Number 1554: Abbott and Costello Meet Lily Renée

Abbott and Costello #6 (1949) from St. John presents a time-worn scenario: mirages, oases, sword-wielding sheiks and beautiful babes in bra-tops and harem pants. Oh yeah, and a lot of silly jokes and cornball word play. How many movies used the same setting?

The point of showing this, even for those who don’t remember how popular Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were in their era, is the art of Lily Renée and Eric Peters. Renée, born Lily Renée Wilhelm,  was a teenage war refugee from Austria. She came to America having never seen a comic book, and yet soon found herself drawing comics for Fiction House (Señorita Rio, The Lost World, Werewolf Hunter). Peters was Renée’s husband for a time. He also come from Austria. As I understand the division of labor, Peters drew the caricatures of Abbott and Costello, and Renée the other stuff, including the beautiful women.