Hellzapoppin' (film)

Infobox Film
name = Hellzapoppin'


image_size =
caption =
director = H. C. Potter
producer = Alex Gottlieb
writer = Nat Perrin
Warren Wilson
narrator =
starring = Ole Olsen
Chic Johnson
music =
cinematography = Elwood Bredell
editing = Milton Carruth
distributor = Universal Pictures
released = 26 December, 1941
runtime = 84 minutes
country = USA
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0033704

"Hellzapoppin is a 1941 film adapatation of the musical of the same name made by Universal Pictures and directed by H.C. Potter. cite web |url=http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/94794/Hellzapoppin-/overview |title=New York Times: Hellzapoppin' |accessdate=2008-08-17|work=NY Times] 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, Mischa Auer, 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.

Among the topical humor is Johnson picking up a sled named "Rosebud" and saying "I thought they'd burnt that" (Olsen and Johnson were friends with Orson Welles whose film Citizen Kane climaxes with Kane's childhood sled being burnt).

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 commercial DVD. Universal released the film commercially in England on region 2 format(release date 2007). The film is scheduled for screening at the non-profit Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention in September of 2008.

"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".

Cast

* Ole Olsen - Ole Olsen
* Chic Johnson - Chic Johnson
* Martha Raye - Betty Johnson
* Hugh Herbert - Quimby
* Jane Frazee - Kitty Rand
* Robert Paige - Jeff Hunter
* Mischa Auer - Pepi
* Richard Lane - Director
* Lewis Howard - Woody Taylor
* Clarence Kolb - Andrew Rand
* Nella Walker - Mrs. Rand
* Shemp Howard - Louie
* Elisha Cook Jr. - Harry Selby
* Frank Darien - Man calling for Mrs. Jones
* Catherine Johnson - Lena, Lady looking for Oscar

References

External links

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