Hips, Hips, Hooray!

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Hips, Hips, Hooray!
Hips, Hips, Hooray! FilmPoster.jpeg
Directed by Mark Sandrich
Written by Bert Kalmar
Edward Kaufman
Harry Ruby
Starring Bert Wheeler
Robert Woolsey
Ruth Etting
Thelma Todd
Dorothy Lee
Cinematography David Abel
Edited by Basil Wrangell
Music by Roy Webb (Uncredited)
Distributed by RKO Radio Pictures
Release date
  • February 2, 1934 (1934-02-02)(U.S.) [1]
Running time
68 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$336,000 [2]
Box office$625,000 [2]

Hips, Hips, Hooray! is a 1934 American pre-Code slapstick comedy starring Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Ruth Etting, Thelma Todd and Dorothy Lee. [3] [4] During its initial theatrical run, it was preceded by the two-color Technicolor short Not Tonight, Josephine, directed by Edward F. Cline. [5]

Contents

Plot

Amelia Frisby owns a beauty-supply business. Andy Williams and Dr. Bob Dudley convince her to hire them as salesman to promote her new flavored lipstick.

Cast

Production

A romantic subplot involving Ruth Etting was planned, but it was removed from the film. Despite her high billing, Etting only has one scene.

The film features Etting singing "Keep Romance Alive" and Bert Wheeler and Dorothy Lee singing "Keep on Doin' What You're Doin'" by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, a song originally intended for the Marx Brothers' 1933 film Duck Soup.

Reception

In a contemporary review for The New York Times , critic Andre Sennwald wrote: "Those who admire the comic gifts of the cigar-smoking Woolsey and the cherub-faced Wheeler will find their faith nourished by the usual sum of ponderous jocosities. ... There are three reasonably hilarious gags and perhaps fifty more that depend on whether you are for or against the ex-vaudeville clowns to begin with." [6]

The film returned a profit of $8,000. [2]

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References

  1. "Hips, Hips, Hooray!". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on January 2, 2018. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 Richard Jewel, 'RKO Film Grosses: 1931-1951', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 14 No 1, 1994 p56
  3. Variety film review; February 27, 1934, page 17.
  4. Harrison's Reports film review; January 27, 1934, page 15.
  5. Advertisement. Florence (Alabama) Times Daily. May 7. 1934. p 4. Web. June 23. 2010
  6. Sennwald, Andre (1934-02-24). "Wheeler and Woolsey". The New York Times . p. 18.