Whoopee!

Whoopee!

Whoopee! is a film made in 1930 in 2-color technicolor with Florenz Ziegfield. Whoopee! made a movie star of Eddie Cantor. The film also launched the Hollywood career of Busby Berkeley, and was Alfed Newman's first gig in Hollywood. Richard Day did the set designs and behind the camera was Gregg Toland, who later found fame with Orson Welles.

The story line of Whoopee! is somewhat aged by today's standards, but there are several intersting moments in the movie, particularly Cantor's rendition of the song "Whoopee!", and some of the big production numbers with the Goldwyn Girls - AKA the Ziegfield Girls.

Whoopee! is an important, but overlooked film in the history of the Hollywood musical. Made at the depth of the Great Depression, it had a ticket price of $5 when it opened, and made Samuel Goldwyn a lot of money at a time when his studio needed a hit.

In the history of musicals, it shows a look 5 years ahead if its time and foreshadows all of the great Warner Brothers musicals of the 1930s.