The Betty Boop Movie (partially found production material for cancelled MGM animated film; 1993)
A sketch of the titular character for the film.
Status: Found (Screenplay)
Partially Found (Storyboards)
Date found: 10 Apr 2023 (Screenplay)
Found by: YoshiKiller2S (Screenplay)
Betty Boop is a cartoon character created by Max Fleischer (who is known for Popeye and Superman) who is known for her appearances in the Talkartoons series of shorts that were made from 1930[1] to 1932, before staring in her own eponymous series of shorts from 1932 to 1939. Despite the Hays Code coming into effect by 1934, she became the most iconic cartoon character from the 1930s and even after her films were discontinued, she continues to make appearances in pop culture in the decades since like in comics, merchandising and various cartoon specials. As of 2023, her most recent appearance was in an episode of Project Runway All Stars from February 2018. While reissues of her shorts have kept her popularity high in the decades since, no new content featuring the character has materialized outside of a few failed attempts of a television series being made, but in 1993, there was plans for an animated theatrical film to be made.
Plot
According to Betty Boop Wiki and the defunct website for "Moore Studios Inc"[2]
In the title sequence Betty Boop grows up and can first be seen performing on stage with her father as a baby (Baby Boop), then as a 9-year-old and then as an adult, where she can be seen singing "I Wanna Be Loved By You." Betty was to have been a waitress at the Greasy Spoon, who is desperate to meet her long lost father Benny who was vaudevillian. A couple of guys help Betty find her father, and she gets married to her love interest Johnny and becomes Betty Davenport[3].
Production
In 1993, the Zanuck Company began pre-production on a Betty Boop feature to be done through MGM Studios. Richard "Dick" Fleischer, who was the Son of Max Fleischer of Fleischer Studios, wanted to make a feature out of his father's star character Betty Boop. It was to be a musical with music by jazz musician Bennie Wallace and lyrics by Cheryl Ernst Wells. Bernadette Peters was to have provided the voice for Betty in the film but, before the recording sessions started, the film was abandoned after the head of MGM, Alan Ladd Jr. was replaced by Frank Mancuso. Also sealing the film's fate was legal disagreements between the three entities that owned various rights to Betty Boop at the time.
Availability
According to storyboard artist Stevan Wahl, 90% of the film was storyboarded before the project was cancelled and Wallace and Wells had completed several songs for the film. 20 years after the film was cancelled, a storyboard reel of the song "Where are You?" was uploaded to YouTube by user "Agent DoubleOOP". The reel features Jimmy Rowles and Sue Raney as the voices of Benny and Betty Boop respectively. Several pieces of concept art can also be found online and a draft of the screenplay from April 16th, 1993, would be posted on Google Drive by YoshiKiller2S, but any other storyboards from the cancelled film have not resurfaced.
