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Who Framed Roger Rabbit


Betty Boop in Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Who Framed Roger Rabbit Betty Boop Wikia Fandom 2023

Name

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Jessica_Rabbit_-_Why_Don't_You_Do_Right?_(HD)

Name

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is a live-action mixed with animation adaption of the book Who Censored Roger Rabbit? released in 1981 by Gary K. Wolf. He followed the book up with Who P-P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit? in 1991 and Who Wacked Roger Rabbit? in 2013.

The title character Roger Rabbit has never been seen since, but made a cameo in the 2022 film Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, a spiritual successor to Who Framed Roger Rabbit that combines 2D animation, live-action and CGI. Betty Boop herself makes a cameo appearance in the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, in which she appears in traditional black and white.

Betty appears as a cocktail waitress, similar to her appearance in the 1932 Screen Song Just a Gigolo and she yells out "Cigars, Cigarettes." Eddie Valiant spots Betty and gives her name a shout. Betty then calls out to Eddie Valiant and says, "Long time no see? Work's been kinda slow since cartoons went to color, but I've still got it Eddie!", indicating that she no longer gets work in the cartoons, despite "Betty Boop" being rebooted in the 1980s and making a brand new debut several years earlier in 1985 animated short The Romance of Betty Boop in color. According to rare information, this version of Betty Boop in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, is supposed to be the "original" Betty Boop from the black and white cartoons.

This version of Betty is the original Betty from 1932, and she supposedly never went to color.

Betty then quickly does her "Boop-Boop-Be-Doop" routine for him. Betty tells Eddie that Jessica Rabbit is married to Roger Rabbit and Mr. Acme never misses a night when Jessica performs on stage. Betty tells Eddie that Jessica Rabbit is a lucky girl and walks away. Betty also appears at the end of the film where she can be seen running into a crowd of toons, She can then be seen standing in between Bugs Bunny and Donald Duck. The cartoons all cheer for Roger Rabbit and they all begin to sing the ending sequence "Smile Darn Ya, Smile!". 

Betty Boop was written into the scene before the writers knew whether or not they could get permission to use her. The film was produced at Disney, the writers had access to a library of characters. Thanks to an arrangement with Warner Bros., which was arranged by Steven Spielberg, the Looney Tunes catalogue was open to them as well.

But the rights to Betty Boop had passed through multiple hands over the years, requiring a separate deal. "We wrote that scene for Betty, and if she were lost to us, we would have slotted somebody else in or just written a new scene," Seaman said, explaining how they handled cases where certain classic cartoon characters were taken off the table.

Quotes

  • Betty Boop: "Cigars, Cigarettes!"
  • Betty Boop: "Eddie Valiant!"
  • Eddie Valiant: "Betty?"
  • Betty Boop: "Long time no see!"
  • Betty Boop: "Work's been kinda slow since cartoons went to color but I still got it Eddie. Boop-Boop-Be-Doop, Bop!"
  • Eddie Valiant: "Yeah, you still got it!"
  • Eddie Valiant: " What's with him?"
  • Betty Boop: "Mr. Acme never misses a night when Jessica performs!"
  • Eddie Valiant: "Got a thing for rabbits, huh?"
  • Eddie Valiant: "She's married to Roger Rabbit?"
  • Betty Boop: "Yeah, what a lucky girl!"

Cast & Crew

  • Mae Questel as Betty Boop
  • Mary Healey[1] as Betty Boop
  • Bob Hoskins as Eddie Valiant
  • Charles Fleischer as Roger Rabbit
  • Kathleen Turner as Jessica Rabbit
  • Christopher Lloyd as Judge Doom
  • Amy Irving as Jessica Rabbit
  • Wayne Allwine as Mickey Mouse
  • Russi Taylor as Minnie Mouse
  • Mel Blanc as Bugs Bunny
  • Joe Alaskey as Yosemite Sam
  • Clarence Nash as Donald Duck
  • Mel Blanc as Daffy Duck
  • Tony Anselmo as Donald Duck
  • Nancy Cartwright as Toon Shoe
  • Lou Hirsch as Baby Herman
  • June Foray as Wheezy
  • Peter Wesky as Pinocchio
  • Frank Welker as Dumbo
  • Mel Blanc as Tweety Bird
  • April Winchell as Baby Herman
  • Tony Pope as Goofy
  • June Foray as Lena Hyena
  • Mel Blanc as Sylvester the Cat
  • Robert Zemeckis (Director)
  • Frank Marshall (Producer)
  • Robert Watts (Producer)

List of characters who appeared in WFRR

Who Framed Roger Rabbit Cartoons

Touchstone Pictures and Amblin Entertainment, Inc. wish to thank Warner Bros., Fleischer Studios, Turner Entertainment, and Walter Lantz Productions for letting their stars help our stars make Who Framed Roger Rabbit the most highly acclaimed motion picture of 1988.

Original Characters

Paramount/Fleischer Studios

Famous Studios/Harvey Films

Disney

Walter Lantz

Warner Bros

MGM

Removed Characters

Early Sketch for Who Framed Roger Rabbit

In the early concepts for Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Bimbo the dog, Fitz the dog, Bosko an African-American boy made of ink created by animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, and Flip the Frog created by animator Ub Iwerks were all going to be featured in the film. However these characters were later removed. The only characters that was kept were Betty Boop and Koko the Clown. Other characters conceived that were removed included Olive Oyl, Popeye, Bluto, Mighty Mouse, Tom and Jerry, Baby Huey, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Chip'n Dale, Herman and Catnip, Superman and Foghorn Leghorn.

Mae Questel Interview

Questel and boop

"I was doing my Boop-Oop-a-Doops in the studio." said Questel, faithfully producing the Boopean squeak that began getting her news-paper headlines as far back as 1931. "I kept saying I'm too busy to Woody Allen. It was hard to think of leaving Roger Rabbit and you know, we would make the trip over to Vegas to do a little gambling - I'm a loser, usually but this was a really good time we were having." Since she began performing in the 1930s, she's appeared with Mae West, Rudy Vallee, Gertrude Berg, Rosalind Russell, Alex Guinness and Barbra Streisand. "And I played the Palace myself. When I was doing my act." Questel said. "I'm not that great an actress, I'll tell you, but with Olive Oyl and the Betty Boop, well I am a legend." Questel first met Woody Allen during the filming of his "Zelig" where, off-camera, she recorded the movie's theme song, "Chameleon Days" as Helen Kane with a 45-piece orchestra. "You know, I can sing at the drop of a hat, for charity or whatever, Not great, but I can sing. These days, every job I get is like a big gift."

Storyboard


Hear SFX of crashing AND bashing backstage. Now from behind Valiant, we hear a familiar high-pitched voice.

Cigarette Girl: "Cigars... cigarettes... Eddie?"

Valiant turns to see Betty Boop standing with a box of tobacco wares strapped around her neck. In contrast to all the other Toons, Betty's in black and white.

Betty Boop: "Gee, it's swell to see you, Eddie. We miss you in Toontown."

Eddie Valiant: "Wish I could say the same."

Eddie Valiant: "What're you doin' here, Betty?"

Betty Boop: "Work's been slow for me since the cartoons went to color."

Betty Boop: "But I still got it, Eddie... Boop-Oop-a-Doop."

Eddie Valiant: "Yeah, you still got it, Betty."

Eddie Valiant: "Who's Mr. Jocularity?"

Betty Boop: "That's Marvin Acme, the gag king."

Eddie Valiant: "Shoulda guessed."

Betty Boop: "He comes here every night to see Jessica Rabbit."

Eddie Valiant: "Big on the musical comedy, huh?"

Betty Boop: "Sounds like you've never seen her, Eddie."

Now the lights dim and Betty moves on. On Stage the door Droopy walks out with the spotlight following him. He's the evening's emcee.

Censored Innuendos


In the movie, Betty Boop is featured recognized sexual innuendos. In one, her dress slides down to reveal her bosom, a scene that was later removed from many copies.

Towards the end of the movie, when Betty and Bugs Bunny and a host of other cartoon characters rush out, there's more explicit humor. Another moment that may have been omitted from the movie is when Bugs Bunny pushes his carrot toward Betty's crotch. Additional sexual elements in the movie were Jessica's Booby Trap, in which a weasel reaches into Jessica's cleavage to obtain a hand full of bear trap while looking for Mr. Acme's final will and testament.

"For a good time call Allyson 'Wonderland' The best is yet to come," is written on the wall of an abandoned men's toilet in Toontown. A more polished rendition of "The best is yet to come."

Roger follows Eddie to Delores's bar while he is on the run. Dolores says, "Is that a rabbit in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" in allusion to an old Mae West sexual joke while Roger hides in Eddie's coat.

Baby Herman is shown giving his nanny the finger before leaving the set, however this moment was cut from the DVD release. Baby Herman is seen peering up her skirt.

The patty cake scene is the most overtly sexual suggestive scene in the entire film.

Eddie and Jessica are flung from the car after their cab strikes a lamppost, and Jessica displays her crotch swiftly as they are being hurled through the air. In the early Fleischer Studios cartoons, the sexualized character Betty Boop was well-known for these kind of adult gags.

Gallery

Trivia

  • The "Ink and Paint Club" was based on the Harlem Cotton Club.
  • There was never a Who Framed Roger Rabbit 2 or sequel after the 1988 film debut, because events surrounding the film's production and the animated shorts that followed eventually sparked a fierce custody battle between Disney and Steven Spielberg over the ownership of the characters, unfinished sequels and uncompleted theme park attractions.
  • Mae Questel's voice was edited a little after she recorded her lines as her voice had dropped.
  • An actress by the name of Mary Healey recorded alternative sound-alike dialogue for Betty Boop, but it was not used in the finalized film. After Questel was featured in a STARLOG article for reprising her role as Betty Boop, Healey contacted STARLOG magazine to tell them that she, not Questel had done the role. The finalized film used Questel's recordings, not Healey's. Healey reprised the Betty Boop role in the 1989 Hershey commercial One of the All-Time Greats.
  • In the original storyboard Betty has alternative lines. It is shown that Betty makes a small cameo, but then quickly moves on.
  • While Betty is standing next to Eddie her garter slips down as a reference to the old Betty Boop cartoons.
  • Koko the Clown also makes a appearance in the film but cannot speak, which was based on his 1920s appearances.
  • When Eddie Valiant asks Betty about Roger's relationship, Betty responds by holding her hands together and stating, "Yeah, what a lucky gurl." Which could indicate that Betty also likes Roger Rabbit or it could reference that she understands the relationship between a human cartoon character and a anthropomorphic cartoon character as she herself was in a similar relationship with Bimbo.
  • Bimbo is the only original Fleischer Studios character not to make an appearance in the film. 
  • The original film had a scene of Betty Boop where her dress was drawn too low in the front making her look topless. The scene was edited before being released on video. Although another source suggests that the animators who worked on Betty's scene deliberately slipped in a topless scene as tribute to the original Betty Boop series. 
  • In the Betty Boop cartoon series from the early 30s, Betty would usually be seen performing on center stage. In Who Framed Roger Rabbit she is reduced to a mere cocktail waitress, however this is a reference to the 1932 cartoon Just a Gigolo in which Betty was a waitress.
  • When Jessica Rabbit appears on stage Eddie has Betty Boop standing next to him in all close-up shots, except for a wide shot of the public behind Jessica where Betty Boop is missing.
  • In popular media Jessica Rabbit is often compared to drag queens, as the character has a very masculine build.
  • If you listen very carefully at the ending sequence you can hear Betty Boop singing along with the other toons to the "Smile Darn Ya, Smile!" song sequence.
  • Betty is the only toon that Eddie Valiant actually respected and was not aggressive to on the first meeting.
  • Betty Boop and Jessica Rabbit perform together in the 1996 Brazilian TV show musical titled Nao Fuja da Raia where they perform "It's Too Darn Hot".

See Also


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