Take a trip with Betty Boop to 'Crazy-Town'

Crazy-Town (1932)
Starring: Mae Questel and Billy Murray (each doing various voices)
Director: Dave Fleischer
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

Betty and Bimbo head down a rabbit hole that leads to the heart of Crazy-Town, a place where everything is the opposite of what you expect.

Betty Boop exists in a world where inanimate objects come to life, people and plants transform themselves into different shapes instantly, and most of the population consists of anthropomorphic "funny animals", so a place called "Crazy-Town" has got to be somewhere where things are even more bizarre.

That isn't quite the case here. Instead, almost everything is opposite of what it should be--fish fly above a pond while birds swim in the water; neighborhoods drive to the trolley car; and when women go to the beauty salon, they don't change their hairstyles, they change their heads! This is all very strange and very fun--although it's a little weird that Betty and Bimbo initially freak out by all the backwardness, since they open the cartoon by singing how they have nothing better to do, so they're going to go crazy in Crazy Town. The cartoon also features some very catchy tunes that I was humming for a good part of the day after watching it, and that I find myself humming as I type this review. Unfortunately, there is a tendency here that I don't recall from other Boop cartoons to drag out almost every gag until it's unfunny. As fun as this is, it feels like instead of coming up with enough wacky concepts to truly fill the run-time, they just padded some sequences... and it drags down this otherwise excellent cartoon.

Still, the good outweighs the bad here, and it's well worth your time to check out "Crazy-Town" (which you can do, right here from this post; it's embedded below, via YouTube). This cartoon is also noteworthy in the sense that it contains some very clear reminders that the "Betty Boop" series was originally made for adult audiences. It should also prove particularly amusing to those out there who subscribe to the notion that "Alice in Wonderland" was inspired by a drug trip.

Coming Soon: 'Fangs' by Sarah Andersen

Cartoonist and writer Sarah Andersen is best known for her zany "Sarah's Scribbles" strips, which detail a nerdy, introverted young woman trying to make her way through life. However, she has also created "Fangs", a series which is equal parts silly, sweet, and sexy... as well as even a little spooky at times.

"Fangs" tells the story of a vampire and a werewolf who meet and fall in love. It chronicles the ups and downs of their relationship, as they navigate the difficulties of being both the perfect fit for each other, but also very different individuals.

The pacing of the book is among the many reasons I think this is a great piece of work. The sample pages I read felt like the best newspaper strips of the old days, in the sense that each page is a tiny story unto itself that ends with a gag or a smile-inducing touching moment but they all add up to a larger story that unfolds as you read them in order. (This is not surprising, I suppose, since "Fangs" began life as a web-series back in 2019... so Andersen is just solidifying her place among the masters of the comic strip format.)

"Fangs" will be released in hardcover in September of 2020 through Andrews/McMeel Publishing. You can click here to read a little more about it. (Me, I've already pre-ordered by copy from Amazon, so you can expect a full review in these parts when the Halloween Season rolls around.)

Wonder Woman Wednesday

By Jose Luis Garcia Lopez

Whether she's in (or on) her invisible plane, or corralling and riding the lighting with her magic lasso, today, Wonder Woman is taking flight! (We're posting a gallery of great Wonder Woman drawings every other Wednesday until the release of "Wonder Woman '84"... we hope that all of you out there are looking forward to that movie as much as we are!)

By Chris Samnee

By Jimmy Cheung

By Adam Hughes

Before the Mustache There Was 'Love in Armor'

Love in Armor (1915)
Starring: Mae Busch, Charley Chase, Fritz Schade, Frank Oppermann, Billie Bennett, William Hauber, and Bert Hunn
Directors: Nick Cogley, Francis J. Grandon, Frank Griffin and Mack Sennett
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A conman (Schade) snakes his way into the good graces of a young woman's wealthy parents (Bennett and Oppermann) - but he comes to regret his life's choices when he gets between her (Busch) and her true love (Chase).

I really wanted to like "Love in Armor" more than I do. It has some really cute moments in it, a handful of funny gags, and I don't recall seeing a film with Charley Chase or Mae Busch in which they weren't good. But, despite the presence of these good bits, the bulk of the film borders on tedious. 

As could be expected, the best parts of this film are scenes involving Busch, Chase, or both of them. Busch's parents don't approve of Chase seeing her, so the would-be young couple have to sneak off into the bushes which leads to cute bit of mildly sexy physical humor where Busch is unable to pull down her skirt because it's caught on a branch is a good example of this. Another is where Chase, hidden in a suit of armor, puts the film's villains in their place and ultimately gets the girl with pranks and straight-up violence. There is also a running gag involving the world's most inept and clumsy butler.

But each of these fun parts is either preceded or followed by sequences and gags that are either so poorly motivated or ineptly staged that they never quite reach their potential, or are dragged out to the point where they stop being funny. A sequence where successive characters end up sitting on a cactus embodies all these problems. It's got all sorts of potential--that it almost reaches when Busch and Frank Opperman (as her father) end up with their butts prickled--but its set-up is so weak it taints the entire bit, and it is allowed to go on just a little too long. Meanwhile, the film's climax is a tangled mess of slapstick that's so badly executed and so repeptative that I thought perhaps there was some bad editing in copy I watched and the same moment got repeated twice.

Sloppy writing (or perhaps direction) also hurts the film a bit. There is a great moment between Chase and Busch when he makes it known to her that he is hiding in the suit of armor; it's my favorite part of the whole movie. However, this revelation happens within full view and earshot of Busch's mother who remains oblivious to her daugher's weird interaction with a suit of armor.

Despite my complaining above, "Love in Armor" is entertaining and it's 13-minute runtime speeds by. If you're a fan of Mae Busch or Charley Chase, you'll definitely enjoy yourself. You may find yourself wishing Chase got a little more screen-time, but at least you'll get to see what he looked like before the mustache!

And guess what? You can watch it right here, right now! Just click on the arrow below to start the video!

Musical Monday with Minor Movement

Minor Movement is an American band that makes GREAT modern instrumental music. I doubt anyone will replace Mike Oldfield in my heart, nor as the god of modern instrumentals, but these guy come darn close! (The video didn't empress me.. but the music! Wow!)

I hope you enjoy today's selection as much as I did, and I hope you have a safe and enjoyable week.

On this Easter Sunday...

... the Easter Bunny is still trying to decide if it's safe to leave her hutch, what with the Coronavirus and Joe Biden abroad in the land!

Firearms Friday with Gin Wigmore

Ginnie's got a gun! Everybody run!

Gin Wigmore is a singer/songwriter from New Zealand who currently lives in the United States with her husband and daughter. For the past decade, she's been one of more interesting performers on the alternative rock scene, although nowhere in the world is she as popular as she is in her home country. She has a unique, raspy voice, and a musical sound that is at the intersection of blues, pop, and rock. 

Wigmore has been featured on Musical Mondays here at Shades of Gray, and she will be undoubtedly be back in the future.

Mort Drucker passes away at 91

The great cartoonist and caricaturist Mort Drucker died on April 9, 2020, at the age of 91. Although best known for his strips and cartoons in MAD Magazine, he also illustrated children's books, drew a couple coloring books, did cartoons for a host of publishers and purposes ranging from advertising to T-shits... and he even did some "serious" comic book artwork and covers along the way.

In honor of Drucker's great talent, and in memory of all the joy and amusement he brought to readers over the years, here's a small selection of cartoons that are especially relevant to the topics touched on here at Shades of Gray. (Click on the drawings to see larger versions.)

A man gets his due 'In the Witch's Home'

In the Witch's Home (aka "The Bachelor's Paradise") (1901)
Starring: Uncredited Actors
Director: Georges Méliès
Rating:  Seven of Ten Stars

A wealthy man pays a witch to create the perfect woman for him.

"In the Witch's Home" is another of pioneering filmmaker Georges Méliès trick-photography showcases. Unlike some of this other films, which are just about showing off special effects illusions, this one provides a plot along with the movie magic.

Story-wise, Méliès covered this same ground in 1900's "The Wizard, the Prince, and the Good Fairy", but, while the cinematic trickery in that one was focused on clothing transforming and characters appearing and disappearing in-frame, this one is built around a centerpiece of one woman turning into several, with a couple of very effective physical transformations thrown in at the end. This film is less chaotic in its execution than Méliès's previous similar effort, and the effects are also more convincing. Additionally, the ending to this one is more satisfying to 21st Century viewers.

You can watch "The Bachelor's Paradise" right here, embedded below via YouTube.

Easter is coming...

Elke Sommers and the Easter Bunny have been discussing how to ensure an equitable distribution of eggs this year. We look forward to seeing their plan put into action.

Meanwhile, we want to remind everyone that this is also the time of year when the Mitzi Gaynors hatch. Be on the lookout for this natural wonder that's rarely witnessed by human eyes!