Hellzapoppin

Hellzapoppin (1938), a comic revue by Ole Olsen, Chic Johnson (sketches), Sammy Fain (music), Charles Tobias (lyrics), others. [46th Street Theatre, 1,404 perf.] This was a zany revue in which men carried ladders through rows of seated playgoers, a woman stopped the show on occasion to look for her missing spouse, a man peddled a plant that grew larger with each appearance, a magician offered tricks that would not work, and dozens of pistol shots rang out from all corners of the theatre. The Olsen and Johnson production opened to divided, if largely favorable reviews, but owed much of its success to persistent plugging by Walter Winchell, at the time probably the most influential Broadway columnist.