Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a fuss, a commotion; excitement.

1877		N.-Y. Trib. 1 Mar. n.p.: The Stock Exchange to-day commenced its business of speculation with a grand ‘hoop-la,’ regardless of the closing prices of yesterday.
1890		Sporting Times 19 Apr. 1/3: The Persecuted are Ever Squeezing the Lemons whilst the Persecutors are Lowering the Hoopla.
1933		S. Walker Night Club Era 245: Most of the money she [Texas Guinan] gathered in during the years of the great hoop-la was money which came from persons who were eager to spend it.
1948		Carpenter Mar. 16: Organized some three years ago amid a great hoopla of Communist propaganda and promotion, it has creaked along in a very erratic and unpredictable manner [DA].
1952		Lait & Mortimer USA Confidential 71: Now that the hoopla has been forgotten, the record is clear.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Mama Black Widow 177: The hoopla and hysteria of the Second World War seemed to compress time.
1979		E. Torres After Hours 145: He used to make a big hoopla about knowing the street.
1983		R. Price Breaks 57: When people got wind of what the hooplah was, they retreated to their booths.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 67: In all the hubbub and hoopla some nitwit cop had misplaced the goddam five-pound nickelplated padlock.
1998		R.G. Barrett Mud Crab Boogie (2013) [ebook] The hyped-up Brazilians [...] banged their drums and boogied around the ring. There was a bit more hoopla then a bell rang.
2003		T. Dorsey Stingray Shuffle 149: Can this Hurricane Andrew be what all the hoopla’s about?
2011		G. Hayward Corruption Officer [ebk] cap. 14: For the next couple of says things were on lockdown [...] Then after the hoopla died down I was working [...] with Biz again.