We Want Betty

An audience of animals cheers Betty Boop after her on-stage impersonation of Maurice Chevalier in Stopping the Show (1932).



That is one drawing from one of a number of animation cycles in this enjoyable cartoon from the Fleischer studio.



The frame above is one of 26 drawings in a cycle. Below, you can look at the cycle slowed down.



The animation in the cartoon is credited to Doc Crandall and Rudolph Eggeman. The artwork is attractive, far more so than at the other New York theatrical animation studios.

In the Motion Picture Herald, one theatre manager proclaimed of the Betty Boop cartoon “These are always good” while another said “A very clever cartoon.” Abel Green was a little less enthusiastic in Variety. He wrote on August 16, 1932.

‘STOPPING THE SHOW’
Betty Boop Cartoon
6 Mins.
Rialto, N. Y.
Paramount
Another in the Max Fleischer series, built like a vaude show with a succession of acts until Betty Boop comes on and is vociferously greeted by her menagerie audience.
She does imitations, besides her own style, of Chevalier and Fannie Brice, the former not so good.
Has lots of novelty and comedy and is an okay short all around.

Below is the cycle at a speed closer to what you see on the screen.