Here's a mysterious item I picked up a couple of years ago which I've always wondered about. The item, a Betty Boop handkerchief, was one of the few (compared to Disney for example) licensed items to be produced during the cartoon's initial run. However, I have always had a 'hankerin' (I couldn't resist) that there might be something fishy going with this particular Boop for the snoot. Am I looking at a genuine article? I have included the original drawing (which was also used in the bridge sets which were produced) along side of the mystery hanky. The linen seems old and not all original Betty merch was on-model: the stencil on the ukulele for example. Still I can't help but think there is a factory in Tia Juana crankin' these out 20 at a time. Thoughts?
Everything is facing the wrong way except the feather ... uh oh.
*update* I was flipping through the french edition of "The Fleischer Story" when I happened upon this drawing of Betty (at left). Stylistically they seem similar to me and I presume the one on the left is authentic. Could they be by the same artist?
*update* I think I may have solved the mystery - the exact image as reproduced here was used in a piece of Woolco merchandise produced in the 60's. I think this is the origin of the Hanky. Genuine article? S'not.
7 comments:
Hey, you can blow that theory out your nose. The pictures aren't completely identical anyway, so what's in a feather? My dad told me he was getting plowed with Bowsky during a liquid lunch in the Oak Room at the Plaza Hotel the night these were drawn. Willard had an inferiority complex when it came to Dave F., and in his overcompensatory manner -- which he carried like a blazing torch to distract people from the albatross around his neck -- began to draw Betty on cocktail napkins in a thousand renditions that Dave never dreamed of. Before they ran out on the bar tab my dad had the presence of mind to scoop up the napkins and shove them in the pockets of his blazer. Max noticed these things falling out of my dad's pockets when they got back to the studio, declared them strokes of genius, and sent them off to the authorized factory for merchandizing. He particulary liked the feather variations. Dave was taken down a few notches but what the hell. By the genetic authority empowered upon me one fateful night at the Coney Island Motor Lodge, I hereby pronounce your hanky authentic. Go enjoy it.
That may be the most awesome story I've ever heard.
Hey c'mon John -- everyone knows that the Fleischers didn't pay their animators enough to go drinking at the Plaza!
BTW, I know you only check your gmail once in a blue moon but there's an email sitting there for you from several days ago.
Still an awesome story ...
I was thinking of starting a companion blog called "Animation: Total Lies". My first post? "Harmon and Ising: The World of White Slavers"
I'd come by daily.
Probably, if you tossed in a few truths, who could tell the difference?
I nominate the title, "The Nine Old (Wo)men." Or is that sacrilege?
I was thinking of something like Milt Kahl: Horse Rapist. It'd be rife with historical inaccuracies and spelling mistakes ... wait-a-minute that's THIS blog!
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