CARTOON EVOLUTION #11
I take a look at the history and evolution of Betty Boop, the sexy, sultry and seductive animated goddess and icon of the Golden Age of animation – debuting at the Fleischer Studio in 1930, she provided a bright spark of light for those in the Depression era, pining for the optimistic days of the Jazz Age.
As a series filled with highly promiscuous material, mainly aimed towards an adult audience, Betty never saw enormous stardom, even at the height of her career. And following the introduction of the Hays Code in 1934, she saw an even further decline in popularity with her cartoons suddenly watered-down. Relegated to sporadic television appearances in later decades and becoming a merchandising symbol and pin-up icon in the 1980s, Betty has struggled to find her place in the limelight ever since.
I take a look at how Betty has evolved and how animators changed her look, appearance and personality to conform with rapidly changing social norms and how she was inspired by such icons as Baby Esther Jones, Helen Kane and Clara Bow.
EARLY FLEISCHER SHORTS
Out of the Inkwell - Tantalizing Fly / Clown’s Little Brother / Mechanical Doll / It’s all the Cats / Ko-Ko’s Haunted House / Ko-Ko’s Big Sale
Inkwell Imps - Ko-Ko’s Catch / Ko-Ko Hops Off / Ko-Ko’s Earth Control / Ko-Ko’s Courtship / Chemical Ko-Ko / Ko-Ko’s Hot Ink /
Sound Car-Toon - My Old Kentucky Home / Tramp, Tramp, Tramp /
BETTY BOOP & BIMBO SHORTS (INC. TALKARTOON & SCREEN SONGS)
Romantic Melodies
Just a Gigolo
Swing You Sinners!
Hot Dog
Mysterious Mose
Bimbo’s Initiation
Dizzy Dishes
Barnacle Bill
Silly Scandals
Teacher’s Pest
Any Little Girl That’s a Nice Girl
Row, Row, Row
Please Go ‘way and Let Me Sleep
Hide and Seek
The Bum Bandit
Betty Co-Ed
Bimbo’s Express
Minding the Baby
Mask-A-Raid
Kitty from Kansas
Jack and the Beanstalk
Dizzy Red Riding Hood
Crazy Town
Any Rags?
Boop-Oop-a-Doop
Swim or Sink
Minnie the Moocher (with Cab Calloway)
The Betty Boop Limited
Let Me Call You Sweetheart
Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning
Stopping the Show
Museum
For President
May Party
Life Guard
Bizzy Bee
She Wronged Him Right
Ha! Ha! Ha!
Trial
Morning, Noon and Night
Big Boss
Snow-White (with Cab Calloway)
Penthouse
I Heard
Red Hot Mama
The Old Man of the Mountain (with Cab Calloway)
Betty Boop’s Rise to Fame
Bamboo Isle
Ups and Downs
Parade of the Wooden Soldiers
Time on My Hands
Hallowe’en Party
A Hunting We Will Go
Chess-Nuts
Birthday Party
Crazy Inventions
I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead You Rascal You (with Louis Armstrong)
Keep In Style
Pudgy Takes a Bow
Zula Hula
Stop That Noise
Thrills and Chills
When My Ship Comes In
Out of the Inkwell
Judge For a Day
Service With a Smile
House Cleaning Blues
Prize Show
There’s Something About a Soldier
No! No! A Thousand Times No!!
The Swing School
Be Up to Date
Foxy Hunter
Grampy’s Indoor Outing
Pudgy the Watchman
Little Pal
The Scared Crows
Be Human
The Impractical Joker
Happy You and Merry Me
Riding the Rails
Sally Swing
A Dream Walking
Popeye the Sailor
Betty and Grampy
So Does an Automobile
and the Little King
and Little Jimmy
with Henry, the Funniest Living American
Musical Mountaineers
My Friend the Monkey
Rhythm on the Reservation
Yip Yip Yippy
On With the New
Hooray For Betty Boop
Romance of Betty Boop
Hollywood Mystery
Lancome Commercial
Dan-E Commercial
Betty Goes A-Posen
Slot Machines - Fire House / Love Machine / Dance Card Bop
OTHER SHORTS
Felix the Cat Gets Revenge
Mickey Mouse - Steamboat Willie / The Opry House / Mickey’s Mellerdrammer / The Band Concert / Thru the Mirror
Flip the Frog
Willie Whopper
Comi-Color Cartoons
Popeye - Strong to the Finich / The Man on the Flying Trapeze / Doing Impossikible Stunts / Fleets of Stren’th / Moving Aweigh
OTHER MEDIA
The Marx Brothers in The CocoanutsWalt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Misc. Pre-Code films
Night After Night (Mae West)
She Done Him Wrong (Mae West)
Gulliver’s Travels
Mr. Bug Goes to Town
Superman
Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor
Sinbad Jr. and His Magic Belt
Space Ghost
The Herculoids
Birdman and the Galaxy Trio
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
The Lego Movie
Peter Rabbit
Happy Feet
HELEN KANE MOVIES
A Lesson in Love
The Dangerous Nan McGrew
Sweetie
Nothing But the Truth
I Think You’ll Like It
Paramount on Parade (1930)
CLARA BOW MOVIES
She’s Got It
Get Your Man
Wings
#BettyBoop #Fleischer #Popeye #MickeyMouse #Disney #CartoonEvolution
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HYPERFUN Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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CARTOON EVOLUTION Opening Music -
YOU SO ZANY by Audionautix (http://audionautix.com/).
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Between 2016/17, channel was previously: Disney Dave Down Under