Stopping the Show

Yesterday, I watched "Betty Boop's Rise to Fame" and a huge chunk of "Stopping the Show" was included in this later cartoon--which is also made up of two other Betty Boop cartoons plus a rare chance to see Max and Dave Fleischer.

"Stopping the Show" begins with TONS of patrons filling a huge theater. First comes a very boring 'Noose Reel', then a very abbreviated Bimbo and KoKo cartoon. Following this the audience awakens from its slumber--it's time for Betty to come on stage and perform. She does musical imitations--including Fanny Brice and Maurice Chevalier. I gotta be honest--her Chevalier is godawful and painful to hear!! The next act is supposed to go on, but the cheering audience necessitates many curtain calls for Betty.

All in all, a mildly entertaining cartoon but one whose weakest link is Betty. As I mentioned above, her imitation of Chevalier is painful. Still, the film has some charm and the usual high quality animation from the Fleischer Brothers Studio.

This very musically-driven animation was a strong enough little outing for Betty's first 'official' short. It's about Betty stealing the show at a vaudeville style variety act and I quite enjoyed this one in a very different way to the more wildly surrealistic Betty Boop adventures that I've mostly always been drawn towards, I like how well this one conveys the vibe of going to one of those old rowdy comedy shows, or at least as good a mini estimation as they could fit into a mere six minutes of fine vintage animation! It takes a bit to get interesting, but I like the little segments of the show before Betty's arrival, I don't get any of the references to celebrities, as they were a tad and a bit before my time, but I do like the variety and it was a very different approach to one of these shorts. The best part of it for me was Betty's entertaining singing as she performs several imitations of famous singers of the time in her adorable squeaky voice, I thought the first one was so cheeky and hilarious, and I actually found her more appealing in a man's pants suit! So this one is far from perfect, but it is definitely fun and I liked the way it entertained me without there being any monsters or chaotic abstract craziness whatsoever, but just with a charming good old fashioned lil' show, bravo to you sweet Betty! X

Not one of Betty Boop's better cartoons, not by a long shot, but an entertaining and charming one and important for being her "official" first cartoon as the title character.

Max and Dave Fleischer were responsible for some brilliant cartoons, some of them still among my favourites. Their visual style often stunning and some of the most imaginative and ahead of its time in animation. The character of Betty Boop, one of their most famous and prolific characters, may not be for all tastes, but her sex appeal was quite daring for the time and to me there is an adorable charm about her.

She acquits herself very well here and definitely steals, or shall we say stop, the show. The Fanny Brice impression is inspired and pretty brilliant. The Maurice Chevalier one less so, the accent is all over the place and not much of one, but there is something about the delivery of the lyrics and her movements that still makes it entertaining.

The black and white animation is very good, smooth, meticulously detailed and well drawn with the black and white not looking too primitive. Even better is the music, which is rousing and catchy with the songs showing off Betty's talents really well. There are funny moments, especially with the elephant and the baby during the "Noose Reel" and the ending, and the cartoon is charming stuff from Betty's appearance onwards.

It does get off to a lacklustre start however with the tedious "Noose Reel" (by far the worst thing about 'Stopping the Show', the Chevalier impression may not have been entirely great but it at least had entertainment value, the "Noose Reel" was just dull beyond belief), which really didn't add anything to the cartoon. The christening of the ship was meant to be silly but actually didn't come over silly enough instead coming over as bland, and the Bimbo Koko sequence was far too short and rushed to make any kind of impact.

To conclude, a decent Betty Boop cartoon where Betty stops the show but there's better cartoons of hers around. 7/10 Bethany Cox