I have never really been one for Betty Boop cartoons, but some of these from the 1930's are really great. They have three things going for them, at least in my mind:
1. The animation is fantastic. It's fluid and amazingly consistent.
2. The cartoons are really, really weird.
3. Cab Calloway.
How can you possibly go wrong!? A quick search for Betty Boop (or Popeye, or any other old cartoon) will turn up some great stuff on YouTube.com
Here's a video google clip of one of the best ones, you can see the whole thing here.
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I still really, really like that one. I think the point of all of these cartoons was to have a famous performer (like Cab Calloway or Louis Armstrong) sing a song, and then they would animate something awesome to go with it.
I still love that ghost.
Agreed!
for the flamable effects of course....
1 pt. heavy cream
6 egg yolks
1/2 c. sugar
Pinch of salt
2 tsp. vanilla
Light brown sugar (granulated)
Heat heavy cream (the heaviest you can get) to the boiling point. Lightly beat egg yolks with sugar and a pinch of salt; pour the hot cream over them, stirring constantly with a wooden spatula or wire whisk until well blended. Add vanilla or a little mace or any other flavoring you desire. Strain the custard into a 1 1/2 quart heat-proof baking dish; stand the dish in a pan of warm water and bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until the custard is completely set but not over cooked. Do not let the water in the pan boil. Remove from the oven; cool and then chill in the refrigerator.
About 1 1/2 to 2 hours before serving, sprinkle the top evenly with fine light brown granulated sugar to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Put under the broiler (or use a salamander, if you have one) until the sugar is melted and bubbly, watching carefully to see it does not scorch and burn. Remove, cool, and chill again until serving time. You'll have a hard, highly glazed crust on top of the custard. This will serve about 6. If you have more guests, double the recipe, using 12 egg yolks to a quart of cream.
that's pretty smooth animation for something that old. it actually beats some animation today :O *GASP*
I had a discussing with Kris about the animation. She said that one reason it looks so good is because it was animated by one dude, which kinda makes sense if this was the case. Also, for the dancing ghost sequence, a method called "Rotoscoping" was used. This is where Animators draw over actual film of someone moving. The brilliant thing here is that while the motion is rotoscoped, the character is bizzare and fanicful.
And when you watch old cartoons, you should remember that many (most) of them were made as shorts to be run with movies. So they had to be high quality, and were given a serious budget.
wait, how are they "BANNED"
They are banned, as far as I know, only in the sense that they will probably never be re-released on DVD. This is the case with Disney's Song Of The South - it is entirely self imposed.
However, it may also be the case that at some point in the past, the caroon was banned by some branch of the Government.
What I really want to know is who is blocking the release of the WW2 Propoganda cartoons? The Gov't, or the studios?
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