The Hot Air Salesman
- March 12, 1937 (1937-03-12)
The Hot Air Salesman is a 1937 Fleischer Studios animated short film starring Betty Boop and featuring Wiffle Piffle.[1]
Synopsis
Wiffle Piffle is an annoying door to door salesman, selling a variety of useless gadgets. As he cheerfully walks from house to house, both arms are continuously moving as if flapping in the breeze. As he stops at house after house, he is immediately turned away.
Betty Boop is the first to listen to his sales pitch, where he promises such wonders as a "woolen hammer and rubber nails", a "sieve that never leaks" and some "brand new antiques". Betty politely tells him "Nothing today, kind sir". Apparently, this is the most favorable response he has gotten, so he goes around to the side door to try again. Betty is somewhat more insistent in telling him "Nothing today, kind sir".
He tries again at the back door and this time Betty Boop agrees to let him show his wares. These include:
- A mouse trap shaped like a wedge of cheese contains a mechanical cat that slugs the mouse with a blackjack.
- A smaller home version of the "spot remover" first seen in Betty Boop's Crazy Inventions (1933).
- A rocket that does the laundry, first spinning the clothes around in the sink and then rocketing out the window to hang them out to dry.
- A "superheterodyne vacuum cleaner" that is so powerful, that it pulls the whiskers off a portrait.
The gag of an overly powerful vacuum had been used before, and the surprise in this cartoon occurs when it is switched to reverse. Wiffle Piffle loses control of the vacuum cleaner and its powerful exhaust wreaks havoc, knocking over the furniture and finally blasts a piano through the wall.
Betty learns that she was better off to say "Nothing today, kind sir" and sends the salesman on his way. The unflappable Wiffle Piffle gathers his hat and sample case and continues on his way.
Notes and comments
Second of only two appearances of Wiffle Piffle in the Betty Boop series. He had previously appeared in 1937's Whoops! I'm a Cowboy. Otherwise, Wiffle Piffle appeared only in the Screen Songs series.
Wiffle Piffle is a well-dressed but odd-looking character. His short cartoon body is topped by an unusually long neck and a large circular head. He wears a suit with a vest and a black top hat.
Wiffle Piffle later appears as a background character in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
References
- ^ Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 54–56. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
External links
- The Hot Air Salesman on Youtube.
- The Hot Air Salesman at IMDb
- The Hot Air Salesman is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
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- Betty Boop's Ker-Choo
- Betty Boop's Crazy Inventions
- Is My Palm Read?
- Betty Boop's Penthouse
- Snow-White
- Betty Boop's Birthday Party
- Betty Boop's May Party
- Betty Boop's Big Boss
- Mother Goose Land
- Popeye the Sailor
- The Old Man of the Mountain
- I Heard
- Morning, Noon and Night
- Betty Boop's Hallowe'en Party
- Parade of the Wooden Soldiers
- She Wronged Him Right
- Red Hot Mamma
- Ha! Ha! Ha!
- Betty in Blunderland
- Betty Boop's Rise to Fame
- Betty Boop's Trial
- Betty Boop's Life Guard
- Poor Cinderella
- There's Something About a Soldier
- Betty Boop's Little Pal
- Betty Boop's Prize Show
- Keep in Style
- When My Ship Comes In
- Little Nobody
- Betty Boop and the Little King
- Not Now
- Betty Boop and Little Jimmy
- We Did It
- A Song a Day
- More Pep
- You're Not Built That Way
- Happy You and Merry Me
- Training Pigeons
- Grampy's Indoor Outing
- Be Human
- Making Friends
- House Cleaning Blues
- Whoops! I'm a Cowboy
- The Hot Air Salesman
- Pudgy Takes a Bow-Wow
- Pudgy Picks a Fight!
- The Impractical Joker
- Ding Dong Doggie
- The Candid Candidate
- Service with a Smile
- The New Deal Show
- The Foxy Hunter
- Zula Hula
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