“Just Begin to Laff And You’ll Grow Fat!”

Over on the Dimensions Weight Board and in those Yahoo Groups devoted to collecting images of cartoon weight gain, there's been recent discussion of a DVD bargain that's available at Best Buy: a two-disc set of Betty Boop toon that includes an entry in the 1930's cartoon series that's much cherished by FAs, "Betty Boop And Little Jimmy." One of a set of later period Boops that co-starred comic strip characters from the era like "Henry" and "The Little King," the toon featuring Jimmy Swinnerton creation "Little Jimmy" is arguably the snappiest in what most fans consider to be a series of lesser works. Boopianados more typically prefer the earlier, more surreal/sexy entries like the two toons featuring Cab Calloway numbers, "Old Man of the Mountain" and "Snow White."

In "Little Jimmy," our heroine is shown exercising in the attic, while her kid pal Jimmy looks on; when an accident with a vibrating machine threatens to turns the curvy Betty disastrously thin, she sends Jimmy out to find an electrician to stop the machine. (Nobody thinks of the more obvious solution because it's, you know, a crisis!) A good deal of the middle footage is wasted by scenes of our dawdling young man wandering the streets, but when he returns and accidentally unplugs the machine, we see the horrifying results. Our gal is about one inch away from a stick figure (yes, I'm sure the Drawn Together gang were recalling this in their "Toots Gains Weight" storyline). When she gets a gander of her ungainly form in the mirror, she starts laughing uncontrollably. Happily - for the FAs in the audience, at least - the more she laughs the larger she grows. The cartoon ends with both Betty and Little Jimmy happily dancing and laughing, still ballooning as they do so. . .

I've loved this cartoon for years: it's the first thing that inspired me to buy a full boxed VHS set of Boop cartoons that was released back in the nineties, but once I got it I happily rediscovered the joys of cartoons that I only had a vague memory of watching on the old b-&-w teevee as a boy. Like most cartoons produced for the movie theatre in the 30's and 40's, the Fleisher Betty Boops were made for more than just a kid audience – and they have a lotta innuendo in 'em. Watching these classic toons as an adult, I saw gags that I know I missed as a kid. . .

With the taped boxed sex on the shelves at home and a still working VCR, I had mixed feelings about buying yet another set of Boop cartoons – especially a budget edition that isn't authorized by the company that owns 'em. I've bought cut-rate collections before and viewing 'em can be like watching fish in a dirty aquarium. But several FA toon fanatics whose opinion I respect (R.V. Gleason, BeakerFA) insisted that the picture quality on this budget set (courtesy of Platinum Disc Corporation) was a-okay, so I ultimately decided to spring $5.99 for it. Yesterday a.m., while I was waking up with my first two cups of coffee, I thought I'd put in a disc and watch a few entries while I slowly roused myself into work mode. I stuck volume two of the series into the DVD player (took a few seconds to figure out which disc was which since the boxes and discs weren't so labeled – but Vol. One contains twelve cartoons, while Two only has eleven, so I worked it out from that) and prepared to entertained.

Nothing happened. My Sylvania player whirred and loaded, then refused to play the disc.

I ejected the disc, cleaned and tried again. Again: bupkiss. Frustrated, I put in the first volume and got the same results. No glee chorus of chirpy males singing the opening theme song; no perky Mae Questal singing; no Bimbo; no Koko the Clown; no Grampy; not even that goddamned waste-of-film cute pup Pudgy. No. . .

Betty. . .

Boop.

Very disheartening. But at least I've still got my VHS boxed set, right? So caveat emptor all you bargain-hunting Boop fans out there.