Film Review: HIPS, HIPS, HOORAY! (1934)

"Why the Hell isn't this on DVD yet?" -- Number 79






HIPS, HIPS, HOORAY! (1934 RKO) Starring Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Dorothy Lee, Thelma Todd, Ruth Etting, Phyllis Barry, George Meeker, Matt Briggs, Dorothy Granger.  Directed by Mark Sandrich.


Bert and Bob are penniless street vendors.  Literally living out of their car, they try to stay one step ahead of the law while peddling flavored lipsticks.  They put on airs to beauty supplier Todd and offer their "services" with a dual motivation: Bert's taken a shine to Todd's employee Lee and, of course, their dire financial straits.  Todd, whose business is on the verge of ruin herself thanks to double-dealing Meeker, accepts the offer.  When Woolsey's attache case gets mistaken for an identical one carrying "securities", the cops renew their pursuit of our heroes, following them to a pool hall and even cross-country after their impromptu representation of Todd's company in a race (shades of CANNONBALL!).

Thinly plotted and gleefully silly at every turn, HIPS, HIPS, HOORAY! is the favorite Wheeler and Woolsey film of many film buffs.  While I prefer COCKEYED CAVALIERS,  HIPS, HIPS, HOORAY is another entertaining Bert and Bob vehicle from the team's 1933-34 peak.  Both 1934 films are boosted by the team's de facto "third member" Lee, their best director Sandrich, and the incomparable Todd, who has dark hair (a seldom-seen look for her) in several scenes.

The film's pre-Code vintage is confirmed in its opening scene, with a room full of naked lovelies freshening up in transparent bathtubs (hair and shampoo bottles obscuring strategic body parts, of course) while Ruth Etting sings "Keep Romance Alive".  Very reminiscent of the Clean as a Whistle, Fresh as a Daisy number from MEET THE BARON but given a touch of class by America's "Sweetheart of Song" Etting. 

Etting disappears after her song, but she's too ladylike for the proceedings anyway.  With its setting in the cosmetics world, HIPS, HIPS, HOORAY boasts more scantily clad women than any other Wheeler and Woolsey feature.  Lee, Todd and Etting are joined by Dorothy Granger (taking dictation from Woolsey, who's channeling Rufus T. Firefly), June Brewster, Phyllis Barry, Marion Byron and Jean Carmen.  A highlight is the duo conducting a "guess the flavor" lipstick contest, with Woolsey going horizontal and stiffening (symbolism fully intended) in a manner worthy of Tex Avery's Wolf.

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.  It's the soundtrack to Bert's moonlight serenade and is reprised during an office trashing dance with all four principals and the film's coda.

Ruth Etting, keepin' romance alive

The film loses steam during the car chase, with an over-reliance on Woolsey's "Whoa-ohh!" catchphrase and  intentionally outlandish rearscreen projection.  But as long as the boys are one step ahead of their pursuers on foot, HIPS, HIPS, HOORAY! provides almost as many laughs as ladies, with Bert and Bob's incredibly resourceful car (at various times a giant coffee machine, twin beds, chicken coop and veritable banana tree) and unsuccessful attempt to hustle the cops to at pool among the more memorable gags.  A well-paced, amusing and naughty example of 1930's comedy, HIPS, HIPS, HOORAY! might be the best Wheeler and Woolsey film to show the uninitiated.

 
So.....why isn't this on DVD yet?

Kind of a surprise that 6 Wheeler and Woolseys made it out via Warner Archive before this one, arguably their best-loved and most remembered pre-Coder.  Even more surprising that arguably the team's worst film (THE RAINMAKERS) beat this one to DVD.  The long absence of RKO's most popular comedy team from DVD has been addressed here previously, but that's been changing in recent years thanks to WA.  With the long-sought after DIPLOMANIACS among the recent arrivals, the release of HIPS, HIPS, HOORAY! by the Archive now seems to be a mere matter of time.

Wanna buy a DVD?

Why it should be on DVD:

Would make a perfect two-fer with COCKEYED CAVALIERS, which featuring a lot of the same personnel, similarly memorable musical numbers and was also directed by Sandrich.  I'd daresay this hypothetical 2-for-1 DVD would be all the Bert and Bob a casual fan needs.

No offense, Bob, but I'd rather see the ladies in underwear--not you!

HIPS, HIPS, HOORAY! turns up occasionally on TCM and on Warner Archive Instant.

Old School: DIPLOMANIACS (1933) and WHO'S MINDING THE MINT? (1967)

Pops says we finally made it to DVD!

And Pops is right!  Whether you're a fan of old school comedy or of really old school comedy you got a DVD treat during the month of February. This month's installment of Missing No More turns up two more past Horn Section reviews that just made it to DVD.  These new releases date back to our blog's earliest days; in fact, both were among the first ten films reviewed here back in 2006.

WHO'S MINDING THE MINT? (1967) was finally rescued from DVD unavailability by our friends at the Warner Archive on February 7th.   If you were a little disappointed by TOWER HEIST (who wasn't?) and would like to see how a caper comedy is supposed to be done, by all means check out this oldie-but-goodie.  Danny Peary accurately said it is "from the IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD school, but on a smaller scale". 

Indeed it is, and that's not only what sets it apart from the better known WORLD, but makes it even funnier.  Yep, you heard me right.  Hell, I said so in my original review.  MINT checks in at a lean, clean 97 minutes (barely half of WORLD's length) and with all due respect to Stanley Kramer (JUDGEMENT AT NUREMBERG, INHERIT THE WIND), he wasn't exactly a comedy specialist.  Howard Morris (YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS) was, and he pulls out all the stops without telegraphing it as much or allowing intrusive mugging.  It's an impressive directorial debut for Morris, who actually beat his YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS colleague Mel Brooks "to the chair"--Brooks' legendary first film, THE PRODUCERS, arrived in 1968.

It's not easy being green!

Compared to IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD's all star cast, MINT is loaded with second bananas, but it's still an impressive bunch.  (Ha!  "Bunch"!  Get it?)  Jack Gilford, Walter Brennan, Bob Denver, Victor Buono, Joey Bishop, Jamie Farr and Jackie Joseph are among the TV stars getting some big-screen love.  Morris cast two actors from WORLD: Lou Costello's 30 FOOT BRIDE herself, Dorothy Provine (also in Blake Edwards' WORLD-styled THE GREAT RACE) and Uncle Miltie Berle, whose lodge costume is put to inspired use by Morris. 

Here is my original review, from way back in May 2006.  WHO'S MINDING THE MINT? was out of print on VHS even then, and has been really hard to see for a long time.  The film deserves a hearty welcome back to circulation.  It is also available for viewing at Amazon.  A bit of trivia: the producer was Norman Maurer, Moe Howard's son-in-law.

DIPLOMANIACS (1933), another long awaited title, was rather quietly released on Valentine's Day by the Warner Archive.  In my original review I bemoaned the lack of DVD love given to Wheeler and Woolsey, perhaps the most unsung of the classic cinema comedy teams.

Happily, Warner Archive has been rectifying that situation over the last year. In 2011 PEACH O'RENO (1931) and GIRL CRAZY (1932) got the "two-fer" treatment at the Archive, and DIPLOMANIACS was one of four Bert and Bob vehicles to get a Valentine from WA this year with KENTUCKY KERNELS (1934), THE RAINMAKERS (1935) and ON AGAIN OFF AGAIN (1937) also being released on DVD for the first time February 14th.  Unfortunately the latter three are all post Production Code, and therefore the team's finest film, COCKEYED CAVALIERS (1934) is still missing from DVD.

Bert Wheeler (L) and Robert Woolsey

Quibbles with the film selection notwithstanding, we now have fully one-third of the 21 Wheeler and Woolsey films on DVD through Warner Archive (1929's RIO RITA rounds out the list).  It's atypical "Bert and Bob" as usual leading lady Dorothy Lee is nowhere to be found, but the Pre-Code DIPLOMANIACS is still the best of the new arrivals.

DIPLOMANIACS might well be the best anti-war comedy that predates DR. STRANGELOVE.  Does any of the following sound real-world familiar (even today)?  Bert and Bob are thoroughly unqualified diplomats chosen solely by being in the right place at the right time; peace pleas with substance are ignored in favor of visually pleasing circus shows; wars are egged on by those who stand to profit financially from the conflict.  All points are timeless and presented by screenwriters Myers and Mankiewicz (MILLION DOLLAR LEGS) in a fashion that never lets satire overwhelm the comedy.

Bert and Bob wake up to these ladies.  Who needs an alarm?

Unlike the satire, the rampant un-PC humor does get in the way on one glaring occasion, with the climactic setpiece "No More War" turning a U.N. conference into a minstrel show.  Thankfully, it's barely two minutes of screentime, but the film couldn't lose the scene as it is key to the plot (unlike, say, the awful and often snipped President's Day number in 1942's HOLIDAY INN).  This set piece is likely the biggest reason DIPLOMANIACS stays on the shelf whenever TCM trots out HIPS, HIPS, HOORAY, HOLD 'EM JAIL and other Wheeler and Woolseys for periodic late night mini-marathons.  Just be forewarned its here; I'll get off the soapbox.

With these two releases Warner Archive has made two more dollops of comedy history from vastly different eras available.  Here's hoping I'll be writing about further releases that are Missing No More from DVD in the future.  Next post, I'll be writing about a film that is unfortunately still missing from DVD: Number 75!

Film Review: COCKEYED CAVALIERS (1934)

"Why the Hell isn't this on DVD yet?" ---- Number 47

COCKEYED CAVALIERS (1934 RKO) Starring Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Thelma Todd, Dorothy Lee, Noah Beery, Robert Grieg, Henry Sedley, Franklin Pangborn, Jack Norton. Directed by Mark Sandrich.

In 16th century England, Wheeler and Woolsey sneak a free carriage ride but end up locked in the village stocks thanks to kleptomaniac Bert, who attempts to steal the coach afterwards. Disguised as a stable boy(!) to escape an arranged marriage with Grieg (the Duke of Weskit), Lee helps the penniless pair escape a vegetable pelting by hiding at the local pub, but Bert’s habit flares up again, forcing the desperate duo into disguises.  Specifically, as personal physicians for the Duke. Complicating matters, Grieg’s niece Todd (already married--to the Baron) takes a shine to Woolsey while Lee’s growing affection for Wheeler threatens to expose her masquerade.

It’s a shame that the Hays Production Code was about to blunt the edge of the sarcastic wise guys known for the era's bluest humor, because CAVALIERS is not only Wheeler and Woolsey's best film, it’s a minor masterpiece.  As I stated while reviewing DIPLOMANIACS a while back, Bert and Bob may not be the Marx Brothers, but their best films hold up solidly. In fact, the side-splitting CAVALIERS is funnier than the Laurel and Hardy period piece (THE DEVIL’S BROTHER, also with Todd) that probably inspired RKO to send W & W back a few centuries.

Working with the boys for the second time, Todd is inspired, joining their perennial leading lady Lee to give us two romantic complications to resolve, and the perpetually pained Beery (as the Baron) and lecherous Grieg ("I like 'em young" is his first line) make great foils.

While even the best Wheeler and Woolsey films have their dull spots and a few too many groaners, COCKEYED CAVALIERS is an exception.  Briskly directed by Sandrich (TOP HAT), the film has two memorably amusing and clever songs, “Dilly Dally” and “Big Bad Wolf” and remains fast-paced, clever and consistently funny from the gossipy sing-song opening to the inevitable and wild carriage chase finale.

Wheeler and Woolsey lacked the distinctive screen personas of the other leading comedy teams of the 1930’s, and they made clunkers both before (DIXIANA) and after (MUMMY'S BOYS) their 1931-1934 peak.  That said, their current obscurity is due more to bad luck (the aforementioned Code, Woolsey’s untimely death in 1938) than a lack of talent.  COCKEYED CAVALIERS is the best supporting evidence of what they could do with strong material (with DIPLOMANIACS and PEACH-O-RENO not far behind).

It’s too bad the team never again worked with Sandrich, who, like Woolsey, died way too young. His other W & W flick, HIPS, HIPS, HOORAY, wasn't quite as big a creative triumph, but bested CAVALIERS slightly at the box office.  One can only wonder what might have been if RKO had kept Bert and Bob working with Sandrich for a few more films. Instead, they moved on to a young George Stevens (GIANT) for two films, followed by an ill-advised and ill-fated fusion with short subject specialist Fred Guiol.

So…….why isn’t this on DVD yet?


Warners owns the rights, and the Archive gives us hope, but for the longest time Wheeler and Woolsey have been perhaps the ultimate DVD evaders.  Until very recently only public domain copies of the likes of HOOK, LINE AND SINKER (far from one of their best, and very poor quality typical of PD bootlegs) and DIXIANA (embarrasingly creaky) readily available out of their 21 as a team.  However, this may finally be changing....see next section.

It’s a minor gripe, but this is one film in which Woolsey’s catchphrase, “Whoa-ohh!” is overdone. I counted seven.

Why it should be on DVD:

A very well done period comedy, Wheeler and Woolsey’s finest cinematic hour, and yet another reminder of just how sexy AND hilarious Thelma Todd was. I mentioned that I prefer it to DEVIL’S BROTHER, and IMO it’s also funnier than Laurel and Hardy's later BOHEMIAN GIRL.

Here’s hoping that the Warner Archive is eventually able to get this one out on DVD: I mean, if MEET THE BARON and SPEAK EASILY (just to name two) are available, there certainly should be room for this one.   As Brian Paige astutely noted in the comments below, Warner has started the long-overdue process of getting W&W's peak period out with the double feature GIRL CRAZY/PEACH O'RENO, the first "official" DVD release.  Hopefully there's a couple more to follow.

Bottom line, COCKEYED CAVALIERS is one the three funniest films of its year, IMO.  That's high praise considering that the other two are TWENTIETH CENTURY and IT'S A GIFT.

Film Review: DIPLOMANIACS (1933)

"Why the Hell isn't this on DVD yet?"
--Volume 9







DIPLOMANIACS (1933 RKO) Starring Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Louis Calhern, Hugh Herbert, Edgar Kennedy, Marjorie White, Phyllis Barry and Edward Cooper. Directed by William Seiter. Written by Joseph Mankiewicz and Henry Myers.

While Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Brothers, the Three Stooges and W. C. Fields have seen their respective legends grow in the last 70 years, history has not been as kind to their RKO contemporaries, Wheeler and Woolsey. Bert and Bob have their defenders, but they are usually relegated to the era’s second tier and considered a flash in the pan, popular in their own time but completely irrelevant outside of it. In a way, the Salieri to, say, the Marx Brothers’ Mozart.

Okay, so Wheeler and Woolsey aren’t the Marx Brothers. They aren't Jack Pearl or Joe Penner either. Wheeler and Woolsey rushed through 21 films in only 8 years (compared to the Marxes’ 7 in the same 1929-1937 time frame) and as a result, they have a lower batting average than their better remembered comtemporaries, but they did make a handful of very funny films worthy of rediscovery.  DIPLOMANIACS actually beat DUCK SOUP to the punch (by six months) in 1933.  The two films share the same screenwriter, the same surrealism, the same anti-war message, the same frustrated Edgar Kennedy, and the same villainous Louis Calhern.

Bert and Bob have opened a barbershop on the Adoop Reservation---not a good business decision, since "Native Americans do not grow beards". (According to the film, not me.--HH) When members of the tribe overhear the usual barbershop talk about foreign affairs, the Chief decides that the stylists should represent the Adoops in Geneva (recognizing that these white men might make an effective front) and present the tribe's plan for peace. Meanwhile ammunition executive Louis Calhern has developed an explosive bullet, and needs a war in order to realize the profits.

Assisted by Chinese(!) henchman Hugh Herbert, Calhern pulls out all the stops to sidetrack the duo: vamp Marjorie White, femme fatale Phyllis Barry (her kisses are literally fatal), sabotaging the ocean voyage, and an assassination attempt. But Calhern is continually thwarted either by the dumb luck of Wheeler and Woolsey (a staple in all their films) or the creepily omniscient Adoops, who live up their warning that they will always be watching.  When our heroes arrive at Geneva, they find the conference in complete chaos and the League of Nations to be entirely ineffective. Can our diplomaniacs save the world from itself?

Just as Groucho does his absolute worst as Freedonia's leader in DUCK SOUP, Wheeler and Woolsey are woefully incompetent diplomats. They lose the peace plans more than once, dress ridiculously at functions, give their secret mission away to just about everyone “in confidence”, get blind stinking drunk as guests of honor at a dinner, become repeatedly distracted by pretty women, and consider embezzling the money they’ve been entrusted with.

Don't do it, Bob!  They will always be watching!

While DUCK SOUP sends up world leaders using the fictional country of Freedonia, and occasionally points out the absurdity of war (“I’ve already paid a month’s rent on the battlefield!”), DIPLOMANIACS uses the names of actual countries and cities and the anti-war content looms larger. The film moves smoothly from one nonsensical scene to the next, while making its satirical points: everyone talks of peace but no one actually wants to do anything about it; eloquent and intelligent words fall on deaf ears while acrobatics have everyone’s rapt attention; and as is always pointed out in anti-war films, no one wins in a war---no, not even Calhern and Co., who run afoul of their own invention.

In keeping with Wheeler and Woolsey’s reputation as the dirtiest of the pre-Code screen comedians, sex talk is plentiful and surprisingly blatant. Unfortunately, so is uncomfortably un-PC humor. The “white vamp” is ordered from a vending machine and arrives wrapped in plastic, built to serve man in only one way; Herbert’s character is named Chow Chow; numerous Adoops speak only one word, “Oompah!”; and, most notorious of all, a bomb explodes in the peace conference, with the fallout giving everyone blackface---the conference then becomes a minstrel show with the song, “No More War”. To be fair, though, Herbert and the two Adoops with lines avoid the usual stereotypical broken English, and Woolsey’s one attempt at it is quickly and hilariously skewered by the tribe's Oxford-educated chief--who turns out to be the film's only intelligent and honorable character.

Chow Chow is a complete smartass (or as Calhern had to put it in 1933, “wise guy”) who always gets the best of his boss verbally. As for the minstrel show, well, there's no defending that thankfully long-gone art form.  The presence here is a real shame, because one has to see this otherwise sharply satirical number to believe it: the balcony joins in as Bert and Bob sing riotously heavy-handed lyrics reminding the delegates that eternal damnation awaits if they don’t sign the peace agreement.  (Woolsey's glasses magically change from black to white for the duration of the number.)

Every Wheeler and Woolsey comedy has slow spots, and even at 62 minutes, this one is no exception. The slowest scene is the opener, with way too many hoary vaudeville groaners in the barbershop. Another problem is that while likable, their characters are not as distinctive as the other comedy teams of their day. Bert and Bob are much more adept at the song and dance routines (all excellent, but 1930’s audiences liked these far better than those of the post-Depression years) than they are at the verbal jabs, many of which fall flat as there are too many unfunny lines. But, bottom line, it is fast and funny, and stands up to repeat viewings. It's atypical for the team (they usually aren't defeated in the end), but is still a good introduction to the bizarre world of Wheeler and Woolsey.

So…why isn’t this film on DVD?

 Wheeler and Woolsey are not well known to modern audiences, and lack the distinctive comic personas of Laurel/Hardy, Fields, and the Marxes.

There's a considerable amount of uncomfortably un-PC humor that hasn't aged well. That can be said about a lot of the era's films, but in this particular case, the most glaring and unfortunate example is in the climactic scene.

Why it should be on DVD:

 In some ways does DUCK SOUP one better; it is wilder and more surrealistic, Calhern is even funnier here (and sings!), and at times, DIPLOMANIACS is more effectively satirical. It comes in second best overall, but it is a very respectable second.

You’ll have to watch it several times to catch all the jokes. Think Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker were doing something entirely new with AIRPLANE?  Think again.  This film is right up there with SOUP, HORSE FEATHERS and MILLION DOLLAR LEGS as a prime example to show just how zany comedies could get in the pre-Code early 1930's. 

Wheeler and Woolsey should be rediscovered, and they are sorely underrepresented on DVD. While Woolsey is presented as a second-tier Groucho, I think he brings to mind the late-middle age George Burns in terms of looks and delivery: he even smokes a cigar in his sleep! Wheeler brings to mind a combination of Jerry Lewis (speaking) and Zeppo Marx (singing), if you can picture that.

As noted above, it's barely an hour long (62 minutes) so a great double feature Wheeler and Woolsey DVD could be released, perhaps this one with (likely future review subjects here) HIPS, HIPS, HOORAY or HOLD 'EM JAIL, just to name two that are around the same running time.

It’s always fun to watch for suggestive content in a pre-Code film: in particular, watch for homosexual overtones (more overt than those in Martin and Lewis comedies, though W&W are never portrayed as anything other than straight), very scantily clad and sexually aggressive women, and plenty of wild, blunt sex references (i.e. “Where’s your cigar?” ”She swallowed it!”).

Marjorie White, who died tragically at age 30, is a scream as the aggressive vamp who chases Bert (“Sing to me!”). This is her best showcase, though she can also be seen in the Three Stooges short, MEN IN BLACK.

All things taken into account, this is a cult film just waiting to happen upon rediscovery. Isn’t there always room for a good anti-War film, particularly a bitterly funny one? This is the closest thing to a pre-Nukes DR. STRANGELOVE that exists.