Jack Osterman is smitten with a woman on a park bench, and cannot stop saying the word "Umpa" for the rest of the film, which involves his treatment by a doctor and his singing and dancing temptress nurses. Somewhere between utterly silly and consummately brilliant with its fully rhyming dialogue, "Umpa" is the catchword for that enduring urge that makes people do ludicrous things with absolute determination.
Writing
Fully rhyming dialogue — every single line, no exceptions.
Acting
Jack Osterman's unhinged commitment to one nonsense word.
Director
Archie Gottler
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during Hollywood's brief 1933 'two-reel musical comedy' boom before the Production Code crackdown. This weird little genre died fast.
Co-director Con Conrad won the first ever Oscar for Best Song in 1934 — then made this. Career whiplash.
US
