Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Barnacle Bill" is a black-and-white sound cartoon from 1930, so this one had its 85th anniversary last year. It was made by animation legends Dave and Max Fleischer and is another Betty Boop cartoon. The title character here may have the same initials, but it is another character. Barnacle Bill is actually Betty's frequent co-lead Bimbo who poses as a sailor in here and has dog's ears just like Betty. At 8 minutes, it runs for slightly longer than cartoons regularly did back in the day, but the premise is similar to many other works from back then. There is a main character, his love interest and a main antagonist, something you also know from Warner Bros. or Disney. But the difference here is that these Betty Boop cartoons are much more absurd and bizarre and this one here is no exception. Also there is lots of music as usual. All in all, nothing really good or bad to see here, I give it a thumbs-down. Only worth checking out for Betty lovers.

theowinthrop An early Betty Boop cartoon, with Betty as the girlfriend of Bimbo (as Barnacle Bill) determined to flee his ship to have a tryst with her. Betty was drawn as a dog at this time - cut, sexy body and flapper hairdo - but dog ears. Since Bimbo was a dog too it did not matter, but this does lead to an interesting (if eventually dull) joke.The cartoon begins with the crew of the sailing ship that Bill is on taking it into port - and singing a chantey up to the dock. They are looking forward to getting off. By the way, the Fleischers do like to stick it to one of their artistic and commercial rivals: Walt Disney. One of the crewmen is a mouse who looks remarkably like Mickey did in the early "Steamboat Willy" cartoons.The ship captain tells the crew they can't leave the ship, but Bimbo/Barnacle Bill proceeds to do so, and knocks out the Captain when the latter tries to stop him. We see him trace the address of Betty (not under her famous cartoon name - and at an address close to the docks, suggesting what her profession may be). He arrives and rings at her door, and they start doing "Who's that knocking at my door?" and "Barnacle Bill the Sailor" in a long duet. He finally comes upstairs, and while they are alone on her coach she lowers the blinds.Here is that interesting, but eventually dull joke. Remember that both Betty and Bimbo are dogs. All the others in the building, and in the neighborhood are women who are cats, and who notice that Betty has lowered the curtain - and they proceed to "cattily" comment about Betty's behavior with each other. It took me a moment to notice it, but after awhile I felt the joke was milked for more than it was worth.At the end, love 'em and leave 'em Bill leaves a tearful Betty when he admits he'll never marry (as she wants). And he heads downstairs, right into a confrontation with his captain (who lives in the same building as Betty does). A chase and an odd resolution which is reminiscent of the movie SPLASH ends the cartoon. It is not a great Betty Boop cartoon, although the sexual relationship between Betty and Bimbo is interesting, and the use of lightning bolts in a fight at the end is creative. As said elsewhere on this thread, it is worth seeing once.

Robert Reynolds Not officially released as a Betty Boop short, but that's Betty and the early Bimbo. Bimbo stayed a canine throughout, while Betty became human. Bimbo comes across as a less than likable sort here, but then neither was Barnacle Bill the sailor (pay attention to the lyrics of the sea chantey). Bimbo was a more or less marginal character, for my tastes, although he was head and shoulders above most of the supporting characters in later years. Koko the Clown was the most effective bit player they used in the Betty Boop series. Bimbo spends most of his time making eyes and sighing at Betty in most of his appearances. The later design on the character was a marked improvement over the original character they show here. This is on the Betty Boop collection that's well worth having. This short is nothing special, but worth a look once.

boblipton Betty Boop starts to take more form in this, the second cartoon in which she appeared, although she still has floppy spaniel ears.... yes, Betty was a real dog when she was young!This is one of the animated song cartoons that Fleischer did, and the gags fill out the singing of 'Barnacle Bill'. Not bad.