Indifferent

HipsHipsHooray35 HipsHipsHooray16 HipsHipsHooray34
Andy
Robert Wheeler
Dr. Dudley
Bob Woolsey
Daisy
Dorothy Lee
Released by RKO | Directed By Mark Sandrich

Proof That It’s Pre-Code

  • The opening features a number of fetching young women wearing as little as a few strips of cloth and as much as some strategically placed strips.
Literally the second shot in the film.

Literally the second shot in the film.

  • Our heroes are proprietors of flavored lipstick, which they sample via girls in extremely revealing little costumes. The last girl gives Woolsey a kiss so intense that he becomes completely stiff.
  • As per norm with the team, Wheeler plants one on Woolsey. Woolsey notes that Wheeler tastes like “lavender and old lace!”
  • At one point a squirrel makes it up Bob’s pant leg, and thinks its Thelma Todd getting frisky in the park.
  • Woolsey tosses a coin down a secretary’s cleavage, and a very audible ‘ka-ching!’ plays.

… ka-ching!

  • There’s a gay choreographer whose work is obviously riffing on Busby Berkeley.
  • The villain tours a perfumer’s marketing department, which involves women who seem to be lacking in clothing south of the border and only getting by with strategically placed purses. It’s too bad we never saw that fashion style take off…

HipsHipsHooray28 HipsHipsHooray29

Hips, Hips, Hooray!: It’s a Mad, Mad World

“There are three types of investments: animal, mineral, and vegetable!”

For anyone who’s followed the site for a while or just watches a lot of movies, the names Wheeler and Woolsey can convey a wonderful rainbow of reactions. The duo, who turned out 26 films in just 7 years of collaboration before Woolsey’s death, starred in a variety of satires and comedy vehicles, some notably more broad than others.

Hips, Hips, Hooray is sometimes cited as one of Wheeler & Woolsey’s best outings, but I’ll have to be a voice of dissent here. It falls pretty much in the middle of the pack of the duo’s movies as a comedy that doesn’t have much to say or do. The duo are a pair of street salesmen peddling flavored lipstick when a beauty product magnate, Miss Frisby (Thelma Todd), meets them and buys into their tales tales of their own wealth and power. The businesses join, only to find that one rogue manager has sold them out to the competition. In hopes of rekindling the company’s fortunes, Frisby enters a car in a cross country race, which Wheeler and Woolsey end up accidentally piloting.

Looking a little cheeky.

A bum rap.

The plot is pretty skimpy, which at least matches many of the women’s outfits for the picture. The musical highlight of the film is a ditty called “Keep On Doing What You’re Doing”, a lengthy song between the two couples– Woolsey and Todd, Wheeler and the ‘dizzy’ Dorothy Lee– that starts out as romantic and quickly descends into pure madness as their affections spin out of control. It’s a kooky kind of insanity as it illustrates the fun part of being in love– the mutual admiration and then the recklessness that such a feeling can engender.

Tearing it to pieces.

Hips is also probably one of Thelma Todd’s better showcases. Besides possessing the odd character trait of constantly changing her hair color, Todd gets to be just as playful and loopy as Wheeler & Woolsey. The excited way she describes how big she’s heard Dr. Dudley is and then talks about how badly she wants to merge with him– priceless. Todd’s large eyes and larger smile pay off in dividends, especially during the aforementioned musical sequence when she wrecks a vase, almost as an afterthought, just because she wants to.

Unfortunately, other parts of the movie feel worn. A long sequence of the duo using their car engine to brew them up some coffee has the fingerprints of Laurel and Hardy all over it, and if Laurel and Hardy didn’t actually do it, it’s probably because of a sense of pride in their work. Other gags similarly flounder, like a long number with girls wearing powderpuffs and some tap dancing that goes nowhere and does nothing.

Somehow a better Thelma Todd vehicle than a Wheeler & Woolsey one.

Somehow a better Thelma Todd vehicle than a Wheeler & Woolsey one.

The worst has to be the last 10 minutes of the movie which suddenly pivot the film from genial corporate comedy to being a road race movie. Lee and Todd take a back seat to a long series of cartoony gags involving tornadoes, snowstorms, and helium-filled tires. It feels out of left field (the road race doesn’t even get a hint until the 50 minute mark of a 67 minute movie) and it’s lacking in suspense. Worse, the villain is apparently apprehended off-screen, making the ending feel even more tacked on. The movie doesn’t seem to say much, and Wheeler is stuck in one of his more boring simpleton roles. Woolsey has to take up much of the comedic weight lifting, and can’t do much, especially with the out-of-place Bugs Bunny finale.

Hips, Hips, Hooray! may be a good entryway for people new to Wheeler & Woolsey, though: the better bits outweigh the dull bits, and the musical numbers are fun and invigorating. But this is the third time I’ve sat through it, and my feeling of nothing is palpable by the end each time. The movie just dies off for me– but your mileage may vary.

Gallery

Hover over for controls.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Trivia & Links

  • Impressively, third billed Ruth Etting appears for a grand total of less than five minutes of the film’s running time. She sings a song called “Keep Romance Alive”. Etting is probably remembered best today for the fictionalized account of her life in the Doris Day/James Cagney vehicle, Love Me or Leave Me. She also apparently got $10,000 for her work in the picture, the modern day equivalent of $172,000.
  • That last tidbit comes from Wheeler & Woolsey: The Vaudeville Comic Duo and Their Films, 1929-1937 by Edward Watz. It’s an excellent book, and pretty much a necessity for any fan of the duo. It gives a production history of the movie, talks about how much everyone loved Thelma Todd, mentions that director Sandrich was loved by the crew for taking input on the gags, among other things. It also mentions this bit about the film’s production:

Filming proceeded without incident except when an artificial snowstorm engulfed Bert and smothered him under several hundred pounds of bleached cornflakes. “Well,” he cracked to reporters a day after resting at home, “after all that snow, it’s pretty sure I’ll never be a coke addict!”

Although you may become an addict to something completely different by the time this one ends.

Although you may become an addict to something completely different by the time this one ends.

  • Let’s Misbehave has a bunch of screenshots of the film and really enjoyed it. Her take:

The movie’s title sums up its contents: lots of hips (not to mention legs) and plenty of hooray in the form of Woolsey and Wheelers slapstick and witty comedy. The duo play wonderfully charming entrepreneurs constantly running from the police and too trouble. Their style is not for everyone – let’s say it’s not subtle – but I found their juxtaposition of physical humour, sexy double-entendres and quirky habits purely entertaining.

  • Mitch Lovell of Video Vacuum fame points out both the down and the upside to the film:

Many jokes fall flat and the movie more or less runs of out steam by the time the big auto race finale rolls around, but if you’re a fan of the team, you probably won’t mind too much. Even though the script isn’t their best, they commit to the material 100% and sell the goofy gags for all their worth (like the scene where they turn their car engine into a giant coffee machine).

Modern viewing technology may ruin several special effects.

Modern viewing technology may ruin several special effects.

  • The Horn Section hit this before it hit DVD (and I like that its screenshots are literally just photographs of the movie on a TV screen). They note a surprising connection between this movie and one of my favorites:

Like the earliest Wheeler and Woolsey vehicles (i.e. HALF SHOT AT SUNRISE and HOOK, LINE & SINKER) HIPS, HIPS, HOORAY! finds fast-talking Woolsey and naive romantic Wheeler facing unfavorable odds but triumphing in the end through sheer derring-do.  It’s a shame that Sandrich (TOP HAT) only directed the team twice.  He really clicks with Bert and Bob, providing many inspired comedic moments to go with the musical interludes.  Kalmer and Ruby’s “Just Keep on Doin’ what You’re Doin'” (originally intended for Zeppo Marx in DUCK SOUP) would become the team’s best-remembered song.

“Hips, Hips, Hooray”—with Wheeler and Woolsey—is the cinema news from the Roxy this week. That about covers the situation.

  • Not a trailer, but here’s a clip of the film’s highly suggestive lipstick tasting scene.

Awards, Accolades & Availability

Comment below or join our email subscription list on the sidebar!

What Is Pre-Code Hollywood? List of Pre-Code Films
SiteIndex Follow Me on Twitter

Danny

Danny is a writer who lives with his lovely wife, adorable children, and geriatric yet yappy dog. He blogs at pre-code.com, a website dedicated to Hollywood films from 1930 to 1934, and can be found on Twitter @PreCodeDotCom.

8 Comments

Vanessa B (@callmeveebee) · October 3, 2014 at 2:01 am

Holy cow! Those girls aren’t wearing much in the way of clothes, are they? Yowza!

    Danny · October 8, 2014 at 6:55 pm

    They’re really pushing what they could get away with here. Not that I’m complaining…

Brian Paige · October 7, 2014 at 12:30 pm

One of your most surprising reviews. I can’t help but think this is one you should have started out with since if I recall Diplomaniacs was the first W & W movie you reviewed and it is not remotely like much of their other stuff. Hips is prime W & W. It’s a more accessible, mainstream outing without being a sell out flick. Both guys are fun here and neither really dominates (Woolsey owns it in Cockeyed Cavaliers and Cracked Nuts, whereas Wheeler is amazing in Peach-O-Reno).

I will say I agree that the villain’s capture is a bit weak but at that point in the movie I’m not sure how they have him show up to arrest him. I guess they could have had him at the finish line and the two idiot detectives find the securities on him?

That said, I disagree with your assessment of the routines here. I love the car breakfast routine, the pool hall bit, the tap dancing, etc. And the wacky car chase climax has perhaps the single funniest moment in any W & W movie with them teetering on the edge of falling and Bert having the hiccups.

Hips is a great one to show someone to get them into W & W from what I’ve seen. Yes, it does have a ton of pre code scantily clad chorus girls and what not, but content wise it isn’t ultra edgy stuff.

    Danny · October 8, 2014 at 7:09 pm

    I agree with you on your last point. My wife really enjoyed it. I just think having seen a bunch of their films, there really wasn’t anything that stood out to me outside of the great middle act. I wish I liked it more, but in terms of accessibility, I would still probably go with Peach-O-Reno or Cracked Nuts.

    I wish I liked it more, to be totally honest, but that finale just feels like tonal whiplash– like ‘we need an ending, quick!’ and they just went from there.

Brian Paige · October 11, 2014 at 12:26 pm

Heh, you think Cracked Nuts is one of their more accessible films? Oh man, I have tried that one. It doesn’t work very well. Cockeyed Cavaliers might turn newbies off due to the 1600s period setting, and stuff like Cracked Nuts and Diplomaniacs are just plain weird.

But yeah if I had to say my absolute favorite it would be Peach-O-Reno. Someone could make a mint remaking it. Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson already kinda did with Wedding Crashers.

    Danny · October 29, 2014 at 1:57 pm

    Okay, I’m with you on Peach-O-Reno. That thing is impossible to resist.

Lord · September 15, 2016 at 2:31 am

In the early scene where Ruth Etting is peddling cosmetics in the storefront the scene includes a circular TV screen that is apparently mimicking Ruth’s face as she is applying make-up. How was this effect achieved in 1934?

Dave C. · December 11, 2018 at 10:38 pm

Just the opportunity to watch the whimsically wonderful Thelma Todd flex her considerable comic muscle is enough to sell this film for me–that and the mid-film nutty ballet that the romantic foursome engage in, looking so free it almost appears improvised. The fashion sets, too, are worth the price of admission, the pace holds true and nuttily consistent until, as you mention, that bomb of a car chase, too obviously meant to engage the theatre viewer in new cinema techniques, perhaps, but today just silly and noisy. Thanks for your most informed and excellent site!

Comments are closed.