narrative of the song imitate those of African-American revival meetings. The song was referenced by the Salina Herald of Salina, Kansas, on December 31, 1891. The piece describes a fire in a Chicago hotel in which, coincidentally, the last notes played on an organ were "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town, To-night." The article apparently assumed that the reader would understand the reference and tune, suggesting that the musical phrase had an earlier origin. The Centralia Enterprise and Tribune of Centralia, Wisconsin, published a piece about a football game on March 8, 1890, placing in quotes the phrase, "there will be a hot time in the old town tomorrow tonight." Again, the placement within quotes suggests that the reader was expected to understand a reference to something else from popular culture. The song, or phrase from a song, was already part of American culture. In popular culture Films and musicals The song appears as an instrumental at the very end of the New Year's Eve scene in the 1927 stage and 1936 film versions of the musical Show Boat. It is quoted in the song "Wintergreen for President" in Of Thee I Sing (1931). It was the original theme song for Looney Tunes when it launched in 1930. The song is performed in the 1936 Mae West film Klondike Annie. The song is also featured in Citizen Kane (1941), in the line: "are we going to declare war on Spain or are we not?". Portions of the song are heard at various points throughout John Ford's film, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). The Joker sings the title line from this song in a scene where he uses his "joy buzzer" to electrocute the character Antoine Rotelli in the film Batman (1989). Catwoman directly refers to the song title as Selina Kyle, while asking Bruce Wayne if he plans to attend the tree relighting ceremony in the film Batman Returns (1992). The melody was used for "The Chewing Song" in the Columbia Pictures film The Road to Wellville (1994). The song features in season 1, episode 5 of the PBS Masterpiece Mystery series, Grantchester (2014). The song is sung by drunken ranch-hands at a saloon in the 2021 Jane Campion film, The Power of the Dog (film), set in 1925. Military The song was a favorite of the American military at the end of the 19th