Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios () is an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures, the parent company and the distributor of i ...
animated short
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anima ...
film starring
Betty Boop
Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick.Pointer (2017) She originally appeared in the ''Talkartoon'' and ''Betty Boop'' film series, which were produced by Fleischer ...
. It was released by
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
against Mr. Nobody. Both candidates state their platform through song and dance.
In answer to various problems and political issues, Mr. Nobody consistently promises that "nobody" will solve the problem:
Who will make your taxes light?... Mr. Nobody!
Who'll protect the voters' right?... Mr. Nobody!
Should you come home some early dawn,
See a new milkman is on:
Who cares if your wife is gone?... Mr. Nobody
Betty's promises for improvements are shown, including door to door trolley stops, improved conditions for keeping the streets clean, and even a giant umbrella to protect the whole city from rain. Betty also promises to tame a split and incorrigible
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...
made up of
donkey
The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...
elephant
Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...
Republicans, and offers a simple solution for prison reform: she will transform each hardened criminal into a limp-wristed
sissy
''Sissy'' (derived from ''sister''), also ''sissy baby'', ''sissy boy'', ''sissy man'', ''sissy pants'', etc., is a pejorative term for a boy or man who does not demonstrate masculine, and shows possible signs of fragility. Generally, ''sissy'' i ...
.
Betty's campaign promises win the crowd over, and she is voted into the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
by a landslide. A large parade is held in the new President's honor, as she thanks one and all.
Notes and comments
* Betty Boop briefly morphs into caricatures of
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...
and
Al Smith
Alfred Emanuel Smith (December 30, 1873 – October 4, 1944) was an American politician who served four terms as Governor of New York and was the Democratic Party's candidate for president in 1928.
The son of an Irish-American mother and a C ...
. Smith was the Democratic Party candidate in
1928
Events January
* January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA.
* January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhanov, J ...
and was widely expected to run again, but the nominee would end up being
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
. The use of Smith in the cartoon was probably the result in the lead time needed to animate the cartoon before it appeared in theaters.
* The cartoon ends with the image of a glass of
beer
Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...
; repeal or modification of
Prohibition in the United States
In the United States from 1920 to 1933, a Constitution of the United States, nationwide constitutional law prohibition, prohibited the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. The alcohol industry was curtai ...
was a major contemporary issue.
*''Betty Boop for President'' was reworked by the Fleischer staff sixteen years later, when the studio, by then known as
Famous Studios
Famous Studios (renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956) was the first animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was founded as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount seized contro ...
, produced a ''
Popeye the Sailor
Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.Olive Oyl for President''. This 1948 short reuses many of the gags, as well as a reworked version of Betty's "If I Were President" song, applying them to a fantasy story about
Olive Oyl
Olive Oyl is a cartoon character created by E. C. Segar in 1919 for his comic strip ''Thimble Theatre''. The strip was later renamed ''Popeye'' after the sailor character that became the most popular member of the cast; however, Olive Oyl was a ...
running for president.
* The "
Nobody for President
Nobody for President was a parodic campaign for the 1976 United States presidential election, as well as the 1980, 1984, and 1988 presidential elections.
Wavy Gravy, master of ceremonies for the Woodstock Festival and official clown of the Grat ...
" slogan was later taken up by hippie activist and entertainer
Wavy Gravy
Hugh Nanton Romney Jr. (born May 15, 1936), known as Wavy Gravy, is an American entertainer and peace activism, activist best known for his role at Woodstock, as well as for his hippie persona and counterculture of the 1960s, countercultural be ...
.
*It is the first depiction of a fictional president to appear on screen.
*It is the first depiction of a female president in all of fiction.
Remake
There was a compilation film called ''Hurray for Betty Boop'' in 1980, based on this short. Record producer Dan Dalton took scenes from over 30 Korean-colored Betty Boop cartoons and wrote a connecting narrative to make this feature. Dalton claimed "it was difficult to keep the continuity" to Fleischer authority Michael Dobbs. Dalton explicitly asserted in 1982 that New Line Cinema's lack of promotion was from the film's failure to receive a theatrical release. It only made its home video release by
Warner Home Video
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros.
It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video ...
in 1984 before it was stored away in obscurity resulting its overwhelmed negative reception. Despite this, Dalton uploaded the abandoned compilation film on social media in March 2016.