IT CAME FROM THE BOTTOM SHELF!

Heeeeyyyyyyyyy, Abbott & Costello fans, the 3-D Film Archive and ClassicFlix are at it again! Bob Furmanek and the team that completed the stellar restoration and Blu-ray release of Abbott & Costello’s Africa Screams (1949), and are currently working on the restoration of the duo’s Jack and the Beanstalk (1952), have launched a new Kickstarter.  This time the restoration team will use their magic on the first season of The Abbott and Costello Show from a 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negatives. All 26 episodes of the first season of the television series will be released on Blu-ray (or DVD if you prefer) through ClassicFlix, but you can pre-order now and help bring the project to life!

Season 1 of The Abbott and Costello Show is comedy gold, in which Bud & Lou preform most of their most famous burlesque cross-talk routines, while interacting with a bizarre cast of characters, including the landlord Mr. Fields, neighbor Hillary Brooke, Mike the Cop, Bingo the Chimp, Mr. Bacciagalupe, and the legendary Stinky (Joe Besser). I can’t wait to see these 26 episodes in cleaned-up, restored high-definition.

Click on the following link to join me in backing this worthy project: Pre-order THE ABBOTT AND COSTELLO SHOW Season One Restored!

Below is more information taken from the Kickstarter page:

Seventy years ago, on the morning of May 21, 1951, cameras rolled on Stage #1 of the Hal Roach Studios on what would ultimately become one of the most iconic television shows of all time.

I am thrilled to announce that we are working with TCA Television Corp. and the Lou Costello Estate to restore and preserve THE ABBOTT AND COSTELLO SHOW from the original 35mm camera negatives!

Season One includes twenty-six timeless episodes with classic comedy and dozens of great routines that still endure today, including “Who’s On First?,” “Mustard,” “Slowly I Turned,” and “The Susquehanna Hat Company.” The quirky cast of characters include Mr. Fields (and his many brothers and cousins), Bingo the Chimp, Mr. Bacciagalupe, Stinky, Mike the Cop and their inexplicably cultured neighbor, Hillary Brooke.

Fans have enjoyed this great show for decades but have never experienced it as originally photographed by George Robinson – in crystal clear 35mm quality!

IMPORTANCE OF NEW SCANS
You have seen the show on TV and DVD, but never like this. The standard definition scans that have been in circulation for the last four decades are very old transfers of fine grains mastered onto analogue one-inch tape. They looked good in the 1980s, but that was forty years ago. In 2010, a distributor re-released these transfers on DVD and claimed that they were “Restored and Re-Mastered.” That was pure marketing hype. They just took the same old tired masters and artificially sharpened them. Every version of the series that you have seen up to now has been sourced from those old standard definition transfers.

Our stunning new restorations will be scanned from 35mm master elements in 4K resolution and each episode will be meticulously cleaned digitally frame by frame of all dirt and damage.

Rather than describe the quality of our restoration, here are a few clips scanned from the original camera negatives for you to evaluate and enjoy. Please note: this is a work-in-progress and additional digital clean-up will be performed.

Abbott and Costello Show Restoration Samples

REASON FOR PRE-ORDERING
There are twenty-six episodes of 35mm picture and track elements in Season One which total nearly 120,000 feet of film. Needless to say, this is a VERY laborious and expensive project. The goal of this campaign is to secure enough pre-orders to ensure a break-even point. We need to guarantee advance sales of approximately 624 units for the first season.

We are asking you to pre-order now to show your interest and support. We are currently past the halfway point with our 4K scanning and this release will be in your hands no later than December 2021. The Blu-ray or DVD set would make a wonderful gift for anyone that loves vintage television and classic comedy!

RESTORATION TEAM
The same creative team responsible for last year’s critically acclaimed restoration of AFRICA SCREAMS and our current work-in-progress restoration of JACK AND THE BEANSTALK will be collaborating on this venture.

Jack Theakston is Producer and Thad Komorowski at Cineaste Restoration is doing the digital image clean-up. Greg Kintz will handle audio restoration and ClassicFlix will be distributing the Blu-ray and DVD.

I was official Archivist for the Abbott and Costello Estates for many years and there is nobody better suited to the task of overseeing this project. Among my accomplishments were saving many of the original 35mm camera negatives from this series (some were nearly destroyed) and co-authoring the definitive book on their feature films, Abbott and Costello in Hollywood with Bud and Lou expert, Ron Palumbo.

Thanks to your very generous support through two recent Kickstarter campaigns, I have ensured 4K digital restoration and preservation of both AFRICA SCREAMS and JACK AND THE BEANSTALK.

TECHNICAL DETAILS
There is one aspect of this release which is out of our control. Due to licensing restrictions, this campaign is restricted to the United States only and the Blu-ray will be locked to Region A. However, this definitive set will eventually be offered online through various retailers, but well after being shipped to backers of the campaign.

Also, while this project has a complete 4K workflow for preservation purposes, the Blu-ray release will be in 1080P resolution.

ADD-ONS WITH YOUR PLEDGE
Whether you pre-order the Blu-ray or DVD, we have two very cool add-ons to help us reach our goal as soon as possible.

For an additional $50.00 on your pledge, you can get a frame of film from an original 1950’s print on Dupont 35mm safety film stock. This particular scene shows Bud and Lou in their apartment and will be similar to this frame.

There is subtle movement in every frame so your collectible film cell will be slightly different than the one pictured.

For an extra $125.00, you can own an original 78 rpm record of Bud and Lou’s legendary “Who’s on First” routine. This incredible artifact was a special souvenir given to guests at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York on May 29, 1956 when this classic routine was added to the museum.

STRETCH GOALS
Once we reach our pre-order goal of $31,200, we have two REALLY exciting stretch goals ready to go. They include a commentary track and some remarkable 70 year old audio rarities from the show which have never been heard before!

If this campaign is successful, a complete 4K restoration of Season Two is waiting in the wings. Please don’t stand idle with your legs crossed, we need YOUR help to spread the news about this exciting restoration project.

Thank you very much!

Risks and challenges
We began transferring the original 35mm negatives in January 2021 and we have finished scanning fifteen episodes. Out of ninety reels pulled from cold archival storage for scanning, only one picture negative (episode nine/reel three) was unusable. That picture negative was badly deteriorated with advanced vinegar syndrome so we have scanned the 35mm fine grain master positive for that reel. There are another eleven episodes in the first season to scan and the condition of those negatives is unknown. Fortunately, if there are any issues, we have 35mm positive fine grains as back-up elements. Therefore, every show will definitely be restored and preserved from 35mm master material. We anticipate no problems whatsoever with our timeline and expect to have this product in your hands no later than December 2021.