Aug. 8, 2022

This Day in Halloween: Abbott and Costello's horror comedy "Hold That Ghost" opens across the U.S. in 1941. / Illustration by Alison Oliman.

Hold That Ghost opens across the U.S. in 1941. The Abbott and Costello film is one of the first feature examples of horror comedies. The formula is successful and they use it with great success in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), Abbott and Costello Meet The Killer, Boris Karloff (1949), Abbott and Costello Meet The Invisible Man (1951), Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953) and Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy (1955).