Morning, Noon and Night (1933)

Morning, Noon and Night was the first of two Betty Boop cartoons to feature music performed by  violinist David Rubinoff and his Orchestra, the other cartoon being Parade of the Wooden Soldiers (1933). Here the orchestra is performing Ein Morgen, ein Mittag und ein Abend in Vienna, an overture by nineteenth century Austrian composer Franz von Suppe, who's classical pieces, owing to their operatic nature, would be used quite extensively in cartoons, a lot of times uncredited.

This is probably one of the more age-appropriate pre-code Betty cartoons and would probably fit in nicely alongside Loony Toons. As there isn't much of a story, the symphonic music juxtaposed with the cartoon visuals is where most of the entertainment value comes from. There is a clear cut conflict that arises after the peace loving chickens living in a utopia are disturbed by the arrival of the tomcat antagonists. This story conflict reminds me of how my mom liked to attract birds to her yard with bird feeders and how it frequently had the unfortunate consequence of attracting cats as well, and sadly a number of birds would fall prey to the skilled felines.

The cartoon does manage to take place over the course of morning, night, and day, as the title suggests, and is set on a chicken farm/haven run by Betty. All is well until the villains, traveling in a pack known as Tom Kats Social Club, arrive in their jalopy looking for chickens to prey on. Tomcat also means to pursue women promiscuously for sex, and this is kind of an in-joke that is figured into the conflict, in that the anthropomorphic cats are not just looking for chickens to eat but also a woman to have a good time with. This kind of puts Betty Boop in the same boat as the chickens. The situation is humorously exemplified in a sequence where Betty's head pops up over the fence in a line of chicken heads popping up to survey the onslaught from the feline invaders (I think this part is so cute and is the main reason I wanted to review this cartoon; it's also hilarious).

Morning, Noon and Night may not stand out as one of the most classic Betty Boop cartoons, but I do have a soft spot for it. It is a little disappointing in that I feel there is a wasted opportunity for Betty to be the hero of the story. Just when you think she's about to kick some ass, she is relegated to damsel-in-distress momentarily. Betty responds to the arrival of the cats as if she be saving the day, marching into battle as her theme song plays, but she is unfortunately overpowered and has to be saved, something I'll admit happens a little too often in Betty's cartoons. It's still a lot of fun when the fighting rooster shows those mean ol' cats who's boss.