Main Cast: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Martha Raye, Carol Bruce, Dick Foran, William Gargan
Release Year: 1941
Country: US
Run Time: 86 minutes
Plot
Having joined the army in Buck Privates and the navy in In the Navy, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello signed up with Air Force in Keep 'Em Flying. Abbott and Costello play Blackie and Heathcliff, carnival workers who are fired from their jobs along with their pal, reckless stunt pilot Jinx Roberts (Dick Foran). When Jinx joins the Army Air Corps-the better to be nearer pretty USO singer Linda Joyce (Carol Bruce)-Blackie and Heathcliff loyally join up as well, obtaining low-echelon ground crew jobs. While Jinx tries to cure Linda's brother Jim (Charles Lang) of his fear of flying, Heathcliff pursues a romance with wisecracking waitress Gloria Phelps (Martha Raye), never quite catching on that Gloria has an identitical-twin sister (also Martha Raye). A bit too plot-heavy for its own good, Keep 'Em Flying is at its best when concentrating on Abbott & Costello, who in addition to performing their patented cross-talk routines participate in a zany runaway-torpedo chase and a gratuitous but amusing episode in a spooky carnival funhouse. As a bonus, Costello gets to do a bit of "straight" acting, and he's quite good at it. Deleted scenes include a comedy magic act (later restaged in Abbott & Costello's Lost in a Harem) and a wild episode at a skating rink (reworked two years later in Hit the Ice). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Charles Lang - Jim Joyce; Truman Bradley - Butch; Loring Smith - Major Barstow; Richard Crane - Cadet Stevens; William B. Davidson - McGonigal; William Forrest - Captain; Scotty Groves; Samuel S. Hinds; Earl Hodgins - Attendant; Charles King, Jr.; Doris Lloyd - Lady With Lipstick; Gene O'Donnell - Radio Control Operator; Regis Parton - Cadet; Frank Penny - Spealer; Marcia Ralston - USO Girl; James Seay - Lieutenant; Mickey Simpson - Deputy; Stanley Smith - Cadet; Harry Strang - Truck Driver; Janet Warren; Philip Warren - Pilot; Carleton Young - Orchestra Leader; Harold Daniels - Announcer; James H. Horne; Virginia Engels - Hat Check Girl; Dorothy Darrell; Princess Luana - Herself; Paul Scott - Doctor; Emil VanHorn - Man In Gorilla Suit
Credit
Arthur Lubin - Director, Phil Cahn - Editor, Arthur D. Hilton - Editor, Frank Skinner - Composer (Music Score), Elmer Dyer - Cinematographer, Joseph A. Valentine - Cinematographer, Glenn Tryon - Producer, John P. Fulton - Special Effects, Edmund L. Hartmann - Screen Story, John Grant - Screenwriter, Nat Perrin - Screenwriter, True Boardman, Jr. - Screenwriter
Jinx Roberts (Dick Foran) is a stunt pilot and his assistants are Blackie (Bud Abbott) and Heathcliffe (Lou Costello). All three are fired from the carnival and air show that they work for after a disagreement. Jinx decides that he should join the Army Air Force, so they go to a nightclub to party one last time. While there Jinx falls for the club's singer, Linda Joyce (Carol Bruce). Coincidentally, she becomes a USO hostess at the same Academy that Jinx and her brother, Jimmy (Charles Lang) are enrolled at. It turns out that Jinx's instructor, Craig Morrison (William Gargan), was his co-pilot on a commercial airplane years earlier, and the two still hold animosity for each other. Meanwhile, Blackie and Heathcliffe join the air corps as ground crewman and fall in love with twin USO hostesses (Martha Raye in a dual role).
Jinx attempts to help Jimmy solo, nearly getting him killed. For his efforts, Jinx is hated by Linda for nearly killing her brother and is dishonorably discharged from the corps, along with his assistants Blackie and Heathcliffe (who were discharged for their own mishaps). As they are leaving, Craig gets his parachute caught on the tail end of the plane that he just jumped out of. Jinx confiscates a plane and comes to his rescue. For his heroic actions, he is allowed back into the corps and got back Linda.[1]
Production
Keep 'Em Flying was filmed at the Cal-Aero school in Ontario, California from September 5-October 29, 1941 under the working title was Up in the Air. Costello's brother, Pat, was used as Lou's stunt double.[1]
Although it was filmed after Ride 'Em Cowboy, it was released first to coincide with the War Department's Keep 'Em Flying Week.
This film has been released twice on DVD. The first time, on The Best of Abbott and Costello Volume One, on February 10, 2004[3], and again on October 28, 2008 as part of Abbott and Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection.[4]
References
^ abJim Mulholland (1977). The Abbott and Costello Book. Popular Library. pp. 80–86.
