ABBOTT AND COSTELLO - BUCK PRIVATES (Vintage 1940 Draft Script -Producer's Copy)

Description

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO Vintage Original 1940 Draft Screenplay - BUCK PRIVATES -  Earliest known complete film script starring the comedy duo!
Script Dated: December 4, 1940
Universal Studios producer Alex Gottlieb's working draft copy with his profuse substantive penciled annotations throughout to Arthur T. Horman's manuscript.
The comedy team are here referred to by their actual surnames only "Abbott" and Costello".... rather than the later devised character names used in the filming:  "Slicker Smith" and "Herbie Brown" respectively.
BUCK PRIVATES
was filmed from December 13, 1940, through January 11, 1941.  This script was submitted by Horman just 9 days before the cameras began rolling.  Gottlieb made his changes found here in that interim. This is a significant artifact from the career of Abbott and Costello and would make for a cornerstone piece of any collection.  It is a unique view of the making of a comedy classic that launched the top film box office attractions of the World War II era.
CONDITION:  Very Good original salmon colored typescript pages, bound with three original brass brads. Complete - 118 leaves rectos only.  Title page integral with first page of text...slight age and use related fraying to the left edge.  S
tamped:  "PROPERTY OF UNIVERSAL CITY STUDIOS RETURN TO CENTRAL FILES"  Production number "6896" also stamped on the page.  In addition to notes and changes in his hand, producer Gottlieb's holograph signature is in upper right corner of title page.  Tabs were adhered to the side pages of the script by Gottlieb to be able to quickly access particular script material that he was involved with revising.  It's a fascinating glimpse of a work in progress in the creation of a comedy classic!
Buck Privates
is a 1941
musical military comedy
film that turned
Bud Abbott
and
Lou Costello
into bona fide movie stars. It was the first
service comedy
based on the
peacetime draft of 1940
. The comedy team made two more service comedies before the United States entered the war (
IN THE NAVY
and
KEEP 'EM FLYING
). A sequel to this movie,
BUCK PRIVATES COME HOME
, was released in 1947.
Buck Privates
is one of three
films from the comedy duo  featuring
The Andrews Sisters
, who were also under contract to
Universal Pictures
at the time.
Also accompanying the vintage script is a new copy of the 2013 publication
Buck Privates - The Abbott and Costello Screenplay
(hardback) - see scans.