In Society

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In Society
In Society Theatrical Poster
Directed by	Jean Yarbrough
Produced by	Edmund L. Hartmann
Written by	John Grant Edmund Hartmann Hal Fimberg
Starring	Bud Abbott Lou Costello Marion Hutton Kirby Grant Arthur Treacher
Music by	Edgar Fairchild
Editing by	Philip Cahn
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	August 18, 1944 (U.S. release)
Running time	74 min
Language	English
Budget	$659,000
Preceded by	Hit The Ice (1943)
Followed by	Lost in a Harem (1944)
IMDb profile

In Society is a 1944 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello.

1 Plot
2 Trivia
3 Routines
4 DVD Release
5 External link

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Eddie Harrington (Bud Abbott) and Albert Mansfield (Lou Costello) are plumbers who receive a call about a leak in the private bathroom of Mr. Van Cleve (Thurston Hall), a wealthy businessman. The leak is keeping him awake, but the costume ball that his wife (Nella Walker) is throwing downstairs is not.

Eddie and Albert enlist the aid of a friend, Elsie Hammerdingle (Marion Hutton), a taxi driver, to take them to the mansion. While they are upstairs attmepting to fix the leak, but flooding the room instead, Peter Evans (Kirby Grant), a guest dressed as a cab driver, mistakes Elsie for another costumed guest...despite her insistence that she really is just a cab driver. He winds up inviting her to another gala event, Mrs. Winthrop's (Margaret Irving) estate Briarwood, where a valuable painting The Plunger is to be revealed.

Meanwhile, Eddie and Albert mistakenly receive their own invitation to the event, as Mrs. Van Cleave was intending to send them a letter of complaint for the devastation that they ensuded on her home, but insteads mails them her invitation to Briarwood. They think it is a reward for a job well done, and look at it as a chance to meet other wealthy clients. However, a loanshark named Drexel (Thomas Gomez) that they owe money to demands they they steal the painting while they are there. When they refuse to go through with the plan, Drexel and Marlow (Murray Leonard), a crooked chauffeur at the party, attempt the steal the painting themselves. When the painting is discovered as missing, Gloria Winthrop (Ann Gillis), accuses Elsie, Eddie, and Albert as the thieves. However, they clear their names when Eddie and Albert, in a firetruck, capture Drexel and Marlow and recover the painting.

[edit] Trivia

It was filmed from June 12 through July 21, 1944.
Although Abbott and Costello filmed this Universal Pictures film after they filmed Lost in a Harem for MGM, this film was released first.
It was re-released in 1953.
This was the first of five films that Jean Yarbrough directed Abbott and Costello in. He also directed them in their 1950's television show, The Abbott and Costello Show.
Much of it was filmed at the Jewett Estate on Arden Road in Pasadena, California.

[edit] Routines

This film includes the classic Beagle Street scene, where Abbott and Costello attempt to deliver straw hats to the Susquehanna Hat Company, but everyone they meet along the way has a reason for hating that company and each of them destroys a hat until there are none left.