Hellzapoppin'

Hellzapoppin'
Original Broadway window card
Music	Sammy Fain Charles Tobias
Lyrics	Sammy Fain Charles Tobias
Book	Harold "Chic" Johnson John "Ole" Olsen
Productions	1938 Broadway 1941 Film

Hellzapoppin' is a musical revue written by the comedy team of Olsen and Johnson, consisting of John "Ole" Olsen and Harold "Chic" Johnson, with music and lyrics by Sammy Fain and Charles Tobias. The revue was a hit, running for over 3 years and was at the time the longest-running Broadway musical with 1,404 performances;^[1]; one of only three plays to run more than 500 performances in the 1930s.

Production

The revue opened on Broadway at the original 46th Street Theatre on September 22, 1938, transferred to the Winter Garden Theatre on November 26, 1938, and finally moved to the Majestic Theatre on November 25, 1941, closing on December 17, 1941 after a total of 1,404 performances.

Olsen and Johnson led a large cast of entertainers: Billy Adams; the Hawaiian music of Ray Kinney and the Aloha Maids; the comedy team Barto & Mann (Dewey Barto and George Mann); Bergh and Moore; singing group The Charioteers; identical-twin dancers Bettymae and Beverly Crane; Walter Nilsson; J. C. Olsen; stage magician Hardeen (better known was Houdini's younger brother); celebrity impersonators The Radio Rogues; Reed, Dean and Reed (Bonnie Reed, Syd Dean, and Mel Reed); Roberta and Ray; Hal Sherman, The Starlings, Dorothy Thomas, Shirley Wayne; June Winters; and Whitey's Steppers (also known as Whitey's Lindy Hoppers).

During the late 1940s, the show went on the road, appearing in smaller towns throughout the US. Its format was reduced in size, but continued in the same style of sight gags, risque humor, and audience involvement.^[2]

A film based on the stage musical was made by Universal Pictures and released in 1941.

1976 attempted Broadway revival

In 1976, there was an attempt to revive the show with a cast that included Jerry Lewis and Lynn Redgrave, but it closed on the road before reaching Broadway.^[3]

The television show Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In (1968-1973) was an attempt to replicate the fast-paced, anything-can-happen atmosphere for a new generation.

Sketches

A comedy hodgepodge full of sight gags and slapstick, the show was continually rewritten throughout its run to remain topical; its opening scene was Hitler speaking in a Yiddish accent. A circus atmosphere prevailed, with dwarfs, clowns, trained pigeons and audience participation adding to the merriment. ^[1] The sketches were a "smorgasbord of explode-the-fourth-wall nuttiness:...comedy songs; skits abandoned partway through; cameos by audience stooges; an absurdist raffle; and in a trademark stunt, a man who wandered through the theater hawking an ever-larger potted tree."^[4]

As an actress walked the aisles yelling, "Oscar!", another loudly said that was just going to use the bathroom. When this started to overwhelm, an actor started loudly selling tickets to another Broadway show, "I Married An Angel." ^[2]

Songs

The songs were decidedly less a factor for the show's success than its comedy. Lyrics and music by Sammy Fain and Charles Tobias (unless otherwise noted).

Act 1

• "Blow a Balloon Up to the Moon"
• "Fuddle-Dee-Duddle"
• "A Bedtime Story"
• "Strolling Thru the Park"
• "Abe Lincoln" (Music and Lyrics By Earl Robinson and Alfred Hayes)
• "Shaganola"
• "It's Time To Say Aloha"

Act 2

• "Harem on the Loose"
• "Ol' Man Mose'" (Music and Lyrics By Louis Armstrong and Zilner T. Randolph)
• "When You Look in Your Looking Glass" (Lyrics By Sam M. Lewis, Music By Paul Mann and Stephen Weiss)
• "When McGregor Sings Off Key"
• "Boomps-a-Daisy (I Like a Bustle that Bends)"
• "We Won't Let It Happen Here"

Songs featured during the run also include work by Don George, Teddy Hall, Annette Mills, Gonzalo Curiel, and Oscar Hammerstein II.

References

External links

• Hellzapoppin' at the Internet Broadway Database
• Hellzapoppin' Illustrated article on the Collecting Books and Magazines website
• Sonny Watson Dance History Pages -- HELLZAPOPPIN', The Play
• Hellzapoppin study guide, synopsis, background, americancentury.org, 2007