TIME ON MY HANDS - "Betty Boop, You Bad Girl" (1932)

 

This week's Saturday Night Special is probably one of the most interesting and provocative of all of Betty Boop's cartoons. "Time On My Hands" was another cartoon made by The Fleischer Brothers in 1932, and has me completely convinced that early cartoons were made for adults, and not children.

 

"Time On My Hands" is a krazy cartoon that opens with this fisherman doing his fisherman thing! Take note that this fisherman is fishing in what appears to be a lake, not the ocean.

The fisherman's bait is not happy!

Looks so enticing, it's making me hungry!

The worm attracts all the hot babe fish in town, who are dressed for some reason.

There is also a mermaid at the bottom of this lake that is portrayed by Betty Boop!

In a rather risque move, for the role of the mermaid, they decided to have Betty be topless, even though the fishes have dresses on. I guess it makes about as much sense as having a water pump underwater.

Despite being topless, it's been pretty tame so far, then Betty The Mermaid amps up the sexy factor a bit!

Then this diver shows up and thinks Betty is pretty hot!

The fisherman finally gets a bite, but he's caught a lot more than he bargained for, and slings Betty all across the landscape!

Somehow by some miracle, Betty ends up on this giant clock face, on a clock tower somewhere!

What a time she is having!

Now, if none of that was weird enough for you, at this point, through the miracle of Hollywood, Betty The Mermaid turns into the full blown Ethel Merman, and she sings "Time On My Hands," that had music written by Vincent Youmans, the man who wrote "Tea For Two," a song that has been used in movies up until last year. The lyrics were written by Harold Adamson and Mack Gordon who between the two of them have a uncanny amount of credits for lyrics in the movies and TV at 853.

I guess no one wanted to see Ethel Merman topless even when she was fairly young!

After the song is over, Betty is returned to the water and is attacked by this huge octopus.

Fleeing the octopus, Betty and her new boyfriend are then eaten by a giant fish that turns into this giant flying fish. If you look close, you can see them peering out the window in the side of the fish.

Within two years, the Hays Code would be initiated for films and would be in effect until 1968, and it would be a long time before viewers would have a chance to see anything this offensive again.

According to IMDB, there's going to be a new feature called "Betty Boop, The Movie" coming out some day, but there is basically zero information besides this picture!

POPEYE THE SAILOR / "Olive's Sweepstake Ticket" - 1941

Here's crazy little cartoon for a Friday... There's plenty of hilarity to be had, and it all starts, when...

Olive gets a call from the theatre to let her know that she has a winning sweepstake ticket, so, come on down and pick up your prize!

But of course, Olive has absolutely no clue as to what she did with it, and, she can't find the darn thing!

Popeye lets himself in and does that silly walk as he enters. I put this one in because that's how Conor McGregor sometimes struts around the the cage in the UFC!

Popeye walks in on Olive digging through a trunk. I swear, there are bras flying everywhere!

After Popeye hears that she's looking for a winning sweepstake ticket, he starts imagining that him and Olive will live their life as high society socialites (with $$$ to burn)!

Many more bras (and undies) go flying while Olive tells Popeye to start looking for the ticket too!

Popeye says.. If I were a sweepstake ticket, where would I hide? Nope, it's not hiding behind the wall, so...

Popeye goes to Olive and asks her.. Hey Olive, what does the ticket look like? She picks it up off the desk and says... It looks like this!

Oh, what a relief it is!! Olive fans herself while holding the ticket, and of course, it goes flying out the window from the breeze.

OMG! Popeye has to be very cautious with this one, he stalks her while acting like he's minding his own business. Touchy situation for sure!

Pretending to be reading a newspaper, he follows her and finally comes up with using his pipe like a vacuum cleaner, and snags it!.. WHEW!!

But then he runs straight into a garbage can and the ticket goes flying in the wind.

The ticket ends up in the ocean and a fish has it in its jaws, Popeye has it by the tail, and a fisherman has just caught them both!

It lands on the railroad tracks, nearly running over Popeye, and the streaking train causes the ticket to keep on flying through the air with velocity.

Holy crap, it lands on the end of a flag pole on a tall building! And just as Popeye is ready to grab it from its perch...

It blows into a gym and you hear.. Hey, look! A sweepstake ticket!! Popeye goes in and gets beat the crap up, but, he has the ticket and takes it to Olive.

Olive comes out of the theatre and holds up her prize...

A freaking Coo-Coo bird! Okay, remember, Popeye was imagining that the prize was a trip to easy street for them. So, imagine how Popeye reacted when he got a gander of her prize!! Cartoons are GREAT, especially on a Friday, here at The Dungeon!!..

HOLLYWOOD ON PARADE - "Betty Boop Meets Dracula" (1933)

 

"Hollywood On Parade" was a series of shorts produced by Paramount Studios between 1932 and 1934 that featured a variety of programming, and is what's in the spotlight for this week's Weird Wednesday presentation in The Dungeon.

 

 This fascinating episode was number A-8, and came out in 1933. It is one of only two films that ever featured a real human as Betty Boop, instead of her cartoon persona, and is perfect for the occasion since this is National Betty Boop Week!

If you didn't know it was National Betty Boop Week, it's because I just made it up, but since there's a day, a week, or a month for almost every other damn thing in the world, then why not?

This episode takes place in the Hollywood Wax Museum!

Besides, Betty Boop, the stars are Eddie Borden and Bela Lugosi. Eddie Borden made a career from a multitude of uncredited screen appearances in minute roles as a drunk, a poker player, a bird watcher, a man on a bus, a man at a table, etc. etc. etc.

Eddie tries to put the make on the wax dummy of Clara Bow, not knowing that the wax figure of her husband Rex Bell, was actually Rex himself, who suggests that Eddie's affections would be better off directed at Betty Boop instead of his wife!

The wax figure of Betty Boop is very realistic because she's not wax!

Not knowing that she is real, Eddie will find out real fast when he gets a slap in the mug for messing with Betty's garter!

Eddie suggests that Betty sings a song, and then her accompanies her as she sings "My Silent Love." In the heyday of the cartoons, Betty's voice was done by Margie Hines, Harriett Lee, Mae Questel, Kate Wright, Little Ann Little, and as seen here, Bonnie Poe.

To make the whole thing a whole lot more interesting, the wax figure of Bela Lugosi as Dracula, comes to life!

Dracula leaves his position, and moves in on Betty Boop, and those two dummies are not going to be able to help her one bit!

At first it looks like Dracula is going to dance with Betty, but as a vampire, he has alternative ideas.

So what did you think was gonna happen??

I'll be back on Saturday with more Betty Boop madness!