Hips, Hips, Hooray! (1934) User Reviews (16)

Risqué slapstick antics

[goblinhairedguy · 6/10 · 20 March 2005]

This one doesn't showcase W&W at their best (see "Diplomaniacs" or "Half Shot at Sunrise" for that). The verbal badinage is generally lame, and the sight gags and slapstick are mainly of the "seen 'em before" variety. This is rather unfortunate, since the flick definitely has a dynamite premise. The boys are street hucksters promoting flavored lipstick, but thanks to ever-vivacious Dorothy Lee, manage to link up with a high-class, publicity-seeking cosmetics emporium.

Despite the middling comedy antics, this is a must-see for pre-code aficionados. The opening number, a live radio studio broadcast featuring naked models in bathtubs (their naughty bits discreetly obscured by hair-do's and foreground objects) is pretty eye-popping, as are the minimal outfits sported by the hot-to-trot sales crew in a risqué scene wherein the boys test the product "in vivo". Thelma Todd and famed songstress Ruth Etting are on hand, and the tunes are catchy enough. If you liked "Roman Scandals" and "Murder at the Vanities", by all means check it out.

Lipstick and Slapstick

[lugonian · 7/10 · 26 September 2016]

HIPS, HIPS, HOORAY! (RKO Radio, 1934), directed by Mark Sandrich, stars the comedy team of Bert Wheeler (the innocent boyish type banana eater) and Robert Woolsey (the one with the horn-rim glasses, cigar and all the wisecracking quips) in another one of their wildest romps. Often classified as their very best comedy, it's certainly their most fast-paced 68 minutes. Aside from puns, wisecracks and cartoonish style antics, there's also Dorothy Lee, the team's frequent co-star, making her return engagement as Wheeler's love interest for the first time since GIRL CRAZY (1932), to make their reunion complete. There's also a musical highlight performed by the third billed "mistress of melody," Ruth Etting, appearing only for a few minutes singing a bright tune set during a radio program.

The plot opens at the struggling enterprise of Maiden America Beauty Products Inc. where Daisy Maxwell (Dorothy Lee), one of its models and sales clerks, is trying to attract customers by demonstrating at the store window. She finds the attention is not on her but on a couple of peddlers across the street, Andy Williams (Bert Wheeler) and "Doc" Dudley (Robert Woolsey), demonstrating flavored lipsticks. Mistaking Daisy's wave as her way of being acquainted, Andy walks over to her and is told she's losing customers because of what they're doing. To help this "swell kid," Andy offers to help sell her products along with theirs, but with a couple of police officers nearby and to keep from getting arrested for soliciting without a license, Andy and Bob give away $24.50 worth of her items instead. Because the company is on the verge of bankruptcy due to Arnold Beauchamp (George Meeker), its crooked manager, siding with Madame Irene (Phyllis Barry), its competitor, Miss Frisby, Daisy's employer, stumbles upon the idea that because of Andy and Doc's "expert salesmanship," that they should merge with the boys, in spite the fact they Andy and Doc aren't what they appear to be. In order to make a good impression with the girls, Doc arranges for Mr. Clark (Spencer Charters), president of the Clark Investment Company, to leave his office at the Banker's Trust Building just long enough for the duel to use his office to discuss business matters with Daisy and Miss Frisby. When caught in the act of song and dance, they all make a hasty retreat, with Doc unwittingly taking Clark's bag of bank securities instead of his own bag of lipstick products. Before the promotional cross country auto race between competitors Maiden America and Madame Irene, situations occur as Andy and Doc find themselves being pursued by a couple of detectives, Epstein (James Burtis) and Sweeney (Matt Briggs), hired by Mr. Clark to locate his missing bank funds. As Andy and Doc discover their error and attempt to return the money, they find the bag has mysteriously disappeared, forcing the boys by doing the same thing.

In typical fashion in most Wheeler and Woolsey comedies, there's musical moments on two songs, mostly reprized throughout the story, with music and lyrics by Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. The motion picture soundtrack includes: "Keep Romance Alive" (sung by Ruth Etting); "Just Keep on Doing What You're Doing" (sung/performed by Wheeler, Woolsey, Dorothy Lee and Thelma Todd); "Just Keep on Doing What You're Doing" (reprise); "Keep Romance Alive" (chorus girls/production number); "Keep Romance Alive" (tap dance by Bert Wheeler/comic dance by Robert Woolsey); and "Just Keep on Doing What You're Doing" (closing). While the comedy antics of Wheeler and Woolsey are a mix of hit and miss, best moments occur in the pool room where the balls have minds of their own, along with silly but often amusing race car chase.

While the Wheeler and Woolsey comedies have lacked any sort of attention and cult following in later years of other comedy teams as Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello due to lack of television broadcasts, HIPS! HIPS! HOORAY, and several of their other works, have achieved some rediscovery over the years when distributed to home video and cable television broadcasts on American Movie Classics (prior to 2001) and Turner Classic Movies. This particular one, however, with certain blackouts and brief scenes indicating edited material to tighten structure in plot, retains enough routine entertainment to have viewers "keep on doing what you're doing," by sitting back and enjoying this one. (***)

Pucker up and sing!

[ptb-8 · 7/10 · 13 December 2010]

As an art deco dream, this risqué pre code silliness is an RKO deluxe farce with their in house duo W&W. It all depends on your taste for their shyster/naive antics and you might find their style grating if unaware what to expect. If you know W&W then settle in for the usual gay romp except this time the RKO art direction and set design is a major star as well...esp in the first half. As a story line, well there almost isn't one apart from them trying to get laid and sell flavored lipsticks in a skyscraper. The second half is a ridiculous car chase with cartoon style stunts and yelling. The film opens with a delicious beauty plea by Ruth Etting as the RKO showgirls lounge nude in bubble baths with strategically placed perfume bottles. One later scene is a demolition derby to music of someone's gorgeous deco office... and yet another taste test lip locking surprise features some really rude gags. The costumes on the showgirls out rival the S&M look of LULLABY OF Broadway a year later. Made a year before the censorship code of 1934, HIPS HIPS HOORAY is about as rude and funny as it could be for the time... but today the real star of the film is the RKO set and design department.

gloriously wacky stuff

[didi-5 · 7 November 2003]

Another little gem from the mad 30s boys of RKO as this frenetically paced oddity takes us from flavoured lipsticks to a mad Keystone-like car race in the space of just over an hour. Alongside cigar-chomping Woolsey and irritating little Wheeler we have Dorothy Lee (as per usual) and Thelma Todd playing the cutie romantic interest parts, and a short song right at the beginning from third-billed Ruth Etting (in a rather fetching hat).

Best sequences in this one - "Just Keep On Doin' What You're Doin'", really funny - the whole car race sequence, and the bevy of cuties with flavoured lipsticks ("we've got to guess what flavour" - oh, sure ...). I bet the set cleaners at RKO were knee-deep in bananas by the end of the shoot though :)

Marx Brothers Lite

[gridoon2024 · 6/10 · 10 June 2011]

This is my first Wheeler & Woolsey flick, though I got it mainly for Thelma Todd; her presence certainly justifies the title of the movie, but generally she has little to do here. The other female co-star, Dorothy Lee, is a total sweetheart and shares a lovely singing duet with Wheeler ("Just Keep On Doing What You're Doing"), which later develops into a surreal dance number with all four leads. As for Wheeler and Woolsey themselves, I can't deny that they have talent, but they are no Marx Brothers! "Hips, Hips, Hooray!" is perhaps more interesting today for its surprising quantities of exposed female flesh, and its good special effects; however, the climactic car race feels rather tacked-on. **1/2 out of 4.

Entertaining

[gbill-74877 · 7/10 · 5 December 2019]

Not a great movie, and not one that I'd recommend to anyone new to pre-Code films, because it's pretty silly and there are many better titles to choose from. It grew on me, though it took over 24 minutes (one third of the film) because it starts off so slowly. Be forewarned there are a lot of corny jokes mixed in to the slapstick humor of Wheeler and Woolsey.

Where the film picked up for me was when the number "Keep On Doin' What You're Doin'" is performed. Dorothy Lee is vivacious and has a sweet voice, and when Woolsey starts dancing around like a ballerina with a lampshade around his waist, it starts off a pretty cute and wild sequence between the four principals (Thelma Todd is the other) that's well choreographed by Hermes Pan. Later when the song is reprised in the park, it's amusing when Woolsey confuses a squirrel going up his leg with Todd's hands, continuing to see the title lyrics. There's quite a bit of skin on display, most notably a lineup of lipstick sellers wearing backless outfits with a couple of straps over the chest, short shorts, and fishnet stockings. The boys have to figure out what flavor the lipstick is by kissing them, you see. One of the women is Marion Byron, who you might recognize from the Buster Keaton film Steamboat Bill, Jr.

In addition to the pre-Code salaciousness, there are actually a few pretty decent special effects as well, including a nice scene with stop motion photography at the pool hall, and later a car hopping over another during the auto race. Taken altogether it's an odd mix (reminding me of a combination of George Burns, Benny Hill, and The Great Race), but if you can forget the silly plot and excuse the occasional groaner from Wheeler and/or Woolsey, there's enough here to keep it interesting as the film progresses.

Box office bait!!!

[kidboots · 6/10 · 3 August 2009]

That's what they called Ruth Etting when she appeared in feature films. In the late 20s and early 30s Ruth Etting was the top female singer on the radio. She started with a lilting almost childish delivery but by the thirties it was replaced by a plaintive, haunting quality, especially suited to Depression era ballads ("Body and Soul", "Love Me or Leave Me", "I'm Dancing With Tears in My Eyes"). By the time she was ready for feature films (after having made numerous musical "Vitaphone Varieties") she was in her 30s and her looks were distinctive rather than beautiful. So to take advantage of her popularity she was used as "box office bait" - where her name was displayed prominently on the credits (usually just after the official star), she would come in at the beginning, usually playing herself (so you knew she was not going be a big part of the plot) sing a song or two and exit.

In "Hips, Hips, Hooray" Ruth sang "Keep Romance Alive" to open the film, then the rest of the songs were given to Dorothy Lee. By 1934 Wheeler and Woolsey were losing their popularity but Dorothy Lee was always the reason to see their movies. The film starts with a song and a parade of scantily clad girls advertising the latest in perfumes. Miss Frisby (the tragic Thelma Todd) is the manager of Maiden America Cosmetics - sales are down even though the latest advertising gimmick has scantily clad girls sitting in shop windows, demonstrating how to put on lipstick. Daisy's (Dorothy Lee) job is on the line -she is not making sales and she is not helped by Wheeler and Woolsey as a pair of traveling salesmen peddling flavoured lipstick just across the road. They help her out and in turn are offered a job by Miss Frisbee.

There is a funny sketch involving the boy's car - they live in it and have coffee in the radiator, eggs under the seat and an endless supply of bananas. They have told Daisy they are millionaires and Miss Frisbee thinks they will be an answer to her almost bankrupt company's dreams. They manage to secure an office but in the process take the wrong bag that has securities and bonds in it but leave their lipstick bag behind. Miss Frisbee vamps and does her stuff to get them to put up the money that she thinks they have. "Two minds with a single thought" says Miss Frisbee looking at Daisy and Bert - Woolsey replies "That's about all they can handle at the same time". "Just Keep on Doin' What You're Doin'" is a really cute song, first sang by adorable Dorothy Lee and then all do a dance inspired by Diaghilev. The song is reprised through out the film, in a cute park scene and also at the end.

The boys are being followed by a pair of dim-witted policemen that they engage in a lively game of pool. George Meeker plays Armand Beauchamp, the real rat in the ranks. He is giving the firms advertising secrets away to his girlfriend's company - Madame Irene Cosmetics (Phyliss Barry). The climax is an exciting car-race that is hit by a cyclone. Of course the boys win the race and the girls. There is a really cute scene at the end where the boys are taking their families out for a drive - a little boy (he is a real cutie) is dressed up like Woolsey complete with horn rimmed glasses and a bowler hat.

Recommended.

Lots of farce in this art deco musical with some excellent sight gags.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 3 May 2013]

O.K., Wheeler and Woolsey can be corny, and there is nothing more predictable than for Woolsey to respond to a chicken laying an egg for their breakfast by asking, "What? No Bacon?". But the way that he delivers a line takes it from one level of corniness to absolute delight, making what would usually be a groaner for one comic sheer comic heaven for him. This is by far the team's most lavish effort, giving visions of beautiful chorus girls inside makeup jars and a production number with Ruth Etting that seems as lavish as anything done in the Astaire/Rogers musicals.

The storyline surrounds flavored lipstick (which Woolsey tests by kissing models) and the disappearance of some business documents which leads to Wheeler and Woolsey being chased by some agents. As usual, the plot and the circumstances which move it are silly beyond words, yet there are some moments of pure greatness. "Just Keep on Doin' What You're Doin'" is a classic production number with some rather raunchy pre-code visuals (Thelma Todd basically molesting Woolsey as she tears off all his buttons then goes for his drawers) and a reprise where Woolsey sings the song unaware that the funny feeling he has on his legs is an exploring chipmunk. Top this off with a race sequence where Wheeler and Woolsey use tadpole infested water to keep their car from overheating and a jump onto the most inconvenient of places for an automobile to land. So suspend your disbelief and just enjoy this for all the silliness you can muster. The result is what makes pre-code films among the most interesting in Hollywood history.

Mr. Wheeler & Mr. Woolsey Invite You To Join Them In A Little Light Entertainment

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 10 November 2000]

Two zany scam artists find it's all HIPS, HIPS, HOORAY! when they meet the curvaceous owner of Maiden America Beauty Products and her lovely female employees.

Wheeler & Woolsey (Bert Wheeler is the short guy with curly hair; Robert Woolsey is the bespectacled fellow with the cigar) star in this often hilarious film. The Boys were a perfect comedy duo and their movies are always great fun to watch (here they try to promote flavored lipsticks and get involved in a cross-country auto race, while keeping one jump ahead of the law ). It is indeed a pity that these very talented comics are all but forgotten now.

Cute little Dorothy Lee returns as Wheeler's perennial love interest. The beautiful & tragic Thelma Todd, a very gifted comedienne in her own right, puts the spark in Woolsey's eye.

Movie mavens will spot an unbilled Bobby Watson, who gets one funny line as a Dance Director.

Director Mark Sandrich keeps the plot moving at a frantic pace throughout. Some of the sights & situations push the borders of good taste in this pre-Production Code movie.

The Boys, Miss Lee & Hot Toddy do a wild burlesque of Diaghilev during their performance of `Just Keep On Doing What You're Doing'. Singer Ruth Etting drops by long enough to trill `Keep Romance Alive' at a radio broadcast featuring ungarmented bathing models.

And, yes, those really are frogs climbing out of the race car's radiator...

"What's two bucks to a guy who can lie like you can?"

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 1 April 2012]

I've only seen Wheeler and Woolsey once before in one of the era's promotional shorts, and darn if Robert Woolsey wasn't an early inspiration for George Burns' gimmick with the horn rim glasses and cigar. Now that would have been a comedy team to cause a lot of double takes.

Right out of the box, this picture offers an eye opener with that sequence involving all those nearly naked gals with strategically placed obstacles placed where censors usually go. As a pre-Code film, this one gets rather titillating, with discreet emphasis on that first syllable. You'll just have to see it for yourself.

The story itself is virtually sheer slapstick, or lipstick if you will, as the boys attempt to aid Miss Daisy Maxwell's (Dorothy Lee) career at the Maiden America Beauty Products Company. The picture devolves into a frenetic series of vignettes where the boys put one over on the Clark Investment Company, the Maiden America gals, and a couple of detectives on the trail of some missing securities, all coming to a climax in a transcontinental cross country car race.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the picture for me was the clever special effects employed for those scenes at the billiard parlor, and the cyclone during the car chase. They looked quite innovative for the time and even today will make you wonder how they pulled off those stunts. However overall, I would think that this Wheeler and Woolsey pair are an acquired taste, as I found them more often annoying than amusing, even with some of their funny bits. Oh, and since I kept count, there were seven bananas in the story.

Lame Jokes Galore!

[zipp_leech · 4/10 · 20 July 2004]

Being a fan of comedians such as Laurel and Hardy, Marx Brothers, and various other comics from that era...I watched this film wanting to give Wheeler and Woolsey a chance to prove to me they belong among the aforementioned. I found their style of humor very dull, the jokes were lame and the accompanied antics similar to that seen from a hyperactive pre-teen. The storyline was somewhat inventive, and would have worked much better with a more talented duo. The sole reason to watch this film would be to see Thelma Todd, and Dorothy Lee. Perhaps I need to watch a couple more Wheeler and Woolsey films before I cast them aside, but I can almost bet the other offerings would be simply more of the same.

A fun film all the way!

[JohnHowardReid · 9/10 · 26 October 2017]

Bert Wheeler (Andy Williams), Robert Woolsey (Bob Dudley), Ruth Etting (herself), Thelma Todd (Miss Frisbie), Dorothy Lee (Daisy), George Meeker (Beauchamp), James Burtis (Epstein), Matt Briggs (Sweeney), Spencer Charters (Mr Clark), Marion Byron (Clark's secretary), Stanley Blystone (cop), Dave Gould (dance director), Phyllis Barry (announcer).

Director: MARK SANDRICH. Screenplay: Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, Edward Kaufman. Story: Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby. Photography: David Abel. Film editor: Basil Wrangell. Songs: "Keep Romance Alive" (Etting), "Keep On Doin' What You're Doin"' (Wheeler, Woolsey, Todd, Lee), "Tired Of It All", music by Harry Ruby, lyrics by Bert Kalmar. Music director: Roy Webb. Dance director: Dave Gould. Art directors: Van Nest Polglase, Carroll Clark. Costumes: Walter Plunkett. Sound editor: George Marsh. Special photographic effects: Vernon L. Walker. Sound recording: P.J. Faulkner, Jr. RCA Sound System. Associate producer: H.N. Swanson. Executive producer: Merian C. Cooper.

Copyright 2 February 1934 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Roxy: 23 February 1934. U.K. release: 29 September 1934. 7 reels. 68 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: A couple of fast-talking lipstick salesman parlay themselves into the high fashion beauty racket.

VIEWER'S GUIDE: Unsuitable for children on at least three counts (sex, confidence men, anarchy).

COMMENT: Aside from the too knockabout, too elementary slapstick of its fantastic auto race chase finale, this is a delightfully sophisticated effort from one of our favorite comedy teams.

Perhaps the script is too racy, too risqué for modern audiences, though some fans would say that the dialogue's cynicism adds to the picture's appeal.

Woolsey is given some wonderful comebacks and makes the most of every opportunity for abrasive, anarchic humor. Wheeler, as usual, is the perfect straight man. This time the romantic interest is provided by the winsomely pert Dorothy Lee who is joined by the legendary Thelma Todd. This quartet share a marvelous surreal production number in which they dance around Spencer Charters' office.

Another highlight of the movie of course is the appearance of Ruth Etting. She is given a big introduction, sings "Keep Romance Alive" for rather more than it's worth, and then is ushered off-camera without saying a single word. We keep waiting for her to come back, but unfortunately she does not.

Nonetheless, this is amusingly bright and breezy entertainment for lovers of vintage comedy. Sandrich's fast-paced and occasionally fluid direction adds to the fun, and other credits are equally adept.

Lipstick told the tale on you

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 23 October 2019]

This Wheeler&Woolsey film finds the guys selling flavored lipsticks on the street corner to make a buck. People did that sort of stuff in the Depression. They get noticed, first by cops but then by Thelma Todd and one of her salesgirls Dorothy Lee. As usual Lee pairs with Bert while Thelma Todd does some of her best vamping with Bob.

George Meeker works for Todd, but is secretly working for a rival to sabotage her store. When the boys lift some valuable securities accidentally he finds them and sics the cops on them.

The finale is a kind of Grand Prix marathon and Bert and Bob are quite inventive in their methods of overcoming obstacles.

Ruth Etting makes a guest appearance with one song in the beginning, always a treat.

The race and a sequence where they play a on by stealing an office on the fly is similar to what was done in The Sting. Maybe George Roy Hill got the idea from seeing this.

Good fun from W&W.

Hips, Hips, Okay

[Mike-764 · 4/10 · 10 April 2007]

Con artists Dr. Dudley and his naive partner Andy Williams decide to team up w/ the Frisby cosmetic company to save that company with the Dr.'s invention of flavored lipsticks. The boys get in trouble when they mistake a satchel of securities for their supply of lipsticks and are hunted down by a pair of detectives, while Ms. Frisby's manager is planning to ruin the boys by turning over the securities as well as Ms. Frisby by sabotaging her entry in the transcontinental race. The film has its moments but it is just the same plot devices in all of the other Wheeler & Woolsey films. Wheeler falls for Dorothy Lee, Woolsey for the woman he thinks has money. The opening scene of the musical number featuring many unclad bathing beauties probably marks this film from other W&W films. Funniest scene for me is the pool game w/ the two detectives, barely ahead of an overzealous girl wanting to test her lipstick. Rating, 4.

Later remade as THE GREAT RACE, this film concerns . . .

[tadpole-596-918256 · 6/10 · 30 March 2021]

. . . the dudes who dream of racing across America in their Maiden Form balloons. Rather than investing in silicone, these gents go high with helium. Andy and Bob prove to be masters at multitasking, using the auto competition as an opportunity to fast-track tadpoles into harvest-ripe frogs (whose legs taste like chicken, of course). Most film buffs still lament the fact that the planned sequel to HIPS, HIPS, HOORAY! (that is, BUSTING OUT OVER COLUMBUS), in which the boys dream that they set down their hot air balloon on the fifty amidst the Michigan at Ohio State halftime show wearing nothing but their Maiden Forms, was killed by the advent of more stringent American movie censorship codes.

A bit better than average for the team...though this isn't saying much.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 20 September 2010]

The very beginning of this film made it obvious that it must have debuted in early 1934--before the newer and tougher Production Code was adopted. This code prohibited nudity, suggestive material, cursing and many other things that had been prevalent in films up until this point in time. And, when there is a scene featuring many naked women with their naughty bits strategically covered (something that never would have been allowed in late 1934), you might be a bit surprised.

As far as the film goes, it stars Wheeler & Woolsey--two of the very top film comedians of the day who are all but forgotten today. Most of it, I think, is because they tended to rely on corny jokes and the writing of their films was very, very inconsistent. I used to hate their movies but later noticed some of their films were very good--when the material was worthy (such as in "Caught Plastered"). Will this be one of their good vehicles or yet another lame one? In addition to the team, the film features three ladies. One is the very familiar Thelma Todd (though, oddly, with black hair)--who seemed to be EVERYWHERE in comedies during the early thirties--with appearances with Laurel & Hardy, Charley Chase and the Marx Brothers. Ruth Etting (whose life was later chronicled in "Love Me or Leave Me" with Doris Day) also was on hand--mostly to sing. And, not surprisingly, Dorothy Lee is also in the film--as she was in practically all the team's films playing Wheeler's love interest and to sing duets with him.

The boys are cosmetics salesmen--trying to hawk a variety of beauty products. When they accidentally switch bags with an industrialist (switching their cheap lipsticks for a bunch of valuable securities), things heat up a bit! Later, while being chased by detectives, the two end up getting in the middle of an auto race--a very contrived moment to say the least. The rear projection used to make it look like they were driving isn't 100% horrible but why have these cosmetics salesmen involved in a cross-country race?! And what happens to them next just just about defies description and it almost looks like they were making their own version of "The Wizard of Oz"! I've gotta say that this portion of the film is the weirdest and craziest I've ever seen in a Wheeler & Woolsey movie! It's kind of funny, but certainly NOT cerebral--sort of like stuff you might see the Three Stooges doing.

Overall, this is a slightly better than average film for the team--though, this really isn't saying much!! It's reasonably entertaining for anyone who can stand listening to Woolsey's lame quips--and they are pretty lame.

Good---pool scene Bad---too much singing