Dizzy Dishes

Betty Boop to this day remains one of the most cherished cartoon characters of the 20th century, if not of all time. If it weren't for her spunk personality, charming physique and surreal tone, who knows what non-Disney animation would have been like back then. However, when it comes to her first ever appearance, that being the cartoon Dizzy Dishes, it's far from anything great.

Now the cartoon does credit Grim Natwick as the lead animator, and rightfully so as he actually created Betty Boom herself, or at least this can be deemed a prototype. As she was modeled after Helen Kane and Esther Jones, Natwick really knew how to bring this lustrous femme to life through broad animation and bizarre proportions. Even though Max Fleischer took credit, it's always a bonus to give praise to the true man who crafted the og version of Betty that led her to stardom. Also, as this cartoon was made in the early 1930s, it is very fun to see the days where almost every cartoon embraced the surrealistic attributes of visual comedy.

Sadly, that's where my positives end. Although most of the negatives I have for this cartoon are more based off the severe limitations of silent filmmaking back then, they still need to be addressed. For one thing, the sound quality is so bad that it's near impossible to comprehend what the others are saying (even Betty's own song for goodness sake). Plus, the animation is inconsistent and jerky, the jokes don't really hit that well, and even the bouncy feel of cartoon animation back then isn't as thrilling as it sounds here.

And then there's the actual storyline itself. The main character, who would later become Betty's sidekick Bimbo, is a waiter who needs to prepare a roast duck for a hungry customer. However, he gets caught up in the dancing fun to the point where the customer gets aggressively uptight at him. Maybe I'm thinking too much about this, but that customer has every right to be angry at that dog. How much free time can one dog have before it bites him in the butt? Regardless, while I do admire this cartoon for being Betty's first unofficial appearance, I can't get into it because of how little it entertains me.

The Best thing about this talkartoon feature was it the first cartoon to feature the animated character Betty Boop. Betty was nameless in this feature and was Originally meant as a Caricature of Helen Kane. she most likely was meant to have been Helen kane only in a cartoon form and thats why she was nameless also not to mention Betty Boop was a canine.

to avoid confusion margie hines was the first helen kane soundalike chosen to record the singing for this cartoon meaning she was first to voice Betty Boop.

The Caricature Performs one of Helen kanes Novelty Hits (I Have To Have You) with some scat lyrics of Boop Oop a Doop/ Poop Poop a Doo/ Boop Boop a Doop. the cartoon has the regular fleischer studio Gags. basically revolving around bimbo the dog. Gus the gorilla can also be seen in this short who was actually one of the characters from the Betty Boop series. Betty boops singing doesn't last very long but its great to see all the expressions in her face, some are really scary. if only her sequence went on longer.

I give this cartoon 10/10 because it was the first cartoon to feature Betty Boop. she was classed as ugly in this appearance but sooner or later she went though a few more changes which resulted in her becoming the title name called The Betty Boop Cartoons.

While Fleischer cartoons are generally well-animated and thus worth watching from that standpoint, the only real point of interest is the comparatively brief look at Betty Boop-version 1.0. Originally, Betty Boop was conceived as a dog and gradually evolved into the Betty Boop most recognizable today. There isn't much to say about the short itself, as it's nothing terribly special. The gags are occasionally cute, but it isn't especially memorable for anything other than Betty. I've had waiters this bad before, however. Dizzy Dishes is on Betty Boop-The Definitive Collection, an excellent compilation. Maybe Popeye will receive similar treatment on DVD sometime before the heat-death of the universe. For completeists only.

...Never in my life have I watched a Betty Boop cartoon - until today. I thought I could give this one a go, as this was Betty's debut and I wanted to see what she would be like.

Betty Boop only appears in this odd and old episode for a little bit of it, but seems to be an important character. In this appearance she has dog ears, to attract the dog waiter who is the main centre of the episode. He is catering for a pub-type place with a stage for dancers (Betty Boop is a dancer and the waiter seems to dance for her later because he loves her so much). The main plot-line of the episode is the fact that the waiter is incredibly slow and everyone is waiting for him. The most stressed out customer is a rather big dog who wants roast duck. The waiter is just about to bring the roast duck to him until he is distracted by Betty Boop and dances with the duck (cooked and prepared).

Anyhow, that's pretty much the plot of the episode. I thought it was cute, entertaining and one that I would watch again. As for Betty Boop, she was not a character to interest me enough (partly because she was not the main character), so I think I'll have to watch some newer episodes with her to have a better idea of her.

I recommend this episode to people who like lots of arbitrary dancing and music in a short cartoon episode and to people who want to see Betty's first appearance - with dog ears. Enjoy "Dizzy Dishes"! :-)

7 and a half out of ten.

Dizzy Dishes (1930)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This is a somewhat forgettable short but it does have one historically important thing that makes it worth watching. The story is quite simple as everyone in the film is a dog character and we are treated to our main character, a waiter, who is falling behind at work. That's until he walks out into the lobby where we see what would be the first appearance of Betty Boop. DIZZY DISHES isn't all that good as there aren't any laughs and the story itself is nothing special. The reason people will want to watch this is that it does feature the first appearance of Betty Boop, although she doesn't look like she eventually would. She has dog ears here and is a lot taller than what most people think of her as. Fans of Betty will want to check this out even though it doesn't offer much else.