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- 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)
- 1935
This landmark cartoon opens with a live-action sequence, in which a little boy purchases a "Adventures of Popeye" comic book and heads homeward. En route, the youngster is tormented by a big bully, who knocks the poor kid down and calls him a sissy. Appalled by this spectacle, an animated Popeye emerges from the cover of the comic book and assures the crying boy that tough guys can always be defeated if you remember to eat your spinach every day. To prove his point, Popeye turns the pages of the book, whereupon the illustrations come to life. Adventures of Popeye is the first of several entertaining "cheaters", utilizing stock footage from earlier cartoons as a cost-cutting strategy. In this case, we are treated to excerpts from the 1933 entries Popeye the Sailor, I Eats My Spinach and Wild Elephinks, as well as 1934's Axe Me Another. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1935
While Popeye and Olive are peacefully feeding pigeons in the park, sadistic junk dealer Bluto is cruelly abusing his work-horse a few blocks away, urging the nag forward with a huge whip and refusing to allow the animal to drink from a public trough. When Popeye witnesses this sorry spectacle, he chastizes Bluto for mistreating a "dumb aminal", whereupon he himself becomes a target of the villain's wrath. Popeye's extremely strange voice in this episode is provided by Floyd Buckley, who later starred in the Popeye the Sailor radio show on CBS, and whose only cartoon "appearance" this was. The musical score includes selections from such standards as "The Last Roundup", "Love in Bloom" and "Yes, We Have No Bananas". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1936
In this "Betty Boop" cartoon, Betty shares the spotlight with James Swinnerton's popular comic strip character "Little Jimmy." In her efforts to stay in shape, Betty has set up an exercise gym in her attic. Paying Betty a visit, Little Jimmy tries to help Betty with her "daily dozen", but succeeds only in causing all the athletic equipment to malfunction. Trapped in a vibrating reducing belt, Betty tells Jimmy to go for help, but the kid manages to get distracted along the way. By the time Jimmy returns, Betty is as skinny as a beanpole--leading to a "laff riot" finale that almost defies descrption. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1936
Otto Soglow's popular comic-strip characer "The Little King" had already appeared in his own cartoon series for Van Beuren productions when he guest-starred in this "Betty Boop" vehicle. Forced to attend a boring opera with the Queen and their entourage, The Little King (who speaks in a bizarre "whistling" voice) manages to escape his guards and heads to a nearby vaudeville house, where Betty Boop is headlining in an equestrienne act. Not only does the Little King manage to pick up some extra change as a pretzel vendor, but he also ends up performing on stage with Betty. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1933
Assisted by ticket-taker Bimbo the Dog and product-demonstrator Koko the Clown, Betty Boop stages a "Big Invention Show." Highlights of the program include a pig-powerd pipe organ, a Rube Goldberg-style spot remover, a cigarette snuffer, a soup silencer, a sweet-corn regulator, and an egg-frying device, replete with optional hen and rooster. Betty herself demontrates a most unusual voice recorder with a performance of "Keep a Little Song Handy." The show's Number One attraction, a VERY powerful self-threading sewing machine, knits up the proceedings quite nicely. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1933
Bimbo and Koko are among the contestants in a big auto race, where all the funny animals in Fleischer-land are in attendance (the "humanized" cars await in stalls like horses, and the judge's panel consists of three elderly blind men). The favorite in the race is Betty Boop, but she's late again, and her Yiddish-accented car has no idea where she is. When Betty finally shows up, she explains in song that her tardiness is due to a "cold in my 'doze'". Once the race begins, it's a real thriller-spiller, with even the spectators getting into the act--and catching Betty's cold in the process ("Ah, ah, CHOO!)" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1934
This clever "cheater" begins with a live-action sequence, in which animator Max Fleischer is being interviewed by a newspaper reporter (played by Max's brother--and this cartoon's director--Dave Fleischer). When asked how he makes all those "Betty Boop" cartoons, Max demonstrates by grabbing his pen and bringing Betty to live on his drawing board. Our heroine then regales the reporter with lengthy highlights from her previous cartoons (taking time out to change costumes in an inkwell). The rest of the cartoon features Betty's celebrity imitations from 1932's Stopping the Show, her sexy hula dance from 1932's Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle, and a lively duet with a rotoscoped Cab Calloway from Old Man of the Mountain (1933). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
