Buck Privates: An Appreciation

This year marks the 80th anniversary of one of the classic film comedies of all time, Abbott & Costello’s Buck Privates. It deserves to be remembered — even praised — for a number of reasons.

It was the first of Hollywood’s wartime musical comedies. Filming began in late 1940, taking advantage of the nation’s preoccupation with the newly instituted draft. Hitler’s armies were trampling across Europe at the time, and already at war with Britain and France. In early 1941, it appeared inevitable that America would enter the conflict, and Buck Privates served as the first — and arguably best — of Hollywood’s many pep rally-style musical extravaganzas.

Abbott & Costello had become a favorite act in burlesque (even though they never used racy material), and that led to their big break on radio, as frequent guests on The Kate Smith Show.

In 1940, their first film appearance, in Universal Studios’ One Night in the Tropics, was designed to provide comic support, although stars Bob Cummings and Allan Jones actually did a fine job themselves in keeping the romantic comedy light, amid a convoluted plot. But the film does pick up considerably whenever Bud and Lou appear to perform several of their popular routines, including a truncated version of “Who’s On First?”.