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Betty Boop
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===Under the Production Code=== Betty Boop's best appearances are considered to be in her first three years due to her "[[Jazz Baby]]" character and innocent sexuality, which was aimed at adults, but the content of her films was affected by the [[National Legion of Decency]] and the [[Production Code]] of 1934, which imposed guidelines on the motion-picture industry and placed specific restrictions on the content to which films could refer with sexual innuendos. This greatly affected the Betty Boop cartoons. No longer a carefree flapper from the date the code went into effect on July 1, 1934, Betty became a spinster housewife or a career girl who wore a fuller dress or skirt. Additionally, as time progressed, the curls in her hair gradually decreased in number. She also eventually stopped wearing her gold bracelets and hoop earrings, and she became more mature and wiser in personality, compared to her earlier years. Right from the start, [[Joseph Breen]], the new head film censor, had numerous complaints. Breen ordered the removal of the suggestive introduction that had started the cartoons because Betty Boop's winks and shaking hips were deemed "suggestive of immorality". For a few entries, Betty was given a new human boyfriend named Freddy, who was introduced in ''[[She Wronged Him Right]]'' (1934).{{sfn |Pointer |2017 |p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ghluDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA106 106]}} Next, Betty was teamed with a puppy named Pudgy, beginning with ''[[Betty Boop's Little Pal]]'' (1934).{{sfn |Pointer |2017 |p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ghluDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA107 107]}} The following year saw the addition of the eccentric inventor [[Grampy]], who debuted in ''[[Betty Boop and Grampy]]'' (1935). [[File:Betty Boop 1933 v 1939.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|The transformation from pre-Code to post-Code]] While these cartoons were tame compared to her earlier appearances, their self-conscious wholesomeness was aimed at a more juvenile audience, which contributed to the decline of the series. Much of the decline was due to the lessening of Betty's role in the cartoons in favor of her co-stars, not to mention Fleischer's biggest success, [[Popeye]]. This was a similar problem experienced during the same period with [[Walt Disney]]'s [[Mickey Mouse]], who was becoming eclipsed by the popularity of his co-stars [[Donald Duck]], [[Goofy]], and [[Pluto (Disney)|Pluto]].<ref>{{cite news| url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g1epc/is_tov/ai_2419100117?hblstpn=search_sampler&lstpc=search&lstpr=external&lstprs=other&lstwid=1&lstwn=search_results&lstwp=body_middle | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120710111205/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g1epc/is_tov/ai_2419100117?hblstpn=search_sampler&lstpc=search&lstpr=external&lstprs=other&lstwid=1&lstwn=search_results&lstwp=body_middle | url-status=dead | archive-date=2012-07-10 | work=St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture | title=Betty Boop | first=Charles | last=Coletta | year=2002}}</ref> Since she was largely a musical novelty character, the animators attempted to keep Betty's cartoons interesting by pairing her with popular [[comic strip]] characters such as [[Henry (comic)|Henry]], [[The Little King]] and [[Little Jimmy]], hoping to create an additional spin-off series with her pairing with Popeye in 1933. None of these films, though, generated a new series. When the flapper/jazz era that Betty represented had been replaced by the [[big bands]] of the [[swing era]], Fleischer Studios made an attempt to develop a replacement character in this style in the 1938 ''Betty Boop'' cartoon ''[[Sally Swing|Betty Boop and Sally Swing]]'', but it was not a success. The last ''Betty Boop'' cartoons were released in 1939, and a few made attempts to bring Betty into the swing era. In her last appearance, ''Rhythm on the Reservation'' (1939), Betty drives an open convertible, labeled "Betty Boop's Swing Band", through a Native American reservation, where she introduces the people to swing music and creates a "Swinging Sioux Band". The ''Betty Boop'' cartoon series officially ended with ''[[Yip Yip Yippy]]'' (1939). While ''Yip Yip Yippy'' appears at the end of the Betty Boop series, it is actually a one-shot about a "Drug Store" mail-order cowboy "wannabe" without Betty, which was written mainly to fill the release schedule and fulfill the contract.{{sfn |Pointer |2017 |p=111}}
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