Does the "Definitve Betty Boop" collection really include every single BB cartoon?

[wackyoverkhaki]

I own an 8-volume VHS collection of The Definitive Betty Boop, which is claimed to include every :betty: cartoon ever made. However, I have heard of a few :betty: shorts that sound unfamiliar, one where she's a fish. (I know she was a dog in the earlier cartoons, but I don't remember any fish caricatures). If this is true, do you know where I can find these shorts? I want Betty in her entirety.

[Sogturtle]

I own an 8-volume VHS collection of The Definitive Betty Boop, which is claimed to include every :betty: cartoon ever made. However, I have heard of a few :betty: shorts that sound unfamiliar, one where she's a fish. (I know she was a dog in the earlier cartoons, but I don't remember any fish caricatures). If this is true, do you know where I can find these shorts? I want Betty in her entirety.

Wackyoverkhaki~

Both the 8 volume tape set and the laserdisc volumes 1 & 2 do leave out several Betty Boop cartoons... And the reason is that they just couldn't be found, ooooor they couldn't be found in good enough condition back then. I.e. They are effectively lost...
We had a whole thread about this very thing last year... And our friend Duck Dodgers posted some screen shots a little while back from one of the "lost" ones that turned up recently. :betty:

[Bobby Bickert]

The "fish" cartoon is a Screen Song called "Time on my Hands". One of the animated characters is a mermaid who's obviously based on Betty (same head shape) but has long blonde hair. (She's also completely topless!:eek: ) The other animated characters are 2 animals, I think a bear and a cat, that are obviously counterparts to Bimbo and Koko. I guess the compilers of the VHS/laserdisc sets didn't consider this to be Betty. (And yet they included "The Robot"...)

[Gordan]

Wackyoverkhaki~

Both the 8 volume tape set and the laserdisc volumes 1 & 2 do leave out several Betty Boop cartoons... And the reason is that they just couldn't be found, ooooor they couldn't be found in good enough condition back then. :betty:

In addition to this, of course, a "Betty Boop" short entitled POPEYE THE SAILOR could not be included in the set because of the well-known copyright issues.:sailor:

[Ray Pointer]

Wackyoverkhaki~

Both the 8 volume tape set and the laserdisc volumes 1 & 2 do leave out several Betty Boop cartoons... And the reason is that they just couldn't be found, ooooor they couldn't be found in good enough condition back then. I.e. They are effectively lost...
We had a whole thread about this very thing last year... And our friend Duck Dodgers posted some screen shots a little while back from one of the "lost" ones that turned up recently. :betty:

The details of the missing four titles, BUZZY BOOP, BUZZY BOOP AT THE CONCERT, PUDGY AND THE LOST KITTEN, and HONEST LOVE AND TRUE are that Fliescher Studios was supposed to have retained the rights to them, while Paramount acquired the rest of the films as collateral for the Miami Studio operation in 1938. Once Fleischer Studios ceased to function in 1942, the corporate matters were in limbo for 30 years until the ownership of BETTY BOOP was returned. The location of the negatives of thse four cartoons is unknown, and Fleischer Studios did not maintain the archiving or preservation of them. So it can be assumed that they have decomposed since the only examples seem to be prints that have turned up in private collections. These titles include BUZZY BOOP, in a fuzzy 16mm dupe and PUDGY AND THE LOST KITTEN, which circulates in 16mm prints among the collector's circles.


Reminder:
The last credited BETTY BOOP cartoon YIP-YIP-YIPPY was omitted. It's about a mail order "drugstore cowboy," I was available in 16mm circulating in collecotr's circlesthe 1970s.:betty:

[Cartman]

There is one title in the existing group of films, MAKING STARS (1935) containing vaudeville acts of ethnic babies such as "The Colorful Three" whinning "Hi-dee Ho" a' la Cab Calloway with watermelon "gags" that was omitted due to PC reasons. Too bad since there was some great animation in this one. Ironically, OUT OF THE INKWELL (1938) with its stereotyped black janitor passed muster. Both were available in 16mm when they were circulating in the 1970s.:betty:
Thank goodness for the Banned and Censored Cartoon Craze DVD set.

[gdX]

Making Stars did make its way to the Laserdisc box, which if memory serves, came out before the VHS... which may account for its absence there... somebody prolly saw it, squawked, and -- yoink!

Understandable, all things considered... that one's rough to watch even for me with my release-em-all POV.

But it is out there... and that's as it should be.

[FleischerFan]

I'm not entirely sure what Ray is referring to when he says that "Making Stars" was omitted.

I have purchased 2 of the Betty Boop: The Definitive Collection box sets. "Making Stars" was in both sets - on Volume 5 "Curtain Call." It is the sixth cartoon on the tape. I'm staring at the back cover of the VHS sleeve of Volume 5 as I type this.

wackyoverkhaki:

Is it on Volume 5 of your collection as well?

[JDWeil]

Even the prints that are in the collection leave something to be desired. One example: The print used in the colleciton of MUsical Mountaineers does not list the screen credits on it. Yet I have found prints of the short with full credits. And many of the Screen Songs are severly edited. Lastly, Yip, Yip Yippee! is not in the collection. Even though Bety is not supposed to be in this short, it is part of the series.

[frizfrelengfan]

The version of "Musical Mountaineers" on archive.org has original Paramount opening titles (but no closing title).

[Ray Pointer]

I'm not entirely sure what Ray is referring to when he says that "Making Stars" was omitted.

I have purchased 2 of the Betty Boop: The Definitive Collection box sets. "Making Stars" was in both sets - on Volume 5 "Curtain Call." It is the sixth cartoon on the tape. I'm staring at the back cover of the VHS sleeve of Volume 5 as I type this.

wackyoverkhaki:

Is it on Volume 5 of your collection as well?

I double checked, and MAKING STARS is indeed on the Home Video Release. Because it is so painful to watch it was mentally blocked out of my memory.
Certain titles such as MAKING STARS and OUT OF THE INKWELL (1938) were omitted from the television package for PC reasons, however. I believe that was the impression I was going by. All the rest about the missing four still remains true however. Thanks for clearing up that confusion for me.