It Ain't Hay

The comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were in their prime in the 1940's (particularly the early 1940's) and this offering from 1943 is very funny indeed. Based on a Damon Runyon story "Princess O'Hara" (and featuring some of the classic Runyon characters such as Harry the Horse), it's been tailored for the A & C brand of comedy, and features some of their funniest routines (the "mudder & fodder" exchange, which was repeated in their later film "The Noose Hangs High"; stealing the horse, the climactic horse race scene, etc.) Like most of their early features (with the notable exception of the great "Who Done It"), there's also the mandatory songs - they are a mild intrusion, but on their own merit are quite good. (These song numbers were a stock element in the Universal comedies at the time, so you just have to tolerate them, but, like in the Marx Brothers comedies, they did seem to be there just to "pad out" the running time.) There's also a gem of a supporting performance by the great character actor Eugene Palette.

Unfortunately, "It Ain't Hay" is currently tied up in legal knots, which keeps it out of circulation at the present time. Due to this, it was not included in the great A & C collection released recently on DVD by MCA, nor has it been shown on television for many years. Hopefully these legal issues will be resolved, and this fine example of the great comedy duo's work will receive the distribution it deserves.

Abbott and Costello are at their very best in this agreeable comedy. They play a couple of Manhattan taxi drivers with a fondness for a sweet young girl and her horse. Costello means well in trying to be nice to the animal, but his feeding it candy ultimately causes the horse to get sick - and die. So he and Abbott set out to make things right by getting a new horse for the girl, whose dad (Cecil Kellaway) runs a horse and carriage ride in the city. I know that synopsis sounds rather dramatic, but there is a lot of well-staged comedy between the serious moments. And Bud and Lou are as sharp in ever performing them. Some routines include: their classic "the horse eats his fodder", the boys getting swindled at a phony horse race outfit, Lou getting into trouble at a restaurant for not being able to pay his check, and other assorted gags. Third Stooge Shemp Howard also has a part, but the real fun comes courtesy of fat man Eugene Palette, who is the perfect foil for Costello's antics. As with almost all of A&C's movie of this period, there is some singing and dance numbers here; however, I find them to be rather entertaining and endurable this time out. *** out of ****

12 year old Princess is driving her father King O'Hara's horse drawn carriage around Central Park. Wilbur Hoolihan (Lou Costello) is their bumbling cab driver friend and Grover Mockridge (Bud Abbott) is his new friend. He feeds the O'Hara horse Finnegan candy and it gets sick. When the horse dies, the guys have to get some money fast.

That's a rough diner there. I've never seen one with three giant bouncers. A sick horse is hard to make funny and it's even harder with a dead one. There has to be a better way for the plot to force Wilbur to pay back the Princess. Maybe the horse runs away and the boys have to go looking for it. Otherwise, Lou is a great comedic talent and he makes the best of it. He does do a lot of the same thing where he misunderstands what people say. It's the Who's on First bit. This is still a fun musical comedy but the dead horse is a speed bump. Also look out for Shemp Howard in a supporting role.

IT AIN'T HAY (Universal, 1943), directed by Erle C. Kenton, stars the popular comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in a horse racing story based on "Princess O'Hara" by Damon Runyon. Previously filmed as PRINCESS O'HARA by Universal (1935) starring Jean Parker and Chester Morris, this 1943 edition is a very loose adaptation to the Runyon tale, being more emphasis on Abbott and Costello than the title character of Princess O'Hara, here played by an appealing youngster by the name of Patsy O'Connor.

The plot development introduces Princess Peggy O'Hara (Patsy O'Connor) as a carriage driver of New York City giving a ride to Private Joe Collins (Leonard Noble) and his girl, Kitty McGloin (Grace MacDonald) as they go through Central Park. Peggy and her father, King O'Hara (Cecil Kellaway) are best friends with Wilbur Hoolihan (Lou Costello), a taxi driver, and his shiftless partner, Grover Mockridge (Bud Abbott). After Wilbur gives their horse, Finnigan, some of his peppermint candy, the horse becomes sick, with Wilbur being the only one who can cure him with a giant horse pill. Sadly, the horse dies, leaving Grover and Wilbur to make amends by earning enough money to buy the Princess a new horse. With one thing leading to another, such as unwittingly buying a police horse, three gamblers, Umbrella Sam (Shemp Howard), a "Damon Runyon" character, Harry the Horse (Eddie Quillan) and Chauncey the Eye (David Hacker), the dual go to the upstate stables of Empire Track to acquire a free horse. Instead, Grover and Wilbur end up getting  Tea Buscuit, the world's famous racehorse belonging to Colonel Brainard (Samuel S. Hinds), who offers $10,000 reward for its return. Realizing what they have done, and learning that King O'Hara has taken both horse and carriage to Saratoga with the stolen horse, Wilbur, along with Kitty, Joe and Wilbur, drive his taxi to Saratoga, followed by the three gamblers out for the reward, and encounter a tough efficiency expert, Gregory Warner (Eugene Palette), now hotel manager, whom they have encountered earlier on several occasions, to add to their troubles.

As in many Abbott and Costello comedies up to this point, production numbers are added for entertainment value, including those scored by Harry Revel and Paul Francis Webster: "The Sunday Serenade" and "Old Timer" (both sung by Patsy O'Connor); "Glory Be" (introduced by Grace MacDonald, sung by others, including The Vagabonds, followed by specialty skating acts by The Hollywood Blondes and tap dancing routines by The Step Brothers); "Let's Smile With Music" and "Hang Your Troubles on a Rainbow" (both sung by Leonard Noble). While Noble's character, Joe, talks about doing an Army show throughout the story, it's obvious what was intended for a grand finale became nothing more than a brief montage of deleted song numbers with more attention focused on Abbott and Costello with Eugene Palette.

An exceptional comedy with assortment of old and new Abbott and Costello gags and chase sequences, for being a horse racing story, it would be natural for them to include their famous "fodder and mutter" routine into the story. With Abbott and Costello being the sole attractions, Eugene Palette, the heavy man with the froggy voice, comes close in stealing every scene he's in. In fact, he's practically a running gag throughout the story, being everywhere involving the boys, including the cafeteria (look fast for Mike Mazurki as one of the burly bouncers), Colonel Brainard's stable, the Oaks Hotel in Saratoga, the race track and finally their confrontation at the musical show. Palette is certainly one person in this story who makes IT AIN'T HAY a viewing pleasure. The Sportsman's Club involving Big-Hearted Charlie (Andrew Toombes) and the double-dealing Slicker (Richard Lane) also ranks one of the funnier scenes in the story. There are a couple of sequences that come as a reminder of scenes lifted from earlier Marx Brothers comedies of both DUCK SOUP (Paramount, 1933) and A DAY AT THE RACES (MGM, 1937). Watch for it.

While Costello shows how he can excel in sentiment moments involving the death of the horse without making it hard to sit through, the only downside comes when a kid calls Wilbur a murderer. His acting is so bad and hard to sit through (though fortunately brief), it's a wonder how it passed through in the final print, unless  this kid happened to be related to someone in the production staff. Getting past this uneasy moment, the rest of this 80 minute feature is smooth racing right down to the finish line.

Although IT AIN'T HAY enjoyed frequent television revivals throughout much of the 1970s and 80s, it was reportedly taken out of circulation due to legal complications involving the Damon Runyon  estate, keeping the movie from ever being issued on video cassette or DVD. By 2008, the rights were resolved and IT AIN'T HAY has become available on DVD in all its glory. For Abbott and Costello, or even Eugene Palette fans, IT AIN'T HAY is well worth the gamble. (***)

It Ain't Hay (1943)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

I can finally say I've seen every Abbott and Costello film. It took me a while but I finally track down a copy of this one, which hasn't ever been released on home video due to some sort of rights issue. In the film, Costello accidentally kills a little girl's horse so he sets out to get her a new one. After waiting so long to finally see this one it really didn't turn out to be anything overly special. There are still some good gags but nothing too classic, although an inside joke about Universal was pretty nice. The "horse eats its father" joke was a highlight as was another scene where the boys try to pull a fast one and sneak off without paying for their lunch. Shemp Howard co-stars but it's Eugene Palette who really steals the film.