Main Cast: Bud Abbott, Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Brenda Joyce, Jacqueline De Wit, George Cleveland
Release Year: 1946
Country: US
Run Time: 91 minutes
Plot
With the profits of the Abbott & Costello films in decline, Universal decided to experiment with the comedians' standard formula. In both Little Giant and The Time of Their Lives, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello play separate characters, rather than the usual smart guy/dumb guy comedy team. In Giant, Costello is cast as farm boy Benny Miller, a would-be salesman who goes to work for the Hercules Vacuum Cleaner company. Almost immediately running afoul of crooked general manager Morrison (Bud Abbott), bumbling Benny is about to be fired when he is convinced by a bunch of practical jokers that he has the power to read minds. His newfound self-confidence enables Benny to become Hercules' top salesman, which delights branch manager Tom Chandler (also Bud Abbott), Morrison's cousin and principal rival. About to receive a salesmanship award, Benny falls into a trap laid by Morrison and his wife (Jacqueline de Wit), who conspire to discredit Chandler by exposing Benny as a fraud. Thoroughly disillusioned, Benny returns home, only to discover that not only is he still Hercules' fair-haired boy, but that he's also replaced Morrison as general manager. Written by Richard Collins and Paul Jarrico, Little Giant is hardly typical Abbott and Costello fare, though the film contains several characteristic comedy setpieces, including an interpolation of Abbott & Costello's classic "Seven Goes Into Twenty-Eight Thirteen Times" routine. Perennial Marx Brothers foil Margaret Dumont shows up in one of the better slapstick scenes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
John B. Goodman - Art Director, Martin Obzina - Art Director, William Seiter - Director, Fred R. Feitshans, Jr. - Editor, Edgar "Cookie" Fairchild - Composer (Music Score), Edgar "Cookie" Fairchild - Musical Direction/Supervision, Charles Van Enger - Cinematographer, Joseph E. Gershenson - Producer, Richard Collins - Screenwriter, Walter de Leon - Screenwriter, Paul Jarrico - Screenwriter
A naive country boy named Benny Miller (Lou Costello), from Cucamonga, California, has been taking correspondence phonograph lessons in salesmanship. Upon completion of the course, he leaves his mother (Mary Gordon) and his girlfriend Martha (Elena Verdugo) to pursue a career in Los Angeles. He arranges a meeting with his Uncle Clarence (George Cleveland), a bookkeeper with the Hercules Vacuum Cleaner Company. When he arrives to ask for a job, the sales manager, John Morrison (Bud Abbott), mistakes him for one of the auditioning fashion models and has him remove his clothing. Morrison's secret wife, Hazel Temple (Jacqueline de Wit), discovers the mistake and suggests that Benny be hired to avoid an accounting scandal, as they have been "cooking the books". Unfortunately, Benny is fired from his salesman post after only one day. Clarence transfers Benny to the company's Stockton branch, which is run by Morrison's cousin, Tom Chandler (also played by Bud Abbott).
Benny's misfortunes continue, including a prank played on him by his new coworkers when they convince him that he can read minds. However, the prank gives Benny sufficient confidence to become Hercules' 'Salesman of the Year'. He is sent back to the Los Angeles branch to receive his award, and while demonstrating his 'abilities' to Morrison, he alludes to the fact that Morrison has a secret bank account. Morrison sends his wife (Hazel) to obtain more information from Benny to determine what he actually knows. Hazel and Benny go to her apartment, where Benny becomes ill after smoking a cigar. Hazel then gives Benny a sedative, and inadvertently takes one herself. Morrison comes home to find the two asleep together, and fears that they had a tryst.
At the awards ceremony that evening, Benny learns of the mind-reading ruse, and overhears Morrison speaking ill of him. Benny returns to his mother and his girlfriend in Cucamonga, where he also encounters Chandler, his coworker Ruby (Brenda Joyce), and the Hercules company president, Mr. Van Loon (Pierre Watkins). They announce that Morrison has been fired, and has been replaced by Chandler. Benny is now sales manager of the Cucamonga district.
In this film, and the next Abbott and Costello film, The Time of Their Lives (1946), both have the team playing separate roles as opposed to partners. This is because there was tension between the two men that actually led them to splitting up the team for a short while in 1945.[1]
Abbott played a third role in this film as well, that of Chandler's and Morrison's grandmother.
The opening scene where Costello is trying to sell Sid Fields more than just the gasoline that he came to buy was originally filmed with another actor, Eddie Waller.
Abbott and Costello perform the 7x13=28 routine, where Costello attempts to prove to Abbott that 7 times 13 equals 28, 28 divided by 7 equals 13, and seven 13's added together equals 28.
DVD Release
This film has been released twice on DVD. The first time, on The Best of Abbott and Costello Volume Two, on May 4, 2004, and again on October 28, 2008 as part of Abbott and Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection.
References
^ Furmanek, Bob and Ron Palumbo (1991). Abbott and Costello in Hollywood. New York: Perigee Books. ISBN 0-399-51605-0
