BETTY IN BLUNDERLAND - Max Fleischer - Sammy Timberg "How Do You Do?" (1934)

Trying to write something new and unusual about Betty Boop is about like trying to say something new and original about other cinematic icons like James Bond, John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, or The Three Stooges! I just don't have it in me!

All I'm trying to do here is remind you about things you shouldn't forget about, those little things like Betty Boop that make America great, and the world a better place to live in!

So Betty's putting together a puzzle! Let's take a survey, when was the last time you put a jig-saw puzzle together?  Picking up the pieces of a broken iPhone6 doesn't count!

The Fleischer's get wacky right out of the box with some fun stuff by Sammy Timberg! "So, How do you do" anyhow? Here's another good question, who is responsible for some of the best cartoons of all time? Max Fleischer, Ub Iwerks, Walt Disney, Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, or Jay Ward? All comments will be duly appreciated!

Betty falls asleep, and the rabbit wakes up!

Into the looking glass we go!

Here's a weird deal, when Betty comes out on the other side of the mirror, her hair is longer!

"When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead, just go ask Betty, I think she'll know!" - Jefferson Airplane (Kinda, Sort of)!

All the characters are there! Sorry about the quality of these pictures, but that's what you get for free some times!

Max Fleischer used some of Lewis Carroll's characters that were too weird for the more hallowed Disney version like The Mock Turtle, and his best pal the Gryphon!

I've got two words for you here, Basil Wolverton!

Somebody else who forgot to show up in the Disney version was the mean olde Jabberwocky!

 The Jabberwocky unceremoniously tosses Betty off the cliff!

Betty in Lemming Wonderland!

Betty makes it back home safe and sound! Vacation is over, so the cartoons will stop for a while, but right, wrong, or indifferent, they will be back, one of the few things I can guarantee! Now it's time to get back to some more Sinister features for me!

THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW / Universal Pictures - 1988

Here's a nice little flick about voodoo and drugs in Haiti, it stars Bill Pullman in a role that should have at least earned him an Oscar nomination, you really believe this stuff is happening to him. It's a standout horror story that I highly recommend...

I have a wild sound clip for your approval, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located there by our Dungeon Voodoo Freak, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. Here's a deadly taste of... THE SERPENT AND THE RAINBOW!

Bill plays Dr. Dennis Alan, he's in Haiti doing research on a powerful drug there and gets a curse put on him by the local witch doctor!

Then, the ground beneath the doctor's feet opens up and hundreds of zombies drag him down to the bottom of the pit. Thing is... It's only in his mind!

With friends like this hanging around, do you really need any enemies?!

In this hallucination, Dennis watches as this blushing bride pulls her jaw down and shoots a viper out of her mouth!.. Will the fun never end?

His tormentor is one sick SOB, here, the madman threatens to light his torch for the thrill.

And, Dungeon Hero Michael Gough has a small part in the movie, looking good as usual..

This girl becomes possessed and tries to bury this butcher knife somewhere in Dennis!

Dennis gets drugged and he is buried alive! They also give him some little playmates to keep him company while he ponders his situation.

The fun doesn't end there though, check out the maniac pulling his head completely off, he then throws it at Dennis, barely missing him!

This is one freaky scene, those long rubbery arms with grabbing hands give me the chills!

Our nemesis gets his just desserts in the end, Dennis has a few tricks up his sleeve as he's learned some spells himself. The maniac gets a steel spike right into his groin before falling through the floor on an elevator trip straight to Hell!! Yes, Dennis makes it through the ordeal and the good guys win... Whew!!

CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST - A Haunting We Will Go (1949)

Well. by now, everybody should know who Casper The Friendly Ghost is, and if you don't, then Boo On You!

 This is a simple tale!! (Pretty Weird that the title card says "Caspers Friendly Ghost" instead of "Casper The Friendly Ghost!")

 The title is basically meaningless to the story, but it makes for a cool little song!
"A Haunting We Will Go" has also been used as a Laurel and Hardy title, a L'il Eightball title, and others!

 Cool scene! Probably should have saved this one for Halloween!

 You might not have known that ghosts have to go to school to learn how to be scary, kind of like how fish have to go to school to learn how to swim!

 The very prolific Larz (Scooby-Doo, Josie and the Pussycats, Hong Kong Phooey) Bourne is the man responsbile for the gags!

 Casper is a dunce because he doesn't want to scare anything or anybody!

 Casper goes out and tries to make friends out by the lake, but this is the general reaction he gets!

 So he sits down on a nest to rest, and sits on an egg!

 The egg hatches, and this little guy isn't scared, he's just hungry!

 The little duckling loves his new ghost Daddy!

 Casper teaches him how to fly!

 But the stupid little duck deserts Casper to go get next to one of his own kind, a wooden duck decoy! Next thing you know this hunter shoots the little duckling!

 The hunter's dog goes to retrieve his catch, and Casper scares the spots off of him!

 Poor little guy took quite a shot! Pretty serious business for just being a stupid cartoon!

The little duckling recovers and Casper and his little buddy fly off into the distance to live happily ever after I suppose!