Dave Fleischer | Dizzy Red Riding Hood / 1931 [animated cartoon]

the metaphorical and the real

by Douglas Messerli

 

Grim Natwick (director of animation), Dave Fleischer (director) Dizzy Red Riding Hood / 1931 [animated cartoon]

 

In this, the real story of Red Riding Hood, so we’re told, Betty Boop as “Red” attempts to prepare for a trip to her grandmother’s house with food from the refrigerator, including a whole fish and several sausage links which her pet Bimbo (half dog, half giant mouse) consumes before she can even place them in the basket.

     Bimbo asks, “May I go along with you?” to which Betty replies, somewhat gleefully, “My mother wouldn’t want you to.” Like Mary’s little lamb, he follows her nonetheless, watching over her as she enters the dark forest the trees have joined together to create, overhearing their warning to her about the “wolf.” Caught in a stump, he too attempts to warn her, but without success, and she moves forward, displaying her shapely legs and thighs around which she even wears a garter.

     Before she can consider the warnings about the wolf, he begins to follow close behind.

     Observing several beautiful flowers, she begins picking them, Bimbo closely tracking the wolf’s advance. The wolf finally catches up and attempts to introduce himself, without success. Instead, he offers her some flower seeds, which she gladly accepts, planting flowers as the wolf, now with knife and fork, prepares to actually rather than metaphorically “eat her up.”

     Just as the wolf is about to pounce, Bimbo conks him over the head with the water sprinkler and drags him off to a tree hollow where he beats the living daylights out of him—literally rather than metaphorically speaking.

      Since, as Bimbo seems to realize, Red loves wolves, he dresses up in the wolf skin and follows Betty once again. By this time her plants have grown up to become violets, which she picks along with a rose and tulips, and finally, sings out, “I think she’d like a pansy, a pansy. I think she’d like a pansy,” with an unidentifiable animal joining in “The fairies like them too.” I suppose he must be a kind of goblin or fairy, but evidently the animators didn’t even feel the need to call up a full image of a sissy, presuming even children

could well imagine what one might look like. We note that the unidentified animal has a long hand with limp and flailing fingers at its end.

      Bimbo runs ahead to get into bed since, we’re told, “Grandma’s gone to the fireman’s ball.” Bimbo, dressed as the wolf and Betty, cast as Red Riding Hood, play the usual games, as she sings “Where’d get those great big teeth, where’d you get those eyes?” followed up by “nose,” “ears” etc.  Eventually Bimbo, pulls her into bed as he sings out “Far better to eat you dear,” this time metaphorically speaking.

      I can only wonder: where did all the flowers go?

 

Los Angeles, April 20, 2022

Reprinted from My Queer Cinema blog (April 2022).