Quotes

[on directing Bud Abbott and Lou Costello] I found that if we rehearsed too much with them, their material got stale and they'd start adding things that didn't mean anything. All I needed a rehearsal for was to place my cameras. There was nothing I could tell them because no one could direct their routines as well as they.

[on directing Bud Abbott and Lou Costello] Because Lou never did a scene the same way twice, I shot all their scenes simultaneously: a close-up of Lou, because he had such a dollface, and a close two-shot. I usually tried to have a camera on a dolly so I could move with them. You couldn't keep them in one position; Lou was all over the place. This actually saved time and money, because they always knew what they were going to do when they walked on a set.