Cheburashka character named "Старуха Шапокляк" (Old Lady Shapoklyak, from French "chapeau claque", a kind of collapsible top hat). Shapoklyak is a mischievous but charming old lady. She is tall and thin, wears a hat, a dark-coloured dress, and bloomers, and carries around a pet rat, Lariska, in her purse to help her play pranks on people, though near the end of some stories she turns around and helps the protagonists. The chorus of her theme song contains her motto, "One won't ever get famous for good deeds." The rights to the Cheburashka character and image have been heavily debated in court.
Top Hat they duly do, in this fragment of a much longer duet – the original was cut after the July 1935 previews – but not before they parade across the Venetian set and reprise the Piccolino step. The film earned $1,782,000 in the US and Canada and $1,420,000 elsewhere. RKO made a profit of $1,325,000, making it the studio's most profitable film of the 1930s. It was the 4th most popular film at the British box office in 1935–36. Reviews for "Top Hat" were mainly positive. The "Los Angeles Evening Herald Express" praised the film, exclaiming ""Top Hat" is the tops!