Is My Palm Read
About Is My Palm Read
Betty Boop goes into Professor Bimbo's shop. He is got up as an old fortune teller, and Koko the Clown assists him. In the crystal ball she sees herself as a child, then shipwrecked on a jungle island, where she loses her clothes and covers herself with leaves. Ghosts shut her in a cabin. A sailor on horseback gets her out. Back in the shop, Bimbo pulls off the beard and is that sailor. The ghosts come out of the ball, chase them onto the island, and tear her dress. Betty and Bimbo send the ghosts off a cliff into the sea.
Cast & crew
More about Is My Palm Read
Dave Fleischer directed. Max Fleischer produced. David Tendlar and William Henning animated. Paramount Publix released it on 17 February 1933. Seven minutes, black and white. Mae Questel and Billy Murray are the billed voices. Betty sings the opening of Irving Berlin's "All by Myself." Other music used includes Rossini's William Tell overture, "Sweet Betty" by Sammy Lerner and Sammy Timberg, and James Thornton's "The Streets of Cairo."
Themes
Background
It is a pre-Code Betty Boop short. Paramount released it on 17 February 1933, more than a year before full Code enforcement.
Making
Fleischer made it in New York before the Code tightened what Betty could wear on screen. The island costume and the silhouette gag are the shots later color prints dropped.
Music
Betty sings Irving Berlin's "All by Myself." The track also uses the William Tell overture, "Sweet Betty," and "The Streets of Cairo."
Preservation
Black-and-white prints circulate. Colorized television copies are missing some of the original shots. Copies are on the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- A black cat sits by the wall. Betty pulls its tail, and the yowl is the doorbell.
- The shop's neon sign misfires into a rude hand gesture.
- Fred Ladd's Color Systems made television prints for a 1972 reissue and cut several pre-Code shots, including the risqué ones. A hand-colored version was also issued that year.
- Named home-video editions include the Thunderbean DVD Attack of the 30's Characters (2005).
Scenes
- Betty rings the shop by pulling the cat's tail.
- The crystal ball puts her on the island in a costume of leaves.
- Bimbo takes off the beard, and the ghosts climb out of the ball.
Also available
- Internet Archive (Betty_Boop_Is_My_Palm_Read_1932)
- Wikimedia Commons (Betty Boop - Is My Palm Read (1933).webm)
- Thunderbean DVD Attack of the 30's Characters (2005)
Quotes
My hero!
