''Snow-White'' (also known as ''Betty Boop in Snow-White'') is a 1933 American

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

short in the ''

Betty Boop Betty Boop is a cartoon character designed by Grim Natwick at the request of Max Fleischer. She originally appeared in the '' Talkartoon'' and ''Betty Boop'' film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pic ...

'' series from

Max Fleischer Max Fleischer (born Majer Fleischer ; July 19, 1883 – September 11, 1972) was an American animator and studio owner. Born in Kraków, in Austrian Poland, Fleischer immigrated to the United States where he became a pioneer in the development ...

Fleischer Studios Fleischer Studios () was an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures in 1942, the parent company and the distri ...

Dave Fleischer Dave Fleischer (; July 14, 1894 – June 25, 1979) was an American film director and producer who co-owned Fleischer Studios with his older brother Max Fleischer. He was a native of New York City. Biography Early life and career Fleisch ...

was credited as director, although virtually all the animation was done by

Roland Crandall Roland Dimon "Doc" Crandall (August 29, 1892 - August 14, 1972) was an American animator. He is best known for his work at Fleischer Studio, especially on the Betty Boop film ''Snow-White (1933 film), Snow-White'' and as lead animator with Seymour ...

, who received the opportunity to make ''Snow-White'' on his own as a reward for his several years of devotion to the Fleischer studio. The resulting film, which took six months to complete, is considered both Crandall's masterwork and an important milestone of the

Golden age of American animation The golden age of American animation was a period that began with the popularization of Sound film, sound synchronized cartoons in 1928 and gradually ended in the 1960s when theatrical animated shorts started to lose popularity to the newer medi ...

Synopsis

A magic mirror resembling

Cab Calloway Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was a regular performer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he became a popular vocalist of the Swing music, swing era. His niche ...

proclaims Betty Boop to be "the fairest in the land", much to the anger of the Queen. The Queen orders her guards

Bimbo ''Bimbo'' is slang for a conventionally attractive, sexualized naive woman. The term was originally used in the United States as early as 1919 for an unintelligent or brutish man. As of the early 21st century, the "stereotypical bimbo" appea ...

and Koko to execute Betty. With tears in their eyes, they take Betty into the forest; as they prepare to execute her, they spare her by destroying their weapons, but fall into a pit before they can free her. Betty escapes into a frozen river, which encloses her in a coffin of ice. This block slips downhill to the home of the

seven dwarfs The Seven Dwarfs are fictional dwarfs in the 1812 fairy tale '' Snow White'' by the Brothers Grimm and other renditions and adaptations. History The Seven Dwarfs live in a tiny cottage and work in the nearby mines. Snow White stumbles upon thei ...

, who carry the frozen Betty into an enchanted cave, running into Koko and Bimbo. The evil Queen, now transformed into a witch, turns Koko into a ghost as he sings "

St. James Infirmary Blues "St. James Infirmary" is an American blues and jazz standard that emerged, like many others, from folk traditions. Louis Armstrong brought the song to lasting fame through his 1928 recording, on which Don Redman is named as composer; later rele ...

". With her rivals disposed of, the Queen again asks the magic mirror who the fairest in the land is, but the mirror explodes in a puff of magic smoke that returns Betty and Koko to their normal states and changes the Queen into a hideous and mysterious dragon-like monster. The dragon-like monster chases the protagonists until Bimbo grabs its tongue and yanks it, turning the creature inside out and causing it to flee away. Betty, Koko, and Bimbo dance around in a circle of victory as the film ends.

Legacy

Koko's dancing (including some moves that look like the much later " moonwalk" and " dab") during the "St. James" number is

rotoscope Rotoscoping is an animation technique that animators use to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to produce realistic action. Originally, live-action film images were projected onto a glass panel and traced onto paper. This pr ...

d from footage of

. The film was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

and selected for preservation in the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...

in 1994. The same year, it was voted #19 of the

50 Greatest Cartoons ''The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals'' is a 1994 book by animation historian Jerry Beck, with a foreword written by Chuck Jones. The book features the fifty greatest cartoons of all time, selected by a group o ...

of all time by members of the animation field. The film is copyrighted by Paramount due to its copyright being renewed in 1961.textsCatalog of Copyright Entries 1961 Motion Pictures Jan-Dec 3D Ser Vol 15 Pts 12-13
/ref>

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Snow White (1933 Film) 1933 films 1933 animated short films 1930s American animated films United States National Film Registry films Films based on Snow White Betty Boop cartoons Short films directed by Dave Fleischer Articles containing video clips Paramount Pictures short films Fleischer Studios short films 1930s English-language films English-language short films American animated black-and-white films

Synopsis

Legacy

See also

References

External links