Betty Boop Inspired Walt Disney’s Snow White:
When people think of Walt Disney’s famous Disney princess Snow White they often think of Max Fleischer’s “Queen” of cartoons Betty Boop.
This is because Betty Boop who had took on the role of Snow White way back in 1932, was the indirect model and inspiration behind the creation of Disney’s main protagonist in the film Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
Snow White was already a well established German fairy tale character that had been created by The Brothers Grimm in 1812. However Disney’s version of Snow White had the updated look of a 1930s woman.
Betty is more immoral in comparison to Snow White, and Snow White is more innocent and represents purity. Of course Betty had similar traits of cleaning up houses prior to Snow White’s debut, but former Betty was more impure prior to being censored. Keep in mind that Walt Disney was not a saint, but only those who really knew that man, and what he got up to knew him for what he was and the mean, evil and nasty things he did.
Of course Disney as a company today like to cover all that up, they usually get Snow White to grab her broom, and to sweep it all under the rug if you catch my drift.
Truth be told, the actual Disney family lost control of the company during the 1980s, but have very small shares in stocks. Let’s just say, the people or corporation the new Disney that Walt hated the most, well those people now own his company. It is worth over a billion dollars.
Both characters were animated and drawn by Grim Natwick, both are 14-years-old and both characters are somewhat parallel, however Betty’s age differs as Fleischer could not decide an age but Betty was officially 16. Betty Boop was the indirect inspiration for Snow White.
Much like Disney’s character Snow White, the original Betty Boop in her heyday also wore bow-adorned stiletto heels. Sadly, the animators lacked the motivation to animate the bows on Betty’s heels.
The only cartoons where Betty has bows on her heels is Kitty From Kansas City, Mask-A-Raid and Fleischer and Paramount posters. In Boop! the Betty Boop Musical, Betty has resumed wearing these types of high heels as of 2023.
In contrast to Rachel Zegler’s it would seem that Disney has used a more of a girl-boss trope portrayal of Snow White in the newer contemporary adaptation, Fleischer’s Betty Boop on Broadway remains mostly true to her original meaning as a sex symbol much like Marilyn Monroe or Clara Bow. Notwithstanding the unfounded assertion that Betty was a feminist. Feminists were not sex idols.
The original Betty Boop of the 1930s was not a feminist, and did not advocate for radical feminism, as is now alleged. The stereotype of the girl-boss is that of the strong, independent woman who doesn’t back down in the face of male authority, which today has been over-used in Hollywood.
Snow White retains parts of her original design in Zegler’s rendition. But no longer wears the recognizable bow from the center of her forehead.
The two actresses have offered encouragement to one another. “Miss Rachel Zegler is going to sing,” said Rogers. “Actually, I am your biggest fan,” Zegler retorted. Rogers concluded by saying, “And that’s on women supporting women.”
The cropped black hairstyles and overtly high-pitched, dulcet tones of the two heroines’ voices are only two of their striking visual similarities. Most notably, their shared traits, mannerisms, and representation of exaggerated 1930s idealised women.
Betty Boop was created by Grim Natwick for the Fleischer Studios. Natwick claimed that Betty was his creation, but because he was working for the Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer at the time, the Fleischers held legal ownership of the Betty Boop character. As Natwick was an employee, he had no rights to the ownership of Betty Boop. When Max Fleischer retired Betty Boop he promised to give the rights of the character to Natwick but never did. So after Max Fleischer died, Grim Natwick sued the Fleischer Studios and lost because he had nothing in writing. Though some writers have tried to belittle Natwick’s contribution to the creation of Betty Boop, saying that his part was minimal, and crediting him as “drawing Betty Boop first” but true history bears out the fact that the character was 100% the creation of Grim Natwick.
However it has to be acknowledged that not just Natwick, but Seymour Kneitel, Myron Waldman, Doc Crandall, Ted Sears, Willard Bowsky, and Al Eugster also helped mold the Betty Boop character. Natwick created the initial base for Betty in 1930 and helped the Fleischer animators learn about the female form and how to draw pretty girls, after Grim left the studios, the Fleischer Studios continued to developed the character.
Walt Disney had seen the 1932 Fleischer cartoon Betty Boop in Snow White. This inspired Walt to create Snow White, so he hired Grim Natwick who created Betty Boop as lead animator. Originally Snow White was to look exactly like Betty Boop, but her design was more risqué.
Walt was unhappy and disappointed and felt that this version of Grim Natwick’s design for Snow White was too sexy and he wanted Natwick to tone the character down, as in the original concept, Snow White’s legs were more visible. Walt Disney wasn’t really interested in women like Natwick but he knew that he wanted the opposite of Betty Boop. He wanted his version of Snow White to be a pure maiden. In Betty’s version of Snow White, she is overly sexualized and Walt Disney did not want Snow White to be 100% like the Betty Boop character.
So what did they do? They merged Snow White’s design with “America’s Sweetheart” Mary Pickford.
In one concept art by Grim Natwick, it would seem Snow White has red hair like Betty Boop. On the right is a image of Snow White and in the middle is an early 1931 sketch of Betty Boop by Natwick. On the left is a red headed photo of Betty Boop by the Fleischer Studios. Betty Boop was known to really be a red head, but because she lived in the inkwell, she also had black hair.
In other earlier concept art by Natwick. Snow White wears a pink dress, in another she wears a yellow dress. Before her eyes were completed, she had 1930s “pie-shaped” eyes just like Betty Boop.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs did so well at the box-office that it stopped Walt Disney Studios from becoming a defunct studio. Who would have guessed that taking or stealing inspiration from other people would allow others to prosper?
Also to note Snow White’s peasant dress is very similar to Betty Boop’s dress in Poor Cinderella. They both have the exact same stitches. The only difference is that Snow White wears clogs, and Betty who the Fleischer Studios often sexualized, wears heels. Snow White only wears heels with bows when she changes into her princess apparel.
However it is to be noted that Betty’s voice sounds a little different in comparison to the usual Betty Boop cartoons. Instead torch singer Bonnie Poe provided the voice acting and singing for Betty in Poor Cinderella. This fairy tale version of Betty as Cinderella is a little different in comparison to the standard Betty.
There have been complaints about Ms. Poe’s torch singing. Betty’s singing in a more deeper voice, because it’s supposed to be a fairy tale adaption, and more magical in comparison to the other cartoons. Betty is not in the real world, she’s in a fantasy world in that episode, the 1800s. Betty is from the 1930s.
It should be mentioned that Disney had previously published a colorized version of the “Cinderella” tale, The Cookie Carnival, in 1935, prior to the production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Shirley Reid a Betty Boop impersonator, voiced “The Sugar Cookie Girl” also known as “Miss Bonbon” in it. Grim Natwick also developed and animated the femme figure in that animated animation.
In the segment, the gingerbread girl talks and sings exactly like Betty Boop.
Shirley Reid, who is alternatively known as “Shirley Reed” known for her baby-voice started her career as a Betty Boop impersonator on radio on the program “The Sunshine Hour”. She later became one of the many voices of Cookie a Betty Boop copy-cat character in the “Looney Tunes” animated “Buddy” shorts by Leon Schlesinger Productions.
Reid said in 1939 that If they think she sounded like Betty Boop, maybe she could capitalize on the idea. She used her Betty Boop imitation to audition for roles. She worked as a voice actress for Warner Brothers, Walter Lantz Productions and Walt Disney Productions.
She was also the voice of Minnie Mouse, Petunia Pig, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Sniffles. Later in life, she became a ventriloquist.
For those that do not know. Betty Boop’s initial image was inspired by a popular 1920s singer by the name of Helen Kane. Now Helen Kane was predicted to be the “next” Clara Bow by musician Paul Ash.
However this never came to fruition and Kane’s career was washed-up by 1931. A very short-lived career from 1928 to 1931. However this did not stop Kane from singing on radio and later TV.
Helen Kane was initially known as the “Queen” of “Poo-Poo-Pah-Doop” and sported bows in her hair, she wore frilly dresses, and high heels with bows attached and high heel Mary Jane shoes. She wanted to be a “sex-symbol” but was seen more of the cute type. More of a baby-doll, as her image depended on portraying that of a little girl. She tried to be sexy, but it never caught on to the general public. At her peek of fame during the late 1920s she was once considered a “sexy baby-doll” but it did not last and Kane eventually grew more fatter than ever as she had problems with her weight. The general public however felt that she was cute and sophisticated.
Kane sang is a “classic” baby-talk style of singing, as did her imitator Mae Questel. A lot of people are unaware, that Kane’s early recordings feature classical rifts, as she was actually a classically trained singer. Some of these rifts in her songs, if listened very carefully can at times compare to Disney’s character Snow White. However Kane chose to use a more baby sounding voice, thus not allowing her to excel, whereas Questel pretty much could do more than one voice, and sing in multiple styles, which also included operatic singing.
Kane’s career fizzled because there were too many Helen Kane imitators, also including the women who voiced Betty Boop in the cartoons. Helen would later sue the creators of Betty Boop, but lost when she couldn’t prove to be originator of her look, mannerisms and style of singing.
Helen Kane tried to compete with the Betty Boop character. Betty Boop was known for being a sex-symbol and baby-doll. However because Betty Boop is fictional, she was able to stay eternally young, and appeal to mass audiences.
By the mid-1930s singer Helen Kane grew her hair and started to look more like Snow White and claimed to have quit the “Boop-Boop-a-Doop” business. This proves that Snow White was directly modeled after Betty Boop, as Helen Kane the original model for Betty Boop was also Snow White’s spitting image.
During the 1950s, Kane returned to the “Boop-Boop-Be-Doop” persona. More chubby and plump than ever, and her hairstyle reverted to that of the flapper style, a hairstyle similar to that of Betty Boop.
As Snow White, weirdly Caselotti did poses in reminiscence of Helen Kane and Mae Questel. She can be seen in quite a few photos using this baby-doll style. Helen Kane was the first well known person to do this. Baby-doll type personas, were natural to a number of personalities throughout the decades, however during the 1920s, it was most associated with Helen Kane. There are numerous photos of Caselotti giving off that Betty Boop appeal.
Adriana Caselotti won the role to voice Snow White.
Caselotti was best known as an opera singer. However Walt Disney held back her career by blacklisting her. After signing the contract to voice Snow White, any work she did for MGM or other studios, she was to be uncredited. She was also originally uncredited for the role of Snow White, as Walt was said to not want to associate a voice actress to the character. Walt wanted his character Snow White to be Snow White, rather than a person voicing her. However in his other films people were properly credited for their roles, however Caselotti would have had to have known that this was one of the conditions when she signed her contract.
She was a soprano who was family trained in Italian opera, her family consisted of all classically trained singers. Her mother Maria Orefice from Naples was an opera singer at the Royal Opera Theatre of Rome.
In 1935 a Disney representative called Adriana’s father Guido Caselotti a singing teacher and asked him if he knew of anyone who would be perfect for the role of Snow White.
Adriana asked her father to give her the phone so she could audition. 150 girls auditioned for the role of Snow White, including Deanna Durbin. Adriana who had operatic training was able to read music and completed her audition for Disney. For a year she heard nothing back from Disney. For the final audition she was called back as the 150th applicant. During the audition process Walt Disney sat behind a dark drape because he didn’t want the singers’ physical appearances to influence him. She won the role, and was asked to record the soundtrack which she did without accompaniment, the track was later dubbed with full orchestra.
For the film premiere Adriana brought a black velvet gown for $2 on Hollywood Boulevard, she went to the premiere with Harry Stockwell, who did the voice of Prince Charming. The two had never met until that night. Charlie Chaplin, Judy Garland, Charles Laughton and Marlene Dietrich were among the Hollywood stars attending the premiere. When Caselotti and Stockwell arrived they were asked for their tickets. Adriana said, “I’m Snow White and this is Prince Charming and we don’t need tickets” but the little usherette said, “Oh yes you do.” They’d forgotten to give them tickets. So Adriana who’d never even seen the rushes, watched the completed animation while standing on the balcony. Angry at the ticket oversight Harry Stockwell left after 20 minutes.
In 1938, a year after the film’s debut Adriana and Harry Stockwell filed separate suits against Disney Productions Ltd., and the R.C.A manufacturing company, and charged that the defendants had violated their contracts by making records for the film’s soundtrack without their consent. Stockwell stated that he had only been paid $500, and asked for $100,000. Whereas Adriana claimed she only made near to $1,000, and sued Disney for $200,000. Disney representatives claimed their contracts covered all rights. In 1967 Adriana recorded some “Snow White” dialogue for the Telephone Association of Canada Exhibit for Montreal’s Expo ’67, which allowed children to dial a conversation with their favorite Disney character.
In 1993 Caselotti was to reprise her role as Snow White and recorded her lines for the Awards Show. But Jeffrey Katzenberg made a controversial decision to change Snow White’s design and use Mary Kay Bergman a voice double that grew up around the corner from Caselotti. While Caselotti was alive, Bergman would never admit to voicing Snow White in respect of Caselotti. In the same year of 1993, Mary Kay Bergman won the role of Betty Boop against Bernadette Peters in The Betty Boop Movie by The Zanuck Company and MGM, however the film was later scrapped due to studio head changes and licensing rights disagreements with the Fleischer representatives. According to information, the film would have been released in 1994.
In that scrapped film, Betty Boop was going to expand her singing style, and there would be more classical songs for the Betty Boop character to sing, such as “Where Are You” in comparison to the usual baby-talk songs.
When the Fleischers made Betty more taller in 1938, and re-designed her, they only did it because they had seen how successful Snow White was. Betty of course had lost the split in the middle of her head, her middle hairline, so she already had a more modern stylized hairstyle. However Betty kept the old flapper look, and by the late 1930s, Betty was sadly considered passé, not to mention that her cartoons were not doing too well at the box-office.
Even a re-design couldn’t save Betty and she was eventually retired. It wasn’t her design, it was actually the cartoons, they were terrible compared to the earlier “Boop” cartoons. Nobody in the “right mind” wants to watch cartoons about Pudgy the Pup, he’s the most cute but boring character in the series.
In 1983 Caselotti did an interview about her audition and how she created the voice for Snow White. She told the interviewer that she “imitated” the voice of Betty Boop to create Snow White’s speaking voice. Technically not only was Betty Boop the model and inspiration for Snow White’s early concept, but Betty Boop’s voice was also the inspiration for Snow White’s speaking voice.
Betty Boop had a a more baby-talk sounding voice, which is considered to be sweet. Adriana was possibly imitating Mae Questel’s more “loopy” cute sounding voice. Like Snow White, the voices for Betty Boop were also originally uncredited and did not receive credit in the cartoon titles. Only the producer, director and animators were credited in the Betty Boop animated shorts. However the differences with the singing styles is that Betty Boop sings in baby-talk with a more New York accent, depending on the voice actress the New Yorker or Brooklyn voice is sometimes less apparent. Some of the Betty Boop voices are more nasally than others or more higher in pitch.
Mae Questel was known as the most famous voice of Betty Boop because she was able to control her pitch. Though not the original voice for the character. Actually according to a 1930s interview by Mae Questel, her most favorite character in cartoons apart from Betty Boop was Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse is the mascot for Walt Disney Studios. Mae admitted that she loved to watch Mickey Mouse cartoons on the screen. This is another indirect link to the Fleischer Studios and Disney Studios.
Another funny comparison to Adriana Caselotti, Snow White and Betty Boop is that “Margie Hines, the original voice of Betty Boop” was also an unknown opera singer. Hines can be heard using the operatic style of singing in the Fleischer Studios cartoon Grand Uproar and the Van Beuren Studios cartoons that include Hokum Hotel, Piano Tooners, Magic Mummy, Venice Vamp, Barnyard Amateurs and Opening Night. However in history Marjorie Hines is only better known as the voices of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl.
Betty Boop appears in front of Snow White in one scene in the 1988 animated Disney Studios film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. However the two characters do not interact with one another.
Truth be told, Snow White is prettier than Betty Boop. The thing with Betty is her head is just too big, so it makes her look somewhat deformed?
(Fleischer Studios “Snow White” clone.)
Fun fact, the Fleischer Studios 1939 feature film Gulliver’s Travels was a copy-cat film inspired by the Walt Disney film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Princess Glory and Prince David are characters obviously based on Snow White and Prince Charming. Grim Natwick designed and helped to animate Princess Glory.
Princess Glory has not one but three voices. Her speaking voice was provided by Lovey Warren, a Miami night-club singer, who also provided the physical proportions from which the screen figure was drawn, she served as model.
Apparently Glory’s minor speaking dialogue was cut from the film, however they kept David’s. Jessica Dragonette provided Princess Glory’s singing voice and Margie Hines who doubled for Olive Oyl in the Popeye cartoons, provided Glory’s sobs or sighs.
When Japanese animator and artist Osamu Tezuka the God of Manga and Father of Manga by creating over 150,000 manga, he was inspired by many Disney and Fleischer cartoons. So he was a fan of American animation. To create Princess Sapphire in his series Princess Knight, he used both Betty Boop and Snow White as the models for her character design. Sapphire had brown eyes like Snow White.
However in later spin-off material by Disney, sometimes their character Snow White has blue eyes like Betty Boop.
Here’s a fun fact:
Look-a-likes for “Betty Boop” can also double for Snow White.
The moral of this story is that Disney took an idea or concept from the Fleischers, and the Fleischers did the same in return.
Boop-Boop-Be-Doop ♥ 