In their first year of operation, the studio nearly went bankrupt. In 1948, William Goetz had been in charge of production since Universal merged with International Pictures. In the same year, Abbott and Costello's popularity was also waning. According to director Charles Barton, who was among the top comedy film directors at Universal between 1945 and 1952, Goetz did not want anything to do with Abbott and Costello after Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer had dropped their option for more films from the team and Camel Cigarettes dropped their radio show in 1947.
