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.

Mysterious Mose (1930)

Although her character was still in the early developmental phase, with puppy ears and a darker complexion, the atmospheric and haunting Mysterious Mose was the fourth Talkartoons animated short to feature Betty (voiced here by Margie Hines), but she was not yet known as Betty Boop at this point (she would not be named Betty Boop until the episode Silly Scandals in 1931). She's nameless here, but she was referred to as ?Nancy Lee? in a previous episode, Barnacle Bill (1930).

Mysterious Mose is one spooky, fun episode with a bit of a gothic horror slant to it. Part of its success as an eerie cartoon comes from the ghostly sound effects at the beginning, with Betty being awoken at night by a serious haunting. The cartoon takes a stylish turn when spooked Betty slips out of bed in her nightgown to explore the dark house with a lit candle. The antics ramp up when Betty breaks into the episode's theme song, before being joined by ghostly Bimbo and other midnight spooks.

Mysterious Mose would definitely pair well with Betty Boop's Hallowe'en Party (1933) and has been noted for brief flashes of quasi-nudity a couple times when Betty cartoonishly has the shirt scared off of her, which was most risque for the time.

Betty Boop Socks

Socks can be pretty unexciting, unless they're Betty Boop socks. It's too bad I can't show off in these manly knee-highs around my friends, as the socks appear to be too small, and I don't want to risk stretching out and damaging them.

Betty's image on the gray pair is charmingly pixelated, which I imagine is for ease of manufacturing, but as someone who grew up on classic Nintendo, it makes me wonder why we never had a Betty Boop game on the NES. There's a couple of recent mobile game apps featuring Betty Boop that I enjoyed, including Betty Boop Bop, Betty Boop Beat, and Dress Betty Boop. In Betty Boop Bop there is a classic gaming homage level that's also kind of Tron-ish called Biterial Girl that contains some rocking chip-tune music. Check it out if you can.

From Keep In Style (1934)

Betty Boop, M.D. (1932)

The topic of Betty Boop, M.D. is an odd one for the pre-code trio of Betty, Koko the Clown, and Bimbo, but it raises an issue that is still significant today: the snake oil peddler and the quack M.D. that endorses it. Miracle potion charlatans have come in many forms over time to promote their fraudulent health products/supplements to people with enough money and credulity, and this zany Betty short makes a farce of the matter. It kind of imparts the lesson of not falling for an unscrupulous sale just because a babe in a small dress is trying to sell it to you. Although, knowing me, I'd probably still be inclined to buy a bottle of Jippo from Betty.

A rundown caravan carts into town with the product Betty Boop's Jippo advertised on its side, and after the crowd is not convinced to buy Jippo after Koko's little contortion number, Betty instead tantalizes them with a dance and song number, and suddenly everyone's a lot more interested in Jippo. Despite coming from a fire hydrant, the product has a number of cartoony effects on the people that try it, which I'm guessing is a satire of the supposed miracle and misguided placebo effect that the nominal "cure-all" health potion might induce.

The cartoon climaxes when Bimbo takes a drink of Jippo and breaks into the classic jazz/pop song Nobody's Sweetheart Now (1924). I didn't catch at first that it was referencing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but Betty Boop, M.D. probably has one of the freakiest and most mind-numbing closeouts in cartoon history. Overall, it's an unethical episode but all in good fun.

Video of "Nobody's SweetHeart Now" Juxtaposed Over Silent Movie Stars: From YouTube User Shabanni:
   

Betty Boop Wine Figurine

Westland Giftware probably has some of the most detailed, and coolest, Betty Boop figurines. This wine-themed Betty figurine was a pleasant surprise. I came across it at Hasting's in a fully opaque box that was labelled "Wine A Bit Figurine," so I wasn't sure what it was going to look like, possibly some sort of Betty wine glass / figurine hybrid. It actually turned out to be a classy Betty statue holding a glass of wine, with the inscription "wine a bit, you'll feel better" (words to live by). It's white wine though, which I oddly enough happen to be allergic to. I am therefore a red-wine-all-the-way kind of person, preferably a dry Cabernet or Merlot, but I do love a good Zinfandel sometimes.

Thanks to this figurine, I couldn't help noticing that Betty's top most spit-curls almost look like devil horns, so I thought to complement the perceived devilish trait by posing Betty next to one of my Garbage Pail Kids Mystery Minis, Hot Scott (Westland Giftware actually does have a Naughty Betty Figurine with an actual devilish theme, with a spade tail and all). Now don't get me wrong, despite her status as a sex icon, I've always perceived Betty as completely innocent, but those top spit-curl horns seem awfully suggestive. In the Betty Boop cartoon Red Hot Mama (1934), Betty does take a trip through Hell, and she lights the place up with song and dance, as Betty usually does.

From Red Hot Mama (1934)

         

Betty Boop Coffee Mugs

What's better than morning coffee? Morning coffee in a Betty Boop mug...

I love coffee. I always have since High School. In fact, I had my first serving in the 2nd grade. Back then I used to use a lot of Sweet'N Low and non-dairy creamer, which just sounds unappetizing now, but today I mostly take it with a small amount of milk and no sweetener. Sometimes, I'll add a little half n half, or if the mood strikes me, black is just fine too.

I frequently use the red Betty mug in the morning, because it holds nearly four standard servings. Yes, that is what you call 'a cup of Joe.' I received it around Christmas time, and I've been trying to keep it clean, but the brown coffee stains are starting to inevitably appear on the interior. Bummer...

The travel mug is super cool, but I refrained from taking it to work because of the risque image of Betty, paying homage to her pre-code days, flashing her underskirt. It probably qualifies as NSFW in its own way. It has an unfortunate design flaw that I noticed when I first washed it, where water leaks in at the top through the connection between the transparent plastic exterior and the black rim, which damaged the underlying design. Double bummer...

Something interesting involving Betty Boop and coffee happened to me on Monday morning, before work. I was in line at the Starbucks drive-through, and when I pulled up to the window, the employee handed me my cafe latte and a receipt and said, "the driver in front of you paid for your coffee because you like Betty Boop." It took a while for me to comprehend; I just kept holding out my debit card, not knowing what she was talking about. I wasn't paying attention to the driver in front of me, so I have no idea who they were, but in the off chance they might read this: thank you! That was kind of you and it did make my day. I guess my Betty Boop license plate is cooler than I thought. ;)    

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.