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November 14, 2009
BehindTheMedspeak: Betty Boop Uses Nitrous Oxide, Prompting 1934 Ban
True.
[via Joe Peach]
November 14, 2009 at 12:01 PM | Permalink
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I think that's actually quite untrue. I've read a lot on Fleischer Studios and the Betty Boop shorts, and this is the first I've ever heard that "Ha! Ha! Ha!" was ever banned. In fact, I don't recall ever reading of any Betty Boop short being banned on its release in the 1930s. Or later -- witness the "U.M.&M TV Corp." legend on the title card.
The "banned" perception may come from the fact that "Ha! Ha! Ha!" was once released in a collection called "Banned Cartoons", all of which were conveniently public domain and therefore free to the bargain bin DVD company that released them. Some were not so much actually banned so much as simply skipped over in their 1960s airings on television due to being inappropriate for children or just being really weird or racist, but I doubt "Ha! Ha! Ha!" was one of them. Even "Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle", fairly racy as far as cartoons go, was shown on television. (Check that one out on YouTube -- it features some fine rotoscoping done from film of dancer Miri of the excellent "Royal Samoans" group. The copy uploaded by cjeffboice is better quality than others.)
There were many other much odder Boop shorts of the ninety or so produced that were so weird that later generations figured they must have been drug-inspired or drug-induced, but they weren't. People in the 1930s never thought that -- they just knew they were damned inventive and funny. What other cartoons featured such cool guests as Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, and The Royal Samoans? None.
Something many don't realize is that Betty Boop cartoons were primarily aimed at adults in the 1930s, not children. However, Betty certainly was cleaned up a lot after Hays production code enforcement began in 1934, when a lot of production companies began preemptively self-censoring, keeping one foot on the bedroom floor and such. She became quite schoolmarmish after that -- no more hula dancing or dresses innocently falling off, alas. Even her dog pal Bimbo was deemed a bit much and was apparently sent off to the pound, or maybe he just abandoned her in disgust after she decided the flapper life was not for her and it was time to get serious.
Posted by: Mike Harney | Nov 15, 2009 7:45:13 PM
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