Betty Boop-Stopping the Show - Toonstalgia

Stopping the Show - A Betty Boop Cartoon

Toonstalgia

A 1932 Fleischer Studios Cartoon

Directed by Dave Fleischer

Animated by Roland Crandall, Rudolph Eggeman, Al Eugster

Mae Questel, voiced by Bonnie Poe

Rating: Boop-boop-be-do

Fleischer Studios

In 1931, Chicago Tribune published an article by Tom Pettey. He visited Fleischer Studios. He had the same fun with the cartoons that I do.

"Betty Boop is the sort of a girl who goes to parties and loses her head and sometimes both legs. She flies, swims, crawls and grows or reduces to fit the occasion."

-Tom Pettey, Chicago Tribune, August 24, 1931

According to his article, it took 8000 drawings to create a single short and employed about 200 people. The 200 people included everyone involved in the production including the orchestra. 

He said this "destroys a lot of 'illusions'". It doesn't for me. The sheer scope of effort and work that went into the cartoons makes them more impressive.

It's worth noting, the reporter refers to Bimbo as a dog and Betty's "boy friend". Bimbo's status as Betty's boyfriend was controversial for canine reasons. I don't know if he meant the grade school "boy that is her friend" boy friend but I doubt it. It's one piece of evidence that Betty and Bimbo were an item.

"Stopping the Show"

The first Betty Boop cartoon (not the first appearance of Betty Boop) was "Stopping the Show" and it's a work of meta goodness. The cartoon is set in a theater. A Koko and Bimbo cartoon plays before Betty's live show of imitations. 

The first imitation is Helen Kane and Betty sings "He's my weakness" but she doesn't reference Kane. She doesn't need to change her appearance because Betty was based on Kane. Helen Kane was cut out of later prints due to litigation she was involved in over the studio using her likeness when designing Betty.

Second is an imitation of Fanny Brice who sang "I'm an Indian" in the 1928 lost film "My Man". It's a cringy sequence to those with modern sensibilities. The images are stereotypical symbols people thought of at the time when they thought Native Americans like her dress and a teepee. The animators wanted to quickly and easily communicate the theme of the song.

She also imitates Maurice Chevalier when she sings "50 Million French Men can't be Wrong". He was also the singer of the "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" and as I hate that song. I didn't know he sang it until I looked him up for this.

The cartoon has the usual gags but most of the attention is on Betty's act as it should be.

Sources

Stopping the Show. Dir. Dave Fleischer. Perf. Mae Questel, Gus Wickie. Paramount Publix Corporation, 1932.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stopping_the_Show

Pettey, Tom (1931, August 24). Gotham's Goofiest Place Spotted. Chicago Tribune, pp. 5.