Chess-Nuts (1932)

"♫Hel-lo, King-y! Mm-mm, King-y! Oh-oh, king-y! Hel-lo, King-y!♫" -Betty Boop

Conflict is a-brewin' in chessboard land. The black queen Betty Boop is being controlled and forced against her will to be courted by that lecherous-old-man (Old King Cole) antagonist again, who's got fire in his eyes for the Boop. Who is tasked with the daunting but rewarding duty of saving her? Bimbo the dog (the white king, I mean) of course! ♫B-I-M-B-O; ♫B-I-M-B-O, ♫B-I-M-B-O! ♫Bimbo is his name♫. And Koko the Clown is along for the ride, too.  

A live action/animated segment as well as a stop motion animation part with dueling chess pieces start things off. I do dig the whole chess-world theme, which I thought was mildly reminiscent of Through the Looking Glass (1871). Bimbo and Koko are fighting with Old King Cole in order to free Queen Betty from the tower, where Betty dances and sings in the window as a kind of cheerleader when the fight evolves from Chess to Bowling and then to Football. The segment when Bimbo runs for a touchdown with a lit-fuse-bomb in place of a football is funny and sort of exciting.

Chess Nuts, though perhaps lacking a little in the memorable music bits, embodies the best of Pre-Code Betty Boop cartoon shorts with humorous takes on mature themes that are admittedly in poor taste at times, but that is part of what makes this so peculiar. Plus the pacing is nice, with something comedic happening nearly every few seconds, and the brief 3D animation segments are a marvel even today. As usual, and understandable for a cartoon a little over six minutes long, things wrap up too quickly and too nicely, but Chess Nuts is still a grande little time in a surreal chess dreamland and a personal favorite Betty Boop cartoon of mine.

The Dancing Fool (1932)

"♫C'mon, baby, don't hesitate! C'mon, baby, cooperate! Gee, you're swell-o, hello, hello baby!♫" -Betty Boop

Nothing really seems to stand out to me in this cartoon that much, aside from when Betty shows up a little later to do her song and dance thing. I feel a bit remiss dismissing the rest of the episode so outright, but the cartoon just doesn't seem all that inspired until Batty takes over shortly before the four-minute mark, which is too long to wait for Betty, considering the cartoon is a little over seven minutes long.

Still, it is cool to see Betty, Bimbo, and Koko together, and more regularly at this point (I believe their previous adventure was Swim or Sink with the next one being Chess Nuts); that trio is Pre-Code legend. They are all good friends, but Bimbo and Koko sometimes compete for Betty's attention. Betty, Bimbo, and Koko's dancing at the end of the cartoon together literally brings down the house, er, I mean, brings down the building. Betty's dance school is high atop a skyscraper and is filled with none other than the ever lovable cartoon animals that populate Betty's world.

So, yes, Betty saves this one from being forgettable, as Bimbo and Koko's comedy routine at the beginning together just wasn't quite on the mark, but the magic happens when Betty joins and all three are together.

See you next time for Chess Nuts.

Crazy-Town (1932)

"♫Foolish facts, foolish facts, foolish things, and silly acts. But we have nothing else to do, so let's go crazy.♫" -Betty Boop

In this Talkartoon, Crazy-Town, Betty and Bimbo take an incidental trip to the bizarro world, where everything is pretty much backwards, giving the animators ample opportunity to explore a large number of gags where things occur opposite of how you'd expect. Even Betty and Bimbo's presence here seems a bit incidental.

I got to admit to being pretty ho-hum about this one, that is until the quick but morbid scene in the beauty parlor, where instead of having their hair styled by a qualified cosmetologist, women can just come into the parlor and decapitate themselves of their old heads (and toss it in the trash!?) and put on a completely new, beautifully made-over head, just like Princess Mombi from Return to Oz (1985), or rather Princess Langwidere from the book Ozma of Oz (1907) by L. Frank Baum, of which the film Return to Oz was partially based on. Like Dorothy, Betty even refuses to give up her head when a customer takes a fancy to her, resulting in Betty making a brief run for her life. At the end of the adventure, Bimbo gets a couple nice wet kisses from Betty.

Betty's chipper singing (by Mae Questel) heard over the credits at the beginning is just too cute, particularly when she screams "crazy town!". As is usual, there are a few high quality song and dance numbers, with Betty performing a lovely rotoscoped dance (while singing Foolish Facts) with Bimbo on Piano in front of several enthusiastic Crazy Town denizens, towards the end.

The meowing rhino-hippo thing was kind of funny, but aside from the morbid beauty parlor, the bizarro (opposite world) gags just kind of passed by without much response from me. Crazy-Town is still a pretty weird episode that I just recently saw for the first time. It's got its moments that make it worth the near seven minutes of your time to watch it.   

I was playing around with the Betty Boop Snap and Share app on my phone, and I decided to edit a picture I took that commemorated my finally finishing the original Metroid on the NES Classic. Hooray! Unfinished childhood business complete!..
A meeting between Samus and Betty Boop? Now that's a universe crossover worthy of Crazy Town.

Swim Or Sink (1932)

"♫I'm the only shipwrecked female, and I'm lonesome too; I'm so scared, oh, I can't stand it, must be something we can do!♫" -Betty Boop

Another one of Betty's early Talkartoons escapades, S.O.S. (Swim Or Sink) is a high seas adventure cartoon with our favorite trio: Betty, Bimbo, and Koko. Although they aren't introduced until after their ship sinks when they are lost at sea floating on a piece of the wrecked ship. While floating along, ever the city girl, Betty laments the groups current problem of being shipwrecked with a delightful little song and dance performance before they are rescued by pirates, and things go from bad to worse. Since Betty is the only female on the pirate ship, the captain, aroused by Betty, orders that the prisoners, Bimbo and Koko, be sent below so he can have Betty to himself (some men can be real snakes).

It's all comical and lighthearted throughout despite their grave situation. As usual things workout, and the bad guys get theirs.

The songs in the cartoon are catchy, with the drinking song "What Shall We Do With a Drunken Sailor?" being the one you'll most likely walk away with, as it is repeated a few times and is quite upbeat.
 
Swim or Sink looks to have came out after Minnie the Moocher (1932), which is a tough act to follow. It isn't the greatest, but there's something fun about the 'Betty Boop versus the pirates' aspect to the short. The ship sinking gags at the beginning are rather forgettable, but things do get interesting once Betty enters the frame. She's the star, and as the Talkartoons show went on at this point, it became more and more apparent that the show belonged to her.

Boop Oop A Doop (1932)

"♫You can say my voice is awful, Or my songs are too risque. Oh, but don't take my boop-oop-a-doop away!♫" -Betty Boop

There's no denying the appeal of the old-fashion cartoon circus setting, especially for me personally because it always makes me think of Dumbo (1941), one of my favorite Disney animated films.

In the animated short Boop Oop A Doop, originally released January 16th 1932, Betty has a job at the circus as a lion tamer and a tight rope song and dance performer. She's great at what she does and is just so funny and darling when she entertains the circus audience. Not all is peaches and cream though, as later, after Betty's performance, while backstage in her tent, the ringmaster sexually harasses Betty, groping her leg and threatening her job if she doesn't give in to his advances. This is so terrible for Betty. She pleads with the ringmaster to leave her alone by crying and singing the song "Don't Take My Boop Oop A Doop Away!" Luckily Koko the Clown is nearby to lend much appreciated aid to poor Betty.

I do like the way this film goes from cute and silly to grave and serious before ending on a lighter note. Betty is in her top Pre-Code prime here, taming lions, performing two numbers, and ends up facing a serious problem that remains all too relevant to this day.

This is considered an essential Betty Boop classic cartoon by my self as well as in general, I imagine, since it was included on Volume 2 of Betty Boop The Essential Collection on Blu-ray.

Bimbo is on hand in a comical role as an irritating peanut salesman in the audience, bothering a baby that looks like Aloysius, his baby brother from the previous film Minding The Baby (1931). Boop Oop A Doop is also noted for being the first film to feature what would become an iconic running theme-song for Betty Boop "Sweet Betty," heard over the opening title card. 

Jack and the Beanstalk (1931)

Jack and the Beanstalk was originally released November 21st, 1931 and is the final cartoon in which Betty Boop is an anthropomorphic dog woman. What's also interesting is that Bimbo was given his older design again for this short, even though he had evolved into his most recognizable design in earlier animated Talkartoons shorts since The Herring Murder Case (1931), which makes me think this short must've been made earlier and possibly delayed, especially considering that Betty was given her human design for the first time in the preceding Mask-a-Raid (1931).

Bimbo declares war on that obnoxious giant in the sky, always littering on his farm. Bimbo has a can of beans under his hat that he plants intending to grow a beanstalk (apparently he's read Jack and the Beanstalk). Rather than Bimbo climbing the beanstalk, it raises Bimbo, as it grows, through the heavens right to his enemy. Bimbo gets sidetracked a little when he sees Betty Boop imprisoned and forced to prepare food for the giant. Like a gentlemen, he helps her stir the giant bowl of split pea soup.

Later, while Bimbo is busy annoying the giant, an anthropomorphic mouse (Mickey, is that you?) crawls out and grabs on to Betty, providing Bimbo with the dual objective of defeating the giant and saving Betty from asshole Mickey. Betty's sudden cries of "save me!" feel forced and are perhaps a parody of the damsel in distress theme. While she's shouting for Bimbo to save her, Betty's face strangely transforms into what looks like someone else's face.

Again Fleischer Studios managed to adapt another classic tale before Disney (I'm referring to Mickey and the Beanstalk from 1947). I was happy to discover a Jack and the Beanstalk Talkartoons short starring Betty Boop and Bimbo, as I had overlooked it for sometime, but I thought it was a little disappointing after I watched it, and it didn't seem to get better on repeat viewing. Betty is of course wonderful during the times she is animated on screen, but the cartoon is a little lacking otherwise. It is interesting to see Fleischer Studios apply their usual wit to a well-known fairytale, but it really could've been better. It is what it is though, and I don't hate it. To be fair, a lot happens in its near seven minute running time, and as usual the animation is charming and technically impressive for its time. I loved the numerous images of castles on the clouds as Bimbo makes his ascent riding the beanstalk. I have to admit to also thinking about the Super Mario Brothers hidden coin levels.

Minding the Baby (1931)

Way before Baby Herman from Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Bimbo's brother, Aloysius, did the smoking baby gag in the Betty Boop Talkartoons short Minding the Baby, which was theatrically released on September 26th, 1931.

What makes this cartoon notable is that on the opening title card Betty Boop gets top billing above Bimbo for the first time in what was essentially his show (if these characters were real would Bimbo be envious?).

This is also one of the first times Betty and Bimbo are already acquainted, as in most previous Talkartoons films it seems to almost always be a love at first sight meeting. Here, Betty calls over to Bimbo from next door and sends him a letter asking him to come over so they can be alone together since her "Ma" is out. This proves to be a problem since Bimbo has the responsibility of babysitting Aloysius.

The cartoon itself isn't necessarily the most memorable. Just when it starts getting good the film ends, with everyone hiding behind the couch from Bimbo's mother, who's furious after having been pulled up off the street and into the apartment with a cartoonishly powerful vacuum by the cigar smoking, newspaper reading baby.