Betty Boop Official Website...

[MF TOON]

I just stumbeled upon this disgusting bit of webspace and am both nauseated, yet somehow not all that surprised as to the marketing direction our favorite female golden age animated film star has taken...

http://www.bettyboop.com/


Check out the messageboard with such exciting forum categories as 'How To Be A Boop'... Contests For Pink Frilly Purses... What Foods You Love... The Story Game, in which Betty Boop decides to have a picnic in her new dress with big bows... What Do You Like Most About Boop, in which responses range from "I luv her because she's soooooooooooo cute", to "her cute lips", and "her dress sense"... The 'In My Boopmobile' and 'Yes Or No Game', in which such riveting questions as "Do you like Betty as Baby Boop... Yes!", "Do you play with your Betty Boop stuff?", "Have you ever wanted to look like Betty Boops?" and the critical... "Do you own a Betty Boop hairdryer and puzzle?" are queried.

Also, be sure to check out the hillarious "Classic Poses" section of the website in which the visitor is treated to an intriguing array of digital 'vintage' artwork in which Betty Boop is seen posing on her motorcycle, in her hawaiin go-go dress, and the classic Betty Boop pose as little bo peep with her sheep.


Bear in mind, this is NOT some fan site.

This is the OFFICIAL Betty Boop website.


I think I'm going to go throw up now.

[Sogturtle]

Welllllll... Having glanced through portions of the site, AT LEAST I don't think we can blame Max's son Richard Fleischer for much of it... It looks to be pretty much wholly a product of corporate mentalities...:rolleyes:

But at least it's largely harmless to the American public (and the world)!;)

[MF TOON]

Well I wouldn't necessarily call a media conspiracy whose aim is to infiltrate, brainwash and indoctrinate ten year old girls around the world, harmless. But I guess it dfoesn't affect me personally. :)



But I am curious about one thing... since (to my knowledge) Betty Boop never appeared outside of her Paramount Fleischer cartoons in any other animated form... when exactly did her image suddenly shift to the current monstrous pop culture iconogrophy she now seems to represent?

When did Betty Boop become a spokesperson for selling little girls bedsheets and pink heart shaped fridge magnets?

How exactly did she evolve from the pre-code depression era 1930's and surrealist imagery of the Fleischer films to the disgraceful cutesy valentine's day portrait that now seems to define her image and when exactly did this first begin?

[Bricolo]

I've been to that site before, I won a Betty Boop Nipple ring off the message board.

[Sogturtle]

Well I wouldn't necessarily call a media conspiracy whose aim is to infiltrate, brainwash and indoctrinate ten year old girls around the world, harmless. But I guess it dfoesn't affect me personally. :)

But I am curious about one thing... since (to my knowledge) Betty Boop never appeared outside of her Paramount Fleischer cartoons in any other animated form... when exactly did her image suddenly shift to the current monstrous pop culture iconogrophy she now seems to represent?

When did Betty Boop become a spokesperson for selling little girls bedsheets and pink heart shaped fridge magnets?

How exactly did she evolve from the pre-code depression era 1930's and surrealist imagery of the Fleischer films to the disgraceful cutesy valentine's day portrait that now seems to define her image and when exactly did this first begin?

MFToon~

Answering only partly;):D My nephew's two baby daughters ages 2 and 4 already know and LOVE Betty Boop purely from watching the classic cartoons (of which I infected my nephew with early on!:D). Sooooo that's a prime way of how the ongoing BB hysteria goes on.

Mademoiselle Boop actually DID appear in animated form a number of times outside of the Fleischer cartoons (although always with the revived Fleischer Studios blessings). Amongst them was at least one TV commercial of the Seventies which was animated by Dave Tendlar... And she was revived for entertainment purposes again in Bill Melendez's TV special in the 1980's, which TRIED to adhere to the original Fleischer universe... There was another Boop TV special made subsequently. In between those two she had a prominent (and lovely) cameo in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" where she was even voiced by Mae Questel. Lastly (well almost), in the Nineties a full-length animated feature was in the works (many numerous drawings were done) and then the studio lopped off the head of the "powers that be" and with them went Betty... One guess as to WHO the director was going to be... :D;) (It's REALLY kind of unbelievable...:eek:)

[Daff Doc]

I've been to that site before, I won a Betty Boop Nipple ring off the message board.

That's embarrasing.

Anyway where the heck are her films?!?!?!?!? We have all this dumb merchandise that these "fans" love to death yet there's never any mention of the cartoon shorts which made her famous in the first place. When's the DVD boxset Paramount? I'm tired of being able to see that same stock clip-art image of her on t-shirts that trailor-park mothers with curlors in the hair wear but not ever being able to see the dang 'toons.

[Daff Doc]

One guess as to WHO the director was going to be... :D;) (It's REALLY kind of unbelievable...:eek:)

Ray Pointer!

[Sogturtle]

Ray Pointer!

Giggling... Nooooo... But you got two letters right!;)

[Jon Cooke]

Of course, official websites like that are usually embarrasing so I am not really that surprised at seeing the Betty site. The official Betty Boop board sounds about the same as the stuff you'd see on the official Looney Tunes board over on LooneyTunes.com.

Then there's also outdated official sites, like Universal's official Woody Woodpecker site that tells us to look for Woody on Fox Saturday mornings or the official Popeye site that is just an ad for the CGI DVD from a couple years ago.


-Jon

[Bricolo]

That's embarrasing.

Anyway where the heck are her films?!?!?!?!? We have all this dumb merchandise that these "fans" love to death yet there's never any mention of the cartoon shorts which made her famous in the first place. When's the DVD boxset Paramount? I'm tired of being able to see that same stock clip-art image of her on t-shirts that trailor-park mothers with curlors in the hair wear but not ever being able to see the dang 'toons. It is, should I try for the frilly purse they got up now? Hey, it was free!

I followed an outraged person from another animation board I am sure you are familiarwith over there when they discovered it a couple years ago, he posted a couple posts demanding about a DVD, it may still be there, he encouraged people there to get Inkwell Images Out of the Inkwell DVDs for Koko. I am quite certain that all of these people there would jump at the chance to buy a proper complete DVD collection of Betty Boop, the market that they have raised is quite loyal.

[frizfrelengfan]

But I am curious about one thing... since (to my knowledge) Betty Boop never appeared outside of her Paramount Fleischer cartoons in any other animated form... when exactly did her image suddenly shift to the current monstrous pop culture iconogrophy she now seems to represent?

When did Betty Boop become a spokesperson for selling little girls bedsheets and pink heart shaped fridge magnets?

How exactly did she evolve from the pre-code depression era 1930's and surrealist imagery of the Fleischer films to the disgraceful cutesy valentine's day portrait that now seems to define her image and when exactly did this first begin?
It probably happened when King Features took over the marketing for Fleischer Studios. Fleischer Studios and King Features can market the trinkets, but Paramount owns the films.

[John Pannozzi]

Giggling... Nooooo... But you got two letters right!;)

Then was it Ralph Bakshi?

But I digress. I just glad that the official Boop site has a pretty good "History" section.

[MF TOON]

Ralph Bakshi...?


Now that's a scary thought!



What I never understood though, was that even in her revival roles as mentioned like RR, she was always portrayed as her 30's pre-code Fleischer era stark black & white self.

So how than, did she start to appear in marketing campaigns dressed in colorful pink and red dresses blowing heart shaped kisses everywhere?

I'm just curious as to who was responsible for altering her image so drastically and if anyone knows where examples of this first appeared?

Was her character, like say Mickey Mouse for example, carried through in it's popularity and marketability since inception... or did she make a resurgence sometime in later decades, and if so, when did she begin to get popular again - was it in the 70's, 80's, etc?

I can't say I've come accross much Boop merchandise or memoribillia from the 60's and 70's... so when did she return to the iconic figure that she is today, post-40's Paramount films, and when did this new schlocky adolescent girlish image of her begin to take over?

[J Lee]

Betty's popularity has had three revivals -- first in the 1950s, when UM&M began showing the old cartoons on TV, then in the 1970s as part of an overall 1930s nostalga kick, and again in the 1990s, simply as a cute merchandising tool to people (mainly female) who for the most part have never seen more than a clip or two of her actual cartoons.

Not the greatest situation, but at the very least it keeps her name and image alive to the point that maybe someday, Paramount will decide to release her shorts on DVD (the problem here being similar, but not the exact same, as the situation with Popeye, KFS and Warner Bros -- the studio that owns the films doesn't own the character, and therefore has less incientive to release of the shorts. They don't have the problem of having to work a deal out with King Features like Warners does, but any benefits in a new bump in popularity of Ms. Boop past the actual sale of the DVDs by Paramount benefits KFS and the Fleischer family, not the company).

[janiepooh34]

I don't know that Betty Boop ever actually went away.

When I was a youngster back in the early 70's, I got a hand me down sweatshirt from one of my cousins who had worn it in the late 60's. After I found out "who" Betty Boop was, I have ALWAYS seen her merchandise. Maybe not all pink and dolled up, but I have continually seen this stuff.

I don't know when they changed her image, it must have been something in the last few years. Since more teenagers have more spending money than ever before, what better demographic to aim for?

[J. B. Warner]

I've been to that site before, I won a Betty Boop Nipple ring off the message board.

That might very well be the most wrong thing I have ever read in my life.

[Daff Doc]

There's also the "Hooter's" Betty Boop that's aimed at adult men.:o

[ALK]

I've been to that site before, I won a Betty Boop Nipple ring off the message board.
That might very well be the most wrong thing I have ever read in my life.
I agree. I hope that was a joke, right?

[RetroMan]

Well, this is simply disgusting (And I haven't seen the website yet). I bet that if one of these teeny Boop fans were to actually watch her films they would balk during the credits just because they're black and white.

The only thing that could make the situation worse would be an anime Betty Boop.

[John Pannozzi]

The only thing that could make the situation worse would be an anime Betty Boop.

An anime Betty Boop wouldn't be THAT bad, since the pioneer of Japanese cartoons and comics, Osamu Tezuka, was HUGELY influenced by the Fleischer cartoons.