Hips, Hips, Hooray!
| Hips, Hips, Hooray! | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Mark Sandrich |
| Written by |
Bert Kalmar Edward Kaufman Harry Ruby |
| Starring |
Bert Wheeler Robert Woolsey Ruth Etting Thelma Todd Dorothy Lee |
| Music by | Roy Webb (Uncredited) |
| Cinematography | David Abel |
| Edited by | Basil Wrangell |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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68 mins. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $336,000 |
| Box office | $625,000 |
Hips, Hips, Hooray! is a 1934 American Pre-Code slapstick comedy film starring Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Ruth Etting, Thelma Todd, and Dorothy Lee. During its initial theatrical run, it was preceded by the two-color Technicolor short Not Tonight, Josephine, directed by Edward F. Cline.
Todd stars as Amelia Frisby, the owner of a beauty supply business. Andy Williams (Wheeler) and Dr. Bob Dudley (Woolsey) convince her to hire them as salesman to promote her new flavored lipstick, and hilarity ensues. 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.
"Keep On Doin' What You're Doin'" was originally intended for the Marx Brothers' 1933 film Duck Soup.
A romantic subplot involving Ruth Etting was planned, but removed from the finished film. Despite being third-billed, in the finished film, Etting only has one scene.
The film made a profit of $8,000.
The New York Times gave Hips, Hips, Hooray! an unenthusiastic review, stating that it featured "three reasonably hilarious gags and perhaps fifty more that depend on whether you are for or against the ex-vaudeville clowns to begin with." Alternately, the Prescott Evening Courier described it as "smartly and enthusiastically insane... surpassing all [Wheeler and Woolsey's] previous efforts." An Australian reviewer for The Age, felt that it "proved a fairly generously-endowed medley of eccentric dancing, buffoonery and burlesque"[1][2][3][4] and that it provoked "much merriment" from its audience.
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