Chicken Soup, Please

Rudy Vallee revealed in the February, 1932 edition of Radio Digest that composer Herman (Do-Do) Hupfeld promised he could introduce his newest competition “Goopy Gear Plays Piano By Ear” on the air. Hupfeld was appearing on the Hart, Schaffner & Marx Hour on CBS at the time, and the sponsor was unhappy that Vallee got a two-hour jump on putting the song on the radio.

The tune is best known for being the reason for the existence of the 1932 Warners cartoon Goopy Geer. There’s singing, dancing, piano playing, repetitious “gags,” re-used animation from an earlier cartoon. And we get a gorilla-waiter ordering chicken soup, made by a chicken swimming in a pot then drying itself off.



At the time, Hupfeld was best-known for composing “When Yuba Does the Rumba on the Tuba,” which also appeared on Warner Bros. cartoons and Vallee recorded for Victor. He also wrote a song involving something to do with a kiss being just a kiss and a sigh being just a sigh.