''Hellzapoppin'' is a 1941 film adaptation of '' Hellzapoppin'', the musical that ran on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

from 1938 to 1941. It was a production for

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

directed by H. C. Potter. Although the Broadway cast was initially slated to appear in the film, except for Olsen and Johnson and the Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, no one else from any of the stage productions appeared in the movie. The cast includes Ole Olsen and

Chic Johnson Harold Ogden "Chic" Johnson (March 15, 1891 – February 28, 1962) was the barrel-chested half of the American comedy team of Olsen and Johnson, known for his strangely infectious, high-pitched "Woo-Woo" laugh. Background Johnson was born of ...

, both of whom produced and starred in the Broadway musical, as well as

Martha Raye Martha Raye (born Margy Reed; August 27, 1916 – October 19, 1994), nicknamed The Big Mouth, was an American comic actress and singer who performed in movies, and later on television. She also acted in plays, including Broadway. She was honored ...

Mischa Auer Mischa Auer (born Mikhail Semyonovich Unkovsky (Михаил Семёнович Унковский; 17 November 1905 – 5 March 1967) was a Russian-born American actor who moved to Hollywood in the late 1920s. He first appeared in film in 192 ...

Shemp Howard Samuel Horwitz (March 11, 1895 – November 22, 1955), known professionally as Shemp Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He was called "Shemp" because "Sam" came out that way in his mother's thick Litvak accent. He is best known as the ...

Slim and Slam Slim & Slam was a musical partnership in the late 1930s and early 1940s consisting of Bulee "Slim" Gaillard (vocals, guitar, vibes and piano) and Leroy Elliott "Slam" Stewart (bass and vocals). They produced novelty jazz numbers featuring Slim's ...

, and Whitey's Lindy Hoppers. The film is

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

breaking and full of

surreal humour Surreal humour (also called surreal comedy, absurdist humour, or absurdist comedy) is a form of humour predicated on deliberate violations of causal reasoning, thus producing events and behaviours that are obviously illogical. Portrayals of surrea ...

Plot

begins the film as Louie, the

projectionist A projectionist is a person who operates a movie projector, particularly as an employee of a movie theater. Projectionists are also known as "operators". Historical background N.B. The dates given in the subject headings are approximate. Early ...

of a cinema, exhibiting what appears to be the start of a song-and-dance number including classily dressed performers walking down a staircase. The staircase collapses and turns into a slide, conveying the dancers straight to

hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

, where they are tortured by demons. Ole Olson and Chic Johnson (playing themselves) arrive in the midst of the mayhem by taxi, and after a series of pranks and metatextual gags, step back to reveal that they are on a sound stage. The two are contracted to

, the (real) company producing the film version of Olson and Johnson’s Broadway play ''Hellzapoppin. They are hounded by the film's director, who doesn't understand their style of comedy. Mousy screenwriter Harry Selby outlines his adaptation of the play; the rest of the movie’s “plot” depicts Selby’s proposed script, a sappy romance typical of other contemporaneous films. In it, theater producer-composer Jeff Hunter wants to marry wealthy ingenue Kitty Rand, but he has to compete with her bland fiancée Woody Taylor. Olson and Johnson are transported into the story. They arrive to the palatial estate of the film's setting as prop-men, laden with supplies for an elaborate revue musical Jeff is staging as a vehicle for Kitty. Immediately dissatisfied with the staid reconfiguration of their revue into conventional Hollywood norms, the two spend the remainder of the film disrupting the adaptation's narrative by any means possible. They meet with Chic's urban and somewhat vulgar sister Betty Johnson (the lead dancer in the revue), and direct her into romantically pursuing Pepi, the revue's leading man and a former Russian nobleman who pretends to fake his noble status for the social notoriety it brings. Olson and Johnson interfere repeatedly with the central romance, convincing Jeff and Woody that each has let the other "have" Kitty while encouraging her to woo both men. A large number of non-sequiturs occur, including elaborate musical numbers and dance sequences, fourth-wall breaks mocking the Jeff/Kitty/Woody story, arguments with Louie, repeated unfortunate run-ins with the magician and master-of-disguise Quimby (who maintains an awareness of his existence in a film that most of the other characters lack) and random anarchic chaos that threatens to overwhelm all else (at one point transporting the main characters into a

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

). After a series of mishaps and adventures, Jeff's revue is finally performed for an audience that includes most of the central cast, as well as a skeptical Broadway financier who intends to ruin its chances of success by refusing to produce it. In a misguided attempt to keep Jeff from marrying Kitty, Olson and Johnson repeatedly sabotage and undermine the revue's kitschy and outdated musical numbers, hoping to drive Kitty to Woody by making Jeff a laughingstock. The ramshackle performances are interpreted as farce by the audience and received with great praise. After discovering their subterfuge, Betty attempts to kill Olson and Johnson. Failing in this, she convinces them to "save" Jeff and Kitty's relationship. The two turn to Quimby for magical assistance, but the wizard botches his spell and leaves each of the two half-invisible, forcing them to shuffle alongside each other to mimic one full person. Eventually they reach the financier and convince him (without much effort) to fund a Broadway production, allowing Jeff and Kitty to live happily ever after. As Selby finishes narrating his tale, Olson and Johnson have already fled the studio, confident that the spirit of their play will be maintained in its film adaptation, while the director has fallen asleep. When roused, the director expresses his disgust for the script and shoots Selby repeatedly. He is uninjured (and comments that he always wears a bulletproof vest around the studio lot), but when he goes to take a drink, water cartoonishly bursts from his chest.

Cast

* Ole Olsen as Himself *

as Himself *

as Betty Johnson *

Hugh Herbert Hugh Herbert (August 10, 1885 – March 12, 1952) was an American motion picture comedian. He began his career in vaudeville and wrote more than 150 plays and sketches. Career Born in Binghamton, New York, Herbert attended Cornell Univers ...

as Quimby * Jane Frazee as Kitty Rand * Robert Paige as Jeff Hunter *

as Pepi * Dick Lane as Director * Lewis Howard as Woody Taylor *

Clarence Kolb Clarence William Kolb (July 31, 1874 – November 25, 1964) was an American vaudeville performer and actor known for his comedy routines that featured a Dutch dialect. Biography Kolb started out as one half of a vaudeville comedy team, Kol ...

as Andrew Rand *

Nella Walker Nella Walker (March 6, 1886 – March 22, 1971) was an American actress and vaudeville performer of the 1920s through the 1950s. Biography The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Walker, she was born and raised in Chicago. In 1910, she marrie ...

as Mrs. Rand *

as Louie, the Projectionist * Elisha Cook Jr. as Harry Selby * Frank Darien as Man calling for Mrs. Jones * Catherine Johnson as Lena, lady looking for Oscar *

Gus Schilling August "Gus" Schilling (June 20, 1908 – June 16, 1957) was an American film actor who started in burlesque comedy and usually played nervous comic roles, often unbilled. A friend of Orson Welles, he appeared in five of the director's films � ...

as Orchestra Conductor *

Slim Gaillard Bulee "Slim" Gaillard (January 9, 1911 – February 26, 1991), also known as McVouty, was an American jazz singer and songwriter who played piano, guitar, vibraphone, and tenor saxophone. Gaillard was noted for his comedic vocalese singi ...

as himself, part of

* Slam Stewart as himself, part of Slim and Slam * Whitey's Lindy Hoppers (including Norma Miller as a cook and

Frankie Manning Frank Manning (May 26, 1914 – April 27, 2009) was an American dancer, instructor, and choreographer. Manning is considered one of the founders of Lindy Hop, an energetic form of the jazz dance style known as swing. Biography Manning was born ...

) as the Harlem Congaroos *

Gil Perkins Gilbert Vincent Perkins (24 August 1907 – 28 March 1999) was an Australian film and television actor. Early life As a teenager, Perkins was a trackman and an athlete. He ran away from home at a young age and joined the crew of a Norw ...

as Butler in Pool (uncredited) *

Dale Van Sickel Dale Harris Van Sickel (November 29, 1907 – January 25, 1977) was an American college football, basketball and baseball player during the 1920s, who later became a Hollywood motion picture actor and stunt performer for over forty years. Van ...

Frankenstein's monster Frankenstein's monster or Frankenstein's creature, often referred to as simply "Frankenstein", is a fictional character who first appeared in Mary Shelley's 1818 novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus''. Shelley's title thus compar ...

(uncredited)

Music

The 1942

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

nomination for Best Song of "Pig Foot Pete", (which lost to " White Christmas"), was attributed to ''Hellzapoppin′''; however, the song never appears in the film—it was actually performed in the

Abbott and Costello Abbott may refer to: People * Abbott (surname) *Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849–1921), American painter and naturalist * Abbott and Costello, famous American vaudeville act Places Argentina * Abbott, Buenos Aires United States * Abbott, Arkansas ...

film ''

Keep 'Em Flying ''Keep 'Em Flying'' is a 1941 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. The film was their third service comedy based on the peacetime draft of 1940. The comedy team had appeared in two previous service comedies in 1941, before the ...

'', another

production from 1941. The official Academy Awards database credits ''Hellazpoppin′'' with the Best Song nomination but comments in a note, "This nomination is a mystery. Both the nominations list and the program from the Awards dinner list the song as being from ''Hellzapoppin′'', a 1942 release for Awards purposes. The song does not appear in that film, but did appear in ''Keep 'Em Flying'', a 1941 release from the same production company and studio, and was therefore ineligible for a 1942 nomination."

Dance

The film has a five-minute-long

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

and

lindy hop The Lindy Hop is an American dance which was born in the Black communities of Harlem, New York City, in 1928 and has evolved since then. It was very popular during the swing era of the late 1930s and early 1940s. Lindy is a fusion of many danc ...

dance sequence at approximately the 48th minute. The dance routines are very fast and athletic and include many aerials. They are performed by The Congaroo Dancers, played by Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, including

and Norma Miller.

are also part of the act. Manning choreographed the routine.

Release

The film had its premiere at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City on Christmas Day, 1941. The first performance at 10 a.m. was for 2,000 orphans and a further showing was held at 2 p.m. for 2,000 soldiers and sailors with the official premiere in the evening.

Critical reception

The reviewer for ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' wrote, in August 1942: "Sections of its extraordinary pattern materialise with uproarious unexpectedness, while hilarious development of some ridiculously funny incident adds to the farcical, burlesque, and slapstick appeal of a production astounding in its originality and verve. It has to be seen to be believed. If there is nothing memorable to take away after the show it is at any rate enjoyable while it lasts."

References

External links

* {{H. C. Potter 1941 films 1941 comedy films American comedy films American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films Films directed by H. C. Potter Self-reflexive films Surreal comedy films Universal Pictures films Films based on musicals Films scored by Frank Skinner 1940s American films