JinRoz For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

bkoganbing Not to put too fine a point on it, but Frank Morgan who is the top billed player in this B film from MGM is a deadbeat dad. An old vaudevillian, Morgan is trying to get a break in radio because he really needs the money.In Hullabaloo Frank Morgan has got three ex-wives with a child by each and these women want the back alimony that Morgan hasn't sent them for years. This formidable trio of ex-wives are Connie Gilchrist, Sara Haden, and Billie Burke and their kids respectively are Virginia Grey, Leny Lynn and Larry Nunn.The kids kind of bond with each other and together they help dear old dad pull together a radio show. It's either that or marry a 4th time to Nydia Westman who is sponsor Donald Meek's sister.Dan Dailey is here as a radio executive and love interest for Virginia Grey and another Virginia, O'Brien that is gets a couple of songs to sing in her deadpan fashion. The real revelation is Charles Holland an opera singing bellhop. Not too many black artists were doing material like that for films in 1940.Because it's lovable old Frank Morgan the whole thing works somehow. But I doubt a deadbeat dad would get treated so well in today's cinema.

vincentlynch-moonoi Frank Morgan was a gem, and a very busy actor in 1940, appearing in 7 films for MGM...and this one was filmed less than a year after his wonderful role of the Wizard in "The Wizard Of Oz". Among his great roles of 1940 were "The Shop Around The Corner", "The Mortal Storm", and "Boom Town", all notable. This trifle -- "Hullabaloo" -- was not one of his notable films, however, although it is a pleasant enough light musical.In the film, Morgan -- an out of work actor -- puts on a "War Of The Worlds"-type radio program, getting him fired (yet again). But, he has an ace in the hole -- the sponsor's sister-in-law is quite taken with Morgan. What's most delightful about this film is Morgan's opportunity to really ham it up...and he does! Particularly amusing is when three ex-wives (with long lost children) pop up demanding alimony...much to the shock of the sponsor's sister-in-law! Along the way there are a number of pleasant performances -- Virginia O'Brien, Dan Dailey, and Billie Burke among them.Not a great film, but worth seeing at least once.

ksf-2 Virginia Obrien sure steals the opening scenes as she cracks jokes between lines of her own singing performance, staying completely deadpan all the while. We get a glimpse of Frank Morgan, who is trying to audition at a radio station, but doesn't get in. Aside from some good actual singing performances, there's just so much going on here, we need a score card to keep track of it all; There's the comedy bit with lead Frank Merriweather (Frank Morgan) and his butler over what they will call the butler, but it falls flat. Then there is the ex-wives routine with all the wives and grown up children, which is just confusing. Morgan's stammering, blustering, wisecracking, muttering character is just an hour and a half of vaudeville jokes, which is quite fun to watch, but doesn't really help the plot along. He actually does the "that was no lady, that was my wife!" bit during a bit with his family; See 15 year old Larry Nunn, and 15 year old Leni Lynn do a couple song and dance numbers with Morgan as he tries to get his children into show business. At the same time, Merriweather gets fired for scaring the public with a radio show that mimics one that had just happened in real life a few years prior. He spends the rest of the movie trying to get his job back at the radio station. Keep an eye out for Leo Gorcey (one of the Bowery Boys) and Donald Meeks (from the W.C. fields movies) Morgan does a zillion imitations, but about half of them are the actual actors voices... it would have been funnier to have Morgan just try to imitate them, instead of using the actual actors voices. When Morgan starts spouting Claudette Colbert from "It happened one night", it's pretty obvious that it couldn't be Morgan doing ALL the voices. Billie Burke (Glenda, the good witch) is one of the ex-wives, in her usual flitting about way. A neat trick of doubling-up on the songs here -- at the beginning of the film, and again near the end, Virginia O'Brien does stepped-up jazz versions of songs that had just been sung by someone else. Also a couple of excellent singing performances by Charles Holland, who always appears in his bellhop uniform. Have not been able to find out anything about his professional career, but what a set of lungs! It appears this film was made into a weekly TV show by NBC in the 1960s. Fun to watch Morgan, and the others do their showbiz bits, but as others have pointed out, plot line is pretty weak.

MountainMan I have always like Frank Morgan and he was fun to watch in this entertaining movie. Excellent voice-overs done during his impersonations, lip-synch was perfect. Good direction, and the rest of the cast was a lot of fun. An easy 7.