"Let's Celebrake" (1938)

It's New Year's Eve and a great way to add to the celebration is by viewing the 1938 Popeye cartoon "Let's Celebrake" from Fleischer Studios and Paramount pictures!

No spoilers except to say that Popeye is a total class act!

You can watch it here:

Popeye the Sailor - Let's Celebrake

Happy New Year!

"Betty Boop" (1932)

We just heard the theme song of Popeye the Sailor, so let's back up a couple of years to 1932 where we run into another star from the Max Fleischer cartoon studio - Betty Boop!

Popeye's screen debut in 1933 was actually in a cartoon entitled "Popeye the Sailor" from the Betty Boop series. Kind of like a backdoor pilot!

Betty's theme gets a snappy treatment from Phil Spitalny (in the days before he lead his all-girl orchestra) on this cut from a Hit of the Week record:

Lots of fun with the Eton Boys on the vocals!

Kind of a follow-up to the earlier HotW record of another Betty (Co-Ed) from the Spitalny boys!

I had mentioned Hit of the Week records before, how you got two songs on one side of a Durium disc for 15¢ in an attempt to stimulate records sales during those dark days of the Depression.

I would never want to shortchange anyone, so let's hear the other cut from that record, "Lullaby of the Leaves" again from Mr. Spitalny, this time with vocalist Ben Alley:

I know 15¢ was a lot of money in 1932, but I think I would've been satisfied, especially if Arthur Murray really supervised the tempo!

"I'm Popeye the Sailor Man" (1934)

Since we’re talking about Popeye in 1934, let’s hear this commercial recording of his theme song from his Paramount cartoons by his voice at the time, Billy Costello:

 

That’s a lot of fun!

“Did You Ever See a Dream Walking” (1933) - Part 4!

No review of the 1933 song “Did You Ever See a Dream Walking” from Paramount’s “Sitting Pretty” is complete without a shoutout to the brilliant Popeye cartoon “A Dream Walking” from 1934! 

The song is featured prominently as Popeye and Bluto fight over who’s going to rescue the sleepwalking Olive Oyl as she wanders into the construction site of skyscraper.

This is only the 14th entry in the Popeye series, but the Fleischer studio is already hitting on all cylinders with these cartoons! 

A real gem!

"Page Miss Glory" (1935) - Part 2!

“Page Miss Glory” was not only the title of a Warner Brothers feature from 1935, it was also the title of a Warner Brothers cartoon from 1936 in the Merrie Melodies series (although “Page” is in tiny letters)!

The cartoon is an early effort from legendary director Tex Avery and features some cool stylized art deco, or moderne art, as it were, designs!

Pretty fun!

"Freddy the Freshman" (1931)

Our college songs move into 1931 with another Freddy who hopes to be BMOC - Freddy the Freshman!

George Olsen looks pretty snappy on the sheet music, but I don't think he actually recorded the song!

But we have a great version by Gene Kardos and his Orchestra on Victor Records:

Vocalist Dick Robertson has a great voice for early 1930s collegiate hi-jinks!

There are a couple of other vintage recordings of "Freddy the Freshman," but I don't really dig them, so I'm especially glad we have the Gene Kardos record!

Working in our favor, however, is that fresh Freddy was the star of an eponymous cartoon from Warner Brothers in 1932:

That's a lot of fun! Those old Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes haven't hit their stride yet, but they have loads of period charm!

I do note that Freddy says "Heigh ho, everybody!" à la Rudy Vallée as he makes his entrance!

Those old black & white cartoons weren't on TV too much when I was a kid, but the later color ones were, so I first knew the song "Freddy the Freshman" from the 1956 cartoon "Raw! Raw! Rooster" in which Foghorn Leghorn's frenemy from college sings the song:

I love how Rhode Island Red is a parody of a 1920s college student!

"Betty Co-Ed" (1930)

We move into the 1930s with our college songs as we meet someone who definitely would have caught Collegiate Sam's eye - collegiate sweetheart Betty Co-Ed!

Yale man Rudy Vallée co-wrote the song "Betty Co-Ed" and recorded it for Victor with his Connecticut Yankees:

Fun how it kind of sounds like the school marching band is playing the song!

The song was so popular that it inspired a 1931 "Screen Song" cartoon from the Fleischer Studio with Mr. Vallée himself singing the song:

Those Fleischer cartoons are a blast! I love how Betty joins in on her own song!

Betty Co-Ed had a bit of a proto-Betty Boop vibe and she was perhaps one of the influences in the evolution of Betty Boop then happening at the studio.

Back to records, Phil Spitalny cut a fun version for the low-budget Hit of the Week label that pressed records on Durium:

Very fun, with Scrappy Lambert leading the vocal charge!

I kinda like British Betty!

Things get interesting with this British recording on the eight-inch budget Eclipse label by the Biltmore Players (Jay Wilbur's band):

It has generic lyrics as obviously the names of American colleges wouldn't translate, as it were!

But, sign me up for whatever school Betty attends!