Devil cowl & tail from 1941's "Hellzapoppin" film

[agliarept]

Hey all,

I came across this weird little display at an antique shop in Florida this weekend, and this piece caught my eye instantly. This is one of the hero devil cowl/tail costume from a Universal 1941 film called, Hellzapoppin. Comes with the western costume tags inside along with a wester costumes id.

I never heard of this movie, but i've always liked the retro look of the old school cinema "devil" costumes, so i ended up buying it.

Have any of you ever seen this film? I found it on youtube last night and I ended up liking it a lot. It's like a real life looney tunes movies and comes off as an early "Naked Gun" or "Airplane" sense of humor to it.

Tried looking for other props from this film, but haven't found much info on the film.

 

[Stairstars]

What a great find!
Since, the label is blank, it is a good chance these devil pieces were stock costumes and will turn up in other films. I have a clown costume of that ilk that I have spotted in four productions thus far. And, I would guess they are gender neutral, so consider female uses as well.

As for the film, there is a pistol floating around, on a plaque, possibly from the stage production. Olsen and Johnson were the LAUGH IN duo of their time with many costume changes between scenes and blackout comedy.

When Spielberg bought Rosebud in the early 80s at CHRISTIES, Orson Welles decried the purchase by saying he had burned it in the film. However, a scene is HELLZAPOPPIN shows Chic walking past it and saying to the camera "thought they burned that"- proof at least one survived, as HELLZAPOPPIN was made after KANE.

 

[agliarept]

What a great find!
Since, the label is blank, it is a good chance these devil pieces were stock costumes and will turn up in other films. I have a clown costume of that ilk that I have spotted in four productions thus far. And, I would guess they are gender neutral, so consider female uses as well.

As for the film, there is a pistol floating around, on a plaque, possibly from the stage production. Olsen and Johnson were the LAUGH IN duo of their time with many costume changes between scenes and blackout comedy.

When Spielberg bought Rosebud in the early 80s at CHRISTIES, Orson Welles decried the purchase by saying he had burned it in the film. However, a scene is HELLZAPOPPIN shows Chic walking past it and saying to the camera "thought they burned that"- proof at least one survived, as HELLZAPOPPIN was made after KANE.

You're totally right about the costume getting re-used, i can definitely see this getting rented out/re used throughout films.

I totally caught that Rosebud reference, so funny.

I love how they had a cameo from the actual Universal Frankenstein, not Karloff, but a stuntman in a similar makeup. Such a great, random movie.