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 releases of Abbott & Costello’s Africa Screams (1949), Jack and the Beanstalk (1952), and The Abbott and Costello Show Season 1, have launched a new Kickstarter. This time the restoration team will use their magic on the second season of The Abbott and Costello Show from a 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negatives. All 26 episodes of the second 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 2 of The Abbott and Costello Show has a different format than the prior season, and to be honest, I’ve never seen it. I know the Costello family refer to the second season as “the shorts,” as each episode is like a standalone comedy short subject. While most fans prefer the first season, which is more rooted in the team’s tried and true burlesque routines, I can’t wait to see these 26 episodes in cleaned-up, restored high-definition. The team at the 3-D Film Archive do amazing restoration work, and they always put together a quality package with interesting bonus features.

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

Below is more information taken from the Kickstarter page:

Our 2021 release of THE ABBOTT AND COSTELLO SHOW Season One was an unprecedented success. Our restoration set a new standard for vintage TV shows on Blu-ray and DVD.

The Digital Bits called it “a monumental release for fans of the boys themselves and for comedy in general.”

GeekVibesNation wrote, “ClassicFlix has delivered one of the Blu-Ray releases of the year with this first season set that features an astounding A/V presentation and a ton of great special features that makes the package even sweeter. If you are a comedy fan, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up.”

This article from the official Abbott and Costello Fan Club has additional comments from reviewers.

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

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

Ted Okuda is a critically-acclaimed author and comedy historian. He shares his thoughts on the special qualities which make the second season so unique.

“Season two of The Abbott and Costello Show tends to be underappreciated when compared to the first season. And yet the second season contains some of the series’ funniest episodes, including the team’s foray into high society, their attempt to come up with a prize-winning backyard garden, Lou receiving a million-dollar tax return in error, Lou inadvertently winning a big amount of cash from a TV game show, and Lou giving Bud a massage that ends in disaster.

The second season was produced under different conditions than the first, with Sid Fields and Gordon Jones being the only returning members of the supporting cast. (Hillary Brooke appears briefly in one episode, courtesy of leftover footage from the first season.) Several familiar players, a number of whom were also featured in A&C films, were recruited for supporting roles, among them Adele Jergens, Jane Frazee, Jean Porter, Max Baer, Mary Beth Hughes, Lyle Talbot, Glenn Langan, Dick Wessel, Jean Willes, Joe Sawyer, Veda Ann Borg, June Vincent, Connie Cezon, Walter Catlett, Karen Sharpe, Claire Carleton, Percy Helton, Charlie Hall and the ubiquitous Bobby Barber, a longtime foil for the boys. Their welcome participation adds immeasurably to the merriment.

The format of the first season was akin to the “TV Bud and Lou” seen on the loosely structured, improvisational Colgate Comedy Hour live broadcasts. The second season presents the “motion picture Bud and Lou,” with the majority of the scripts conceived by either Clyde Bruckman or Jack Townley, both veteran comedy writers. Time-honored situations and visual gags dating as far back as the silent-screen era were, in A&C’s hands, given a new luster. A key difference from season one is that Bud and Lou don’t convey an awareness that they’re on a television program. For those who’ve wondered how the team would have fared in comedy shorts, season two provides 26 answers to the question, proving they were still at their hilarious best even in an abbreviated showcase.

The second season of The Abbott and Costello Show can stand on its own merits as another high point of Golden Age Television.”

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.

REASON FOR PRE-ORDERING
There are twenty-six episodes of 35mm picture and track elements in Season Two 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 are asking you to pre-order now to show your interest and support. 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 our critically acclaimed restorations of AFRICA SCREAMS, JACK AND THE BEANSTALK and THE ABBOTT AND COSTELLO SHOW – Season One will be collaborating on this venture.

Jack Theakston is Producer and Thad Komorowski at Cineaste Restoration is doing the digital image clean-up. Ray Faiola at Chelsea Rialto Studios 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.

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. Click here for more information.

STRETCH GOALS
Once we reach our pre-order goal of $31,200, we have some exciting stretch goals ready to go. Please share the news about this restoration. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Risks and challenges
The 35mm master elements have been inspected. We anticipate no problems whatsoever with our timeline and expect to have this product in your hands no later than May 2023.

Here’s the Kickstarter link, one more time: Pre-order THE ABBOTT AND COSTELLO SHOW Season Two Restored!