WHAT ABOUT THAD?
August 18, 2014 posted by Thad Komorowski

Fleischer Promo Art #12: “Betty Boop And The Little King”

Big things happened for Popeye in 1936, whereas they remained stagnant as ever for Betty (aren’t you just tired of reading that?). That release season has been cited recently as the gold standard for Fleischer’s Popeye cartoons, the model Sony is using for its CGI feature (believe it when you see it). That’s a hard claim to argue, as just about all the elements came together that year to create as perfect a series animation has ever known.

January 29th’s entry is quite interesting: it’s the exact same art that accompanied the song “I’ll Be Seein’ Ya in the Movies” in the Popeye Song Folio published later that year. It looks as though it was repurposed for the book, and it’s not the last time “familiar” artwork will appear in Paramount Sales News.

Click to enlarge

01-01-36

01-01-36

01-08-36

01-08-36

01-15-36

01-15-36

01-22-36

01-22-36

01-29-36

01-29-36

02-05-36

02-05-36

02-12-36

02-12-36

02-19-36

02-19-36

Feb. 26th 1936

Feb. 26th 1936

Below: a few samples of what the Paramount salesmen were selling to the theaters at the time these promotional pieces above appeared in print.

BETTY BOOP AND THE LITTLE KING (released January 31st 1936)

A CLEAN SHAVEN MAN (released February 7th 1936)

3 Comments

  • Thanks again for these, Thad.

    BB and the Little King is a bright light among the later BBs. Mostly because it’s low in Boop and high in King. The Little King was an amusing goofball character. Very cartoony, esp in the Van Burens.

    Of course A Clean Shaven Man speaks for itself. Olive steals the show with her intro song.

  • It’s 1936 and they’re still selling Betty as the Pre-Code sexpot. And soon it would get even worse, with her becoming the dowdy Aunt, supported by the likes of Pudgy.

  • Thanks for these, they make Mondays tolerable.

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