Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle (1932)

Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle was one of the first five Betty Boop cartoons I had ever watched, and what I remember most was when, early in the film, Bimbo crashes his motorboat and gets tossed into Betty's canoe, and she responds with a startled "Holy Smacks." It's the G-rated version of "holy shit," but the way Betty says it is funny and a little coquettish. I also mostly remember the ending, after Betty and Bimbo escape the island tribe in Bimbo's boat, when it would seem Bimbo gets lucky but perhaps only so lucky as getting a big wet kiss from Betty, and not the other thing. She is innocent after all despite her status as a sex symbol.

This cartoon is of course one of the most iconic animated shorts due to Betty's rotoscoped hula dance. The dance is impressive and is modeled after the live action dancer from the intro to the cartoon that features The Royal Samoans, who also provide an excellent soundtrack to the film. The dance is quite sensationally scandalous because Betty is essentially topless with a thin lei just barely censoring her nudity.

Bamboo Isle is a fun, classic, pre-code film, although sorely dated from Bimbo resorting to a racial gimmick to save himself from the island tribe. A time capsule of a bygone era that still holds up as an entertaining, memorable short, Bamboo Isle is a great eight minute diversion.        
  

The Betty Boop Limited (1932)

"♫Ain'tcha kind of glad, and ain'tcha kind of gay, when you hear me say I loooves ya? Aww, tell me, baby, aw ain'tcha? Boop-Oop-A-Doop♫." -Betty Boop

Ever wonder what goes on during the train rides with the traveling troupe of performers for Betty Boop's show? Me neither, but The Betty Boop Limited affords us the opportunity to see behind the scenes and just how Betty motivates her cabinet of curiosities to rehearse one last time before the big show. Apparently, they are not afraid to risk life and limb to rehearse the finale by dancing on top of the moving train. (Since I'm just coming off of it, I am reminded a little of American Horror Story: Freak Show for likely no good reason.)

This was the last Talkartoons episode before Betty would fully take over as the lead and have her own show, and it's a harmless bout of surreal madness that is more about the music, song, and dance performances than any sort of plot. Betty gets the ball rolling, exemplifying her one of a kind charisma, by singing an appropriately Betty Boop-ish song "Ain'tcha" that will stay with you.

It's apparent Betty runs the show now at this point, despite that it was previously Bimbo's show in the earlier episodes, as Bimbo doesn't do much but a short juggling act. A rotoscoped Koko the Clown does a cute soft-shoe dance that is technically impressive but a long way from his St. Infirmary Blues performance in Betty Boop's Snow White (1933). There's a Running gag with a warbling cat crooning the lyrics from the song Silver Threads Among the Gold "darling I am growing oldeeer" who I'm pretty sure is Mae Questel pretending to sing bad. These lyrics are revisited in Betty Boop, M.D. (1932).

All in all, a worthy finale to the Talkartoons series.

Minnie the Moocher (1932)

Minnie the Moocher, probably the most recognized Betty Boop cartoon episode, and for good reason, is a cool, jazzy experience with supernatural, surreal animation sequences involving ghosts, skeleton cats, and a rotoscoped dancing, scat singing, spectral walrus voiced by Cab Calloway. The technical ingenuity and macabre creativity combined with the jazz music makes this Talkartoons animation short an all time cartoon classic.

This was the first of three cartoons with Betty Boop to feature Calloway, the other two being Snow White (1933) and The Old Man of the Mountain (1933). It is also noted for containing the earliest filmed footage of Calloway, where he can be seen with his band dancing and doing what has been referred to as a proto-moonwalk.

Having Betty runaway from home with Bimbo after fighting with her parents does deliver a never-runaway-from-home message, with the creepy show in the cave being a kind of scare lesson that drives Betty and Bimbo back to home-sweet-home (I first got a similar lesson from Fleischer Studios as a kid with the short cartoon Small Fry (1939)).

It's Betty Boop's story, but the main focus and attraction is the haunted cave and the showy phantasmagoria that transpires within. For anyone checking out Betty's cartoons for the first time, Minnie the Moocher is no doubt the perfect episode to start with.