Bud Abbott was the martinet straight man to the roly-poly, bumbling Lou Costello in the popular slapstick comedy team of the 1940s and 1950s.
The two men teamed up in 1936 in burlesque, then moved on to vaudeville and burst into fame with a guest appearance in 1938 on the Kate Smith radio show.
Their trademark was the mind-boggling baseball skit "Who's on First?" From it were developed dozens of similar fast-talking routines. By the time they broke up amicably in 1957, they had made some 40 movies, many of them among the biggest moneymakers of the day.
Although Abbott made several million dollars during his career he died virtually broke, living on Social Security. Much of his wealth went to the government in 1959, following an Internal Revenue Service seven-year audit of his income.
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