Cartoon a Day: I'll Be Glad When You're Dead You Rascal You

I'll Be Glad When You're Dead You Rascal You
1932
Directed by Dave Fleischer
Available on: YouTube

Today's cartoon is a Betty Boop short featuring a great song performed by the one and only Louis Armstrong. Once again, thanks to the public domain, here is the short in it's entirety.



Betty Boop cartoons are just so much fun. Though, this one doesn't featured much of the lovely Miss Boop. Bimbo and Koko take up most of the time in this one, but they manage to carry the short well despite usually being in the shadow of their costar. Some of the visual gags are classic Fleischer...both the fun ones such as the palm trees becoming giant legs for our heroes, and the bizarre ones such as the floating disembodied head of Louis Armstrong. The Boop cartoons just never fail to put a smile on my face.

Cartoon a Day: Betty Boop, M.D.

Betty Boop, M.D.
1932
Directed by Dave Fleischer
Available on: YouTube

Here's another Betty Boop cartoon available for viewing in full thanks to YouTube and the public domain. Enjoy.




This is a truly bizarre cartoon featuring Betty, Koko, and Bimbo as part of a medicine show. By the time this cartoon get rolling, their wonder product, Jippo, has got people's skeletons jumping out of their skin, babies turning into monsters and all sorts of other weird stuff. The cartoon is almost psychedelic.

It's pretty weird, but it is a great example of the originality that went on at the Fleischer studio. Whereas many cartoons from this era are repetitious in their animation, this is anything but. We don't see the same gag, not to mention the same animation, over and over. This cartoon quickly moves from bit to bit.

I've certainly seen some Betty Boop shorts over the years, but I guess I've never looked at them as closely as I am now. There is really a lot of innovation in them. I finding the Fleischer studio to be one of the under appreciated gems of early animation.

Cartoon a Day: Snow-White

Snow-White
1933
Directed by Dave Fleischer
Available on: YouTube

Well, I'm behind again on Cartoon a Day after a late night out last night seeing "High School Musical: The Ice Tour." It was a long way from the Ice Capades I saw growing up. Anyhow, we're playing catch up today. Now earlier today I saw and episode of the show "Biography" that was about Betty Boop. So I felt like doing some Betty Boop cartoons, however, I don't own any Betty Boop DVD's. But, since the Betty Boop cartoons are pretty much all in the public domain, it is legally available on YouTube. So we'll just embed the whole cartoon below and you can watch it yourself.



Betty Boop seems to be often ignored in the grand history of animation. Her film career wasn't that long, 1932-39, and all but one of her cartoons were in black and white. Yet Max and Dave Fleischer (her creators) were incredibly innovative and her cartoons do have great historical significance. Not to mention that they are a lot fun to watch. This short is considered by many to be the best Betty Boop film.

In this film, Betty plays the role of Snow White while her frequent co-stars, Koko the Clown and Bimbo, play two of the queen's guards. It's not quite the Snow White story we're used to, but that's ok.

The Fleischers were somewhat known for having cartoons that featured regular everyday objects come to live, that is certainly present here. The use of rotoscoping is also worth noting here. In the second half of the film, Koko launches into a Cab Calloway song, which was rotoscoped, and beautifully so, using footage of Calloway himself. I'm usually not a fan of rotoscoping (like in Ralph Bakshi's "The Lord of the Rings") but here it works really well. The Fleischers invented the technique, so I guess they knew how to use it.

Cartoon a Day: The Bulleteers

The Bulleteers

1942

Directed by Dave Fleischer

Available on: The Complete Superman Cartoons

Well, yesterday I missed doing a cartoon, so I'm doing two today...two Superman shorts.

"The Bulleteers" is another one of the gems in the short-lived Fleischer Superman series. Metropolis is being terrorized by three crooks in a "bullet car." This thing can drive, fly and blow up buildings without even being dented itself. So, it's up to Superman to stop them.

Right off the bat you notice the great stylized look to Metropolis in the opening sequence. Not to mention the fact that the first sequence where the bullet car plows into police headquarters is startling.

The editing has a quick pace, rapid cuts between various shots with extreme angles. The story is goofy, I mean it involves bullet men, but I didn't think about that while watching.


This short builds...the action mixed with the extreme designs and angles is a perfect mix. There's a lot of imagination behind this short.

Cartoon a Day: The Mechanical Monsters

The Mechanical Monsters
1941
Directed by Dave Fleischer
Available on: The Complete Superman Cartoons

So far I've been focusing on animated comedies. The great majority of animated shorts are for laughs, but there are some other genres. Among those, the Fleischer Superman series is certainly worth a look. Many consider "The Mechanical Monsters" to be one of the best of this series. It was clearly a great influence on the makers of the live action film "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow."

This short features great achievements in character design, and amazing attention to detail in camera angles and lighting. These elements actually work to create a level of suspense that is pretty rare in animation. The action sequences are also quite complex and violent for their time. The special effects animation is also worth noting. This short alone features flame throwers, machine gun fire, electricity and molten lava all portrayed in beautiful animation that was ahead of it's time.

It's a shame that there weren't more Superman shorts made (only 17 total). For that matter, it's a shame more animated action shorts weren't made. I love the comedies, don't get me wrong, but everybody needs a little excitement in their lives.