Hellzapoppin

The original Broadway production of "Hellzapoppin'" opened at the 46th Street Theater on September 22, 1938, and ran for 1404 performances--a considerable run for a Broadway show in the 1930s. The original theatrical run included moves to the Winter Garden Theater and the Majestic Theater. The comic team of Chic Johnson and Ole Olsen wrote and produced the review and served as emcees for the show. As with the movie, the Broadway show was a mix of absurdist comedy skits, comic musical numbers, walk-on comedians and audience participation. There were running gags, such as the woman who walked down the theater aisles shouting "Oscar!", and the man with the potted plant who shouted "Miss Jones!" (One gag from the Broadway show that did not make it into the movie was a woman in the audience who stood up several times and announced she was "just going to the bathroom"). The Harlem Congaroos--the Lindy Hop dance troupe that appears in the film--also appeared in the original Broadway show (although during the show's run, they were variously billed as Whitey's Steppers or Whitey's Lindy Hoppers).

Betty picks up a rifle with a bayonet attached, but in the next shot it's a double-barreled shotgun.

"......any similarity between HELLZAPOPPIN' and a motion picture is purely coincidental."

There is an Italian edition of this film on DVD, distributed by DNA Srl (in double version 1.33:1 and 1.78:1), re-edited with the contribution of film historian Riccardo Cusin. This version is also available for streaming on some platforms.

Featured in This Joint Is Jumpin' (2000)