Doin the Do Video description
Betty Boo in school uniform at a desk in a classroom. She is daydreaming. Cartoon question marks appear over her face followed by “Betty Boo” and a small swirl in white. She fidgets in her seat and a scene with her performing in a black leather or PVC jacket, hotpants, bare legs and red lipstick in the assembly hall flashes up. Back to the classroom: a teacher with specs and a stereotypical schoolmarm appearance is pointing at a “Doing the Do” sketch on the blackboard with a cane. “Do!” shows a schoolgirl in long socks and is overlaid by a tick. “Do Not!” shows a schoolgirl with fuller flicked up hair and bare legs and is overlaid by a cross. The teacher’s mood changes and she turns as if to address a disturbance. Betty is opening her desk to look at comics with a cartoon version of herself in. Cartoon lightning flashes appear out of the desk and the teacher approaches.
Betty in black leather is shown on a chair in a drawn room with a pot plant on a table in front of her and half opened blinds, appearing to receive a telepathic message from white lightning flashes emanating from a high rise building that can be seen outside the window under the half-opened blinds.
Switch back to the classroom: ‘Doin the Do’ can be seen written on the underside of the desk lid, as the desk is closed to reveal the annoyed teacher pointing with her cane. Close-up of Betty daydreaming and not paying attention, followed by a shot of another young woman dressed as a schoolgirl, chewing her pen, before being abruptly interrupted by the doors behind her flying open and Betty in black bursting in and starting to rap. (“It’s me again, yes how did you guess?”) She has a school uniformed troupe behind her and passes a young man dressed as a schoolboy on the left, planting a kiss mark on his cheek with her hand, which he touches in amazement before joining her followers behind her.
Betty passes another boy on the right and straightens his hair. He and others behind her simultaneously drop exercise books. “AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!” in white spreads across the screen from left to right.
Betty in a kitchen or possible Home Economics classroom, dancing past a confused looking young woman cooking in a yellow apron. Cut to fried eggs in a pan shrinking. Cartoon lips appear in the middle of the screen.
Cut back to the teacher pulling Betty up by her ear in fury, followed by a repeat of the kiss on the cheek shot before the boy in question is surprised by Betty coming around the corner, dragged along by the teacher (who is still pulling her ear). He and another boy look shocked as Betty passes. The teacher and Betty enter an office with ‘Head’ on the door.
A yellow transistor/phone/alarm/device is overlaid with cartoon white lightning flashes and the shot disappears into a squared swirl shape to reveal Betty in black, smiling and holding her head as if she’s listening to music or picking up vibes. More white lightning flashes. Cut to Betty in black dancing as the camera rapidly pans in and out.
“Hoodlum” raps Betty in black as she reclines on a desk with the word written on a blackboard behind her. She gets off the desk and dances down the classroom. The other pupils watch. Chemistry equipment is behind them on the desks. Purple smoke and flames appear and the some of the other pupils develop dog and gorilla faces. Betty appears to cast a spell in puff of smoke and, still dancing herself, squeezes through the dancing animal-faced crowd. (Brief transparent shot of the picture used on the cover of ‘Doin the Do’: Betty driving a cartoon car with a cartoon gagged man in the passenger seat.)
Back to Betty in black, dancing in the assembly hall with backing dancers, who are also in black. One of the dancers has a thought bubble “Better and a whole lot cleverer” flash up when Betty raps the line. This alternates with the Science room scene. A black and yellow circle, possibly a target board, with Betty’s face drawn on flashes up.
Next, we see Betty and the teacher in the head teacher’s office with plates of food in front of them. The teacher is berating Betty. The head joins in, finger wagging. He swivels in his chair. The teacher straightens Betty’s tie. “NAG!” says the text on the screen.
Back to alternations between Betty’s assembly hall performing with backing for a small audience and the Science lab, where the kids and Betty are still dancing. The camera rapidly pans in and out.
The teacher and Betty are now in the Science lab. The teacher is telling Betty to “Clean up this mess!” (in an accompanying speech bubble).
Close-up of Betty taking her tie off. A caption states “Back at the lab”. Cut to Betty in an orange top with a blue flowing jacket and matching trousers against a plain dark background with gold-dust raining next to her, along with the caption “Betty mixes up ‘Doing the Do Dust’”. Cut to Betty in black tipping this dust over a mini Betty on a table and it becomes apparent that the previous shot was this miniaturised Betty. Cut to mini Betty dancing with gold raining down next to her and over her.
Betty bursts into the head’s office again and kicks the door shut. The unmarked target-board can be seen on it. The teacher stands up. There are still plates of food on the table behind. Betty dances around the room. The teachers look on disapprovingly. She dances around them teasingly and then picks up a piece of food from the plate and puts it into the teacher’s mouth. The teacher crosses her eyes and looks confused.
Caption: “Back at the lab”. Mini Betty is on the table surrounded by chemistry equipment. Schoolgirl Betty and Betty in Black rock up and lean on the table on either side of her. White cartoon lightning flashes. Mini Betty dances in front of a hand held open comic against a black background. Schoolgirl Betty floats to her left and Betty in black floats to her right. They dance and outstretch their arms before all merging in the middle as the comic book behind them shuts. It has a picture of Betty in black and red and is called “Doin’ the Do”.