Studio: Fleischer Studios
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Produced by: Max Fleischer
Short Synopsis
Pudgy, at the window, watches a Dalmatian fire dog ride past on the engine, bell clanging, and is lost in admiration. Betty tells him to stay home; the fire dog comes by, and Pudgy, against orders, follows him to a fire at the general store. He tries to help, dragging a hose, climbing a ladder, fetching a bucket, but the fire has a life of its own: it is animated as a creature, with flames that duck, dodge, chase him and laugh, that climb the shelves and set off the fireworks stock and roll barrels at him. Thoroughly beaten, singed and soaked, Pudgy runs home to Betty, who is glad to see him and not at all glad that he disobeyed, and gives him a spanking before she comforts him.
Why It Matters
- The living fire is the cartoon's attraction, a return to the Fleischer surrealism of 1930-32 in which everything had a face, and the Endres-Johnson unit animates it with more energy than the usual Pudgy film; the Dalmatian hero, cool and professional, is a good foil for the small dog's fantasy.
- It is public domain in the United States, its copyright never having been renewed. Fleischer historians note it as the fourth and last cartoon in which Betty spanks Pudgy, a count that says something about how the series' audience has studied it; it is also one of the last New York-made Betty Boops before the studio's Florida move.
Notes and Trivia
- The fire dog's Dalmatian breed was already traditional with fire companies, from the days of horse-drawn engines.
- The living-fire gag goes back to the Fleischers' own The Fire Bugs of 1930.
- See also: Pudgy Picks a Fight! (1937), Training Pigeons (1936), Taking the Blame (1935).
