![]() If you want more of Betty, you can also check out 1932’s “Minnie the Moocher”, also considered one of the greatest cartoons of all time. Of particular note is the film’s imaginative and detailed backgrounds, a strength that Cuphead has in common with the cartoon. Of those, “Snow-White” is perhaps the best, the result of six months of work by Fleischer Studios lead animator Roland Crandall, and considered one of the best works of the golden era of animation. The best of her cartoons were arguably in the first three years following her debut, before the Hayes Code (which dramatically altered her appearance and demeanor) was enforced. Indeed, a flash of “Chess-Nuts” can be seen in Jake Clark’s GDC talk about the game’s animation, where he also reveals that Betty Boop’s design was a major influence on at least one of the game’s major bosses, “Cala Maria”. You can also see more scattered throughout the Silly Symphony filmography, a chronological playlist of which you can find here.Īs a Fleischer Studios character, a variety of Betty Boop cartoons likely played a part in inspiring Cuphead. Some of Iwerks’s animation from the short would later be used in “Haunted House,” a 1929 Mickey Mouse film that also feels reminiscent of Cuphead’s macabre and spooky touches.įor another glimpse into the heavy influence of early Disney cartoons in the making of Cuphead, take a look at the 1929 film Hell’s Bells, where you’ll see characters that almost undoubtedly served as the model for The Devil and perhaps other bosses, like Grim Matchstick. Like many Silly Symphonies, it is heavy on psychedelic and often supernatural imagery, such as that seen in the Cuphead boss fights Phear Lap and Phantom Express (scenes also reminiscent of the 1937 Mickey Mouse short “Lonesome Ghosts”). Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks’s “The Skeleton Dance” was the first Silly Symphony, a series of technically innovative cartoons in the late ‘20s and 1930s that expanded the artistic range of the medium, and which would heavily inspire the look and feel of Cuphead. While the racial sensibilities of the latter two are wildly outdated, they probably served as at least partial inspiration for Cuphead segments like Djimmi the Great. Directed by Dave Fleischer, who Chad and Jared tell me is their favorite director, the film was one of three longer cartoons billed as Popeye Color Specials, including “Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba’s Forty Thieves” and “Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp” (19, respectively). Like many others on this list, it is also considered one of animation’s fifty best cartoons of all time, and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1936, losing out to “The Country Cousin,” a Silly Symphony. While “Popeye The Sailor,” the original cartoon that started it all in 1933 (with a cameo from Betty Boop), was a fine hit, 1936’s “Popeye Meets Sinbad the Sailor” is even more well regarded, especially for its lush, full color glory. Segar’s comic strip Thimble Theatre was optioned into film in late 1932. However video evidence came to light of Baby Esther performing in a nightclub and the courts ruled against Helen Kane stating she did not have exclusive rights to the “booping” style or image, and that the style, in fact, pre-dated her.īaby Esther’s “baby style” did little to bring her mainstream fame and she died in relative obscurity but a piece of her lives on in the iconic character Betty Boop.Another Fleischer Studios hit was the Popeye series of cartoons, which started when E.C. When Betty Boop was introduced, Kane promptly sued Fleischer and Paramount Publix Corporation stating they were using her image and style. Finding fame early on, Helen Kane often included this “baby style” into her music. ![]() After seeing Baby Esther, Helen Kane adopted her style and began using “boops” in her songs as well. Betty Boop is best known for her revealing dress, curvaceous figure, and signature vocals “Boop Oop A Doop!” While there has been controversy over the years, the inspiration has been traced back to Esther Jones who was known as “Baby Esther” and performed regularly in the Cotton Club during the 1920s.īaby Esther’s trademark vocal style of using “boops” and other childlike scat sounds attracted the attention of actress Helen Kane during a performance in the late 1920s. Introduced by cartoonist Max Fleischer in 1930, the caricature of the jazz age flapper was the first and most famous sex symbol in animation. ![]() The iconic cartoon character Betty Boop was inspired by a Black jazz singer in Harlem.
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