Released by Paramount | Directed By Dave Fleischer Old Man of the Mountain: On Top of Old Fogey “Whatcha gonna do now?” “I’m gonna do the best I can.” Cab Calloway’s third appearance in a Betty Boop cartoon sees him as a white haired, white skinned crazy magic mountain hermit Read more
Released by Paramount | Directed By Dave Fleischer Mother Goose Land: Hating Spiders and Snakes Kid’s stories are dark, man. You’ve noticed that, right? Hansel and Gretel ends with a witch being immolated, three blind mice lose their tails, the Pied Piper commits a widespread (and unpunished) kidnapping, the little Read more
Released by Paramount | Directed By Dave Fleischer I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead: Et Al The Betty Boop cartoons that Dave Fleischer put out are kind of a weird rarity. Besides the occasional Jewish in-joke originating from its director, they often showcased African-American singers and acts who were rarely Read more
As mentioned last week, I gave a talk about the history of pre-Code Hollywood at a screening of Night Nurse outside Sendagaya on February 8th. The screening is run by a group of Tokyo cinephiles hoping to expand knowledge of Hollywood cinema inside the country past the usual suspects– you Read more
Released by MGM | Directed By Jules White Show Business: Nothing Like It “Say, you don’t need to get so high hat. Your ancestors swung through trees too.” Of all the Zasu Pitts/Thelma Todd shorts I’ve watched, “Show Business” is the one with the most screen time devoted to getting Read more
Released by MGM | Directed By Gus Meins Asleep in the Feet: 10 Cents a Dunce “Nautical, but nice!” For this go-around, Zasu and Thelma are a poor pair of working girls who decide to help out a friend by making the $20 of back rent she owes down at Read more
Released by MGM | Directed By Morley Lightfoot and Gilbert Pratt Seal Skins: House of Whosits “A seal for sale– cheap!” For this installment, Thelma’s a newspaper stenographer who yearns to beat one of the female reporters at her game. A mix up in search of a stolen Siberian seal Read more
Released by MGM | Directed By Hal Roach On the Loose: Loosely Done “And those two Cornell freshman. Were they fresh!” “On the Loose” probably isn’t going to convert many people who haven’t seen any of the other Todd & Pitts shorts that I’ve been working through this week. Besides Read more
Released by MGM | Directed By Hal Roach The Pajama Party: Or Less “And one to grow on!” Watch enough Todd and Pitts short films and a pattern emerges. At some point, Zasu Pitts will be forcibly addressed. Men will literally chase after Thelma Todd. Zasu’s romantic flirtations will never Read more
Released by MGM | Directed By George Marshall The Soilers: Working Their Way Through “The Soilers” is a bit of a letdown. This one finds Zasu and Thelma out in the suburbs trying to sell magazine subscriptions to help themselves “work their way through college.” This is patently unsuccessful since Read more