Your Colossal Main Feature Plus Full Supporting Program: Over 175 Classic Hollywood Movies Examined

By John Howard Reid

Let's go back in time for a moment and pretend we are looking in on an average neighborhood theater manager in a big city like New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh or Detroit, in the classic days when Hollywood movies were the number one entertainment choice of all the citizenry. On the one hand, our cinema manager is obviously anxious to please his patrons by booking a highly advertised, ready-sold, "colossal" main feature, such as "Jezebel", "A Star Is Born", "The Rains Came", "High Noon", "I'm No Angel", "The Great Ziegfeld", "100 Men and a Girl", "Mad About Music", "Manhattan Melodrama", "One Night of Love", "Rio Rita", "Road to Zanzibar", "Mr Deeds Goes To Town", "Mr Smith Goes To Washington", "Little Miss Marker", "The Mark of Zorro", "The Merry Widow", "The Great Waltz", "King of Jazz", "Ball of Fire", "Mutiny on the Bounty", and "Alexander's Ragtime Band". On the other hand, patrons were supremely anxious to obtain "value" for their admittance money. They wanted a program that ran not less than three or even four hours. They demanded not only a colossal main feature, but a supporting program comprising a lesser movie with a running time of 70 minutes or perhaps slightly less, plus a cartoon, plus a short subject of one or two reels. So here are detailed not only main attractions (including all those listed above), but some of the lesser movies that clamored for the manager's attention. The choice usually depended on the cost of the main feature. The more expensive the main attraction, the less money was available to hire a series entry like "Fly-Away Baby" (released by Warner Brothers as an entry in their Torchy Blane series). Instead, the manager would opt for a movie he could hire at the lowest possible flat rate, such as "Death from a Distance" (released through Chesterfield, a Poverty Row company that specialized in "B" movies), or "Caribbean Mystery" (a 20th Century-Fox release that the studio had no faith in), or "Bowery at Midnight" (Bela Lugosi in a Monogram picture), or "Trouble in Texas" (Tex Ritter and Rita Hayworth in a Grand National release), but not RKO's highly popular (and therefore comparatively expensive) "Mexican Spitfire" series starring the exotically excitable Lupe Velez. These of course are just a few of the movies discussed and detailed in "Your Colossal Main Feature Plus Full Supporting Program". In addition to a wide selection of both main and supporting features, the book also examines some of the typical cartoons and short subjects available.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Howard Reid
• Release date: Apr 5, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458125897

John Howard Reid

Author of over 100 full-length books, of which around 60 are currently in print, John Howard Reid is the award-winning, bestselling author of the Merryll Manning series of mystery novels, anthologies of original poetry and short stories, translations from Spanish and Ancient Greek, and especially books of film criticism and movie history. Currently chief judge for three of America's leading literary contests, Reid has also written the textbook, "Write Ways To Win Writing Contests".

Book preview

YOUR COLOSSAL MAIN FEATURE

Plus Full Supporting Program

Over 175 Classic Hollywood Movies Examined

John Howard Reid

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Published by:

John Howard Reid at Smashwords

Copyright (c) 2011 by John Howard Reid

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All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

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Original text copyright 2011 by John Howard Reid. All rights reserved.

Enquiries: [e-mail]

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Examined by John Howard Reid

Hollywood Classics 7

2011

Other Books in the Hollywood Classics series:

1. New Light on Movie Bests

2. B Movies, Bad Movies, Good Movies

3. Award-Winning Films of the 1930s

4. Movie Westerns: Hollywood Films the Wild, Wild West

5. Memorable Films of the Forties

6. Popular Pictures of the Hollywood 1940s

7. Your Colossal Main Feature Plus Full Support Program

8. Hollywood’s Miracles of Entertainment

9. Hollywood Gold: Films of the Forties and Fifties

10. Hollywood B Movies: A Treasury of Spills, Chills & Thrills

11. Movies Magnificent: 150 Must-See Cinema Classics

12. These Movies Won No Hollywood Awards

13. Movie Mystery & Suspense

14. America’s Best, Britain’s Finest

15. Films Famous, Fanciful, Frolicsome and Fantastic

16. Hollywood Movie Musicals

17. Hollywood Classics Index Books 1-16

18. More Movie Musicals

19. Success in the Cinema

20. Best Western Movies

21. Great Cinema Detectives

22. Great Hollywood Westerns

23. Science-Fiction & Fantasy Cinema

24. Hollywood’s Classic Comedies

25. Hollywood Classics Title Index to All Movies Reviewed in Books 1-24

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Additional Movie Books by John Howard Reid

CinemaScope One: Stupendous in Scope

CinemaScope Two: 20th Century-Fox

CinemaScope 3: Hollywood Takes the Plunge

Mystery, Suspense, Film Noir and Detective Movies on DVD: A Guide to the Best in Cinema Thrills

WESTERNS: A Guide to the Best (and Worst) Western Movies on DVD

Silent Films and Early Talkies on DVD

British Movie Entertainments on VHS and DVD

Copyright 2011 by John Howard Reid. All rights reserved.

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Table of Contents

Cartoons:

A

All’s Fair at the Fair (1938)

B

Barnacle Bill (1930)

Bimbo’s Express (1931)

Bugs Bunny Rides Again (1947)

Bum Bandit (1931)

C

Cave Man (1934)

Clock Watcher (1944)

D

Dizzy Dishes (1930)

E

Enchanted Square (1947)

H

Hector’s Hectic Life (1948)

Hep Cat Symphony (1948)

Humpty Dumpty (1935)

K

King for a Day (1940)

L

Leprechaun’s Gold (1949)

M

Man on the Flying Trapeze (1934)

Mary’s Little Lamb (1935)

Mask-A-Raid (1931)

Minding the Baby (1931)

Mysterious Mose (1930)

P

Peeping Penguins (1937)

S

Scottie Finds a Home (1935)

Sheep Shape (1946)

Silly Scandals (1931)

Stupidstitious Cat (1947)

T

Tarts and Flowers (1950)

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Shorts:

A

Aerial Antics (see Hog Wild)

Any Old Port (1932)

C

Chicken Feed (1940)

F

Finishing Touch (1928)

H

Hoagy Carmichael (1939)

Hog Wild (1930)

M

Monkey Businessmen (1946)

N

Night Owls (1929)

O

Oliver the Eighth (see Private Life of Oliver the Eighth)

P

Private Life of Oliver the Eighth (1934)

T

Taxi Barons (1933)

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Features:

A

Adventures of Salvator Rosa (1939)

Affairs of Jimmy Valentine (1942)

Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1938)

Arena (1953)

Avventura di Salvator Rosa (see Adventures of Salvator Rosa)

B

Ball of Fire (1941)

Barnabé (1938)

Barbary Coast (1935)

Becky Sharp (1935)

Bowery at Midnight (1942)

Boy from Barnado’s (see Lord Jeff)

Brain That Wouldn’t Die (1962)

Broken Arrow (1950)

Buccaneer’s Girl (1950)

Bulldog Drummond (1929)

Bulldog Drummond Comes Back (1937)

C

California in 1878 (see Fighting Thru)

Captain’s Kid (1936)

Cargo to Capetown (1950)

Caribbean Mystery (1945)

Castle of Evil (1966)

Cavalcade d’Amour (1939)

Chanson d’une Nuit (1932)

Company She Keeps (1950)

Corpse Vanishes (1942)

Crime in the Clouds (see Fly-Away Baby)

Cross My Heart (1946)

D

Dark Eyes of London (1939)

Dead Eyes of London (see Dark Eyes of London)

Deadline Alley (see Headline Hunters)

Death from a Distance (1935)

Death in the Air (see Pilot X)

Death in the Sky (see Pilot X)

Devil Bat (1941)

E

Eyes in the Night (1942)

F

Fighting Thru (1930)

Fighting Hero (1934)

Fightin’Ranch (see Fighting Thru)

Fly-Away Baby (1937)

Galloping Romeo (1933)

Ghost Camera (1933)

Girl in Pawn (see Little Miss Marker)

Great Waltz (1938)

Great Ziegfeld (1936)

H

Hallo, Janine (1939)

Headline Hunters (1955)

Hidden Enemy (1940)

High Noon (1952)

His Private Secretary (1933)

Human Monster (see Dark Eyes of London)

I

I Like Your Nerve (1931)

I’m No Angel (1933)

Indiscreet (1931)

Invisible Ghost (1941)

Ivory-Handled Gun (1935)

J

Jazz Singer (1927)

Jezebel (1938)

K

Kid from Texas (1950)

Killer Bats (see Devil Bat)

King of Jazz (1930)

L

Lady Dances (see Merry Widow)

Last Command (1928)

Last Journey (1935)

Lied einer Nacht (see Chanson d’une Nuit)

Life of Emile Zola (1937)

Lion Man (1936)

Little Miss Marker (1934)

Lord Jeff (1938)

Lost Jungle (1934)

Love Is a Headache (1938)

Lullaby (see Sin of Madelon Claudet)

M

Mad about Music (1938)

Manhattan Melodrama (1934)

Man Is Armed (1956)

Mark of Zorro (1920)

Men Must Fight (1933)

Merry Widow (1934)

Mexican Spitfire (1940)

Mexican Spitfire at Sea (1942)

Mexican Spitfire Out West (1940)

Mexican Spitfire’s Baby (1941)

Mexican Spitfire’s Blessed Event (1943)

Mexican Spitfire’s Elephant (1942)

Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost (1942)

Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935)

Min and Bill (1930)

Mr Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

Morning Glory (1933)

Murder (1930)

Murder in the Air (see Pilot X)

Mutiny in the Big House (1939)

Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)

My Life with Caroline (1941)

Mysterious Bombardier (see Pilot X)

Mystery Mountain (1934)

N

Navy Secrets (1939)

Night Walker (1964)

Now and Forever (1934)

Now I’ll Tell (1934)

O

One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937)

One Night of Love (1934)

P

Painted Desert (1931)

Panama Patrol (1939)

Patriot (1928)

Phantom of the West (1930)

Pilot X (1937)

Port of Wickedness (see Barbary Coast)

Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)

Pygmalion (1938)

R

Rains Came (1939)

Rio Rita (1929)

Road to Zanzibar (1941)

Run for the Sun (1956)

S

Scared to Death (1946)

Scoundrel (1935)

Secrets of the French Police (1932)

Seventh Heaven (1927)

Shanghai Express (1932)

Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931)

Skin Game (1931)

Skippy (1931)

Smart Woman (1948)

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Spite Marriage (1929)

Stablemates (1938)

Stand Up and Cheer (1934)

Star Is Born (1937)

Stone of Silver Creek (1935)

Story of Louis Pasteur (1936)

Street Angel (1928)

Sunrise (1927)

Sunset Carson Rides Again (1948)

T

Tarzan and the Green Goddess (1938)

Tarzan’s New York Adventure (1942)

Telling the World (1928)

Tempest (1927)

Texas Kid, Outlaw (see Kid from Texas)

That Certain Age (1938)

Transatlantic (1931)

Trent’s Last Case (1952)

Trouble in Texas (1937)

Trouble with Women (1947)

U

Under Montana Skies (1930)

Unforgotten Crime (see Affairs of Jimmy Valentine)

V

Voice in the Night (1934)

W

Waikiki Wedding (1937)

Way of All Flesh (1927)

When New York Sleeps (see Now I’ll Tell)

When Tomorrow Comes (1939)

White Angel (1936)

White Shadows in the South Seas (1928)

Wife versus Secretary (1936)

Winged Victory (1944)

Wings in the Dark (1935)

With Byrd at the South Pole (1930)

Y

You and Me (1938)

Young Mr Lincoln (1939)

You’re Telling Me (1934)

Yours for the Asking (1936)

You Were Meant for Me (1948)

You Will Remember (1941)

Z

Ziegfeld Girl (1941)

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Articles:

Julien Duvivier, Fernand Gravet, Luise Rainer, Miliza Korjus (see Great Waltz)

Glenda Farrell and the Torchy Blane series (see Fly-Away Baby)

Jane Greer (see Run for the Sun)

Multiple Language Movies (see Chanson d’une Nuit)

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SECTION 1: CARTOONS

All’s Fair at the Fair

Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Animators: Myron Waldman, Graham Place. Voices: Jack Mercer (Elmer), Margie Hines (Mirandy). Music: Edward Heyman, Sammy Timberg. A Max Fleischer Color Classic.

Not copyrighted by Paramount Pictures. Released in 1938. 1 reel.

COMMENT: Two hayseeds visit the World’s Fair and get entangled in the usual automated mechanical products, including mechanical hairdressers and robotic dancing partners. A fair to middling effort with one or two bright gags.

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Barnacle Bill

Bimbo (Barnacle Bill), Betty Boop (the object of Barnacle’s affections, voiced by Mae Questel).

Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Animators: Seymour Kneitel, Rudy Zamora. Song, Barnacle Bill, the Sailor. Producer: Max Fleischer.

Copyright 31 August 1930 by Paramount Publix Corp. 1 reel.

COMMENT: This first use of the catchy Barnacle Bill, the Sailor (with risque lyrics that were cleaned up for the song’s subsequent use in a Popeye cartoon), is an inventive offering that presents Bimbo in a more flatteringly aggressive light than usual and allows Fleischer to put his talent for surreal gags to good use (we particularly like the chairs tiptoeing out of Betty’s room so that the sofa—which joins in the chorus of the song— can amble in). The final sequence with the lightning is delightfully bizarre, though we wish that Betty could somehow have joined in the climax. Her role here, as in other Bimbos, amounts to just a little more than a guest appearance.

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Bimbo’s Express

Bimbo and Betty Boop. (Betty Boop voiced by Mae Questel).

Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Songs: Moving Day and Hello, Beautiful. Producer: Max Fleischer.

Copyright 22 August 1931 by Paramount Publix Corp. 1 reel.

COMMENT: Plenty of gags though less surrealistic touches in this fast-paced moving-day comedy in which the lead character is actually neither an unusually deep-voiced Bimbo nor the brunette cut-up Betty, but a horse who does some wonderful things with his moving van, assisted by Felix the cat (of all people) and a hefty furniture-wrestler. Best sequence has Bimbo whistling on the doorstep whilst he waits for Betty to dress.

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Bugs Bunny Rides Again

Director: I. FRELENG. Story: Tedd Pierce, Michael Maltese. Animators: Ken Champin, Virgil Ross, Gerry Chiniquy, Manuel Perez. Backgrounds: Paul Julian. Lay-outs: Hawley Pratt. Voice characterizations: Mel Blanc. Music director: Carl Stalling. Color by Technicolor.

Copyright 22 December 1947 by The Vitaphone Corp. A Warner Bros Bugs Bunny Special cartoon. U.S. release: 12 June 1948. 7 minutes.

COMMENT: Yosemite Sam, The roughest, toughest, he-man-stuffest hombre as ever crossed the Rio Grande, once again meets his match with our Bugs in this ultra-lively, ultra-smooth satire in which many of our favorite western clichés are devastatingly parodied. In the movie’s funniest scene, Sam sprays bullets around the rabbit’s feet, commanding him to dance. Which he delightfully does. In fact Sam (and we) enjoy this foot-tapping interlude so much, Sam orders a reprise, and before you know it, Sam himself gets into the act with a likewise rendition that comes to a really hilarious close. (Our thanks to all the heroes above, plus uncredited sound effects man, Treg Brown).

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the Bum Bandit

Bimbo (a train bandit), Betty Boop (the deserted wife, not voiced by Mae Questel).

Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Animators: Willard Bowsky, Al Eugster. Producer: Max Fleischer.

Copyright 3 April 1931 by Paramount Publix Corp. 1 reel.

COMMENT: Diminutive, black-masked Bimbo has one of his best roles as a strong-arm bandit, brought to heel by a shrewish wife (a slightly uncharacteristic outing for a—fortunately—still-singing Betty Boop). Some good gags, but the cartoon’s best feature is Fleischer’s perkily animated train which clatters along the track with literally all moving and stationary parts flying.

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Cave Man

Director: UB IWERKS. Animators: Burt Gillett (alias Grim Natwick), Berny Wolf. A Willie Whopper cartoon. Music: Carl W. Stalling. Producers: Ub Iwerks, Pat Powers.

Copyright 6 July 1934 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. A Celebrity Production. 1 reel.

COMMENT: Ingenious little black-and-white offering in which our cave man/Tarzan Willie Whopper rescues a nice girl (who is suitably grateful) from a hungry dinosaur.

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the Clock Watcher

Donald Duck (voiced by Clarence Nash).

Director: JACK KING. Story: Harry Reeves, Rex Cox. Animators: Don Towsley, Josh Meador, Judge Whitaker, Bill Justice. Lay-outs: Ernest Nordli. Backgrounds: Howard Dunn. Music: Oliver Wallace. Color by Technicolor. RCA Sound System. Executive producer: Walt Disney.

Copyright 2 November 1944 by Walt Disney Productions. Released through RKO Radio Pictures. A Walt Disney Donald Duck cartoon. 1 reel.

SYNOPSIS: Donald is employed in the gift-wrapping department of the Royal Bros Department Store. As the only employee in this section, he is literally showered with gifts. Some, he finds comparatively easy to wrap. Others, such as a Jack-in-the-box, predictably prove more difficult.

COMMENT: A quick-paced, mildly amusing entry in this series, attractively colored and animated. Off-beat in that Donald is the only live character on screen, though he does do battle with a lively speaking tube that carries hurry-up messages from his boss.

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Dizzy Dishes

Bimbo (the waiter), Betty Boop (nightclub singer, voiced by Mae Questel).

Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Animators: Myron Natwick, Ted Sears. Producer: Max Fleischer.

Copyright 9 August 1930 by Paramount Publix Corp. 1 reel.

COMMENT: In her first appearance, Betty Boop with her long dog ears and surrealistically mobile face, is a long way from the Betty we all know and love. Nonetheless it’s good to see her, though it’s really Bimbo’s film as he and a headless duck dance up a storm while he runs rings around a ruffianly customer who is impatient for roast duck. Lively, if somewhat bizarre (and even tasteless) entertainment.

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the Enchanted Square

Director: SEYMOUR KNEITEL. Story: Shane Miller, Orestes Calpini. Based upon the characters in Raggedy Ann, created by Johnny Gruelle. Animators: Orestes Calpini, Hal Eugster. Scenics: Shane Miller. Music arrangements: Winston Sharples. Color by Technicolor. A Famous Studios Production. A Paramount Picture.

Copyright 9 May 1947 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. 10 minutes.

COMMENT: A few flashes of visual inventiveness grafted on to an overly sentimental story about a cute little blind girl (and her comes-to-life doll, Raggedy Ann) in a Tree Grows in Brooklyn environment.

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Hector’s Hectic Life

Director: BILL TYTLA. Story: Joe Stultz, Larry Riley. Animators: George Germanetti, Steve Muffatti. Scenics: Robert Connavale. Music: Winston Sharples. Color by Technicolor. A Noveltoon. RCA Sound System. A Famous Studios Production. Paramount.

Copyright 19 November 1948 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. 7 minutes.

COMMENT: Hector the dog is forced to cope with three unexpected offspring on Christmas Eve. A boring and thoroughly predictable effort with not one ounce of wit or vivacity.

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Hep Cat Symphony

Director: I. SPARBER. Story: Carl Meyer, Jack Mercer. Animators: Dave Tendlar, Marty Taras. Scenics: Tom Ford. Music director: Winston Sharples. Color by Technicolor. A Noveltoon. A Famous Studios Production. Paramount.

Copyright 31 December 1948 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. 7 minutes.

COMMENT: Here we are back in that familiar battle-of-the-bands territory, this time opposing a hep-cat to a classic orchestra of mice. A lively enough little number, with a first-rate music score.

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Humpty Dumpty

Director: UB IWERKS. Music: Carl W. Stalling. Color by Cinecolor. Producers: Ub Iwerks, Pat Powers. A P.A. Powers’ComiColor Cartoon.

Not copyrighted by Celebrity Productions, Inc. U.S. release: 1935.

COMMENT: It’s not the real Humpty Dumpty, but Humpty Dumpty junior, who graces this witty little romance in which Junior falls in love with an Easter Egg who is carried off by a villainous Bad Egg. Fortunately, Easter falls into a pan of boiling water and emerges as a hardboiled egg. I love the production number, Spooning in a Spoon, which happily is reprised at the finale. Despite its slow start, this is one you can put on the Recommended list.

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King for a Day

Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Story: Joseph E. Stultz. Animators: Willard Bowsky, James Davis. Color by Technicolor. Voices: Pinto Colvig (Gabby), Jack Mercer (the king). Music: Sammy Timberg, Winston Sharples. Producer: Max Fleischer.

Copyright 18 October 1940 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. 1 reel. 7 minutes.

COMMENT: Boring Gabby is induced to change places with King Little as it seems the king is convinced he will be shot by an unknown assassin. In a word, tiresome.

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Leprechaun’s Gold

Director: BILL TYTLA. Story: Ewald Ludwig, I. Klein, Jack Ward. Scenics: Robert Little. Animators: Hal Eugster, George Germanetti. Steve Muffatti. Music arrangements: Winston Sharples. Song, Tap, Tap, Tap by Buddy Kaye and Dick Manning. Color by Technicolor. A Noveltoon.

Copyright 14 October 1949 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. 7 minutes.

COMMENT: One of the most entertaining cartoons Paramount ever produced, this spirited offering is a clever little tale of a coming-of-age leprechaun (he’s 121) versus the district’s most ambitious miser who’s after that legendary crock of gold. Director Bill Tytla deserves a big hand. Despite one or two slightly strained effects, this one comes over as a delightfully atmospheric, humorously suspenseful yarn.

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Man on the Flying Trapeze

Jack Mercer (Popeye), Mae Questel (Olive Oyl). Other characters include Wimpy, the man on the flying trapeze, three urchins, and a cat.

Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Based on characters created by Segar. Animators: Willard Bowsky, Dave Tendlar. Title song revised (from an 1868 tune) by Walter O’Keefe.

Copyright 29 March 1934 by Paramount Productions, Inc. A Popeye the Sailor cartoon. 1 reel.

NOTES: One of the few Popeyes in which Bluto does not appear, his usual villainous place being here usurped by the title character.

COMMENT: A delightful musical entry in the series, with Jack Mercer and company in fine voice as they reprise the title song amidst the perils of the big top. We love the three youngsters (and the cat) whom Popeye helps into the circus. Some wonderful sight gags ensue from this confrontation, in which Wimpy figures as ringmaster, alternately blowing a whistle (in his left hand) and eating a hamburger (in his right).

OTHER VIEWS: A rousing rendition of the title song — nicely orchestrated and vocalized — which occupies just about all the film’s running time, makes this entry one of the most pleasing and must-sees of the series. As usual, Olive gets the thin end of the stick. Not only is she stretched and booted from trapeze bar to horizontal, but Popeye misses her as she plummets from the high wire. But he does catch her on first bounce.

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Mary’s Little Lamb

Director: UB IWERKS. Music: Carl W. Stalling. Color by Cinecolor. Producers: Ub Iwerks, Pat Powers. A P.A. Powers’ComiColor Cartoon.

Not copyrighted by Celebrity Productions, Inc. Released in 1935. 1 reel.

COMMENT: A boring waste of time about a certain young girl whose pet lamb follows her to school one day. The lamb is keen to show off its miniscule skills at dancing, but neither we nor the typically caricatured old-maid schoolteacher are amused.

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Mask-A-Raid

Starring Betty Boop (voiced by Mae Questel). With Bimbo.

Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Producer: Max Fleischer.

Copyright 7 November 1931 by Paramount Publix Corp. 1 reel.

COMMENT: For her first starring role, Betty’s Boop’s dog ears have been replaced by earrings. Oddly, although Betty is now the center of attention, Bimbo still has a major role. Not only does he carry most of the mask gags, the movie even irises out on a clever series of close-ups of Bimbo’s eyes as they canter about with joy at Bimbo’s prospects of marrying Betty. As befits the launch of a new star, production values in this one are extremely elaborate with many huge crowd gags (two or three of which can only be fully appreciated on a big cinema screen), jaunty songs and a full orchestral accompaniment which never stops for breath from credit titles to fade-out. Some of the visual gags are delightfully surreal. To sum up: This entry incorporates all the inventiveness of the Fleischers in full flight.

OTHER VIEWS: Betty’s first above-the-title star featurette, is also one of her best. Terrific fun for young and old—especially old!

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Minding the Baby

Betty Boop (voiced by Mae Questel) and Bimbo.

Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Associate director: Shamus Culhane. Music: George Steiner. Animators: Jimmie Culhane, Berney Wolf. Producer: Max Fleischer.

Copyright 26 September 1931 by Paramount Publix Corp. 1 reel.

COMMENT: Bimbo’s mum asks him to mind his baby brother, Aloysius—a rather mature brat who smokes cigars and studies the stock market. After initially refusing her invitation in a snatch of delightful nonsense lyrics, Bimbo manages to sneak across to Betty’s for a game of oddball rope-skipping which somehow becomes a splendid slide down the banisters into a picture of the sea. Although there is still plenty of captivatingly surreal material in this one (mostly featuring inanimate objects which suddenly come to life), a few of the gags are more mundane, while at least two are sadistic enough to make this entry unsuitable for children. Recommended, nonetheless—if only for one really brilliant gag in which a snorer replaces a pianola to produce notes from a music sheet.

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Mysterious Mose

Bimbo (Mysterious Mose), Betty Boop (frightened householder, voiced by Mae Questel).

Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Animators: Willard Bowsky, Ted Sears. Producer: Max Fleischer.

Copyright 26 December 1930 by Paramount Publix Corp. 1 reel.

COMMENT: The obligatory haunted house offering in the series proves to be a mite disappointing. True, the flying meltdown, Bimbo, goes through some wonderful transformations, but Betty’s role is merely that of a colorless screamer.

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Peeping Penguins

Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Animators: Myron Waldman, Hicks Lokey. Music: Sammy Timberg, Bob Rothberg. Color by Technicolor. Producer: Max Fleischer.

Copyright 27 August 1937 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. 1 reel.

COMMENT: A quartet of young penguins get up to moderately entertaining mischief in a deserted cabin. Their mother has an appropriately catchy song, Curiosity Killed the Cat. Nice Technicolor photography.

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Scottie Finds a Home

Director: BURT GILLETT. Music: Winston Sharples. Producer: Amadee J. Van Beuren. A Rainbow Parade cartoon. Color by Technicolor.

Copyright 23 August 1935 by the Van Beuren Corp. U.S. release through RKO. 1 reel.

COMMENT: Not with me he doesn’t! You have to be a real dog lover to get anything out of this shamelessly trite piece in which Scotty rescues Grandma from a hungry hobo who takes over the house.

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Sheep Shape

Director: I. SPARBER. Story: Joe Stultz. Animators: Dave Tendlar, John Gentilella. Music director: Winston Sharples. Song, I’m in the Mood for Love. Color by Technicolor. A Noveltoon. A Famous Studios Production. Paramount.

Copyright 28 June 1946 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. 1 reel.

COMMENT: Showing the influence of Tex Avery, this is a pleasing offering about a penniless wolf seeking to raise money (by stealing it from Blackie) to visit a nightclub featuring no less than thirty (count them!) beautiful girls. Alas, we don’t see even one of them on screen. Instead, Blackie offers a half-hearted Marlene Dietrich impersonation. But you can’t have everything.

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Silly Scandals

Bimbo.

Director: DAVE FLEISCHER. Producer: Max Fleischer.

Copyright 23 May 1931 by Paramount Publix Corp. 1 reel.

COMMENT: Dog-eared Betty Boop (voiced, as usual, by Mae Questel) makes an unbilled guest appearance in this odd cartoon which actually doesn’t star the youthful Bimbo at all, but a far more mature imitator (who is white, not black), who sneaks into a vaudeville show. Best scene, of course, is the Betty Boop number in which she sings You’re Driving Me Crazy (which is delightfully reprised by the Bimbo character in a cleverly surrealistic montage at the conclusion of a long and none too interesting hypnotism scene with a magician lion). Other characters to note are precursors of Popeye’s nemesis, Bluto, and Mrs Simpson (of all people)!

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the Stupidstitious Cat

Director: SEYMOUR KNEITEL. Animators: Graham Place, John Walworth. Story: Carl Meyer, Jack Ward. Scenics: Anton Loeb. Music: Winston Sharples. Color by Technicolor.

Copyright 25 April 1947 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. 7 minutes.

COMMENT: Thanks to Buzzy, an agreeable mockingbird, this otherwise routine entry of cat-attempting-to-breakfast-on-bird is given a bit of charm and even vivacity.

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Tarts and Flowers

Director: BILL TYTLA. Story: Bill Turner, Larry Riley. Animators: George Germanetti, Steve Muffatti. Scenics: Robert Little. Music: Winston Sharples. Color by Technicolor. A Noveltoon. RCA Sound System. A Famous Studios Production. Paramount

Copyright 1 June 1950 by Paramount Pictures Corp. 7 minutes.

COMMENT: By the humble standards of Little Audrey cartoons, this is a superior entry. Although the rest comes over as boringly routine, the fantasy sequence (in which the cakes our Audrey seeks to bake take on lives of their own) is handled with a fair degree of imagination.

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a Wild Hare

Director: TEX AVERY. Story: Rich Hogan. Animator: Virgil Ross. Character animation: Robert Givens. Music director: Carl W. Stalling. Voices: Mel Blanc. Color by Technicolor. Producer: Leon Schlesinger.

Copyright 27 July 1940 by The Vitaphone Corp. A Warner Bros Merrie Melodies cartoon. U.S. release: 27 July 1940. 1 reel.

COMMENT: The first true Bugs Bunny cartoon introduced his immortal line, What’s up, Doc? Admittedly, Bugs is not his customary self in figure, but his character is now set, and for fans of the aggressively wiseacre bunny, this encounter with his perennial enemy, Elmer Fudd, is a must. A bonus is the fast-paced assortment of typical Avery visual and verbal gags. Deservedly, this entry was nominated for Hollywood’s annual award for Best Cartoon, though it actually lost out MGM’s Milky Way.

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Wolf! Wolf!

Director: MANNIE DAVIS. Story: John Foster. Music: Philip A. Scheib. Color by Technicolor. Producer: Paul Terry.

Not copyrighted by Terrytoons. Released by Fox in 1944. 6 minutes.

COMMENT: A vigorously paced, often inventively tongue-in-cheek Mighty Mouse, with a good music score.

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Yankee Doodle Donkey

Director: I. SPARBER. Story: Jack Mercer, Jack Ward. Animators: Nick Tafuri, Tom Golden. Music: Winston Sharples. Music arrangements: Sammy Timberg. Color by Technicolor. A Noveltoon. Paramount

Copyright 27 October 1944 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. 1 reel.

COMMENT: A patriotic donkey, keen to join the WAGS, impersonates a dog. Just as his ruse is discovered, he becomes a hero by repelling the Flea Army. A mildly entertaining effort that should go down a treat with all those who love dogs and donkeys, but hate fleas.

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SECTION 2: SHORT SUBJECTS

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Any Old Port

Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy (themselves), Walter Long (Mugsy Long), Julie Bishop (slavey), Harry Bernard (boxing promoter), Charlie Hall (Stan’s second), Dick Gilbert (Mugsy’s second), Sam Lufkin (referee), Bobby Burns (justice of the peace), Will Stanton (drunk), Ed Brandenberg, Baldwin Cooke, Jack Hill (spectators), Eddie Baker (police chief), Frank Terry (lunch wagon man).

Director: JAMES W. HORNE. Dialogue: H.M. Walker. Photography: Art Lloyd. Film editor: Richard Currier. Music: Marvin Hatley, LeRoy Shield. Sound supervisor: Elmer Raguse. Producer: Hal Roach.

Copyright 4 February 1932 by