Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Betty Boop and Cab Calloway, 1933

Straight from Fleischer Studios, Dave and Max Fleischer, Producing . . .

Koko the Clown sings St. James' Infirmary:   . . . "let her go, let her go, God bless her" . . . .



They're pretty sure that KoKo's dancing was drawn exactly, using film footage of Mr. Calloway's unique dancing and the Fleischer-invented Rotoscope. If you want to skip the story line, he starts at about four minutes in and sings for about two.  Just excellent.

They're also pretty sure that everyone was stoned when they came up for the ideas for this. But I don't know. Drawing takes a steady hand . . .

The Fleischer studio was one of the few that gave Disney a run for its money--featuring not just Betty but Popeye and later Superman. This Snow White is from 1933; Disney's mega-production came out in 1937. 

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