Bob Zemeckis developed a real appreciation for vintage cartoons. The very early animators knew that their films would only ever be viewed on a theater screen for a period of weeks… and likely never seen again. Film rolls by at 24 frames per second and a single frame cannot be perceived consciously. There was little in the way of ‘downstream checking’ in those days, so animators would occasionally slip in an ‘irregular’ frame.
Betty Boop was to have had a much larger role in ‘Who framed Roger Rabbit‘. She was to have had an affair with Eddie Valiant. There are still hints of a ‘shared past’ in the Ink and Paint Club sequence. Zemeckis was determined to include an homage to the early animators by including a single Betty Boop ‘nipple slip’ frame. Animator Roger Chiasson was instructed to include one frame with nipples showing as Betty fidgeted with the hem of her dress. The drawing proceeded through Clean-up, Trace & Paint, Xerography, and Checking with a note attached – “Bo∧°b Z. wants this boob shot for 1 frame.” It was in the theatrical release and the original laserdisc release, but was removed in subsequent VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray releases. There wasn’t much to see, although the nipples were drawn like cute little pie-eyes, of vintage Mickey Mouse cartoons!
The inclusion of the Betty Boop nipple-slip gave the impression to some people on the crew that their own personal inclusions might also be acceptable. They WERE NOT!!
In the ‘Booby Trap’ scene, a weasel reaches into Jessica Rabbit’s dress and his hand gets caught in a bear trap. A single frame was drawn with a nipple-slip and got through Clean-up to Xerography, but it was pulled before it got any further. Nevertheless, a number of copies were kept by crew members for souvenirs.
