Getty Images, photo by Hulton Archive
Getty Images, photo by Hulton Archive
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Looking at the Baseball Almanac I noticed today June 20, 1945, was the first time the classic Abbott and Costello baseball comedy act, ‘Who’s on First?’ was shown in the movie ‘the Naughty Nineties’. The bit was originally heard on the radio, The Kate Smith Show, but to see them perform it in the movie made it even funnier.

The skit has Costello as a peanut vendor, talking to Abbott, the manager of the St Louis Wolves. Abbott wants to know the name of the players on the team and that’s where the comedy begins.

A Gold Record of ‘Who’s on First?’ was placed in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1956 and in the 1970’s a board game was made from the comedy act.

The performance of the comedy bit shown in the movie ‘The Naughty Nineties’ is considered their best performance of the classic ‘Who’s on First?’ The one shown here is from their T.V. show.

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