One of the most beloved comedy teams of the last century was Bud Abbott or William Alexander Abbott as his name was at birth. He was half of the famous team of Abbott and Costello. He was born on October 2, 1895 and died on April 24, 1974. Lou Costello was born on March 6, 1906 and died on March 3. 1959. The funny thing is that Lou Costello wasn't originally a comedian or actor but he worked as a carpenter at MGM and Warner Brothers. He had met Bud Abbott who was a comedian. Bud's straight man got sick one day and he asked Lou to fill in for him. That was the beginning of the famous Abbott and Costello team.

The act went strong through the early and mid 1930s through various vaudeville and burlesque shows and then in 1938 Kate Smith, a famous singer at the time, invited them on her radio show. From there it was on to the movies where they made their first film for Universal Studios. It was called One Night in the Tropics. They became so popular that their 1941 movie called Buck Privates broke the company record for receipts. All good things must come to an end and in 1957 they split up and both were broke. Somehow Lou Costello managed to function fully for all those years even though he was a life long epileptic. Both men owed money to the tax people. How famous did they really get? I think the fact that in 1991 the U.S. government put them on a postage stamp says it all.

But this is not the whole story. Indeed this certainly is not your run of the mill biography. What I gave you here, so far, isn't much background because this story is really about something else. The story is about the FBI and how J. Edgar Hoover received a tips that Abbott and Costello were sending out coded messages and that Abbott was a porno collector. The FBI investigation, such as it was, concerned only Bud Abbott. Now let me stress the fact that none of the allegations about Bud Abbott were ever proved to be true and the fact that a person is famous makes him or her a target for some dissatisfied, jealous and mentally ill people. Having said this, in the first report to the FBI, an informer stated that Bud Abbott was a collector of pornography and showed it on a projector at home. I guess by today's standards this would almost be laughable but in the late 50s this was serious stuff. After all one has to remember that Abbott and Costello were considered to be wholesome entertainment for the entire family and this could ruin them.

Memo referring to Bud Abbott and Porno Collection
Source: FBI Freedom of Information Act

Apparently J. Edgar didn't think too much of the report by the informant as evidenced by this later letter from Lou Costello which thanked him for his interest in their show and invited him to lunch.

Lunch Invitation
Source: FBI Freedom of Information Act

J. Edgar Hoover seems to have become a fan of Abbott and Costello as evidenced by this note he sent them.

Fan Letter
Source: FBI Freedom of Information Act

You would think that this was the end of it wouldn't you? This wasn't the end since someone else came out of the woodwork and claimed to be a radio programmer. They told the FBI that the Abbott and Costello radio show was sending secret messages by using code words and gave the FBI some examples. Since this was during the time of the World War II, the FBI had to look into it. Of course this was found to be baseless.

Memo from Hoover to FBI Office Regarding Radio Codes
Source: FBI Freedom of Information Act

List of Supposedly Coded Words Page 1
Source: FBI Freedom of Information Act

List of Supposedly Coded Words Page 2
Source: FBI Freedom of Information Act

List of Supposedly Coded Words Page 3
Source: FBI Freedom of Information Act

So you see that getting too famous carries certain risks. Luckily for Abbott and Costello these allegations seemed ridiculous on their face. No doubt the woman that brought them was disturbed, but sometimes even innocent people can have their careers ruined by allegations.