Norman Abbott

Norman Abbott July 11 1922 July 9 2016 was an American vaudevillian actor producer and television director Abbott was born in New York City where his uncle comedian Bud Abbott and his mother raised him His early experience in entertainment was as a vaudeville performer including summers working the borscht circuit in resorts in the Catskill Mountains of New York In the early 1940s he and Pat Costello brother of Lou Costello worked as standins for the betterknown act during filming of Who Done It 19423 During World War II Abbott served as a member of the original United States Navy SEALs team After the war Abbott became a dialog director on the Abbott and Costello films and was mentored by the teams director Charles T Barton Abbott later directed episodes of The Jack Benny Program Leave It to Beaver Get Smart The Munsters Welcome Back Kotter Dennis the Menace and Sanford and Son Abbotts obituary in The Hollywood Reporter described him as the brainchild behind the Broadway sensation Sugar Babies the comeback vehicle for Mickey Rooney in the late 1970s He conceived the idea of a Broadway musical based on burlesque after inheriting his uncles treasure trove of burlesque material including written gags props music and posters4 Despite his having originated the concept Abbott was fired as director of the show after two weeks of rehearsing