DIZZY DISHES (1930)
Article 5260 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 10-2-2016
Directed by Dave Fleischer
Featuring the voices of William Costello, Margie Hines, Billy Murray
Country: USA
What it is: Fleischer cartoon

A waiter at a nightclub is too busy participating in the floor show to effectively serve a customer waiting for his roast duck.

This cartoon is primarily remembered as the one to first feature the character of Betty Boop, albeit as a dog rather than as a human. She has a short musical number in the middle of the cartoon. The rest of the cartoon focuses on the antics of a waiter who, in the midst of his dancing and enjoying the floor show, never manages to get his food to his customers in a timely fashion. The cartoon really isn’t all that funny, though I did get a big laugh at the joke of the waiter trying to cut a hair with his knife. Nevertheless, I’m quite fond of the cartoon, or for that matter, with pre-code Fleischer cartoons in general; they were so weird that I can’t tear my eyes away from them. This one is so full of bizarre images (such as a dancing headless roast duck) and risque humor that I find myself entranced. Lots of anthropomorphic animals and bizarre characters add to the fantastic content. It’s worth a watch.