An early Florenz Ziegfeld-Busby Berkeley all-color extravangaza set in Arizona, where prismatic photography takes in regalia of Indians beside gowned chorines, Whoopee features Eddie Cantor as The Nervous Wreck (the title of the Owen Davis play on which the original stage production was based), the hilarious hypochondriac temporarily distracted from his ailments by a call to duty: saving Sally (Eleanor Hunt) from a forced marriage to the sheriff, when it is the Indian boy Wanenis she truly loves. Between dance numbers and songs, including “Making Whoopee” and “My Baby Just Cares For Me,” a race proceeds from ranch to ranch (and reservation), but it is Wanenis' true race which saves the day, and narrowly saves the film from its bold sub-theme: when Wanenis is discovered to be white, abandoned at birth, Sally's father consents to the marriage.
Whoopee was received enthusiastically on its New York opening, and though the unusual theme of interracial love went unmentioned by the New York Times, Eddie Cantor's antics did not: “In this production Cantor's clowning transcends even Mr. Ziegfeld's shining beauties, the clever direction and the tuneful melodies. And this is saying a great deal, for there is much to feast on.”