You don’t have to like a person all the time in order to work with them. Mutual respect, however, is imperative in any working relationship.

Director Charles Barton held no false claims about who Lou Costello was. Although Costello was a talented comedic actor, he and his partner, Bud Abbott, had gained a reputation for being rather difficult to work with. Over the course of the director’s career, Barton had worked with Costello for a total of nine films, including Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).

In It’s Alive! The Classic Cinema Sage of Frankenstein by Gregory Mank, Barton went into detail regarding his relationship with the comedian. According to the director, he wasn’t just friends with Costello; they were like two family members.

“We had a great relationship,” said Barton. “You hear a lot of things about little Lou - and he was a little terror! He’d have tantrums you wouldn’t believe. A lot of people showed fear, and that’s what he loved, so he’d walk all over them. But for some reason, with me, and I don’t even know why in the hell it was, we got along even better than brothers.”

Not only did their strong relationship mean that Barton and Costello enjoyed a friendship many would envy, but their closeness also helped their working relationship. Because of their bond, Costello had more faith in Barton than one might expect.

“Things that I’d like him to do in a picture, he would at least try,” said Barton. “[It was] something he wouldn’t do with many other directors - and that showed that he had confidence in me. We became very good friends. We were very close.”