest on the floor of the ocean. Dakkar actually used this method to break away from the castaways. He had been spending entirely too much time attending to their needs and he needed to get on with his mission. He left them well supplied and they were rescued a year or so after his "death"
36. This treehouse was probably the one used by Professor Challenger and his associates during their travel to Maple White Land. They too were stuck on the Plateau for some time as seen in The Lost World television series.
37.Where Todd was at during the 1946 expedition to Maple White land, as cited in the Original Wold Newton Crossover Chronology is unknown.
38. Exactly who were these rapaciously, mercenary Indians? Their tribal name is Hekawi which translates as Has Nothing or Empty Belly. Originally an Eastern tribe their first known transaction was to sell the island of Manhattan to the Dutch for twenty-four dollars worth of trinkets. Although one might decry the Dutch for making such an uneven deal, there was some good to arise out of it. To the Hekowa, it was clear profit since they did not own the island and really had little to do with it. A few of the Hekawi men had come to the Island to hunt and fish and had met the Dutch who offered to buy the island from them for 24.00 dollars. Why not?
The Hekawi's lived mostly by trade, always striving to get the better end of the deal, always striving to make the customer if not a satisfied customer then a dependent customer. They quickly learned to assimilate to the point of using modern technology and understanding the language of the new invaders, yet all the while pretending to be very ignorant of new technology or languages. They were not above trading away the water rights, mineral rights and land rights of their neighbors or when being negotiators to make certain that they would gain some advantage in the treaties, even if their tribe was not directly affected by the treaty. The Hekowa's kept abreast of the waves of the immigration. They learned not to put all of their eggs in one basket after making heavy investment in the Civilized Five Nations and losing it all when the Five Nations were forced to give up their land and move westward. Rather than becoming land wealthy they became wealthy in trade goods and through investment using Pale Face intermediaries who unknowingly banked and invested for the Hekawi using dummy corporations.
During the civil war when the Indian Territory became allied with the Confederate States the Hekawi moved North to avoid the war, knowing that even though they were moving to a relatively sparsely settled area it was only a matter of time before the Pale Faces could start moving in there. The Hekwai moved to Nebraska terrority setting up near the sleepy Fort and town of Fort Courage, although they left a few members of the Hekawi nation to watch their holdings in the Indian Territory. At Fort Courage they met an Irishman with a Hekawi's heart, Sgt. Morgan O'Rourke. They signed a personal treaty with him which gave him the exclusive rights to sell Hekawi artifacts. Over the course of the next few years O'Rourke and the Hekawi would enjoy trying to outdeal one another while outsmarting the U.S. Commander stationed to run the fort. O'Rourke and the Hekawi would use the threat of a Hekawi uprising to negotiate for more trade goods and concessions. The only problem that they had in this relatively peaceful area were the Sioux and Cheyenne who stubbornly refused to base their cultures on a mercantile system. The Cheyenne and Sioux regarded the Hekawi with contempt and often tried to start trouble with the Pale Faces . F-Troop the television show based on the Hekawi's battle of wits against the United States Government collectively lumped the Cheyenne and Sioux as the Shugs.
After the war Hekawi found it harder to negotiate since Captain Parmiter went futher west with Jane. O'Rourke was transferred to General Miles command and Agarn went to San Francisco to manage a nightclub. The U.S. Army began taking a more hardline approach to even the suggestion of hostilities and the U.S. Government was outdoing even the Hekawi's in finding loopholes in treaties. After Colonel Custer's punitive raid against the Cheyenne at Washita, the Hekawi's returned to the Indian Territory.
Former Sgt. O'Rourke had also moved there and was one the main proponents of the Land Rush. He carried a grudge against the Hekawi because they had gotten Captain Parmiter to approve his transfer to a fighting unit. He had not put in for such a transfer but the Hekawi had feared O'Rourke's possible influence with the hard line soldier who was going to take Parmiter's place.
Although they were seemingly outmanuevered by former Sgt. O'Rourke and lost some land in the Oklahoma Land Rush, they made certain that the land that he grabbed had not contained the oil he sought. They had made it appear as though there were oil on that land but all O'Rourke ever dug up was dirt. The tribe took advantage of the resurgence of interest in Native American culture and artifacts. Moving through Kansas, Texas, California and thereabouts they would change their names and pretend to be differing tribes newly discovered by anthropologists. They even had reporter friends of theirs write up these discoveries in the Newspapers so that actual anthropologists and scientists and artifact collectors would come around to see them. They could then make deals for all sorts of merchandise in exchange for knowledge about their culture and the sale of their authentic artifacts.
By the time Ollu and Buzsla had met them the Hekawi had only a small investment in their "Native" business but kept it going out of tradition. Which is not to say that even if the profit was minor they would let themselves be gulled. They were well diversified in various entertainment industries and fascinated by technology were always looking for the coming thing that would take off big.
39. You may recognize the name Rita Winslow, or at least the last name. Her cousin was the famed Lt. Don Winslow of the United States Navy who would continue his life long battle against Scorpia when he became the head of the CIALD taking over when Bruce Wayne disappeared. The Winslows had been a nautical family since the early days of the American Revolution. Rita's father had fallen in love with her mother while in Rio on shore leave. They married and after his retirement he had opened the Resort. When Rita's mother died, he had given the resort to Rita and returned to the sea.
40. Paraphrapsed from U.S. relations with Brazil During World War Two by John Wolff
42. For more the earlier part of Douglas Robert's naval career please see Mr. Roberts by Thomas Heggen
43. Although the comic book tales of this mystery man depict him running around in a pair of sunglasses and red suit both of which also stretch in concert with his body. Eel O'Brien was not a scientist like Reid Roberts to create such a malleable suit and glasses. The fact of the matter is that he went about nude but his skin could change colors like a chameleon as needed so he created the illusion of clothing when necessary. However when it appeared as though he might have to change into different forms at a second's notice he did not bother to create the illusion of clothing merely went about with indistinguishable features and form. He did not keep the illusion on constantly as one might think from the comics since the oddly colored pattern would have given away many of his disguises.
44. This incident was a few months before the comic character of Plastic Man would debut in the pages of Police Comics 1, August 1941. The comics would learn of his real identity and abilities and use them without regard for licensing. Yet most people thought that Eel O'Brien had died and that these comics were mere fantasies using real names to make the fantastic events seem more plausible. The public exposure of his identity would be one of the reasons why O'Brien would change his name to Dibney
45. Plastic Man's exploits would become fodder for comics eventually he would acquire a side kick in those comics, a short, roly poly dim witted fellow named Woozy Winks. Winks was the man nature would not allow to be harmed. In other words he could not be hurt. There really must have been a leak close to Plastic Man for this information to have gotten into the comics.
46. In the film version they were seen loading liquid rocket fuel into the rocket. However given their off kilter, helter skelter initial trip which would have burned fuel like mad it is unlikely that they would have relied on rocket fuel except for initial thrust and landings. The engines were one of the more unique things on the rocket and their loss was devastating to the program. The engines had been salvaged from the Nautilus (which Nautilus this was is anybody's guess) which Namor had discovered in late 1940. The engines were far in advance of anything that Scientists of the day could design. Theories ranged that Nemo had access to forgotten Atlantean science or possibly Alien technology. They attached the Nautilus atomic powered engines to impulse engines based on designs left behind by Zarkov and Seaton. The whole thing was very hodgepode and was unable to be recreated.
45. Princess Allura would be visited quite oddly enough by the Three From The Other Tribe. Their filmed version of the planet was called Sunev.
46. The film version only mentioned Horatio Prim as a patriot and failed to mention Melody Allan. This really would have only cleared Horatio's name and Melody would have remained on the estate alone. That she was left out of the script version of the letter can probably be attributed to gender bias. So long as the male part of the team was cleared the female would automatically be cleared since of course she would have been incapable of acting on her own.
47. At the end of these events Diana Emerson was revealed to be wanted by several African nations for pouching the name of Tanya Rawlins. She had even found her way to the area near the Mysterious Mutia Escarpment but her antics there were stopped Tarzan-2. Their confrontation can be seen in Tarzan and the Huntress
48. For further information on the Pygmy Mangani please visit Tarzan? Jane? and Tarzans in the Valley of Gold.
49. Although Buzsla and Buzsla placed them with a family in the upper Northwest were they could live in seclusion and peace, they ran away and ended up in Los Angeles. Because of their odd looks and they were subjected to abuse especially among the street derelicts where they were forced to live. The male lost his arm as a result of an infection incurred in a bar fight. He was taken to a sanitarium and subjected to testing under the guise of treatment. While being given the shock treatments and medicines to control his periodic rages, he concocted a history for himself and family derived from reading various anthropological texts and fantasy fiction. He would convince a rather gullible young, female Anthropologist that they were in fact the last living remnants of Neanderthal or Human-Neanderthal descendents. After escaping from the sanitarium with a heroin addicted woman, he kept a very low profile living in a shack on garbage dump. He and his mates eeked out enough money to buy food and more importantly booze. He called himself Old Man Paley and came to believe his false history. He was killed by his fully homo sapiens mate when he went mad and had decided to sacrifice the anthropology student to the Moon. A version of their story can be seen in Philip Jose Farmer's The Alley Man.
50. Although we cannot be certain this may indeed be Kenny, the child immortal that Duncan Macleod encountered in "The Lamb" and "Reunion"
51. This incident of course took place during Godzilla's one time visit to the city of Tokyo in 1954 as cited in the Original Wold Newton Crossover Chronology. Although Buzsla and Ollu intended to teach Bingo themselves with their vast knowledge accumulated over the millennia, what they remembered of it that is. They discovered that knowing something does not necessarily translate well into being able to teach it. They hired a tutor for Bingo, someone that was willing to travel with them would be discreet and could tutor. They found a beachcomber in Bali Hai, He was. an American named Andrew with a college education. Andrew had been devastated by the marriage of his long time girl friend Betsy to another guy and by the death of his father the Judge. Although he had finished college a few months later he could no longer stand to be around his old stomping grounds and had taken off to the South Seas like Van Gaugaun or whatever that painter fella's name was.
52. Ollu and Buzsla stumbled onto the third such episode of Moreau experimentation. For more details please see The Islands of Dr. Moreau
53. The novelization of the film based on the 1956 incident stated that children were sometimes born but most would eventually they would have to be treated by Dr. Moreau in the House of Pain to regain their humanity. Knowing this it is possible that the beast people hid their children rather than give them over to Dr. Moreau.
54. They only believed they had destroyed every last pieces of the blob, a small piece survived, attached itself to a small fishing boat and ate the crew. The blob create eventually found its way into the sewers of Tokyo where it fed on Japanese gangsters. See the article Proto-Types for further details of this incident or see the film The H-Man
55. As you might have guessed the tutor Andrew's last name is Hardy. He was despondent after the death of his father in 1945 Andy, also a WWII vet, returns to college and finds his girlfriend engaged to another man and the marriage of his best girl Betsy to long time friend Beezy Anderson. After finishing college he felt unable to live up to the expectations that everyone put upon him as the son of Judge Hardy. He walked off his job at a law firm and disappeared. He lived as a beachcomber for about four years before meeting Ollu and Buzsla. After adventuring with them for a few years, he decided that perhaps staid old Caravel, Idaho wasn't such a bad place after all.
56. It is rumored in the industry that their insights and background materials were vital to the historicity of Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops (1963) ,Beast of Babylon Against the Son of Hercules (1963) Goliath and the Dragon (1960) Hercules Against the Moon Men (1965)The Magic Sword (1962) Messalina vs. the Son of Hercules (1964) Son of Sinbad (1955) Sinbad Against the Seven Saracens (1964) Hercules, Samson, and Ulysses, (1965) Goliath and the Barbarians (1959) Giant of Marathon (1959) Duel of the Titans Sandokan the Great (1964) Sandokan And The Pirates Of Malasia (1964) Hercules Against Moloch (1963) Samson And The Seven Miracles Of The World (1963 Goliath and the Vampires.
57. By the time this occurred Namor must have fully recovered from his first and nearly deadly encounter with the Four. If you are like Ollu and Buzsla and are clueless as to what Namor was talking about please visit the story of the WNU version of Namor the Sub-Mariner.
58. UNDERSEA stand for United Nations Department of Experiment and Research Systems Established at Atlantis. Originally an organization aimed at exploring the ocean depth, specifically at one or more of sites of the Lost Continent of Atlantis, it would become the central command of all under water counter terrorism operations. For more information on Davy Jones and his connection to the Wold Newton Family please visit. Mystery Inc.
59. At last we have an explanation for the mysterious quotation that begins the article La, Immortal Priestess of Issus, which discusses La of Opar and her connection to Barsoom
60. It is unsubstantiated as to whether there were others like Snorky, Droopy and Fleagle. There does seem to be some evidence that there was. There was a rather spurious account of a later incident on what appears to be the island visited by Bingo and the others circa 1956. Once again a crash survivor found a Doctor tinkering with the make-up of animals. The particulars of this incident are further discussed in the Islands of Dr. Moreau article. One important aspect of this version of the tale is that the Beast-Men of the Island are breeding true and are delivering the childrent themselves. This leads us to believe that Moreau did better work than he had originally thought. While his first generation creatures reverted to their beast forms without booster shots of his gene altering formula, the second generation while losing most of their humanity after puberty still retained enough human characteristics to remain self-aware, articulate and bred true.
61. Bingo as cartoonist was no doubt familiar with the story of Gorilla Grodd which had run in Flash Comics in 1959. In Gorilla Grodd was an intelligent ape, articulate but evil ape from a secret Gorilla City in the heart of Africa. Grodd however did exist even if Gorilla City was a myth of sorts. Grodd's explanation can bee seen in Flash II. Bingo was pulling Professor O'Day's leg, what he did not know at the time was that Professor Day was pulling his leg even harder. It was not for a couple of years after Theo truly trusted Sam that he told Sam what he had vowed never to reveal, there was a city of talking apes in Africa although it went by a different name. It was a city filled with refugee gorillas, mangani, pygmy mangani, Oparites and the original inhabtants of Sakawuru.
62. Although many accounts state that Angel's sister Athena was a half sister this was in part a rumor started by Angela to distance herself from her sister's antics and reputation. They were in fact twins. Her sister went under the name Athena Trevor for business and publicity reasons. By the mid-sixties it was a ill kept secret that Wonder Woman had married Steven Trevor. Athena had a short lived career as a mystery woman. See The Five for details.
63. Although I did not intend to speculate on the exact nature of the relationship between Angel and the Ape and I don't intend to in any detail other than to remark on a possibility that occurred to me. After a long absence between cases the Angel and Simeon Detective agency suddenly began taking cases again in the late 1990's. Angel and the Ape seemed as young as they had been previously. As with the previous incarnation of the Agency their cases soon became basis for a comic book series which play fast and loose with the facts, even to the point of giving Sam and Angel false backgrounds. It occurred to me that the younger versions could be the children of the original Angel and the Ape. Remember that I speculated earlier that Sam was an Oparian male so despite his apish looks, he was in fact quite human, that is a member of Homo Sapiens Oparsis, which seems to be a hybrid species of Homo Sapiens Pongus (Mangani,) Homo Sapiens Barsoomus and Homo Sapiens Sapiens. Homo Sapiens Oparsis is noted for its unique sexual dimorphism in which males resemble the Mangani branch of the ancestral tree and the females resemble the Homo Sapiens or Homos Sapien Barsoomus branches of the tree. The odd sexual dimorphism may have occurred with the introduction of Barsoomus genetic material into a gene pool with strong Mangani trait why this may have occurred is uncertain but it may have something to do with the odd genetic encoding found among the Priestess of La/Issus.
The point I was attempting to make was that if Sam was an Oparian male it was would be quite natural for him to be attracted to a woman with purely human features. Since he is in fact human despite the strong simian features, there is nothing unnatural about their relationship if it was indeed intimate. If the younger set of Angel and the Ape were in fact their children it would be natural for the girl to be totally human in appearance and the boy to be simian.
© 2002 Dennis Power
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