Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Halloween: Boo Boo Theme Song


Clockin' back to 1933 for today's post and a wonderful forgotten cartoon: 'Boo Boo Theme Song'. The Screen Song cartoon was released Oct.3, 1933 (ten days earlier than Mintz' Studios' Halloween offering: 'Krazy Spooks'), and credited to Willard Bowsky and Myron Waldman. This happens to be a cartoon that I only discovered recently as it was not a 16mm direct transfer but a VHS dub of a 16mm transfer. Oh, we're getting into a pretty sick area, folks.

'Dekayo Factory'? Is this the door to my apartment?

The essential ingredient of Brown Dekayo. I am not above the cheap jokes.

Here's a depressing bit: the ghost spider is almost completely blown out. Good enough of an example of how bootleg is no threat to something properly mastered from studio or archival 35mm elements. Anyway, I've reproduced it here ... watch the eye strain!

The film contains a number of ghost animals. Barely visible here is a vulture (?) who mans the bottling line of 'Dekayo'


The spider almost looks like a proto-design for the later Dave Tendlar directed Color Classic cartoon 'Cobweb Hotel' doesn't it? Here he is below for comparison.


Of the 'Funny Boners' I unfortunately can't say: the print (like most of the 16mm Screen Songs) has had the live action musical performance removed. I did, however, discover a typo in 'Of Mice & Magic' while checking this film's release date. It credits The Funny Boners as performing on 'Down By The Old Mill Stream'. Actually that film is performed by The Eton Boys. The same credit is given in 'Fleischer Story's list of Screen Songs.



Of particular interest to both Betty Boop & Popeye fans is the short scat vocal by original Popeye voice William 'Red Pepper Sam' Costello. It certainly calls to mind another, better known, 'Red Pepper Sam' vocal from 'Betty Boop M.D.' which was released a year earlier: Sept.2, 1932.



As with some other cartoons I've posted I should note the appearance of a racial stereotype occurring at 3:40 & 4:26.

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