Sunday Morning Special: Betty Boop in “Minnie the Moocher,” 1931

I find the Max Fleischer character, Betty Boop, to be slightly disturbing. In 1930, Fleischer introduced the character whom he’d modeled on “It Girl,” Clara Bow. Betty, however, wasn’t “human” at first. She was a French Poodle with long, floppy ears and a little black nose. So, when I look at Betty Boop, it’s hard for me to separate her from her canine origins, and, thus, I find her a bit unsettling. She never came too far into the human realm. After all, her best friend was a dog named “Bimbo” who dressed like one of the “Bowery Boys.”


Betty’s distressing appearance aside, this Fleischer cartoon from 1931 is quite charming and features to entertainingly coked up Cab Calloway singing one of his biggest hits, “Minnie the Moocher.”

Enjoy!