Judge for a Day

Just discovered this post-Code Max Fleischer Betty Boop cartoon on YouTube. You can tell it's after the time the Production Code really went into effect since Betty is singing about being happy and not about sexuality. Also she's more conservatively dressed for work as a court stenographer and not as a nightclub entertainer with her garter on one of her legs. And the people that annoy her are not lechers but bus passengers of which two try to read her paper, one lady rudely takes her seat, and one man blows smoke in her face! So when she arrives early in an empty courthouse, Betty imagines what would happen if she were judge. The next scene takes place in a zoo where many of these annoying people get what's coming to them! That's all I'll say except there's actually something of a happy ending for Betty and the townspeople who cheer her on. So while this isn't the standard Betty Boop we all know and love, Judge for a Day does still provide some of her spark in this post-Code entry.

In bizarre manner, an episode reflecting more the frustrations of our time. A chain of incidents, Betty Boop having the unluck to be their victim. Ignored social rules, polite manners or forms of sexism and selfishness. And, like Abu Hassan, Betty is, for a day, judge. And her punishment are just cruel, reminding the importance of public executions. Sure, few drops of humor and apotheotic end but the fact than you feel good seeing can say much about viewer. So, a bitter moral lesson.

In the mid-1930s, some of Betty Boop's cartoons were amazingly cruel. While most were happy little cartoons with singing and cute animals and anthropomorphic backgrounds, a few, like "Judge for a Day" and "Be Human" were rather vicious and focused on Betty dispensing her own form of justice on evil doers. In "Be Human", a vicious animal abuser (and I do mean vicious) is himself beaten and abused by Betty and Grampy! Here in "Judge for a Day", Betty seems in a very grouchy mood--made more so by annoying folks who are more thoughtless than evil. Later, Betty sneaks into the court, dresses up like a judge and sings a song about how much fun it would be to torment these people!! Talk about sadistic! It's made worse when the crowds hear her song and decide she WOULD make a perfect judge! While is is awfully cruel, I must admit I, too, would like to see a few of these folks get theirs and there is something satisfying about her puritanical rant about gum chewers and the like! Weird and funny--with the typically beautiful Fleischer Studio animation.

'Judge For A Day (1935)' is a short film starring Betty Boop (IMDb lists it as part of a TV series, but it was actually released theatrically like most (if not all) of the Boop-starring shorts). The piece starts out showing Boop make her way into work and come across a variety of what she refers to as 'pests'. Then, she fantasies about the punishments she would dole out to the perpetrators of these irking actions. The piece is decent enough for what it is, but it isn't especially entertaining overall. It has a strange structure and a couple of really unmemorable songs. There's also a bit of a mean streak running throughout. Still, it has its moments and is animated rather well. 5/10.

Betty has one of those days. She is struck on the street by men with no regard for her fragile being. One the bus men blow smoke at her, read her newspaper, get in close. Then, when she gets to her destination, a man speeds by, throwing mud all over her. She works as a court reporter and imagines herself the judge. She then fantasizes about what she would do as a judge.