Is My Palm Read
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Billy Murray
William Henning
| Is My Palm Read | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Dave Fleischer |
| Produced by | Max Fleischer |
| Starring | Mae Questel Billy Murray |
| Animation by | David Tendlar William Henning |
| Color process | Black-and-white |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Publix Corporation |
Release date |
|
Running time | 7 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Is My Palm Read is a 1933 Pre-Code Fleischer Studios animated short film starring Betty Boop, and featuring Koko the Clown and Bimbo.[1]
Act One. A modestly dressed Betty visits the shop of an elderly, swami-like fortune teller named Professor Bimbo for some advice, but Bimbo is only interested in making time with Betty. Koko the Clown is the swami's assistant.
Act Two. Bimbo shows Betty images of herself in a crystal ball. After reliving her infancy, this vision of Betty is shipwrecked on a jungle island, where she loses her clothing and fashions a scanty "hula girl" bikini to cover herself. She sings the first few lines of the Irving Berlin song "All by Myself", before being abducted by evil ghosts (perhaps Poltergeists) who imprison her in a jungle cabin. Fortunately, she is rescued by a young, strong sailor, who just happened to be exploring the island on horseback.
Act Three. Back in the fortune teller's shop, Betty is horrified by the vision, but the "elderly" swami removes his fake beard and reveals himself to be the heroic sailor. A happy Betty embraces him lovingly, but their reunion is disrupted by the ghosts from the vision, who burst out of the crystal ball and chase the two through a time portal, back to the desert isle. The head ghost rips off Betty's dress to reveal the hula bikini. Betty and Bimbo escape from the ghosts by tricking them into running off a cliff into the sea. The short ends on an unresolved, but optimistic, cliffhanger.