Betty Boop Christmas Ornaments

It's Christmas time again, and this year, partially thanks to this blog, I was inspired to decorate our tree with a couple Betty Boop ornaments. There were so many to choose from online, but I went with the 'Santa suit' and 'black dress' Betty ornaments (seen below) from Kurt S. Adler, mainly because I thought the black dress was cool and because they were sold as a set on Amazon. The Black Dress Betty has a bit of a bling to it from glitter coating the jewelry and silver regions of the dress, and those red shoes on Santa Betty are just adorable.

So I figured I'd stop after the first two ornaments, but, while Christmas shopping at the mall, I came across a section inside of a Hallmark store that featured glittery, colorful resin Betty Boop ornaments (pictured below) from Westland Giftware that were too irresistible to not buy a couple.

I once read about a 1931 Christmas card from Fleischer Studios, drawn by Willard Bowsky, that shows Betty Boop supposedly in bed with Santa Claus. Well it wasn't that difficult to find, as it is featured on the Fleischer Studios website. At first glance, it might appear that Betty is about to retire on Christmas Eve, giving a goodnight wink, with her winter boots and festive apparel neatly folded, but the parked reindeer outside allows the imagination to run wild... Oh Dear, Santa! What would Mrs. Claus think?

Image Source: Fleischer Studios Incorporated

     

Betty Boop Travel Drawstring Jewelry Pouch

While at an arts and crafts festival, I spotted this item at a distance. As I got closer, I started to think it was a Betty Boop shower cap. How embarrassed I was when the lady selling it told me it was not a shower cap but a jewelry travel pouch with several small inner pockets lining the side interior and that could close up when you pull the two side drawstrings. I didn't approve of the implicit gambling theme, with the red and white dice and the word 'lucky' regularly spread around the exterior, but I made an exception here and assumed that Betty's just lucky all around. What's special about this is that it is not a stock item but a unique handmade item crafted from a kind lady, who was showing me a lot of different designs, but I told her that I was only interested in the Betty Boop one. Since I don't have any jewelry, the pouch now sits atop my PS4 and is home to my Dragon Quest Blue Slime Plush and a few other items that occupy some of the inner pockets. 

Betty Boop Metal Sign

For fans attracted to the more nostalgic and vintage side of Betty Boop, this collector metal sign is a treat. It's by Desperate Enterprises, Inc. and is supposed to be a duplication of an original from way back when (though I'm not sure how far back), with its damage and flaws recreated. It definitely captures Betty's chipper spirit and is something I'd expect to see in a '50s style diner. I didn't notice at first, but the background contains Betty comic strips, which are from a series of full color Sunday newspaper comic strips, drawn by Bud Counihan, produced and printed from November 25th, 1934 to November 27th, 1937.

What struck me when I first saw this metal sign is that I had never seen this Betty artwork before. There's a lot of stock artwork of Betty, but this image of her in what appears to be a giddy mood is quite unique and reminds me of the classic Betty cartoon Ha! Ha! Ha! (1934), where Betty and Koko the Clown (sadly his last appearance), as well as various inanimate objects and people on the streets, get hopped-up on laughing gas. This particular episode was supposedly banned at one point in time for its depiction of drug use.

From Ha! Ha! Ha! (1934)