Betty Co-ed

No, it's not Betty Boop. The confusion is understandable because it's the same voice as Betty, the imitation Helen Kane singing voice. Betty Co-Ed, however, is not Betty Boop, but the subject of a rah-rah college song sung by Rudy Vallee in this Fleischer Screen Song.

It's a lively song as performed, with a good assortment of gags that make this a great Screen Song. The artwork is primitive and simplistic for the Fleischers in this period and there are a lot of cartoon mice that resemble that of a competing cartoon producer whose initials are Walt Disney. However, a lot of cartoons were produced with this mocking homage, at least until Disney began to sue.

Betty Co-ed (1931)

*** (out of 4)

The Fleischer Studio produced a number of these animated short films where the "bouncing ball" would have audience members singing together. Rudy Vallee makes his second appearance in this series as he sings the title song. The starting animation sequence has a nerdy college student meeting Betty Co-ed and from here we get the bouncing ball and the song. If you're familiar with the series then you know the format that all of the shorts followed. This one here is pretty good since Vallee does have a unique voice and he does the song justice. Obviously having him sing the tune is much better than any stock singer that the company might have otherwise had doing it. The animation is good and the characters are certainly entertaining in their own way.