ReFrederator Blog

“Pudgy Takes A Bow Wow” stars Betty Boop’s cutesy-poo little pooch in a tale of vicious backstage rivalry — well, actually, the micro-mutt gets into a fight with an alley cat while Betty is giving a live performance. Since this cartoon was made after the production code was enacted and Betty’s act no longer includes racy songs and costumes, but instead consists mostly of a series of hurtful ethnic stereotypical impersonations, some exciting distraction is not entirely unwelcome. Things start in the dressing room, spill out into the wings and pretty soon we have a full scale battle center stage, making something of a stooge out of La Boop. Great Stuff!

The late Myron Waldman is credited as lead animator here — he seems to have specialized in a lot of the funny animal stuff at the Max Fleischer studio around this time. Pudgy, as a character, was always more interesting when his oh-so-adorable visage was contrasted with a kinda nasty personality — just like in today’s film!

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Dave Kirwan