Mae Questel Movies
American actress/singer Mae Questel was freshly graduated from high school when she won a contest imitating singer Helen Kane, who'd popularized the phrase "Boop boop a doop." It wasn't the only impression Qiestel could do, but her Helen Kane takeoff earned the young performer steady work in vaudeville and, in 1931, a job providing the voice of Betty Boop at Max Fleischer's cartoon studios. She was one of several actresses doing this voice, but before long Questel was the one and only Betty - and was so good at her job that her role-model, Helen Kane, ended up suing Fleischer! The Betty Boop cartoons were released through Paramount, which also hired her to appear in live musical and comedy shorts. In one unforgettable installment of Paramount's Hollywood on Parade one-reel series, Questel, dressed as Betty Boop, was "attacked" by Bela Lugosi, who leaned menacingly toward her neck and declared "You have booped... your last... boooooop." When Fleischer began its Popeye the Sailor cartoon series in 1933, the studio tried out a number of actresses for the voice of Olive Oyl, but Questel eventually won out, and ended up playing Olive for the next four decades. Busy with radio and cartoon work in the '40s, she was called upon to exert her versatility when Popeye's voice, Jack Mercer, went to war; in a handful of Popeye cartoons of the era, Questel actually dubbed in Popeye herself. TV opened a whole new professional world for her as a commercial voiceover: From 1950 through 1960 she could be heard as the Hasbro Kid, Nabisco's Buffalo Bee, the talking Fizzies Tablet, and of course the "interactive" cartoon-and-merchandising star Winky Dink. Questel was seen as well as heard in both the play and movie versions of A Majority of One, and as a middle-aged blushing bride in Jerry Lewis' It's Only Money (1961). She also kept her hand in commercial work as Aunt Bluebell on the Scott paper towel ads. Woody Allen fans most cherish Mae Questel's role as the "Jewish Mama from Hell" Mrs. Millstein in New York Stories (1988), in which erstwhile magician Allen accidentally transforms his mother into a giant ethereal image in the sky, from whence she tells all of Manhattan about her son's many shortcomings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1962
Jerry Lewis stars in this broad slapstick comedy as Lester March, a TV repairman who dreams of some day being a private detective like his friend and role model Mr. Flint (Jesse White). One night, Lester sees a report on television about Cecilia Albright (Mae Questel), the elderly owner of a successful electronics empire. Cecilia is looking for her missing nephew, who will be the heir to her estate, and Lester decides that this is a case he should try to crack. However, when Lester pays a visit to Cecilia's estate, more than one person remarks that he looks an awful lot like the missing person in question -- including Gregory DeWitt (Zachary Scott), Cecilia's money-hungry attorney who would just as soon the nephew not be found so he could have the fortune to himself. Gregory attempts to kill Lester, but he turns out to be much harder to get rid of than anyone expected. It's Only Money was directed by Frank Tashlin, who after directing a number of classic animated shorts for Warner Bros. moved on to live-action films and made several classic Jerry Lewis vehicles, including two features with onetime partner Dean Martin. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerry Lewis, Joan O'Brien, (more)
- 1961
This standard love story adapted by Leonard Spigelgass from his stage play was acclaimed when it was released for probing into the nature of prejudice. Rosalind Russell plays Mrs. Jacoby, a Jewish widow living in Brooklyn whose daughter Alice (Madlyn Rhue) is married to Jerome (Ray Danton), a U.S. diplomat newly assigned to Japan. Because of Jerome's new post, Mrs. Jacoby decides to visit the land of the rising sun, and once there, she meets Koichi Asano (Alec Guinness). Asano is a suave, sophisticated, and wealthy man with an aesthetically impressive Tokyo home. After the two meet, love starts to blossom. This was one of the rare '60s films geared to the older set but it is significant that even during this period Hollywood still chose to cast a white actor (albeit Alec Guinness!) in the role of Asano. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosalind Russell, Alec Guinness, (more)
- 1939
A tall, slender Betty Boop is in charge of an automobile hospital, where cars are treated like human beings. After singing the title song, Betty tends to such patients as an ice wagon suffering from a terrible cold, a wobbly car with a bad case of "auto intoxication", and a race car that has been "living too fast." There's also the nervous "jittery buggy", an Irish-accented police car with flat "feat", and an insane "cracked cylinder case." But Betty and her highly efficient staff ministers to all the patients, not only curing them but giving them a complete overhaul. The best is saved for last when Betty tackles a most unsual emergency case involving an "expectant" auto. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1939
An unusually tall and slender Betty Boop is enchanted by an organ grinder's monkey--so much so that she invites the "jitter-monk" into her home. Betty's dog Pudgy seemingly finds a kindred spirit in the mischievous simian, so Betty briefly steps out of her apartment and heads downstairs, intending to purchase the animal from its owner. But in her absence, the monk shows his true nature by eating all the food in the house and leading the flustered Pudgy on a not-so-merry (and VERY destructive) chase. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1938
In her late-1930s "tall and slim" mode, Betty Boop is a combination cook and dishwasher at "Ye Olde Quaint Coffee Potte" restaurant. Fed up with this dead-end job, Betty jumps at the chance for a career change when she lands a attendant's job at the Bundle from Heaven Nursery. At first, Betty enjoys taking care of the cute babies at the nursery (who are bathed and diapered on a conveyor belt!), but when the kids start breaking up furniture and smashing water pipes, she she has a sudden and startling change of heart. Song: "Off With the Old Job, On With the New". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1937
The scene is an apartment courtyard, where all the residents are grooving on the music provided by organ-grinder Wimpy, and are enjoying the antics of Wimpy's cute little pet monkey. The only killjoy in the bunch is Bluto, who hates both music and monkeys and does everything he can to destroy both. Fortunately, Popeye comes to the rescue in splendid fashion--with a little help from the monkey, who has apparently seen enough cartoons to know that the one-eyed sailor derives his strength from spinach. Heard throughout this sprightly cartoon is the title song, written by Will Hudson and Irving Mills. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1937
Little Swee'pea just won't stop crying, and Olive Oyl is at her wit's end in her efforts to quiet the baby down. Popeye and Bluto both offer their services, going through a variety of funny faces and silly stunts to get Swee'pea to stop bawling--all to no avail. Inevitably, a fistfight breaks out between the two traditional antagonists, whereupon Popeye grabs for a can of spinach. Unfortunately, he opens a can of onions instead, and before long everyone is sobbing hysterically--everyone but Swee'pea, that is. Highlights include the "invisible bicycle" gag, and Bluto's steady stream of bad puns as he bakes Popeye into a "pop-pie". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1937
Popeye is mortified when Olive Oyl forces him to take her sissified dog Fluffy for a walk--so much so that he goes to great lengths to avoid being seen by his friends. Unfortunately, who should be walking down the same street but that big bruiser Bluto and his equally fearsome bulldog (who is so tough that he wears an eyepatch). As Bluto holds Popeye back, his bullying bow-bow torments poor little Fluffy. Clearly, drastic measures are called for--and that's when the inevitable can of spinach comes out, providing superstrength for Popeye and Fluffy alike. This cartoon boasts some impressive "3-D" background effects, as well as a steady stream of hilarious adlibs from Jack Mercer as Popeye. Protek the Weakerist was remade in 1949 as Barking Dogs Don't Fite. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1937
The second two-reeler Popeye cartoon finds the spinach-promoting sailor as a member of the Coast Guard near an unspecified Arabian country. Having heard about the evil Abu Hassanand his forty thieves, Popeye sets off with Olive Oyl and Wimpy to bring them to justice. Unfortunately, they end up wandering in the desert, stricken by thirst and heat, and encountering several mirages and passing by dozens of skeletons before making their way to an actual town. Once there, Popeye and Olive seat themselves at an open air restaurant (while Wimpy goes for a more direct approach to his hunger). After ordering and being served the special of the day (bacon and eggs), they are all set to dig in when Hassan and his cutthroats appear, taking everything in sight. The frightened restauranteur reclaims the meal he has just laid for Popeye and Olive before they can take a bite, and the thieves also make away with the hot dogs Wimpy has discovered. Popeye puts up a fight, but is temporarily defeated. Hassan takes Olive and Wimpy back to his cave, where the former becomes an overworked laundress and the latter is wrapped in chains and forced to watch Hussan eat a delectable lunch. Popeye follows the thieves but is captured and dangled above a man-eating fish in an underground lake. Taking advantage of the powers provided him by spinach, he defeats the fish and "licks the forty," proving once again that he is the mightiest sailor of them all. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- 1937
Betty Boop's dog Pudgy idolizes the cocky dalmatian at the local firehouse, dreaming of becoming a "fire-dog" himsel. Imagine Pudgy's delight when the dalmatian offers to give him a few firefighting tips. Alas, Betty won't let Pudge leave the house, so our canine hero sneaks out and hitches a route on a fire engine en route to a huge conflagration at a general store (which fortunately was already advertising a "Fire Sale"). But things don't quite work out as planned, and before long Pudgy is being harrassed and humiliated by those pesky little humanized flames that exist only in cartoons. The background music includes "Brotherly Love", from the "Popeye" cartoon of the same name. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
