This article here is about other characters that have used Betty Boop’s success as a baby-doll or sex-symbol.
Carbon Copies:
I will start with Sally Swing. Sally was a new successor created to replace Betty Boop in the cartoons. In the original concept Sally has red or black hair and she’s not as pretty.
She’s 16-years-old like Betty Boop.
The Fleischers, they held a “Sally Swing Contest” to find a persona to take on the role of Sally. A teenage Rose Marie Mazzetta won the contest. Originally Sally looked more like Rose Marie.
Those that are unaware as a child Rose Marie was a “Boop-Boop-a-Doop” singer and she was often compared to Sophie Tucker and Helen Kane. Marie was the voice, singing and personality for Sally Swing.
She had previously worked with the Fleischer Studios on “Sing Babies Sing” a 1933 animated cartoon. When the “Sally Swing” job was being auditioned NBC got her the role.
Unlike Betty Boop, Sally is a bobby-soxer.
Typical attire for a bobby-soxer consisted of penny loafers or saddle shoes, Shetland sweaters, poodle skirts or blue denim, and bobby socks, which gave rise to their nickname. Poodle skirts with ankle socks have been called a representation of the idea of American teenage culture.
The Fleischers as usual they used someone as a model without permission. That model was the famous Betty Grable. Sally’s refined look comes from Grable, including the blonde hair. Comedienne Martha Raye was used for Sally’s mannerisms, the Fleischer Studios even asked Raye permission and she accepted.
Using Betty Grable’s look was not a crime, and it would have not affected her career. Unlike Helen Kane, Sally Swing is more of a teenage crooner and did not rely on plagiarizing Grable’s persona.
Grable starred in RKO’s “Old Man Rhythm” in 1935, people have tried to hide this information reasons unbeknownst. But her rival in the film is Bonnie Poe, the Betty Boop girl’s little sister Evelyn Poe. The sisters were really known as Clara Rothbart and Evelyn Rothbart.
The sisters’ film careers were not as successful as Betty Grable’s. Clara “Bonnie Poe” Rothbart? She portrayed the Betty Boop persona, but when Mae Questel returned, she was pretty much forgotten in history.
When people looked back into the Betty Boop story, they knew nothing of Poe. It was actually quite hard for the “Boop-Boop-Be-Doop” blog to bring the Poe sisters’ stories to life. It took years to piece their stories together. There was no information about them, until archives started becoming mainstream.
Betty Grable in comparison to Sally Swing was just was a sex-symbol. Later Grable co-starred with the famous Marilyn Monroe in a film called “How To Marry A Millionaire” in 1953.
Unlike previous stars like Helen Kane or ZaSu Pitts where the Fleischers just openly stole their personas for Betty Boop and Olive Oyl. Unlike Kane, Pitts ignored the Fleischer Studios as she hated to be aped. She did not respond to any caricature of her in any cartoon. ZaSu Pitts was often caricatured, as much as the great Mae West. You can also see Pitts in a few Disney shorts and cartoons produced by other studios.
ZaSu’s name was pronounced “Say-Zoo”.
You’ll know if it is ZaSu Pitts because she says, “Oh, dear.” As that was ZaSu’s quote, which the character Olive Oyl also stole.
Just like Paramount Pictures admitted that Clara Bow was like Betty Boop, they also admitted that Betty Grable was the model for Sally Swing. The Fleischer Studios never admit to any of these things. Including the family linage of the Fleischers, they do not like admitting to anything.
It’s awful that there’s usually a little white lie tucked in-between. However, it goes without saying that they will never acknowledge the truth. That is on the Fleischer Studios. But other people can see the comparisons.
And if anyone does want to look into the stories, look up Paramount articles or Paramount magazines, and they tell you the honest truth about these Fleischer creations.
12 “Betty Boop” cartoons were made and according to Rose Marie 6 out of “12” Sally Swing cartoons were made. Paramount and the Fleischer Studios announced Betty Boop’s death. So Betty Boop literally died. So in the debut “Sally Swing” Betty introduces Sally to the audience.
Lou Diamond, a Paramount Pictures executive who worked for Max Fleischer shouted, “Betty Boop is dead, Sally Swing is the new successor.” Diamond doesn’t get much credit today. But he did a lot of promotion for the “Popeye” and “Betty Boop” series. The Fleischer family somewhat have diminished his presence. He worked harder promoting Fleischer content than Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer.
That being said, promoters who do most of the free promotion, they never are given any credit. Unlike the Fleischer Studios, I will give him his dues. When people don’t credit others, or give credit where credit is due. You know something is not right. You don’t need to give credit. But Louis Diamond, he worked really hard at Paramount.
Sally was supposed to be the next Betty Boop but she flopped at the box-office. Sally got a little good review here or there. But unlike Betty Boop, she was not successful. The Fleischers and Paramount they dropped the character. Six cartoons were made, but never released, and today are lost media.
Sally was revived in 2016 by Dynamite Entertainment. Writer Roger Langridge worked so hard to bring her back to life. However this version of Sally, she’s not like the original. Like Betty Boop in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” she is essentially relegated to working as a waitress and unlike her original debut is unable to sing.
Dynamite did not have to bring Sally back. But in doing so, they pretty much exposed that Sally Swing’s character design, not including the costume, is pretty much swiped from Betty Grable.
Grim Natwick, he created Betty Boop in 1930. In an official 1931 artwork by Grim Natwick, it is proven the dog woman version of Betty Boop is actually a redhead and she has blue eyes.
She later officially debuted in “Poor Cinderella” in 1934 as a redhead. There were many toys, dolls and merchandise from the 1930s, that feature Betty Boop with red hair. It is quite fascinating but truth be told, Betty Boop looks better with jet-black hair. Betty’s black hair, it complements her look.
It is only natural that Clara Bow would somewhat serve as inspiration for Betty Boop. She was the Marilyn Monroe of the 1920s, and she was the #1 star.
The only downside was that Bow had schizophrenia.
Of course the Fleischers used a little of Helen Kane’s “Boop-Boop-a-Doop” persona and fame.
Kane was not the sole “Booper” at the time. There were many of them, not just one. It was a fad at the time. Natwick said he created Betty Boop using a little of Helen Kane and teenage flapper girls as the inspiration to create Betty Boop. Kane promoted this baby-talk and baby-doll image.
Unlike other people who blatantly lie, I like to give the real information when mentioning Kane. A lot of people have fabricated the story. Yes, she somewhat served as base. But she’s not the real or true Betty Boop. Betty Boop is a fictional character, based on many women, not just Kane.
Turns out Paul Ash who had discovered Helen Kane, had discovered Peggy Bernier many years earlier. And Bernier had originated that “baby” persona before Kane was known. For those unaware, Bernier, she starred with “Baby Esther Jones” in a 1926 Paul Ash revue in Chicago.
Thus, Peggy Bernier’s baby voice and African-American jazz vocalists serve as the inspiration for Kane’s scatting. And Irene Franklin a redheaded actress originated that baby-doll and baby-voice persona way back in the 1900s.
Naturally, Kane never acknowledged that she copied anyone.
In the same way that the Fleischers of today and their lineage declined to admit that anyone served as Betty’s inspiration. Even so, Paramount has countered that Clara Bow played a significant role in Betty’s promotion.
The Fleischer Studios today they also are unaware that Betty Boop originally had red hair. But Little Ann Little, the voice of Betty Boop actually admitted and confirmed in an interview that Betty’s real hair color was red.
Little explained how Betty Boop had red hair just like she did.
Little had red hair and blue eyes, just like Betty Boop. So that is enough proof needed, also Grim Natwick’s original and later concepts, especially his concept art from 1931.
You know? Dog Betty Boop with red hair and blue eyes?
The truth is, I found out many years ago that Betty Boop was originally a redhead. But I decided to hide it. I ensured that nobody was aware. Because I didn’t want Clara Bow to be the model or inspiration. Way back then, I only wanted Helen Kane to be the model. So recently I put the true origin there.
People lie and claim “Poor Cinderella” no Betty had red hair before that. These individuals, they are not fans of the series, and they are using the “Fleischer Studios” website as source. Again, the Fleischers do not want “Clara Bow” to get any credit for Betty’s image.
Clara Bow was the Marilyn Monroe of the 1920s, Monroe even paid homage to her.
Betty also has black hair, and that can be officially seen in earlier artworks by the Fleischer Studios, and officially in a 1937-1938 Paramount promo. People will argue and say, “Betty was a redhead.” And an idiot will respond by saying, “No she was not a redhead.” But she actually was, it is just very complicated.
Betty Boop has two hair colors.
She’s best known for her black hair, and red in my opinion does not suit her. Here is one of my terrible re-colors. Last time, I made her hair too light. So this time I went for a more reddish-orange. And her original eye color is more blue, not a light green. King Features also snipped her nose too, so Betty had a nose job.
Reddish-orange is supposed to be Betty Boop’s natural hair color. It is a darker orange. But personally I don’t think it matters.
I originally colored her hair for my “Betty Will Inspire You” video.
It was a fandom video of how Betty Boop inspired me to create stuff. Yes, embarrassing and cheesy. But that’s when they had the text-to-speech voices. And I was just like, Snow White! Harley Quinn! So I just used Mary Kay Bergman’s voice to narrate. It was hilarious. ‘Cause I knew she was up for the role of Betty Boop in 1993, and I just wanted to use her “Snow White” voice.
Yes, I did want Mae Questel! But there were no text-to-speech versions of Questel that were good enough. There was an Olive Oyl, but it sounded horrid.
For the narration part it was hilariously, terribly, funny.
I don’t care what skin color or hair color, she’s still Betty Boop!
Boop-Boop-Be-Doop! Bop!
So why does Betty have black hair?
She’s made of pen and ink. She’s just black and white, she was never colorized. Even after “Poor Cinderella” the Fleischers reverted Betty back to being colorless.
Betty’s appearance in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” is very special because is is a reference to Betty being outdated and that she’s stuck in her 1932 debut phase. Whoever created that scenario is a genius. Also Mae Questel, the original, best-liked voice of Betty, returning to the role as Betty Boop.
Color? Well as usual Walt Disney a very horrible man well he ensured that he owned the rights to the color palettes for animated cartoons way back when. So the Fleischer Studios had no choice but to use red. Originally people thought that Betty was a platinum blonde. But she really had darker red hair.
UCLA restored as deposited the film and it turned out that Betty’s real hair color was reddish-orange. You know like Clara Bow! It was a darker orange.
So many women served as inspiration behind the Betty Boop character. Just like Disney did with their Disney Princess franchise. So many women serve as inspiration behind the Disney Princesses.
Disney never admit to some of the inspirations too. When creating a character you have every right to use anything you want to as base for your character. As long as you are not profiting from someone’s success. You know stealing someone’s persona?
So when you see Irene Franklin and Clara Bow, and you link them to Betty Boop. You think wow… Everything was about being a redheaded bonfire or a blonde beauty.
Who’d have guessed that redheads would have been so popular? That being said times do change, as do people and how they think. What once was considered beautiful no longer is. Everyone seems to hate gingers today. Personally, it is probably just redheaded men. Being a redhead works more in the favor of being a woman.
Can you imagine a man trying to be a sex-symbol? Ginger hair? Freckles? Pale skin?
Ooo, the horror.
For 2023, Betty has returned alternatively as a redhead. People who don’t know that Betty had red hair, they are probably unaware or don’t know much about Betty’s origin.
The Fleischer Studios today, they’ve completely covered this up.
Reason? They do not want people to associate Clara Bow with Betty Boop. But if you do some research in Paramount Pictures books, you’ll see a lot of the comparisons.
Before the 1980s, even Grim Natwick knew Betty had red hair. This 1977 artwork just tells you like it is. That being said, he did paint Betty as a redheaded dog woman way back in 1931 for the Fleischer Studios and Paramount. You can actually find that 1931 artwork in an official Paramount magazine.
Next up is another carbon copy, and her name is Fifi. Fifi is pretty much a Betty Boop clone. She was created by Grim Natwick, the true originator of the Betty Boop character.
Fifi is apparently a platinum blonde or has red hair. I am not 100% sure, because the photo of her colorized, it is very bland. I am going to assume blonde. She’s Flip the Frog’s girlfriend from his cartoon series, she’s not a very nice character. Much like Sally Swing, unsuccessful.
Max Fleischer threatened anyone who copied Betty Boop. Including Natwick who created the original character. They were forced to change the character’s design. However in newer HD remakes, the character has been restored. Because today parody is protected. Fifi, only looks similar to Betty.
She’s not actually copying Betty’s persona. Fifi is a very nasty character, she’s mean and horrid. And that’s why I like her so much. She has more personality than Betty Boop. Betty couldn’t hurt a fly. My bad, didn’t she try to murder a fly in “Swat That Fly” in 1935?
Cookie a Looney Tunes character? She is also based on Betty Boop’s success.
In Cookie’s debut she looks somewhat similar to Betty? But she has her own unique style. However she more or less plagiarizes Betty’s baby-doll and baby-talk persona.
That being said, Betty Boop the character like Helen Kane, did not own that persona. Anyone can make a character like Betty Boop and profit from it. If it is successful. These types of characters, they do not work anymore in mainstream, because of all the backlash. They want girl-boss characters now. If you don’t like the characters, just don’t support the franchise, and it will eventually die out.
Take “Berry Boop” of this “Boop-Boop-Be-Doop” blog for example. I tried myself to use cuteness or cute stuff to promote my own creations. But they never caught on. Am I sour? Nope.
You have to have a really good story, character design and concept to grab an audience. If you ain’t got that. You certainly am not going to sell it. In other words, people are not going to like it. You may grab the attention of the wrong people. Crazy people who have warped feelings or hateful people who are dumber than bricks.
I may have failed there, but I am successful elsewhere.
Cookie was voice by a “Betty Boop Impersonator” known as Shirley Reid. People probably know her by the name Shirley Reed? Her real second name was spelled Reid.
Shirley Reid, she reprised her role as Miss Bonbon. Bonbon is also known as the Gingerbread Girl and also the Sugar Cookie Girl. Disney too, were trying to copy Betty Boop. So it is a “Cinderella” story, Bonbon she goes from a redhead to a blonde. Grim Natwick animated and created that character too.
Yes! Grim Natwick is the originator of these characters look. No matter what Disney or the Fleischer Studios tell you. They just don’t want to give him his credit. He worked for them, so he was the concept artist too. Only he was never credited, and did not own the characters.
They only credit him in history for animating them.
Especially the Fleischer Studios, they do not like him being credited. But he did create Betty Boop’s base in 1930. And he still was animating several of the earlier Betty Boop cartoons, even in 1931 when her early design had been completed. All the Fleischer Studios did was change her dog ears to hoop earrings.
Like Shamus Culhane said, this was Grim Natwick’s Betty. The Fleischers have all these excuses that Natwick was not there. But he was. He was there when Betty had her finalized design. What are the Fleischer Studios trying to cover up? Look at this sketch by Natwick, she has a single garter-belt. He was there animating at the studio when all the animators developed Betty’s earlier concept.
Also Snow White also was based on Betty’s success. Betty Boop in “Snow White” in the Fleischer cartoon, inspired Walt Disney to create his own adaption. There’s a lot of comparisons and proof that Walt Disney’s version of Snow White is a more refined and pure version of Betty Boop.
If the Fleischer Studios can steal stars’ personas, I see no problem in other people doing the same to the Fleischer Studios. It is a little pay-back. It happens to everyone. As of 2024, everyone is copying Betty Boop to develop new characters. And there’s nothing the Fleischer Studios can do about it.
There’s this creator by the name of Genndy Tartakovsky. All he’s been doing is stealing Betty Boop’s image, and reworking it into his own characters. His first character was like a mixture of Black Widow and Betty Boop.
And she ended up looking like Josephine Baker. For his new character, he blatantly stole Betty Boop’s head, and there’s nothing the Fleischer Studios can do about it.
I urge people to make more characters based on Betty Boop’s success.
Cookie? She’s a redhead like Betty Boop.
Fleischer Studios threatened Warner, so Cookie’s design was slightly changed.
Being as Betty as two hair colors, with black being mainstream. You can’t really sue someone and expect to win, just because they have a similar character. You have to prove that in court. Also Warner were just as powerful as the Fleischer company. The Fleischer Studios would have probably met their match.
Buddy and Cookie, they are based on stereotypical Black characters Bosko and Honey. Cookie and Honey, they also steal traits from Disney’s character Minnie Mouse.
Warner, they gave tribute to Honey during the early 1990s. She can be seen imitating Betty Boop in cartoons, however it was actually Cookie who was the Betty Boop copy-cat.
Cookie is based on Honey, a stereotypical Black girl. As Buddy is Bosko is whiteface, Cookie is Honey in whiteface. You wouldn’t believe how many Black entertainers and Black originators serve as base for fictional characters. Honey and Bosko, they were scat-singers too.
But due to racism the downside is in their cartoons they were made to look like apes or monkeys. That’s what a majority of white people think of Black people. Even if they don’t say it out loud, they secretly feel that way. And that is why Black and other people will never be equal. There will always be a battle. People never forget history, and they go on to repeat history. Poor Honey…
Betty Boop later died out, but during the 1940s a new character called Red appeared in a Tex Avery cartoon called “Red Hot Riding Hood” and it was released in 1943. Betty Boop obviously was the inspiration but as were modernized female stars, because by then Betty Boop was outdated.
The Betty Boop series had ended in 1939, a few years later Red appeared in the M-G-M cartoons. Red was everything Betty Boop was and more. People FORGOT that Betty Boop even existed. Unlike the “Sally Swing” character, Red was a success. That is because sex-symbols used to sell. Of course not in this woke day and age. All the female characters are no longer show girls, they are now manly women who want to be men.
Red’s design was inspired by Lana Turner and Rita Hayworth.
Blonde bombshell Betty Grable was also used to finalize Red’s appearance. The Fleischers tried to use Grable for “Sally Swing” in the late 1930s, but it didn’t work. But when Grable’s 1940s look was used for Red it worked, because well sex sells. Red’s cartoons were a box-office hit and box-office draw, whereas Sally Swing flopped. Instead of being a blonde like Grable, Red is a redhead.
There is some proof to this. In “Swing Shift Cinderella” the character Red in one concept wore a black outfit and she had blonde hair and wore red high heels and a red feather in her hair.
In her finalized look, Red is a redhead. And instead of wearing the color red like the character Little Red Riding Hood, she wears white and has a tiny white bow in her hair. This is a more refined look in comparison to the black costume in the concept art.
Her speaking voice was provided by Sara Berner. Red spoke in a baby Brooklyn voice in her alternative child form like Betty Boop. Apparently the series doesn’t make sense and there are several versions of Little Red Riding Hood.
For example in “Swing Shift Cinderella” there is another Red, but this time she is not Red Hot Riding Hood in child form.
But as her adult form she spoke like Katharine Hepburn. Sometimes Mae West, a Southerner, and possibly Bette Davis. There’s also a Daws Butler version of Red where she’s a man? Crossdressing? An ugly version of Red. It is so hilarious. But it is apparently her country cousin. Red never had a proper speaking voice, the character was always imitating someone else.
Who used to impersonate celebrities voices? Betty Boop did. So for Red, Tex Avery basically just took some traits from Betty Boop. But instead of temporary impersonation, Red’s appearances differ depending on what cartoon she’s in. So she’ll do the vocal impersonation of a celebrity throughout the cartoon unlike Betty Boop.
Take Betty for example? She’s like a sort of Helen Kane-like character? Like Olive Oyl doing the ZaSu Pitts, Betty continued to emulate Kane’s fame in her earlier cartoons.
So Betty Boop would do a Fanny Brice imitation? But it was a one-shot imitation. As the series transpired the Fleischers got rid of Betty’s impersonation trait, which was based on Mae Questel a known celebrity impersonator.
So if Red speaks or acts like Mae West? She does it throughout the cartoon until it ends. Sara Berner who was Red’s speaking voice was a very talented character impersonator. She started off with a great career but this sadly ended badly.
Berner claimed to be the voice of Betty Boop in a 1950s interview, but what she probably meant to say was, that she impersonated Betty Boop’s voice.
Female voice artists were not treated the same as males. For example Mel Blanc who wasn’t really that great of an artist, well he got credit for his roles. But Sara Berner and other women? From other studios? They rarely got credit for their voice-over work. Sexism, you know sexist times.
Berner’s divorce with her demonic husband Milton Rosner a talent agent led to him making a false report of “child endangerment” which led to her arrest. She pleaded innocent in court. But it turns out that she had began to suffer from mental illness, so they committed her to a hospital. She was verbally abusive to police officers, and claimed her husband had tried to kill her. Clear signs of mental deterioration.
She later was arrested twice.
When Berner died in 1972, she was given no tributes and was forgotten in history. All her roles were attributed to June Foray. But when Foray was asked about the character Red, Foray confirmed that she did not voice Red. She did not take credit for the role. She just said that she is featured in some Tex Avery cartoons, but did not confirm that she was the voice of Red. The voice of Red belonged to Sara Berner.
I thought I would add more context on Sara Berner, because of her sad story. Also the fact that she was later washed up and became a has-been.
Sara Berner had voiced like several earlier versions of Little Red Riding Hood. Tex Avery was obsessed with Katharine Hepburn. So many of his characters imitate the actress.
Red emulates so many women.
Not only is Red a spoof of Little Red Riding Hood…
Red’s portrayed Cinderella, she’s portrayed Little Eva from “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, Lou, a cowgirl and more.
Red’s singing voice was based on a Black woman by the name of Lena Horne. Horne was notable for “passing for white” back in those days. People didn’t know Horne was Black.
Keep in mind that Red was a popular M-G-M character, and Horne had a contract with M-G-M.
Lena Horne did not voice Red in the cartoons. I say this because some people are quite dumb today, and they take information and misinterpret it. She was just the inspiration. And I read this in a Tex Avery article. I was quite shocked to learn that a Black woman’s voice again indirectly served as base for an iconic character.
Early in Horne’s tenure at M-G-M, the actress claimed that the company tried to force her to change her identity to a Latina by casting her in the movie “Panama Hattie”.
Red was last licensed by Warner Bros. Entertainment. They’ve tried to hide this information for reasons unbeknownst. So that only makes us wanna tell people more.
The copyright for Red is owned by M-G-M and Turner Entertainment.
Red’s singing voice was provided by Connie Russell. Red had two voices, a speaking voice and a singing voice. Russell, she pretty much looked like Red, and was also a redhead.
Dead ringer for Red. But multiple women were the inspiration not just one. It’s like saying that Mae Questel was Betty Boop, she was but many other people served as indirect inspiration. For example Clara Bow the “It” Girl who like Red Hot Riding Hood, is a redhead.
Red’s singing voice was also provided by Imogene Lynn, who sounded akin to Russell.
40 years later, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” was in the works. Jessica Rabbit was partially based on Red, with a mixture of Veronica Lake and other femme fatales.
In early concepts, Jessica looked more like Red. She was a starlet, who only married Roger Rabbit to further her career. After she got where she needed to get in Hollywood, she cast Roger aside.
Very unlikeable character this early version of Jessica Rabbit. She was evil and possibly was trying to murder her husband Roger Rabbit. They completed the 1983 pilot but the film was unmade. Jessica was voiced by Russi Taylor, the voice of Minnie Mouse in the test.
They reworked the film and it was a success. Kathleen Turner was Jessica’s speaking voice and Amy Irving was her singing voice.
Kathleen Turner saw the original concepts for Rabbit, and thought that she was just pretty. Turner urged the animators and producers to make her more sexy and told them to make her more curvy and focus on her bust area.
That is why Jessica Rabbit ended up well endowed.
Jessica is bad, but she claims she is just drawn that way. She became a very popular character throughout the decades, and was well liked.
They wanted to get the wolf who Red calls Wolfie from the Tex Avery cartoons and put him in the “Why Don’t You Do Right” sequence.
When Jessica appeared on stage, the wolf, he was supposed to have whistled.
But they were unable to obtain the copyright from M-G-M. That would have also proved that Jessica Rabbit was partially based on Red Hot Riding Hood. Not just Veronica Lake.
They couldn’t make the film they wanted. They were unable to get the copyright for many animated characters. They ended up removing a lot of them. Bosko and Flip the Frog didn’t make the cut. They wanted Popeye, Olive Oyl and Bluto and more. It took a lot to actually get the rights to Betty Boop.
Betty seems to have more interaction in the concepts for the film. Bimbo the Dog and Fitz are present too. They did not make the cut. They were scrapped. KO-KO the Clown however appears in the film.
There was an ongoing battle of “who owned the rights” to Betty Boop. But they were able to secure a deal to include Betty Boop in Jessica Rabbit’s faux-Cotton Club scene.
Betty Boop was written into the scene before the writers knew whether or not they could get permission to use her. The film was produced at Disney, the writers had access to a library of characters. Thanks to an arrangement with Warner Bros., which was arranged by Steven Spielberg, the Looney Tunes catalogue was open to them as well.
But the rights to Betty Boop had passed through multiple hands over the years, requiring a separate deal. “We wrote that scene for Betty, and if she were lost to us, we would have slotted somebody else in or just written a new scene,” Seaman said, explaining how they handled cases where certain classic cartoon characters were taken off the table.
In the early 2020s, Disney covered Jessica Rabbit up. Her bust are covered now by a trench coat. I always felt that her design was over-exaggerated. She’s like a drag queen or something? You know a man in drag? Which seems to be the male fantasy. Real women don’t have those body proportions.
Red and Betty Boop in comparison to Jessica are more tame.
In 1990, Red was revived as a character called Miss Vavoom in the “Tom & Jerry Kids” series which was co-produced by Hanna-Barbera and Turner Entertainment. This character is obviously Red, but a newer incarnation. It is like they used anything they could think of to sexualize her. This was released not too long after “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” so you can clearly see Mister… I mean Miss Jessica Rabbit’s influence on the character.
This version of Red was voiced by Teresa Ganzel.
This version of Red always changes her costumes and names. Her name is also Lolly, Vanna, Bubbles, Princess, Diva.
She looks like Jessica Rabbit in some cartoons whereas in others, she looks like someone else. She also does a “Boom-Boom-Vavoom”, similar to the “Boop-Boop-Be-Doop” routine.
She has that Brooklyn sounding baby voice similar to Red’s debut appearance as a little girl.
After the success of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” an American animator by the name of Ralph Bakshi started to work on “Cool World”. And so he created a character based on Jessica Rabbit or Tex Avery’s character Red.
Originally Drew Barrymore was up for the lead role, but she was only 16 in 1991 and 17 in 1992. There might have been bad backlash had they gave her the role. That being said, her age seems to be more in line with Betty. As people are aware, Betty Boop is also 16.
That is Hollywood, they do things differently there. To be a part of the Hollywood scene or entertainment business, you have to do a lot of things to get where you want to get. If you are female, obviously you ain’t going to be handed roles on a silver plate.
Paramount’s relationship with Bakshi deteriorated during the production. So they re-wrote the script to be more PG-13. Kim Basinger replaced Drew Barrymore and took on the the lead role.
Basinger did the voice of the character and live-action sequences. The character’s name was changed from Debbie to Holli Would, a pun on Hollwood. In the finalized concept Holli has a likeness to Marilyn Monroe. Basinger won a Razzie Award nomination for her role for worst actress. Also the old Fleischer Studios cartoons had a big influence on the animation style in the movie.
Holli Would is an evil nasty character. It is like they stole the script from the original “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” or something? Holli Would has a waitress rival in the film called Lonette (voiced by Candi Milo), and her demeanor is similar to Betty Boop’s, she also speaks similar to Betty Boop.
Much like Betty in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”, Lonette is reduced to a waitress whereas Holli is the sex-symbol and star of the “Cool World” created by Jack Deebs. Despite “Cool World” not doing to well at the box-office, today it is a cult-classic.
Also to delegate rivals to being mere waitresses? Is that some kind of Hollywood trope? Jessica Rabbit on the scene? Betty is reduced to a a cameo gag reference scene to the 1932 Fleischer “Just a Gigolo” cartoon.
Lonette? Well Holli Would is the sex-symbol, and she’s like Betty reduced to being a waitress.
Sally Swing in the “Betty Boop” reboot comic? She doesn’t do anything special at first, she’s just a waitress. Is this like a trope in the entertainment industry? In which they don’t know what to do with other female characters? Especially when someone sexier or prettier is on the scene.
Leslie Cabarga received a commission from Nintendo in 1981 to design a poster for the video game “Donkey Kong”. He used Popeye for Mario and Bluto as the base for the character Donkey Kong.
In a 2022 interview, Cabarga revealed that he drew inspiration for Pauline’s character design from Betty Boop. Pauline is a character that embodies sexual symbols, much like Betty Boop, and her design was influenced by Boop.
Additionally, Olive Oyl provided some influence for the damsel-in-distress dynamic. Many years later, Cabarga learned that Miyamoto was influenced by Max Fleischer’s “Popeye” cartoon series from the 1930s.
When Miyamoto was unable to secure the necessary licensing to Popeye the Sailor Man, he invented Mario in place. Mario’s appearance was influenced by the graphical limitations of arcade hardware, as evidenced by his enormous nose, mustache, and overalls.
Red appears in the newer “Tom and Jerry” series. She’s has a new voice by Grey DeLisle. DeLisle was redhead Mary Kay Bergman’s successor. Bergman was once the voice of Snow White after Adriana Caselotti, and Bergman was up for the role of Betty Boop. Bergman was DeLisle’s voice acting teacher.
Toot Braunstein is a very popular Betty Boop spoof. Toot appeared in “Drawn Together” an outdated animated comedy that would bomb today. Why? People are too sensitive now.
Toot was voiced by Tara Strong.
After Mary Kay Bergman died all of her iconic roles went to her students Grey DeLisle, Tara Strong and other people.
The creators of “South Park” needed several women to replace Bergman’s versatile voice.
This may sound a little bad, but if she didn’t die, other actresses careers in the voice-over world wouldn’t have stood a chance. Because Bergman wiped out all the competitors. She literally was the voice of every cartoon character you could think of.
There’s a story on the “Sandy Fox” page, on how Bergman won the role of Betty Boop over Fox and other talent for an unmade Betty Boop movie. Read about it over there.
DeLisle’s portrayal of Red is more modernized and they don’t stick to the original concept. So Red is speaks in her singing voice, instead of using imitations of famous stars. DeLisle provided both Red’s singing voice and speaking voice, which is a first for the character.
In 2010 she appeared in “Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes,” again in 2012 in “Robin Hood and His Merry Mouse,” and finally “Tom and Jerry’s Giant Adventure” in 2013. Warner had to actually get the copyright for the character to be able to use her in their cartoons.
Red has not been seen since.
Reason being, is most cartoons now do not feature female characters that are sex-symbols. In the mid-2010s, people started to change their opinions on these types of characters.
Characters like this mostly appear in fan works or fan fiction. Mainstream and Hollywood, they like the girl-boss trope. So the female characters wear bulky clothes and are strong. As said above want to be men or like men. So sex-symbol characters are not in demand today for TV or films.
To some degree, I agree. Cover up some of the female characters. But at least, simmer down on the girl-boss trope, it is getting very old and boring.
In 2015, a new Marilyn Monroe brand to compete against Betty Boop was announced. Monroe’s estate is owned by a Chinese company, and they promoted a new icon or symbol of Monroe in chibi form. Chibi means small, and S.D. for super deformed. It is popular in Asia.
Chibi characters, they look child-like but are adults. The Chinese company had merchandise, and a TV show lined up for this Mini Marilyn franchise. A lot of people actually liked it.
They released the trailer of Monroe in animated form and it got terrible reviews. They put a lot of effort into the animated series, but Marilyn was voiced terribly and did not sound like the original person. People caught on to this, and started calling the company out.
They said that doesn’t sound like Marilyn, and they said the voice-acting was cheap. They made Marilyn sound like Paris Hilton on helium. Horrible. Actually it sounds like how Betty Boop sounds today when Sandy Fox does the voice. But that’s another story.
“Mini Marilyn” just like “Sally Swing” flopped. Sorry you can’t beat Betty Boop. Too many years of promotion with King Features and whoever wants to collaborate with the outdated Betty.
Betty Boop is comparison to Red and Jessica, she’s more presentable more sellable. Jessica and Red? Nobody is going to want to buy any of their products for their children.
You just can’t sell Jessica Rabbit to kids, her bosom are just too big. People complain about Disney being woke today, but never complained about these types of characters sexualizing their kids from a young age.
Betty Boop is not an angel, but she’s not a bad character.
This is proven, because in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” she is given very little screen time and has a small cameo. But she has proven to be more successful and is still in demand to this day. The new Broadway musical also proves this.
You really think that the Fleischer Studios didn’t get a cut from the new rework? They sure did. And according to gossip, it seems that the reboot is destined to win an award someday.
Over $1,000,000,000 worth of Betty Boop products has been sold to date.
Boop-Boop-Be-Doop ♥ 