"Hooray for Hollywood" is a
popularsong first featured in the
1937 movie Hollywood Hotel, and which has since become (together with "
That's Entertainment" and "
There's No Business like Show Business") the staple soundtrack element of any
Academy Awards ceremony. It is even frequently played during non-American movie ceremonies, e.g. the French
César Awards. The popularity of the song is notably due to an exciting and memorable melody and lyrics by
Johnny Mercer, which reference the American movie industry and satirize the desire to become a Hollywood movie star.
Its lyrics can be difficult to fully understand today, as they refer to people (e.g.
Aimee Semple) or cultural elements (e.g.
rotos) which have since been largely forgotten. The lyrics have also evolved over the years. Notably, the line "where any shopgirl can be a top girl, if she pleases the tired businessman" vanished quite quickly, and is absent from the
1958 Doris Day version, having been replaced with "and any barmaid can be a star made if she dances with or without a fan" The latter part of the line refers to
Sally Rand and her
fan dance. Today the song is performed mostly as a melody. It also includes reference to
Walt Disney and his cartoons with the lines "You could be
Donald Duck."
In 1977, the song was performed twice during an episode of The Brady Bunch Variety Hour. Some lyrics were altered to reference then-current pop-culture ("If you find things get rough, you could get
Pufnstuf..." and "...where any person like
Laverne or Shirley or
Jo Anne Worley is equally understood"[1]).
Jay Leno on the Tonight Show often did take-offs of
Rodney Dangerfield's
schtick, telling bandleader
Kevin Eubanks; "Kevin, the economy is so bad that..." After the punchline, the Tonight Show Band played a fast melody of "Hooray for Hollywood".
In the Disney Channel original movie Phantom of The Megaplex Mickey Rooney’s character “Movie Mason” sings the tail end of the song in front of the theatre for the premiere of the movie.
In The Simpsons episode "
Mayored to the Mob", the cast members of a production of Guys and Dolls sing a song with the musical's title to the tune of "Hooray for Hollywood", which, as the show's star
Mark Hamill points out, isn't actually one of that show's musical numbers.[3]
A cha-cha instrumental version of the song was used as bumper music for David Feeney's short-lived "Hollywood Minute" segment on the popular podcast Daves of Thunder.
A simplified score of the melody decorates the banisters in the Hollywood/Vine Red Line Station in Los Angeles leading down to the platform.
Rock band
Hollywood Undead sample the
Doris Day version of this song in their live pre-set introduction.