Among her many talents, Betty Boop operated a state-of-the-art auto repair shop, it turns out. Who knew? Here’s the full cartoon report.
The black-and-white animation is primitive and the comedy is cornball, consisting entirely of bad puns and sight gags. But we don’t mind because this is Betty Boop, America’s cartoon sweetheart. And in this 1939 short called “So Does an Automobile,” she’s in charge of an auto repair shop. This is right up our alley.
Created in 1930 by Max Fleischer, Betty was one of the most unusual but endearing characters in the golden age of Hollywood cartoons. With a persona (and body) plainly designed to appeal to adults rather than children, she was unique among her pen-and-ink peers. Hollywood censorship under the Hays Code forced Betty to tone down the overtly sexy behavior in her early cartoons and by 1939, when this title was produced, she was playing the girl next door. Here she’s a singing service manager with a decidedly humanistic approach to auto repair. Please enjoy.
All right, CarTunes. While it’s hardly Lynyrd Skynyard, it’s much appreciated. While clearly, Betty Boop was before my time, my parents would talk about Betty Boop and really challenged the censors. It’s kind of funny, the politically correct activists would have a field day, with what was being implied with the sick cars, the police car with the flat feet, the “crazy” car in the padded stall, would never fly today. Thanks MCG.
Loved it !
Awesome! Amazing! Remarkable! Thanks for brightening my day.
Great post, love Betty. “So Does an Automobile,” catchy!
I watched this one, and a couple of the others when it was over . Very nice, especially when my 16 year old came out and saw me laughing at these Cartoons.