HELLZAPOPPIN'

'''Hellzapoppin'' was a musical revue which was a Broadway hit, running from 22 September 1938 to 17 December 1941, and was at the time the longest-running Broadway musical with 1,404 performances — one of only three plays to run more than 500 performances in the 1930s.
A comedy hodgepodge full of sight gags and slapstick, the show was continually rewritten throughout its run to remain topical (its opening scene was Hitler speaking in a Yiddish accent). A circus atmosphere prevailed, with dwarfs, clowns, trained pigeons and audience participation adding to the merriment. The book was by Olsen and Johnson, a comedy team consisting of John "Ole" Olsen and Harold "Chic" Johnson.
Olsen and Johnson led a large cast of entertainers: Billy Adams, the Hawaiian music of Ray Kinney and the Aloha Maids, the comedy team Barto & Mann (Dewey Barto and George Mann), Bergh and Moore, singing group The Charioteers, identical-twin dancers Bettymae and Beverly Crane, Walter Nilsson, J. C. Olsen, celebrity impersonators The Radio Rogues, Reed, Dean and Reed (Bonnie Reed, Syd Dean, and Mel Reed), Roberta and Ray, Hal Sherman, The Starlings, Dorothy Thomas, Shirley Wayne, June Winters, and Whitey's Steppers (also known as Whitey's Lindy Hoppers).
The songs (decidedly less a factor for the show's success than its comedy), included:

★ "Blow a Balloon Up to the Moon"

★ "Fuddle-Dee-Duddle"

★ "It's Time To Say Aloha"

★ "When McGregor Sings Off Key"

★ "Boomps-a-Daisy (I Like a Bustle that Bends)"

★ "We Won't Let It Happen Here"

★ "When You Look in Your Looking Glass"
Songs and lyrics featured during the run include work by Sammy Fain and Charles Tobias, Don George, Teddy Hall, Annette Mills, Gonzalo Curiel, and Oscar Hammerstein II.
The show opened at the original 46th Street Theatre, and moved later in its run to the Winter Garden Theatre and the Majestic Theatre, and spawned several successful sequels. The television show ''Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In'' (1968-1973) was an attempt to replicate the fast-paced, anything-can-happen atmosphere for a new generation.

Contents

Film

External links

Film

A movie version was made by Universal Pictures in 1941, directed by H.C. Potter. In the film, Ole and Chic are working for Miracle Pictures (their slogan "If it's a good picture, it's a Miracle!"). A mousy screenwriter (Elisha Cook, Jr.) outlines his script for the screen adaptation of ''Hellzapoppin', and the rest of the movie depicts Cook's crazy script.
The cast includes Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson (playing themselves), Martha Raye, Shemp Howard (between stints with the Three Stooges), Hugh Herbert, and The Six Hits. The credits for the movie assert that "any resemblance between ''Hellzapoppin' and a motion picture are coincidental"—a truth that is perhaps responsible for it being less successful than the stage show which engendered it. The film does have some great visual humor, however, including a number of special effects that couldn't be duplicated on stage.
The dance scenes from the movie are some of the best-known Lindy Hop scenes from the Swing Era, and they have made the film popular among modern Lindy hoppers. One frenetic routine is performed by Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, and another notable dance scene features Martha Raye and Dean Collins.
At the present, ''Hellzapoppin' (like almost all Olsen and Johnson films) is hard to find on home video. It was released briefly on PAL VHS format, but as of late 2006 there has been no legitimate DVD edition.
"Pig Foot Pete", an Academy Award nominee for Best Song in 1942 (it lost to "White Christmas"), was attributed in its nomination to ''Hellzapoppin', but it never appeared in that film. It actually appeared in the Abbott and Costello movie, ''Keep 'Em Flying''.

External links

★

★

★ http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/d5hlzply.htm

★ http://www.musicals101.com/1930bway3.htm