More 'Best of Abbott & Costello'

The second volume of "The Best of Abbott & Costello" is in stores now, and the third is scheduled for release on Aug. 3.

As with "Volume 1," each contains eight movies from the Universal studio catalog.

The films are being released chronologically, so "Volume 2" continues with titles from the 1940s . . . but it's not inclusive. Skipped is the 1943 film "It Ain't Hay," based on a Damon Runyon horse-racing yarn, for reasons not disclosed. (A dispute about rights with the Runyon estate, perhaps?)

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are, of course, most famous for preserving so many burlesque/vaudeville routines on film that would otherwise have just faded into the night as movies and radio and, eventually, television, replaced them.

Many of A&C's best routines are in these pictures — most famously the one for which they remain best-known — "Who's on First?"

And while it's true that most of the duo's movies were thin on character and plot, and often just an excuse to introduce the comedy routines they made famous, there are some films in this package that may surprise you, with stronger scripts than usual, and which show off the acting talents of both Abbott and Costello.

"The Best of Abbott & Costello, Volume 2" (Universal, 1943-47, not rated, b/w, $24.98, two double-sided discs).

— "Hit the Ice" (1943) has the boys as free-lance news photographers framed for a robbery. Good slapstick on the ice in the climactic Sun Valley sequence (actually filmed in California).

— "In Society" (1944) is one of their better efforts, with several classic routines, most prominently "Bagel Street" (a k a "Floogle Street" in other incarnations), as they play plumbers mixed up with socialites.

— "Here Come the Co-Eds" (1945) has the boys as janitors at a girls college, with Lon Chaney Jr. being comically ominous as the campus caretaker. Pretty good slapstick farce.

— "The Naughty Nineties" (1945) is uneven but features some good routines in a yarn about 1890s showbiz types aboard a Mississippi riverboat. But the film is most notable as the only existing showcase for the full-length "Who's on First?" routine. (This clip runs on a continuous loop in the Baseball Hall of Fame.)

— "Little Giant" (1946) is an oddity, as it's really a vehicle for Costello, playing a down-on-his-luck vacuum-cleaner salesman. Abbott has a supporting role as his boss. A bit soft, but there are some amusing bits.