wth is a shipoopi?
just weird.
shareIt's just made up slang for the play.
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MovieChat Forums > The Music Man (1962) Discussion > wth is a shipoopi?
That song always annoyed me. Other than that, I love the movie.
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I love it when a plan comes together. - Hannibal Smith.
It's a feature song and dance number specifically for Marcellus. In the original Broadway production, Marcellus was played by the incredibly talented Stubby Kaye, a master singer and remarkably good dancer for a man of his girth. For the movie, they cast Buddy Hackett, maybe because he was more of a known quantity at the time among movie-goers. Being more of a comedy performer, Hackett's singing and dancing leave a lot to be desired, IMO. Shipoopi really could be a show-stopper, but Hackett simply isn't up to it.
His casting, and the casting of Hermione Gingold as Mrs. Shinn (I suspect for the same name-recognition) are the two weakest decisions in this movie. Gingold is wonderful in so many things, but an Englishwoman in small-town Iowa in the early 20th Century? It's just kind of weak.
Iggy Wolfington played Marcellus in the original Broadway production. Stubby Kaye came much later.
shareI don't think Stubby Kaye even replaced Iggy Wolfington or played the role during the musical's initial run. I'm not sure he even played it when TMM changed theaters and left the Majestic after Preston left the lead role.I could be wrong but I think Wolfington might have played Marcellus that whole first run, or most of it. I'm pretty sure Kaye never played the role. An actor named Dittman replaced Wolfington in the role before the show closed in 1961.
shareAn Englishwoman in small-town Iowa in 1912? Stranger things have happened in American(e.g., black cowboys in Montana, Jewish girls from Texas a.k.a. "Honey, I'm your worst nightmare!").
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