"Hooray for Captain Spaulding" is a

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetit ...

, composed by

Bert Kalmar Bert Kalmar (February 10, 1884 – September 18, 1947) was an American songwriter, who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. He was also a screenwriter. Biography Kalmar, a native of New York City, left school at an early ag ...

and

Harry Ruby Harry Rubenstein (January 27, 1895 – February 23, 1974), known professionally as Harry Ruby, was an American actor, pianist, composer, songwriter and screenwriter, who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.Marx Brothers The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI) ...

Broadway musical Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Th ...

'' Animal Crackers'' and the 1930

film version A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dia ...

. It later became well known as the

theme song Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

for the Groucho Marx television show ''

You Bet Your Life ''You Bet Your Life'' is an American comedy quiz series that has aired on both radio and television. The original and best-known version was hosted by Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers, with announcer and assistant George Fenneman. The show deb ...

'' (1950–1961), and became Groucho's signature tune and was usually played when he was introduced on various talk shows and the like. The modern version of the situation comedy radio show ''

Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel ''Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel'' is a situation comedy radio show starring two of the Marx Brothers, Groucho and his older brother Chico Marx, and written primarily by Nat Perrin and Arthur Sheekman. The series was originally broadcast in t ...

'' uses this song for its opening theme. The line, "I think I'll try to make her" was cut from the movie, being considered too risqué. In 1951, Groucho recorded the song for release by Decca Records.

Chorus

The song is a series of rhyming gags but ends with a loud repeated chorus that drown out the captain's attempts to speak. ''Hooray for Captain Spaulding,'' ''The African explorer.'' ''He brought his name undying fame'' ''And that is why we say,'' ''Hooray, Hooray, Hooray.''

References

External links

Transcript of scene
1928 songs American songs Groucho Marx songs Marx Brothers Songs about explorers Songs about fictional male characters Songs with lyrics by Bert Kalmar Songs with music by Harry Ruby {{1920s-song-stub