Betty Boop's Big Boss

Betty uses her sexuality to get a job. Then when the boss starts chasing her around, the Army and the Air Force come to her rescue, as well as a rescue team. She is definitely being harassed, but she knew what the guy was when she took the job. There are some real mixed messages here and the ending really threw me for a loop. Oh well. It was 1933.

A man posts a sign on a big building: 'GIRL WANTED: Top Floor, Female Preferred." Immediately, thousands of women cram in the building and go up to see the boss. Betty stands out from the crowd, shaking her hips and getting attention from the old man. "What can you do? he asks.

She replies, in song, "Well, I'm not much in crowd but when you get me alone - yeoow - you'll be surprised." (This was pre-Code cartoon!)

Here's the next line: "I don't know how to type, but if you take me home, you'll get a surprise." She follows with more of the same. She gets the old man worked up and he immediately gets rid of the rest of the women by pulling a level and they all drop the ground level!

Betty keeps singing to the guy with these sexy, come-on lyrics so, of course, she is hired. Minutes later, when he makes a pass at her, she calls the cops. (Women!!!) After that is some of the wildest, most absurd scenes I've ever watched in a cartoon with a really crazy ending.

This is a totally off-the-wall but very entertaining Betty Boop cartoon, one that certainly would not have been made from 1934 on, for either Code reasons up to 1967 and then for political correctness bias since then.

Betty Boop's Big Boss (1933)

*** (out of 4)

A new secretary position opens up so Betty Boop goes to apply and uses her sexuality and looks to get the job. Once she has the job her obese boss begins to sexually harass her and soon the cops are called in. BETTY BOOP'S BIG BOSS is a very fast and at times very funny animated short that shows how at one time things like sexual harassment could be used for jokes and entertainment. There's certainly a lot of Pre- code material to be had in this short has Betty is climbing all over the man's lap to get the job. The action towards the end is quite good and there's no question that the animation itself is quite fun and creative. Fans of Betty will certainly enjoy the charm of this one.

Fleischer were responsible for some brilliant cartoons, some of them still among my favourites. Their visual style often stunning and some of the most imaginative and ahead of its time in animation.

The character of Betty Boop, one of their most famous and prolific characters, may not be for all tastes and sadly not as popular now, but her sex appeal was quite daring for the time and to me there is an adorable sensual charm about her. The charm, sensuality and adorability factors are here and she's fun to watch. The rest of the characters are similarly enormously entertaining.

'Betty Boop's Big Boss' is not quite up there with Betty's best, but is never less than enormously entertaining, even though dealing with a serious subject matter, with some very inventively timed, very ahead of the time pre-code material and very funny humour. The cartoon's somewhat thin on plot, although one of the shorter Betty Boop cartoons, but despite how it all sounds the subject matter of sexual harassment while treated with humour is also handled with taste.

Furthermore, the black and white animation is extremely good, smooth, meticulously detailed and well drawn with the black and white not looking too primitive. A lot of it is actually very imaginative as well. Even better is the music, which is rousing, catchy and unquestionably accessible to anybody who loves or is familiar with the composition style.

All in all, very good cartoon. 9/10 Bethany Cox