Beverly Baker

  Beverly Baker first appears in 1945's Joey Drew Studio's production entitled "Bendy in 'Bitter Batter'!". The short was commissioned by Beverly Hills Kitchen LTD. The short features Bendy learning how to cook properly after making himself sick, and is framed almost like a PSA. This was, of course, just a clever way for the sponser to show off their products. It is worth noting that Joey Drew Studio's was near bankruptcy at this time. 

 [EPISODE SYNOPSIS]

 The episode starts with Bendy in his kitchen, staring down a cookbook. He's wearing a chef's outfit and a thoughtful expression. The kitchen is filthy. There are dishes piled in the sink, trash overflowing the can, and flies buzzing around. Bendy has trouble making sense of the 'Ye Olde Cookebooke'.

  He starts the process but gets everything wrong. He 'creams the butter' with expired cream, etc. A clock's hands move rapidly while Bendy waits for the cake to bake.

 He pulls out the finished cake, burnt on the outside and under-cooked in the middle. He takes a bite and falls over, ill at once. Bendy groans and retches off screen as poison signs and drunken bubbles pop circle the cake.

  Bendy finally spits up all the cake and looks up at the camera, miserable. A delicate laugh comes from screen right. "What do you expect when you do it that way, Bendy?" the woman's voice asks. Bendy leaps to his feet, frantically looking around the empty room.

  "Who said that?!"

  "I did," replies Beverly, appearing behind Bendy in-between shots on screen left.

  He shouts and turns to face her. She ignores him and picks up the cake from the table, covering her nose as she brings it over to the trashcan. She looks shocked and appalled to find it overflowing. She goes a bit green around the gills.

  "How can you stand to cook in such a filthy kitchen, Bendy?!" she says with a huff. She opens one of the pockets of her apron and dumps the cake in. A stream of fire shoots out with a roar, incinerating it. Bendy blinks owlishly at her, turning into a literal owl for a second.

  "Waddaya mean, Bev? My kitchen's fine."

  Beverly shakes her head like a scolding mother. She turns to the camera, grins, and winks. 

  "Let me clean this up for you." 

  She spreads her arms wide, causing a flash of light that leaves the kitchen sparkling clean. Bendy looks amazed. He rubs his eyes with his balled fists and take a second look before he believes it. 

  "Wow, dollface! How did you do that?"

  She blushes. "Oh, it's simple. A woman's touch and the power of modern technology."

  "Modern technology?"

  "Here, let me show you!" Bev snaps her fingers and replaces the sink, oven, and fridge. A shiny new dishwasher appears under the kitchen counter. Beverly launches into a several minute lecture where she sings the virtues of each product. There as several instances of the words 'glamour' and 'convenience'. Bendy nods along and doesn't make a single joke or engage in slapstick for the entire duration.

 "The future is amazing! And so affordable too! With each purchase, you also get a free cookbook. Let's see if we can't make a better cake, huh?"

  Beverly teaches Bendy the proper way to make a cake. The episode turns into a temporary Home Economics 101 while she does so, complete with slides. She lets him lick the spoon and puts the cake in the oven to cook, commentating on the convenience of a built-in timer. 

  The episode ends with Beverly handing Bendy a plate and smiling. "With a Beverly Hills kitchen, everything's a piece of cake!"

 ANIMATA UNIVERSE

  Beverly became real three months after 'Bitter Batter' aired. She is reported to have appeared within the main reception of Joey Drew Studios some time around noon, welcoming guests "like a good hostess should". Unlike many toons, she suffered no period of confusion or dismay at her sudden sentience. If anyone was confused and dismayed, it was her creators and fellow toons. Although they'd be loathe to admit it, the cartoonist didn't really like Bev and had only created her to get the advertising deal. Her sentience is rumored to be due to a small but vocal fanbase composed of fans of 'traditional values' who liked Bev's portrayal of a housewife. This had caused her to be an anomaly, even among other toons.

  Bev never goes off model, never does slapstick, never tells jokes. She has the same reality-bending powers of other toons, but seems only to use them to summon random appliances to talk about how great they are. She never stops smiling. When an interviewer asked about her, Boris the Wolf and Alice Angel noted they tried to avoid her whenever possible.

  After a few years of Beverly not being used in other shorts, there was a custody battle between Joey Drew Studios and Beverly Hills Kitchen LTD. BHK wanted her to become their spokesperson, arguing that they'd commissioned her existence in the first place. Joey Drew fought to keep her in the studio in turn, as he owned the copyrights and "feared what they'd do to her if she went with them". The case was settled when, in an unprecedented decision, the judge asked Beverly where she wanted to go. Beverly stated she'd prefer to go live with Beverly Hills LTD.

  The case had been highly televised by this point and the room was full of reporters. The room nearly exploded at her admittance. Bendy Inkman, the most popular Joey Drew cartoon, was famously caught on tape grabbing her by the shoulders and crying. Although it was hard to hear on the tapes, witnesses have quoted their exchange to go like this;

  "Bev, you don't have to say that! You don't have to go with them! We ain't gonna let them hurt you, okay? You don't have to go with them."

  "Why wouldn't I want to go with them, Bendy? They sell such fabulous products!"

  Custody was awarded to BHK after a psychologist with experience with toons claimed Beverly had not made her testimony under duress. Since that day, animation studios have refused to make animated commercials with only the very desperate or very greedy choosing otherwise. Despite several corporations making animated mascots themselves, no other 'Beverlys' have occurred. No legislation trying to stop corporations from making animated mascots has passed. Beverly herself has been elevated to a sort of existential nightmare for toons.

  "She just... She's like us, but she's empty, ya know?" stated a toon who wishes to remain anonymous, "She has freewill but she doesn't. It's like someone's still sketching out her movements. We tried to break her out, ya know, tried to get through to her. She refused to come with us. She's what all the companies wish we all were. She's a cartoon's Bad End. She's a horror story."

  Most toons have given up helping her for their own mental health. Beverly has stopped making appearances at toon events, presumably due to lack of invitation. When Beverly Hills Kitchen LTD closed down, she was employed by another company as their spokesperson. Rumors she was auctioned off have never been confirmed.

  "She... seems happy, right? I hope she's happy."-Betty Boop, during an interview. She refused to answer any further questions.