The Later Betty Boop Theatricals (1935-39)

As great and innovative as the Max Fleischer Talkartoons and subsequent Betty Boop series from 1930-34 were, there was a period of Betty Boop cartoons that were just the opposite. Betty Boop was a sexy woman and the cartoons reflected that. However, by 1935 the Hays Code came into play and Betty was resorted to a long dress. This wouldn't necessarily make for a  bad or boring cartoon but the Fleischer's opted that instead of creating interesting situations for the character, they were going to create a number of generic characters that were going to carry the story load. The result: cartoons like "Training Pigeons" (1936), where Betty's dog Pudgy chases Pigeons for 6 minutes. It sounds more interesting than it is. The Boop cartoons would stay the course and trudge on until 1938. Fleischer had moved its studio to Miami and Boop's voice actor Mae Questal did not go with them. Margie Hines replaced her (She also replaced Mae as Olive Oyl as well). The Fleischers continued making Betty Boop cartoons until 1939, but by then it was evident that the animation style of the Fleischer's had changed and so had the animation business in general. The later Boop's were certainly different then the early (prime) cartoons. However the Fleischer animation is always top notch and always a pleasure to watch. Even if the stories and characters are bland as can be! The late 30's Boop cartoons always gave me the feeling that they were second banana to the Popeye series. In that regard it reminds me of watching the mid  30's Chase comedies who were always second or even third banana behind Laurel and Hardy and The Little Rascals (Our Gang). Like Chase the Betty Boop cartoons went out with a whimper and by 1940 the Fleischer's new series (Gabby, Stone Age, etc) reflected the overall decline in quality at The Fleischer studio. Fleischer studios became Famous Studios in 1943, and the rest, as they say, was history.