Roger Rabbit was wrong - Betty Boop’s career wasn’t cut short by color cartoons, but by Hollywood’s imposition of the 1934 Hays Production Code. This prohibited the depiction of “indecent exposure,” liquor & drugs, “dances suggesting or representing sexual actions,” & many other things which gave Betty - a flapper girl of the Jazz Age - so much of her flirty, naughty-but-nice appeal.
Other cartoon stars like Mickey Mouse were not so affected by the Hays Code, & by the time Looney Tunes reached its heyday, the code was not being so strictly enforced. For Betty, however, it was fatal. She skyrocketed in popularity after making her first appearance in 1930, but after the code was implemented in 1934, production of Betty Boop cartoons would only continue until 1939. Sexually suggestive appearances, references, humor or behavior (such as dancing) were out, as were references to illegal drug use, depictions of infidelity, and other sources of adult humor in so many of these early animated films. Interest in the “cleaned up” Betty dwindled, as her flirty misadventures abruptly halted, replaced by such activities as babysitting or doing laundry.
Here for everyone’s enjoyment is a highlight reel I’ve made of Betty at her saucy-but-sweetest; the kind of risqué humor & sex appeal which made Fleischer Studios cartoons stand out from the more cutesy-animal stuff that other studios were making in the early years of Hollywood animation’s golden age. The first clip is from Betty’s first appearance in “Dizzy Dishes” (1930) and the last is from “There’s Something About A Soldier” (1934). This seemed like the right place to mark the end of that era, because in her very next cartoon “Betty Boop’s Little Pal,” her dog Pudgy would be introduced and she’d wear her famous flapper suit for the last time - the beginning of her domestication.
If you’d like to collect classic Betty cartoons for yourself, I’d recommend Olive Films’ “Betty Boop: The Essential Collection”, an excellent four-volume series of Blu-Rays. If you’d like to learn more about Betty’s creation and the history of Fleischer Studios, I’d recommend Richard Fleischer’s biography of his father “Out of the Inkwell: Max Fleischer and the Animation Revolution” as well as Ray Pointer’s “The Art and Inventions of Max Fleischer: American Animation Pioneer.” There is also an upcoming documentary about Fleischer Studios, “Cartooning America” which just won the Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film, to look forward to.
And finally, to learn more about the ongoing restoration of Fleischer cartoons and upcoming revival screenings, check out “Fleischer Cartoons!” on social media: linktr.ee/flei... - they’re doing great work.
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Copyright Disclaimer: This video is a work of scholarship and therefore falls within the remit of Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowing for “Fair Use.”
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6 окт 2024
