The Bum Bandit (1931)

The Bum Bandit was released eighty seven years ago today. This is an early Talkartoons cartoon in Betty's filmography, during the time when she was more or less a product still in development, but don't let that deter you, because these are still some of the coolest; I'm especially looking at you Mysterious Mose (1930).

The Bum Bandit takes on the nostalgic western mise-en-scène, on a railway, probably some time around the late 19th century on the American frontier. Bimbo is the bum bandit, holding up and robbing a train, and Betty (here named Dangerous Nan McGrew) is the heroic foil, who out-toughs the tough guy, with the punchline joke of sorts being that she is Bimbo's wife looking to drag this bum bandit back home to what looks like their seventeen kids that he is neglecting (although I only counted ten in the photo Betty pulls out).

Betty, er I mean Mrs. McGrew, is all kinds of awesome here, although not necessarily in Betty Boop character yet, which wouldn't really be established until a few Talkartoons films later with Silly Scandals (1931). It looks like she's wearing two thigh garters instead of her usual single left one. She still has her spit curls, hanging jowls, poodle ears, and she pelts a couple of mean tunes, a catchy piece called The Hold-Up Rag and the more aggressive Dangerous Nan McGrew. What was most distracting for me though was how different her voice sounds, as this is the only time she is voiced by Harriet Lee, not having the higher voice attributed to her by Mae Questel and Ann Little. It still isn't bad, but she doesn't sound like Betty, and it threw me for a loop the first time I heard it.

Of interesting note is that the character of Dangerous Nan McGrew was originally played by Helen Kane in the film Dangerous Nan McGrew (1930), and her performance of the song, which is different than the one in the cartoon, just made me a Helen Kane fan. 

Helene Kane - Dangerous Nan McGrew (1930), uploaded by YouTube user Aaron1912