Lou Costello Weekend, Paterson, New Jersey
Jim Burns
Lou's on first -- again: Paterson celebrates the centennial of its
favorite son
http://www.nj.com/entertainment/ledger/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/114093712242870.xml&coll=1&thispage=1
Sunday, February 26, 2006
BY LAWRENCE RAGONESE
Star-Ledger Staff
He was the funny little guy. The chubby one who did the pratfalls, was
the butt of jokes, was always being conned and abused by his tall,
skinny buddy.
That was the movies. In real life Lou Costello was nobody's fool.
The jokester to Bud Abbott's straight-man in dozens of Abbott & Costello
movies, radio skits and television shows, Costello was known in real
life as a generous, caring man who loved kids and never forgot his
roots. Especially his hometown of Paterson, N.J.
Next weekend, Paterson will return the favor. It will throw a 100th
birthday bash for the city's late, great favorite son. A public birthday
party is planned Saturday afternoon, a wreath laying ceremony Sunday
morning and a fundraiser dinner on Monday night.
Costello died at the age of 52 in 1959. News of his death took the smile
off the nation's face for awhile. After all, Abbott & Costello had
helped America laugh through the tough times, World War II, the Korean
War and the early days of the Cold War. But the pain of his death was a
little harsher in Paterson, where Costello was a patron saint.
"Lou Costello touched a lot of people. He was probably the most likable
clown of the 20th century," said comedian "Uncle Floyd" Vivino, also a
Paterson native. "He was really loved in Paterson. He premiered some of
his movies at The Fabian theater. The red carpet would be rolled out in
the city, and the big stars would come in. The city would come alive."
Costello's name still resonates in Paterson. People tell you how
Costello helped create the city's Little League, backed its youth boxing
program and raised money to rebuild a local church.
"He always kept Paterson in his heart," said Jose "Joey" Torres, 47, the
city's current mayor who grew up watching Abbott & Costello on TV. "He
would come back and give back to the city. That was remarkable."
Paterson has a Lou Costello Park, with a statue of Lou. Madison Street,
where he grew up, has been renamed Lou Costello's Place. The city has a
Lou Costello Pool, there is a Lou Costello Theater in the city's Rosa
Parks High School and the Lou Costello Sportsmen Club houses a boxing
program. Nearby Montclair State University named a residence hall after
Abbott and Costello. And there is a current effort under way to get the
Passaic County Community College in Paterson to name its auditorium
after the comedy team.
"Costello was an extraordinarily generous guy," said Ed Franks, a
onetime Patersonian who is spearheading the 100th birthday party. "A lot
of people felt very strongly about Lou Costello, the guy who helped the
kids and people and city of Paterson. He was not just a movie star who
once lived here. Lou cared about this city and its people."
..Born Louis Francis Cristillo on March 6, 1906. His father, Sebastian
Cristillo, came to the U.S. from Italy in 1898. Sebastian met Helen
Rege, an Irish girl who lived next door, and they married in 1902 at St.
Anthony's Church in Paterson. They lived at 14 Madison Street, in the
Sandy Hill section of Paterson.
Costello was a funny man even in his early days, winning a local Charlie
Chaplin contest when he was 12, doing a series of pratfalls that caught
the judges' attention. But he also was a gifted athlete who played high
school baseball, football, track and basketball -- state foul shooting
champion for three straight years -- according to Paterson historian
Vincent Waraske. He later tried professional boxing but was not too
successful.
"Sizable crowds were amazed at his ability to take punishment," Waraske
wrote in the Patersonian, a local historic newsletter.
After graduating from Paterson High School, Costello sought his fortune
in Hollywood, working as a laborer and stunt man. An injury, lack of pay
and seemingly dead-end jobs prompted him to move back East, doing comedy
on the vaudeville circuit where he met Abbott as both worked in separate
comedy teams.
They joined up in 1936 and hit the road with their "Heyyyyyyyyyy
Abbot-t-t-t-t! and "I'm a Baaaaaaad Boy!" fare. Their big break came in
1938 when the duo was asked to replace comic Henny Youngman on the
popular Kate Smith Radio Hour. They were so popular, they played the
show for the next two years until they got their own show on which
Costello always signed off, "Good night to everybody in Paterson, New
Jersey."
Hollywood beckoned. The duo made their movie debut in 1940 in "One Night
in the Tropics." A year later, they released "Buck Privates" a smash hit
that led to a string of movies -- eight in two years -- that made them
the country's leading comic team. They made 36 movies over 16 years,
co-starring with the likes of Dick Powell, Boris Karloff, Robert
Cummings, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney Jr. and the Andrew Sisters.
Some of their best movies included "Hold That Ghost," "Pardon My
Sarong," "Keep 'Em Flying," "Times of Their Lives," "Abbott and Costello
Meet Frankenstein" and "The Naughty Nineties," in which they put their
Who's on First routine to film for the first time.
The routine has Abbott repeatedly frustrating Costello while trying to
explain to him the nicknames of various players on a baseball team.
"Who's on first." "What's on second." "I Don't Know's" on third. The duo
and their routine were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
"They were a sensational team. The magic was there," said veteran
comedian Pat Cooper, a Las Vegas regular who recalled skipping school to
see the duo at New York's Roxy Theater.
"Their 'Who's on First' routine was stolen by everybody. But no one had
their timing, no one could do it like Abbott and Costello."
Cooper, 77, said there were two comedians during his era that had
incredible likability: Jimmy Durante and Lou Costello.
"You wanted them to come to your house, to spend a little time, have a
little dinner," said Cooper. "Lou Costello was a one-of-a-kind human
being. His charm was amazing. The man was a huggy bear," said Cooper,
who will perform in Florida next week and sadly miss the Costello party
in Paterson.
Lou Duva and Lou Cuccinello will be at the party. The two good friends
are in many ways responsible for keeping the more famous Lou's legacy
alive in Paterson.
Duva, 84, is a well-known boxing promoter. Cuccinello, 86, has long been
involved in Paterson youth activities. Both are Paterson guys who knew
Costello and were instrumental is raising $100,000 that financed the
creation of a Lou Costello monument. The sculpted likeness of the funny
man, wearing his trademark grin and too-small derby, has stood in a park
at Ellison and Cianci streets since 1992.
The two Lous stood by the Costello monument on a recent sunny afternoon,
telling rapid-fire stories about Costello's generosity. How he took in a
young boxer from Paterson who was down on his luck in California. How he
showered money on youth programs in his hometown. How he brought a
troupe of Hollywood stars, including Kate Smith and Carmen Miranda, back
to Paterson to raise money to rebuild St. Anthony's Church.
A small nameplate of contributors over the front door of the beautiful
church, just a few blocks from Costello's old home, still almost
anonymously lists two names: Costello, Lou and Smith, Kate.
"So many people get famous, go out to Hollywood and you never hear from
them again. Not Lou, he never forgot his roots," said Duva.
At the Lou Costello Sportsmen Club on 20th Street, a gritty haven for
boxing that features a bigger-than-life photo of a smiling Costello at
ringside, there are more kind words for the comic.
"He was a down-to-earth guy," said Sam Capone, an 80-plus Paterson
resident, who knew Costello as a youth. "If he'd see a group of kids on
a corner, he'd stop and buy them ice cream. That's the kind of guy he
was."
Former boxer Pierre Benoist, who heads a nonprofit group that runs
Costello's gym, summed it up this way: "Lou Costello is a magic name
around here. We hope the city of Paterson preserves his name forever."
Chris Costello will trek from her California home to Paterson this week
and will join Lou's grandson and some other relatives to attend the
birthday celebration for her father. The youngest child of Lou Costello
and Anne Battler Costello, Chris Costello remembered trips to Paterson
as a kid when her dad would go back home bearing gifts, like truckloads
of baseball equipment for the city's youth program.
He would drop in on relatives and old friends, stop at their homes, go
to little restaurants to eat.
"He came back to his home turf, not as a star but as a regular guy,"
said Chris Costello, 57, a publicist in the entertainment industry who
was 11 when her father died.
Costello loved kids and was thrilled to have a son of his own. Butch
Costello, who was born in 1942. That joy quickly turned to tragedy,
however.
On Nov. 4, 1943, two days before his first birthday, Butch Costello
drowned in the family pool. There was confusion regarding who was
watching him and how the child got out of his playpen, which had been
outside the house, near the pool.
After learning of the death, a grim Costello decided to do his scheduled
radio show, despite offers from many Hollywood stars to take over for
him that night.
According to his daughter, Chris Costello, "I think he took Butch's
death so seriously, it clouded everything he did for the rest of his
life."
Abbott and Costello split up in 1957, after the release of their final
movie, "Dance With Me Henry." Troubles with the IRS forced both to sell
off their large homes and rights to some films, as Costello's health
declined.
Costello's last movie was a solo effort, "Thirty-Foot Bride of Candy
Rock," made in 1958, a year before he died. He also tried his hand at
drama, starring in a General Electric Theater production "Blaze of
Glory" and an episode of TV's "Wagon Train," with veteran movie actor
Ward Bond.
Costello had one more show business act in him. In the summer of 1958,
he accepted an offer to star in Minsky's Follies, repeating an act he
did 30 years earlier on Broadway. He played to full houses during a
six-week run but declined to extend it due to poor health. It was his
last performance.
On March 3, 1959, Costello died of a heart attack. It was three days
before his 53rd birthday.
A funeral was held in California. Many Hollywood stars attended. Ronald
Reagan, Danny Thomas, Red Skelton. Joe E. Brown. The pallbearers were
led by a somber Bud Abbott.
Lou Costello's other surviving child, Paddy Costello Humphreys, 69, grew
up and still lives in California but recalled Paterson was never far
from Lou's mind. In movies, he would try to always get in a mention of
Paterson, she said. In one film, there was a blackboard in a scene that
had names written on it. They were the names of friends back in
Paterson.
In another, the name Paterson was written on an outfield fence in a
baseball scene. It was a way to pay homage to his hometown and remember
his roots, she said.
"The man was generous to a fault," said Paddy Costello. "If you came to
our house and saw something you liked, you'd probably end up leaving
with it. That's what my dad was like. And he never forgot his old
friends or the place he came from."
© 2006 NJ.com. All Rights Reserved.
paul.ca...@verizon.net
a very nice feature, despite some factual errors.
God-willing, I'll be headed to the birthday party Saturday. Anyone
else?...
