Western Animation / Boop-Oop-a-Doop

Boop-Oop-a-Doop is a Betty Boop cartoon released by Fleischer Studios on January 16, 1932 as part of their Talkartoons series. The short stars Betty along with her iconic friends, Bimbo the Dog and Koko the Clown.

In this short, Betty and friends are circus performers. Betty sings, dances, and tames lions. Bimbo sells peanuts, and while Koko isn't shown performing, we can assume that he's a circus clown. During Betty's performance, the circus ringmaster starts to lust after her. Once the show is over, the ringmaster follows her to her tent and starts acting like a creep. Betty starts begging him not to harm her (through song.) Fortunately, Koko is just outside the tent. He hears Betty's plight and rushes in to save her.

While many Betty Boop shorts are risqué to an extent, this short is notable for how brazenly they depict the villain being a creep to Betty. Most importantly, the short also shows Betty and Koko fighting back against him and making it clear that his behavior is absolutely unacceptable.

This short contains examples of:

• A Day in the Limelight: This is a heavily Koko focused Betty Boop cartoon, in contrast to his usual role as either The Cameo or Those Two Guys with Bimbo.
• Angrish: When the baby gets mad over thanks to Bimbo (See Running Gag), the baby starts shouting incomprehensible words before an arm from off-screen places tape over his mouth with the word "Censored" on it.
• Annoying Laugh: After The Ringmaster thinks he sent Koko flying, he does a "Yah-yah-yah" laugh. After Koko knocks him out, he copies his laugh.
• Attempted Rape: The Ringmaster tries to force himself on Betty off-screen, luckily Koko came just in time to save her.
• Bald of Evil: The Ringmaster looks balding under his top hat and his actions definitely count as evil.
• Big Bad Slippage: The ringmaster isn't a bad guy at first. In the beginning, he's just doing his job announcing the circus acts. But once he develops feelings for Betty, he becomes a villainous, lustful creep.
• Big Ball of Violence: When Koko rushes in to save Betty, a brief fight cloud comes out of the tent's entrance.
• Big Damn Heroes: When Betty is being assaulted by the ringmaster, Koko rushes in to fight the ringmaster and save her.
• Brawn Hilda: During the parade a dog is using a bicycle pump to repeatedly inflate a woman who keeps switching from skinny to the circus' fat lady.
• Circus Episode: This episode has Betty and friends working as circus performers.
• Dastardly Whiplash: The Ringmaster certainly fits this bill, he even twirls his mustache while watching Betty during her high wire act.
• Everything Talks: While the audience was applauding, so were the empty seats. Also after the human cannon goes off, it blows a kiss with the barrel acting as a mouth.
• False Teeth Tomfoolery: The trapeze artist swinging by his teeth ends up falling to the ground after his teeth fall out and stay clenched onto the trapeze bar.
• Fanservice: Betty spends most of her screen time in a two piece outfit; a short skirt during the parade and a bathing suit during the circus, both with a bikini top. Her only tame outfit in this short is her lion tamer outfit.
• Fat Bastard: The Ringmaster is an extremely rotund man and also a sexual predator who becomes the villain of the short.
• Girls with Moustaches: The bearded lady in the parade has a beard longer then her body that keeps getting cut by a little bear with scissors, only for it to immediately grow back.
• High-Dive Hijinks: Ms. Jenny's high dive into a pool of soup causes a splash so tall that a fish flies out and lands on the diving platform; the fish then dives back in and the resulting splash causes Ms. Jenny to return to the platform where she originally started.
• Human Cannonball: The Ringmaster tries to get rid of Koko this way, but despite the cannon going off with Koko inside, somehow Koko wasn't blasted away.
• Hyperspace Mallet: Koko knocks out The Ringmaster with a well deserved mallet to the head from behind.
• Lions and Tigers and Humans... Oh, My!: Betty, Koko, the ringmaster, the baby, and a few other background characters are human, while Bimbo and most of the other background characters are anthropomorphic animals.
• Mythology Gag: An elephant marching in the parade dips his trunk in a giant inkwell on his back and sprays ink on the ground which forms into Koko the Clown, this being a reference to Koko's previous Out of the Inkwell series.
• Prehensile Hair: The ends of The Ringmaster's mustache briefly turns into hands to gesture and applaud with.
• Rape Discretion Shot: The Ringmaster's attempted rape of Betty isn't shown on-screen as we only see the outside of Betty's tent.
• Reluctant Monster: While Betty is taming three lions, another lion sneaks up behind her menacingly. An audience member screams "Look out!" Then the lion stands up on two legs and says "Pardon me, you dropped your handkerchief" in a surprisingly non-threatening voice, and hands Betty her handkerchief with an innocent smile.
• Repulsive Ringmaster: The ringmaster becomes the villain of the short when he makes creepy advances on Betty. Thankfully, Koko the Clown defeats him.
• Rescue Romance: Betty lets Koko kiss her after he saves her from the Ringmaster.
• Returning the Handkerchief: During Betty's lion tamer act, one of the lions sneaks up from behind her, it then stands on two legs and politely returns her dropped handkerchief.
• Running Gag: Bimbo keeps getting in a baby's way while selling a basket of peanuts; when the baby finally agrees to buy one, it turns out that the basket is empty with a giant hole in the bottom of it.
• Sexual Extortion: The Ringmaster tries to force Betty into sexual relations or it could cost her job at the circus.
• Shaking the Rump: The short starts with a flag of Betty in a dancer's outfit with it waving back and forth to look like she's shaking her hips.
• Silent Whisper: The Ringmaster whispers in Betty's ear of what he wants from her, Betty responds by slapping him in the face.
• Tightrope Walking: Betty Boop performs a high wire act while singing "Do Something".
• Totem Pole Trench: It looks like a tall man in a trench coat is marching in the parade, until he trips revealing himself to be four small Funny Animals.
• Unusual Euphemism: Betty in song tells the ringmaster "Don't take my Boop-Oop-a-Doop away" which could be a euphemism for virginity.
• Visual Pun: A weiner dog that jumps through a hoop comes out the other side as a bunch of hot dogs.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Bimbo disappears after the circus performance scene. Koko saves Betty from the Ringmaster's assault and then kisses her, which is a bit odd considering that Bimbo is Betty's boyfriend in Betty's other cartoons of the early 30's.
• Would Hit a Girl: The Ringmaster has no qualms forcing himself on Betty or briefly putting his hands around her neck.