Betty Boop, M.D.

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Betty Boop, M.D.
Directed by Dave Fleischer
Produced by Max Fleischer
Starring Mae Questel
Animation by Willard Bowsky
Thomas Goodson
Color process Black-and-white
Production
company
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • September 2, 1932 (1932-09-02)
Running time
7 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Betty Boop, M.D. is a 1932 Fleischer Studios animated short film starring Betty Boop, and featuring Koko the Clown and Bimbo. [1] The animated short is certainly one of the more surreal entries in the Betty Boop filmography.

Contents

Plot

Betty, Bimbo and Koko are the owners of a traveling medicine show. They are selling "Jippo", an all-purpose health tonic. Koko's contortionist display doesn't convince the local townsfolk to open their wallets, but Betty's song and dance gets the whole town eager to buy their product. Betty, Koko and Bimbo sell bottles. Drinking the tonic causes everyone to exhibit strange side-effects. A feeble old man drinks some and becomes a large baby, while a baby drinking it becomes an old man. Other effect seen include massive weight gain, unusual hair growth, rapid changes in shape and size, and even death.

The cartoon's ending makes a reference to "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", a film adaptation which was released earlier that year by Paramount Pictures.

Music

Betty sings "Now's the Time to Fall in Love" with the words changed to "Now's the time to buy Jippo". An old man's heart sings "Darling, I Am Growing Old-er" from Silver Threads Among the Gold. The animated short features the song "Nobody's Sweetheart", followed by a scat vocal variations. The recording artist was long assumed to be Cliff Edwards aka "Ukulele Ike"; it is certainly in the style which he made famous. However, some state it was William Costello, which wouldn't be unlikely, considering he did the voice acting of later Popeye shorts, and that Costello recorded very good imitations of the "Ukulele Ike" style under the pseudonym "Red Pepper Sam".

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References

  1. ↑ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 54–56. ISBN   0-8160-3831-7 . Retrieved June 6, 2020.
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