Betty Boop with Grampy in House Cleaning Blues (Fleischer, 1937)- with original titles!!!!!

Tom Stathes posted the original version of "House Cleaning Blues" on YouTube.

The theatrical titles look like as if you were watching a trailer for a classic movie. Seriously, did Max and Dave hire somebody who has experience on movie trailer titles? Alongside from that, I've noticed that on UM&M prints, the titles don't have any moving illusion value at all when you're seeing title cards that originally had references to Paramount. One live-action short example would be the UM&M opening to "A Rhapsody in Black and Blue" with Louie Armstrong.

But it was a thrill to see the opening titles as originally presented in the movie theater. It has the Paramount logo with the Stereoptical biplane byline- which can be seen in PD Popeye logo recreations (Little Swee'pea, Blow Me Down), plus a cartoon on the Popeye Volume 1- I forgot which cartoon it was, oh well.


For the actual cartoon- it's a little bit formulaic (you thought Famous was the only cartoon era to have the same story?) because you're having a duo Betty Boop cartoon (Betty Boop with Pudgy, Betty Boop with Grampy, Betty Boop with Buzzy Boop)- even though Pudgy seems to be the most repetitive. Even watching "Betty Boop and Grampy" and/or "Christmas Comes But Once A Year" (that was a Color Classic without Betty), you'd get an idea of what would happen.

The plot? We begin with Betty Boop waking up from a birthday party. Betty can't clean the house, and she's getting clumsy, so Grampy comes in and makes homemade cleaning devices.


This was directed by Dave Fleischer and featured Grim Natwick's creation of Betty Boop for Fleischer, and this Grampy cartoon was really directed by Dave Tendlar for his unit. "House Cleaning Blues" was released by Paramount Pictures in 1937, approved with MPAA # 01188.

NOTE: The ending is incomplete. Tom did notice without me telling him. To see the complete ending via a UM&M print, click here.





Thanks,

ParamountCartoons.