Hey Abbott, all systems go!!

[acmespaceship]

The New York Times has a nice article in the Movies section on pre-1969 films about traveling to the Moon (click here).   The article contains this gem of information:

Heinlein also wrote a treatment for a never-produced film called “Abbott and Costello Move to the Moon.”

So has anyone tracked this down?  Enquiring minds (which is to say Moebius Theatre) want to know.

Oh, and just for the record, I want Walter Cronkite and the Apollo program back.  Not sure how we managed to misplace them, but we did and now I want them back.

Comments

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

I have not read it. I understand it was written as a joke, in the wake of Destination Moon.

It will cost you a dollar to obtain a PDF of it.

If you read it, I would love to see a review. I can put you in touch with Heinlein's estate, if you want to adapt it.

(On a related note, I hope you are aware of the showbiz mystery I uncovered: Who Is Dancing on Heinlein's Moon?)

[acmespaceship.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I will certainly buy it; gotta be useful at parties if nothing else. Moebius has already been in touch with the Heinlein estate over Kate's audio theater adaptation of Stranger in a Strange Land (which is awaiting a venue that wants a 90-120 minute show... you can only cut so much). The estate is admirably reasonable to deal with.

I can't shed light on the Destination Moon Ballet except maybe this: your link says the Abbott and Costello script was co-written by Ben Babb. My powerful Google-fu reveals that Babb was publicity director for Destination Moon. It also reveals a letter Babb wrote which was published in the trade journal Boxoffice Showmandiser on Jan. 27, 1951. Babb takes a previous letter-writer to task and says:

"It does so happen that I personally, as publicity man on the picture, posed still shots on the "moon" set with Coca-Cola cabinet as a "gag" picture..."

So clearly someone was having fun with the set and a still camera.

A later issue of Showmandiser (Sept. 15, 1951) reports that Babb has been named national coordinator of promotion for When Worlds Collide. So now the question is, where is the ballet in that movie? Also: what did Babb look like in a double-breasted suit?

Babb's letter: Page 32, third column, left-hand page, hope the link works:
http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_012751-1/32

How great is Showmandiser? Even the name! Turn the page and find other stories about "Moon" on page 34. And turn back to page 30 for a bunch of publicity stills introducing Bonzo the chimp. My day is shot.