Betty Boop with Uncle Mischa (left) and Johnny Throat (right)
"A girl gets so lonesome reaching for the stars all by herself..."
Betty Boop
The Romance of Betty Boop is a 1985 animated television special aired on CBS starring Desiree Goyette as Betty Boop and produced by Bill Meléndez.
Set in 1939 New York, Betty Boop is featured as an independent girl with big dreams; as of the present though, she is working two jobs to make ends meet during the Great Depression - a shoe clerk by day and a chorus girl by night at the Club Bubbles of her Uncle Mischa. A local iceman named Freddy is in love with her but Betty only has eyes for the rich playboy Waldo Van Lavish.
Unfortunately for Betty, Uncle Mischa is severely in debt to a local mobster named Johnny Throat. During Betty's performance, Mr. Throat comes to collect the money, accompanied by his two thugs Punchy and Chuckles. When Mr. Throat sees Betty Boop though, he takes an interest in her.
This work features examples of the following tropes:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Waldo's dad laughed when an angry Betty knocks out his son for trying to make her his maid.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: Johnny Throat has greenish skin.
- Ass Kicks You: Betty does this to get rid of the two women with Waldo Van Lavish during her "I Wanna Be Loved By You" musical number.
- Big Applesauce: The entire special takes place in New York City (specifically near the end of The Great Depression).
- Big Damn Heroes: Betty and Waldo fall from the tall buildings in Times Square while pursued by Chuckles and Punchy. But Freddy rescues them in a net as he rides in a police helicopter.
- Chorus Girls: Betty Boop performs as one at the Club Bubbles. The other girls quit, so Betty had to perform on her own.
- Damsel in Distress: Betty is this when Chuckles and Punchy tie up Betty to take her to Johnny Throat's apartment. She does get out of their clutches though.
- Did Not Get the Girl: Implied with Freddy—though he and Betty confess their love for each other at the end of the special, Betty immediatelly gets a call to travel all the way out to Hollywood for a screen test, leaving a dumbfounded Freddy staring at the viewers.
- Dirty Coward: Waldo Van Lavish; he is terrified when confronted by Johnny Throat's goons, forcing Betty Boop to take charge.
- Exact Words: Waldo tells Betty he wants her to meet his parents. Betty interprets this as a marriage proposal but ends up finding out that Waldo wanted Betty to be an upstairs maid to his father!
- Expy: Chuckles, one of Johnny Throat's henchmen, is one of Tommy Udo from Kiss of Death according to the script
. His trait of eerie laughing was taken from Udo's character. - Film Noir: The special has elements of this with its dark, muted backgrounds of black and gray.
- Girly Bruiser: Betty is quite rough on the terrible trio both times she encounters them.
- Handbag of Hurt: Betty wields one against Johnny Throat's thugs and Waldo Van Lavish.
- The Hyena: Chuckles is this, hence his name.
- Human-Focused Adaptation: The cast consists entirely of human characters—Betty's Funny Animal-cast (and Koko the Clown) are Adapted Out.
- Karma Houdini: We never see or hear of Chuckles, Punchy or their boss Johnny Throat being arrested for kidnapping Betty Boop or trying to kill her.
- A Lady on Each Arm: Waldo was accompanied by two debutante tramps named Tracy (blonde) and Mimsey (redhead). They both take an instant dislike towards Betty, due to her knocking them off their table with her hips while singing for Waldo.
- Loan Shark: Implied with Johnny Throat as Uncle Mischa is heavily in debt to him.
- Period Piece: A TV-special from the mid-1980s that takes place in the late-1930s.
- Real-Place Background: Many of the backgrounds resemble photographs with the various cartoon characters animated over them.
- Terrible Trio:
- The Don: Johnny Throat
- The Dragon: Chuckles
- The Brute: Punchy
- The Unintelligible: Johnny Throat is this, always communicating in mumbles, grunts and groans. Chuckles translates what Mr. Throat says.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: We never see what happens to Punchy and Chuckles as they chase Betty and Waldo through the New York City rooftops and light-up signs. According to the script, the two end up falling into a beer glass on a beer billboard.
