Betty Boop's May Party: A weird, bouncy fever dream

Is it worth your time?

If you like old-school, rubber-hose animation where the physics don't really exist, you'll probably get a kick out of this. If you need a coherent story or hate when things get just a little bit too surreal, maybe skip it. It's essentially a short, fever-dream musical that feels like it was cooked up during a particularly strange lunch break in the 1930s. 🎪

The whole thing starts off pretty innocent, with Betty and Bimbo acting as the Queen and King of the May. It feels like a standard romp until the party gets absolutely drenched in rubber. I’m still not entirely sure why the rubber was the main attraction, but watching the environment stretch and bounce was hypnotic in a way that modern CGI just can't touch.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Betty Boop's May Party (1933) through its definitive frames.

Some random notes

• Koko shows up, does his thing, and leaves before you can even really settle in.
• The music is exactly what you expect—lots of brass and frantic energy.
• The way the background characters move is kind of unsettling if you stare too long.

It’s a far cry from the more structured plots you might find in something like Blondie of the Follies. There isn't much here in terms of character development, but that’s clearly not the point. You aren't watching for the drama. You're watching to see how many objects can turn into sentient, wobbly blobs before the credits roll.

I caught myself rewinding the bit where the landscape starts morphing. It’s genuinely impressive how fluid it all looks, even if it makes zero sense. It’s definitely more charming than the stiff pacing of The Big Show, that's for sure. 🎷

It’s short. Like, really short. You could finish this while making a cup of coffee and still have time to wonder why people in cartoons from this era were so obsessed with things getting stuck in sticky substances. A weird, fun little watch if you're into that vintage weirdness.