I'm a freelance writer living in Perth, Western Australia.
Published May 24th 2017
Betty Boop's first ever movie
Famously known for the first ever appearance of the original cartoon sex symbol, Betty Boop, Dizzy Dishes is a delightful, if not odd little animation, created by Fleischer Studios in 1930, and was the seventh instalment in the Talkartoon series, which just begs to be seen!
The film that started the Betty Boop craze!
For those of you who are fans of Betty Boop, but who might not have seen her original cartoons, you might be shocked to find out that the "Boop-Oop-A-Doop" little lady of the animated silver screen, looked very different to how she does today and like most real life actors, she started her career off as a mere side character!
Introducing the original Betty Boop (left) and Bimbo (Right)
Betty Boop was originally drawn as an anthropomorphic female French Poodle and was a crude caricature of Helen Kane, who was a famous American singer at the time, who's signature song is the ever popular "I wanna be loved by you".
While Betty has had many, many different actresses give her a voice over the years, her original voice was breathed into her by Margret "Margie" Hines, who eventually went on to become to voice of Olive Oyl in the Popeye the Sailor cartoons between 1939 and 1944.
The stunning Margret Margie Hines
This film tells the story of Chef Bimbo, voiced by Billy Murray (The Bum Bandit & My Wife's Gone to the Country), as he waits on his hungry customer Gus Gorilla, with a short temper, voiced by William Billy Costello (Popeye the Sailor & The Betty Boop Fables Radio Show). Chef Bimbo is given the simple task of preparing and serve a roast duck for Gus, however, as he is bringing the delicious meal to the table, he is completely side tracked by the yet to be named, original Betty Boop, who is singing Helen Kane's song of the time, "I Have To Have You" on a table top. He falls deeply in love with her, causing him to forget all about his task at hand, leading to hilarious banter, fun dancing numbers with the headless duck he had cooked, an appearance by a group of sexy flapper cats and Gus Gorilla getting more and more furious as time goes on!
As a massive fan of Betty Boop, I absolutely love this film, as it is very funny and rather romantic and is a controversial part of American history, as it was later used as evidence in a law suit which Helen Kane took out in 1932, against both Paramount Publix Corporation and Fleischer Studios, which set to claim that the character of Betty was a deliberate caricature of her, in a bid to attempt to stop the cartoon character all together. This case dragged on for over two years, but thankfully, in the end, the judge ruled against her, which turned out to be a good thing for everyone involved and Betty Boop lived on to star in many more shows, merchandise and films, including her infamous cameo in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Dizzy Dishes is rated PG as parental guidance is advised.
