Here are some Betty Boop images for Boopers. I excluded KO-KO the Clown because he represents rape culture. Sorry KO-KO… But Bimbo? No he’s Betty’s equal. This is the more toned down Betty Boop.
According to Paramount, Betty Boop was the Clara Bow of the animated cartoons.
The Hays Code kicked in around this time and forced the Fleischer Studios to stop sexualizing Betty Boop in the cartoons. The Fleischers obviously ignored and secretly pushed their agenda.
This version of Bimbo is said to be Betty’s pet dog instead of her friend or lover.
I won’t give names or endorse anyone because doing so could encourage sabotage.
However, anybody who knows anyone, knows exactly where to find these well-known bootlegged merchandise. These Black Betty Boop knock-offs look really detailed and buyable.
However, the “Black Betty Boop” concept has been taken by several Black individuals, and it seems that they are profiting greatly from it. What do they sell? T-shirts, earrings, shoes, backpacks, stickers, the list goes on.
It’s wonderful to see a company that openly appropriates Black culture benefit the Black community. One of the outfit designs gained so much recognition that it was recently worn in a new music video.
Consequently, the official Black version was canceled after an argument. The Fleischers were also the target of several racial accusations which I won’t delve into.
Canning their version I think was for the best. Many Black people have frequently been the victims of theft by Fleischer Studios. Why shouldn’t the Black community profit from a bootlegged Betty?
So for anyone that doesn’t know or is not aware. Betty Boop in the “Boop!” musical is not Black. She’s portrayed by a Black woman but the Fleischers said in an interview that their Betty is not Black.
That is why Betty is colorless and “white” on the “Boop!” merchandise. Now you know.
If anyone feels conned or cheated, well you went with that narrative. This blog here always knew the character in the Broadway musical was interchangeable. But being portrayed by a Black person does indicate that that Betty is obviously a Black woman. You’d have to be color blind to not notice that.
But according to the Fleischers their cartoon Betty or “their Betty” is just a white Jew.
Take the advice of this blog if you are Black “do not” go into a contract with the Fleischers as it will end in tears. You can’t do what you want to, you must do as you are told.
So it is ten times more easier to just sell a fake Betty Boop. The “Boop-Boop-Be-Doop” blog thinks that everyone should sell a knock-off Betty Boop. Technically it is not Betty Boop?
But use your brain and don’t use the copyrighted name. Make her look a little different to the original!? Rename it Baby Esther, Baby Jones or something unique that says, “BLACK BETTY BOOP.”
It is quite funny how many Betty Boop bootlegs are currently being sold under the name Esther Jones.
You can’t infringe if they don’t know and that is why this blog will not link the brand new merchandise.
According to the Fleischers interview Betty is not Black, so therefore a Black Betty Boop can exist. If the Fleischers ever do come after you. Just say, “Umm… It’s Helen Kane or I based mine on Grim Natwick’s Betty.”
You know Grim Natwick the originator of the character?
Not that that helped “Kiki” but that’s another story… Actually don’t take this blog’s bad advice. I will end up getting you sued… But I will keep the new knock-off merchandise… Hush, hush.
If the Fleischers did not want this version of Betty. Then that means that Black Betty Boop is now 100% owned by the Black community as a whole. So technically Black Betty Boop is not a Fleischer-exclusive.
Those who are not self-haters please continue to support Black-owned businesses.
Other than that this blog is currently working on a homage tribute post for August. Look out for the possible final “Boop-Boop-Be-Doop” blog update.
The model who went viral in those cosplay photos is a famous model in Russia and Ukraine. She doesn’t care about her Betty Boop photos and does not associate herself with them.
Certain parts of Oyla’s body had been enhanced by Photoshop editing including her face and hair. Her real body does not look like that. She kind of did a Kim Kardashian, and so her body had been edited, especially her chest area.
Now you know why the body in these photos look so fake. If you look carefully at the dress and some parts of the photos you can see the Photoshop edits.
Oyla fits the “Boop-Boop-Be-Doop” profile as in real life, she has black hair and blue eyes like Boop.
Did you know that blue-eyed rivals Mae Questel and Little Ann Little who were two of the original voices of Betty Boop were also of Russian descent!? Questel was Russian-Polish and American, and Little was Russian-American, and they both were redheads.
Little’s hair was more orange but Questel’s hair color however was a more reddish-brown. Keep in mind that all the women who voiced Betty often dyed their hair too.
A majority of them became blondes. Redhead Little also dyed her hair black at one point. Questel obviously dyed her hair more than once but later in life she let it go gray.
Yes, the original Betty Boop was redheaded. Grim Natwick created his original dog-Betty with red hair. The Fleischers eventually embraced Betty’s red hair in “Poor Cinderella”.
But it didn’t stay long because they later got rid of it. Everyone knows that Betty looks better with black hair.
And so the original Betty Boop girls who voiced Betty in the cartoons had Russian roots. A lot of Russians love Betty Boop and are fans of the character.
Oyla fabricates her age so she pretends to be younger than she really is which is what most models and actresses do. She has knocked 10 years off of her age.
She claims to be 20+ but is really 30+ in age. She was allegedly 16, 17, 18 or 19 in her Betty Boop photos taken in 2008. If you do a bit of calculation you can calculate that she would be in her mid to late 30s now.
By looking at her face you can tell she’s older. But she is very small and petite in real life, so that is probably how she has been getting away with pretending to be younger than she really is.
She’s been in the modeling business since she was a child. She is also very ill and suffers from severe illness. One thing you should know is as Betty is that she’s wearing the official Betty Boop garter.
A lot of people mistakenly thought she was a Black woman, or was Baby Esther or Helen Kane and still do.
But she is more or less a model who has a really great resume. So her photos are merely cosplay. She has worked for many famous well-known brands in her homeland. She doesn’t really confirm where she’s from but seems to be very active in Russia.
She is either Ukrainian or Russian. She has not really specified where she’s from as she seems to be quite mysterious.
For those wondering, though suffering from illness, Oyla is alive and she’s doing very well.
Someone contacted me recently and told me that they did not understand “Boop! The Musical” show on Broadway. I will see if I can explain it. The concept for me is very confusing too. So basically Susan Birkenhead wrote the lyrics, David Foster created the music and Bob Martin wrote the story.
It is likely that “Boop!” may get a future live-action spin-off or digital album release. There will be a lot of promotion when it debuts in the future.
People who hate Betty Boop being Black on stage? You will see a lot of that in that promotion. The hate is limited because a lot of people think Betty Boop was Black. So it won’t be on the same scale as Halle Bailey or Rachel Zegler’s controversies.
If people want to be racist that is on them. It has nothing to do with anyone who doesn’t support that. You won’t see this blog trash Zegler or Bailey as only racists do that.
But I will make mention if their versions differ to the original source material. It is not a crime. So anyone crying or weeping tears about someone stating the obvious… Get a life…
It is like this Betty Boop in the musical she is different too. But only a true fan of Betty Boop can see this. People who are not fans they don’t really know Betty as this blog knows Betty.
The “Boop-Boop-Be-Doop” blog here knows Betty’s true characteristics. It doesn’t matter what the Fleischers promote today. They are not the original Fleischer Studios. So their Betty is also a little different. She’s still a THOT.
In the confusing story Betty is already a star in the cartoon world. So she doesn’t really achieve anything. In most adaptions Betty is trying to achieve fame.
That being said the original Betty already was famous or known on the vaudeville stage in most of her cartoons. But Betty’s original cartoons were different each episode.
Most old cartoons from the 1930s do not really make sense. In most earlier cartoons Betty had very little dialogue and was a one-liner. So she would stand there look pretty, act ditzy or sing jazz songs. Her main characteristics were that of an entertainer.
She would often be a damsel in distress whereas other times she could save herself. Grim Natwick’s version of Betty had a little more oomph than the Fleischer’s finalized Betty.
Natwick’s Betty differed in each and every earlier episode. He was that creative that he was slowly working on developing a unique style to help the Fleischers develop Betty.
Now the Broadway musical? I think “Boop!” is like a knock-off of that woke “Barbie” film by Greta Gerwig?
That “Barbie” film was terrible and trash. At the time there were no films competing against it as Hollywood was on strike which was done on purpose. So it garnered great or faux-reviews but at least it made some sense and the ending convinced people.
So when most of us look back on it now we think… That was a dumb movie… But even though stupid it proved to be a success and was a smash hit. And at least the characters were all notable.
Betty on the other hand has no extended family or friends except her creepy grandfather Grampy and of course boring Pudgy. Betty’s mom, dad and baby brothers, Sally Swing, Fearless Fred, KO-KO and Bimbo did not make the cut. Therefore they don’t seem to exist in Betty’s cartoon world? But some of the characters were written in earlier 2000s and 2010s concepts.
For example earlier concepts featured Baby Boop.
Betty doesn’t explain how she dumped her boyfriends Fearless Fred or Bimbo. But she keeps mentioning that she used to be a dog. She could have at least explained that she dumped her previous boyfriends.
KO-KO should really be there as he is a human. But maybe they know of his creepy origin? So maybe he got canned for being a predator? As people are aware all of the male characters in the original series are creeps.
Bimbo the Dog? He was also a good and bad male character. I can’t diss the original Bimbo because he was a man’s man. But he was a very lustful character and I assume pervert.
He was the same age as Betty. So unlike KO-KO or Grampy who are grown ass men… Bimbo’s love for Betty is equal as they are supposedly both the same age. Bimbo and Betty are 16. Originally they were a pair of canine lovers.
It is like Mickey and Minnie, Sonic and Amy, Buster and Babs and the list goes on. Lovers who are somewhat similar.
The Japanese version of Bimbo is more cute. But the original Bimbo? He’s more rough and had a deep Brooklyn sounding voice. So he’s the opposite of Mickey Mouse? All of the other Fleischer characters are known flops. Betty is the only current money maker.
Nobody really likes KO-KO, Bimbo or Grampy. People think meh… The Fleischers did not invest in updating and modernizing those characters. They spend too much time licensing Betty to third-parties. Those third-parties don’t really know what to do with Betty. So she’s mainly licensed today to promote agenda.
So we never really got to see a new version of KO-KO or Bimbo. Only in the Japanese spin-off content will you see newer versions of those characters. And in Japan they seem to be more fun or zany. Only I have seen the Japanese versions so only I know the difference.
Betty jumps from the animated world to the real world. Betty ends up at a Comic Con event in New York City. That is exactly where the Broadway musical is heading during the mid-2020s. So it sort of makes sense?
People at the Comic Con think she’s a Betty Boop impersonator.
In the original transcripts for earlier Broadway musicals featuring Betty Boop she stayed in the cartoon world. This musical seems to have swiped the concept from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”.
This isn’t Mae Questel’s original Betty Boop so it is not going to be on the same level. Like Cindy Robinson the official voice of Betty Boop said, you just can’t beat the original Betty Boop and she’s right.
I got an angry message about Jasmine Amy Rogers being a Black Betty Boop. And I keep getting them. A lot of white people they hate her guts for some unknown reason. But the LGBT, Black community and wokes they love her.
I wouldn’t say Jasmine Rogers is a “bad” Betty Boop, she’s just a “different” Betty Boop. I think it is because they have her sing in a deep voice. So she has this manly tone!? I don’t know if they did it on purpose to masculinize women. They allege that that is modern singing. She’s not on Beyoncé’s level.
If you want someone to tell the truth. I wouldn’t consider her singing to be that of Betty Boop. The original Betty is a baby doll she’s a baby singer not just a baby talker.
But I assume they assumed that modern audiences would hate the baby voice. They are not wrong people would get annoyed. Some people hate “Boop-Boop-Be-Doop” baby-talk songs.
Betty Boop is a jazz singer so she doesn’t do pop. But this Betty does gospel. I saw the “Shuffle Along” concept being secretly pushed into the musical. That is why I say it is basically a Betty Boop version of “Shuffle Along”.
They claimed the baby-talk voice was silly. But isn’t that how Betty is supposed to sound? But they allowed the character on Broadway to have her sex appeal.
They also wanted to remove Betty’s “Boop-Boop-Be-Doop” and “Boop-Oop-a-Doop” because they claimed it was appropriation. But they kept it only they minimized it. So there are song sequences where Betty does different versions of scatting. She’s more or less giving tribute to Cab Calloway or Louis Armstrong?
She’s called Betty Boop because she “Boop-Boop-Be-Doop” and “Bops”. That’s why she does her “Boop-Boop-Be-Doop” routine.
The modern cartoon Betty? She has been toned and dumbed down. Remember that stupid “Dr. Martins” advert? Where Betty promotes faux-feminism wearing those ugly shoes? That is what I would call dumb Betty Boop. I would never buy a pair of those. It is for the wokes.
At least in comparison to the cartoon version that the Broadway musical has Betty looking like Betty.
For those that are unaware it is an LGBT+ musical. Did people not take notice of the color codes? And all the rainbows? And the “love is love” theme!? The director Jerry Mitchell is openly gay.
So his gay ideologies are in the musical. But they kept Betty straight so I can’t really complain. There is a lot of gayness that has been pushed in the musical. It pops up from time to time.
There are rumors about Rogers being gay floating around? But I don’t know if it is just hear-say or true. But she has that energy. But thankfully Betty Boop is not a lesbian.
Rogers is not really Betty Boop. She’s just an actress who takes on the role of Betty Boop. It is not like Questel who really was Betty Boop. Can you imagine if Jessica Vosk was not fired!? What kind of Betty would have we had then!?
But Broadway is run by gays. The costume designers, puppeteers, actors, actresses, directors, producers, music composers, they are all likely part of the LGBT+ community.
So I was asked a question about Trisha and how inappropriate she is. So what I first wondered was what the individual meant by that. Well I have heard a similar comment before.
Well I assume Trisha was indirectly written I think to have a secret crush on Betty Boop!? It is obvious… She’s a big fan but she doesn’t make sense.
It is mental illness to think someone who is randomly dressed as Betty Boop is Betty Boop. In reality you would know that that is a character impersonator not Betty.
She comes across Betty Boop at the Comic Con and says that is Betty Boop. She just automatically knows that the woman dressed as Betty is Betty Boop.
The “Boop-Boop-Be-Doop” blog would know that that is not Betty Boop it is just an actress. Actresses are paid to take on roles. If she really was a character impersonator, she would return to being herself when she got home.
This is not Mae Questel we’re talking about here. You know? Who was once the real Betty Boop.
But the person who plays Trisha is a really nice person. It is kind of hard to hate on Angelica Hale. I saw her interviews and she’s perfect for the role. But yeah anyone with sense would say that is a random woman dressed as Betty in cosplay…
Trisha’s alleged crush on Betty is hidden beneath her wanting to be like Betty. So she looks up to Betty as her role model. And claims to be a sort of Betty Boop Lover or Betty Boop Superfan. So her character was written with aspects of idolization and admiration.
Betty is supposed to be 16 so if Angelica Hale a real teenager is taking on the role of a teen. Then it makes sense why she would be Betty’s friend? But Betty is likely older in this Broadway adaption.
Hale as Trisha sings “My Hero” a song dedicated to Betty, directly to Betty.
Rogers is obviously not a young woman… Umm… She’s quite old… Instead of a sisterly bond, this version of Betty should have a more motherly bond. Maybe Trisha thinks of Betty as her mother? In place of her dead mother?
Trisha is the real star of the musical. Who said so? The reviews said so. I just didn’t pick up on it, because I wanted Betty to be the star. But you can’t hide the truth.
Angelica Hale basically is more popular than Jasmine Rogers. Trisha is the popular character not Betty Boop. I checked out the reviews and they prefer Trisha. The only reason people who saw the show like Trisha is because she steals the show.
If it wasn’t for Hale then Trisha wouldn’t be a popular character. She was perfect for the role. So when she did the workshop sessions, I think they knew that it would be a bad idea not to hire her? She IS Trisha…
When Trisha appears Betty is secretly delegated to a supporting role. Betty doesn’t really do anything constructive so all focus goes back to Trisha. That is why the producers of the show have to rewrite the story. Act 2 doesn’t make sense.
Who knows!? Betty might outshine Trisha in the finalized production. It is being re-written.
The characters interactions are limited and need to be expanded. Not for this blog but for general audiences. Very weak story writing in Act 2. Even people who are not good at writing can see that Act 2 loses sight of Betty’s goals.
Jasmine Rogers and other Black female actresses were originally going to take on the role of Trisha. For everyone that doesn’t know Kim Exum the earlier Black Betty Boop was fired. She was more or less the first Betty but the workshop Betty, and there were more Betty Boop girls including understudies.
Please know that understudies can take over the role. Keep in mind that Rogers doesn’t want to step down from the role. David Foster said she’s going to be a star. Obviously it is short-lived but the Betty Boop role will eventually open more doors for her.
It depends on her as a person. She’s busy fighting random trolls on social media… So!? But we are all guilty of doing something similar to that… So… I’ll let that slide.
Trisha was originally African-American and was the daughter of Carol. So originally Trisha was just Betty’s “TOKEN” Black friend.
Carol and Trisha were the Evans family. But now Trisha is an orphan and her parents are dead. They also changed the criteria for all characters.
So many people of color can take on the roles. The story it keeps changing… Next time we see it they will have had made MORE drastic changes…
A lot of people get confused. Betty Boop is apparently not Black… They push that she is colorless in the show. In reality they just gave a Black woman a chance to take on the role.
The Fleischer Studios literally put out a PSA between 2023 and 2024 that said Betty Boop is not Black.
Betty Boop was written as an interchangeable character. She is not just Black, she can be any race. They played on Betty debuting as Black to shut up the Black community. Black communities are easily led, so they often fall for publicity stunts.
So it is to make you think Betty is Black. However the Fleischer Studios said that their Betty is not Black and they get upset when people say that Betty Boop is Black.
The official Black Betty Boop collaboration cartoon spin-off wasn’t even allowed on the official Betty Boop website. So what does that tell you?
Part of the stunt was that the musical debuted in Chicago. Who was born in Chicago? Esther Jones.
The Fleischers thought that Jones’ legacy is ruining their Betty Boop character. So they thought why not use her for personal gain? She or her family not going to get any profit as she is dead. Also she changed her name from Jones after she was married. So her distant relatives are unfindable.
That being said Jones’ descendants probably don’t even know who Esther Jones was. If they did they would be suing the Fleischer Studios for using Jones’ legacy as a marketing tool.
Betty Boop is a New Yorker? So shouldn’t have it debuted in New York? Well no it was a Pre-Broadway run. It was not the legit Broadway show. They are going to make changes for the finalized version.
But I don’t think they are doing anything special. I think they’ll keep the same concept but change the music. So the “Boop-Boop-Be-Doop” blog won’t have to tune in.
It will be a success. Everyone today is woke, and they support these weird kind of ideals.
Baby Esther ended up being covered in the news and they used my photograph that I shared worldwide. That photo and the rest were ripped and shared by the “Boop-Boop-Be-Doop” blog.
When you see those photos they originated with this blog here. Of course people stole the photos. I said people could remove the credits if they wanted to. That is my photo.
But that doesn’t change where the images originated and who ripped them and who originally wanted to bring her story to life. There are faux-white individuals who pretend to admire Black history but secretly hate or loathe Black people.
As said the Fleischer Studios are merely using Jones’ legacy as a marketing tool to promote Betty Boop. She’s used to protect themselves against accusations of plagiarism or racism.
They did a big segment on Jones for the Chicago news. But someone, I assume the Fleischers, got upset and they told them to snip half of the interview. Something shady happened.
But the Chicago news still distributed Jones as the inspiration behind Betty Boop for the news report… Which I found to be hilarious. As I said though Jones was not the model or inspiration she can never be erased.
The Fleischer Studios and others have tried to erase Jones but it never worked in their favor. So in the end the Fleischers pretended to give Jones faux-homage. From what we know really is they are not happy with her being associated with their Jewish-owned brand.
The “Black Betty Boop” drama tells you all you need to know and how they did not want a Black version of Betty Boop to be posted or promoted on the official Betty Boop website.
Personally I don’t think the Fleischers like Black people.
They really missed out on an opportunity by being ignorant. That would have made them a lot of money if they marketed it right. I think it had more to do with a Black person creating the idea.
They didn’t want her to be “creator” of Black Betty Boop. There would have been a possibility that it would have been more popular that regular Betty Boop and they don’t want that.
Black Betty Boop is very popular and is sold by bootleggers.
Yes, the “Boop-Boop-Be-Doop” blog has known about Bootleg Betty Boop for years. This blog is not going to promote a faux-Black Betty Boop when Betty is clearly a Caucasian Jew.
But if it wasn’t for Jones then the UNORIGINAL Kane would have won the lawsuit and there would be no Fleischer Studios today. So how dare they belittle Jones. Also they have been attacking Grim Natwick for decades. I never saw it before. But I looked at his interviews and Natwick was so upset and saddened.
The Fleischers won’t admit to stealing… They literally stole Betty Boop… And would not return her…
Max Fleischer promised to return Betty Boop to Natwick and did not keep his promise. Is that evil? Or am I just over-reacting!?
Grim Natwick created Betty Boop in 1930. He had the concept and he animated her. The Fleischers need to stop belittling him and give him credit where credit is due.
Max Fleischer did not create Betty Boop he and Dave Fleischer and the other animators developed her. If it wasn’t for Grim Natwick creating Betty Boop, their studio would have went defunct. They would have never got all those deals, including the King Features deal to make the comic strip.
Of course King Features later would fight over the rights… But that’s another story… Decades later King Features and Fleischer Studios worked together as a team.
King Features marketed Betty for decades and Betty was very successful. King Features like to pretend as of 2024 that they have no association with Betty Boop. Clearly lying. Why feel the need to lie? Stop with the lies King Features, we know you still are associated. You can hide all you want.
Imagine trying to hide? We’re not stupid.
I am going to give Natwick tribute and homage soon. Imagine conning a man out of his own creation!? This story needs to be picked up. I’ll push it. Wait and see. I am really good at that.
The man Mr. Pointer who the Fleischers work with he also has said for years that they are plagiarizers. So it is not a big secret. But I think Pointer has mild-dementia ’cause he makes stuff up as he goes along.
Most of us are all wary of what transpired. But I want people to know Natwick’s story. So I will focus on that soon. While other people are weeping for someone who was UNORIGINAL… I am going to do something else.
Plagiarizing is a bad thing but everyone does it. So individuals who cry or weep about being plagiarized are likely plagiarizing others. That is how the cookie crumbles.
Anyone crying over that needs to get a life and move on. People stole from me? Do you see me crying? Hell no.
This blog tends to do its own thing. Following the Fleischers narratives 100% is just all about lying. This blog doesn’t really like to tell lies. I like to tell the genuine truth. So I use nobody as my source of inspiration. Vintage reviews and articles tell you all you need to know.
This is fandom and there is no competition. That is why I generally do not care what anyone else is doing. What other people do has nothing to do with this blog. Solo-dolo here.
Of course the haters hate everything. But they can’t stop this blog. Hating is free promotion too. Thank you freaks.
If anyone seeks legit information on the Fleischers you can obtain it by buying a book written by the official Max Fleischer biographer. This apart from Jerry Beck and Leslie Cabarga is the only book that you’ll find legit information.
A lot of people this week want to know about Clara Bow. Well she was the original sex-symbol and jazz baby. Fun fact, did you know that singer Helen Kane imitated and copied Clara Bow?
Bow was the original “It” flapper girl and was Paramount Pictures’ #1 star. Makes sense why Betty Boop would go on to emulate the famous Bow. Who came decades after Bow? Marilyn Monroe.
There will never be another Bow or Monroe.
Betty Boop!? She was not a real person so she does not count. But Mae Questel was a real person.
When real fans of Betty Boop think of Betty today, they often think of the “definitive” Betty – Mae “Betty Boop” Questel.
That is why Cindy Robinson, Desirée Goyette, Cheryl Chase, Nancy Cartwright and Heather Halley all gave tribute to Questel. They know that she was the original Betty Boop.
Other people they don’t want to give credit where credit is due and that is fine.
Made of Pen & Ink: Fleischer Studios, The New York Years:
There’s a really detailed book called “Made of Pen & Ink: Fleischer Studios” by G. Mike Dobbs. For the benefit of those who are unaware, he was known as “The Original Biographer of Max Fleischer” and received permission from the Fleischers to write a biography when he first visited the Fleischer Studios.
He’s also finished book two, “Made of Pen & Ink: Fleischer Studios, The Florida Years,” as of 2024.
He sells his books at a reasonable price since he wanted to make them as accessible as possible. This is different to most historians as they don’t normally do that.
First and foremost he’s a writer and in western Massachusetts, he served as managing editor for Reminder Publications, he oversaw four weekly newspapers that were read by roughly 120,000-130,000 people each week. There is no connection between his blogs and his employers.
For those that don’t know he worked on Animato! and Escape! and he covered many cartoons. Also he is a fan of “Cuphead” so he is not out of touch with the times like most elderly people. He and other ex-artist for Disney, Fleischer and so on would contribute to celebrate animation.
He addressed every animation topic, and Betty Boop occasionally made an appearance. For these, Waldman even drew the artwork. Having someone who contributed to the original cartoons would be an honor.
After exchanging letters, he was able to get the approval of both Richard and Ruth Fleischer, visit and speak with former Fleischer employees, and tell them of his intention to publish a book.
But he was beaten to the punch by other historians. His book is detailed enough, in my opinion, to be on par with a Jerry Beck. those who devote a great deal of time and energy to their work.
He knew Grim Natwick, which is the nicest thing about him. Now, Natwick came up with the first idea for Betty Boop. Fleischer Studios did not, in my opinion, steal her. But they kind of did? Because Natwick was employed under contract, they were able to take advantage of him. Sad story.
Historian Dobbs asserts that, contrary to Richard Fleischer’s assertions that Natwick merely “drew” Betty Boop, American animator Stephen Worth of the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive “owned” the original concept artworks created by Natwick, demonstrating that Natwick was the one who created Betty Boop.
Years later, Natwick was furious that his assistants had botched up his lip-sync animation sequence for Betty Boop’s premiere back in 1930 when he went to the “LA County Museum of Art” to watch “Dizzy Dishes” with Dobbs.
Natwick told Dobbs uncommon tales about his early years and his time spent working at Fleischer Studios. Dobbs was requested to go over Natwick’s stored artwork after his death.
Unacknowledged for his subsequent contributions, Natwick assisted with the animation of Musical Mountaineers, one of the last cartoons with Betty. Dobbs claimed that Natwick informed him that Max had promised to give him the “Betty Boop” character as a gift after the cartoon’s completion.
Natwick learned many years later that Max had granted a third party a license to use Betty, and that he was not the original owner of the character. Richard Fleischer arrived and informed Natwick that his father Max was ill and not to be disturbed when he called.
The Fleischers hung up on Natwick after telling him to “never call again” when he questioned them about the licensing of the “Betty Boop” character. Natwick hired a lawyer and filed a lawsuit against Fleischer Studios because he believed the company had mistreated him. Because Natwick lacked documentation proving he was the owner of the “Betty Boop” character, he lost.
Natwick did not earn any royalties from the 1980s relaunch of Betty Boop; instead, King Features Syndicate and Fleischer Studios split the royalties.
Natwick is given the recognition he genuinely deserves by Dobbs. Naturally, the Fleischers have persisted in doing foolish things over the years to damage their reputation. One where they feigned concern for individuals of different races, but in reality, they don’t care.
People must realize that Mark Fleischer, his kids, and whatever else runs the Fleischer Studios now are not the original Fleischer brothers. All that matters to them is generating revenue. Which is only right as they own the copyright. They can do whatever they want to with it.
The only disheartening aspect of Fleischers producing fake ethnicity-based products or spin-offs is that people will inevitably fall victim to history’s tendency to repeat itself.
Please do not fall for any upcoming faux-race baiting Fleischer spin-offs.
For example an individual has been somewhat plagiarizing the Fleischer Studios. She’s made a lot of money creating her own versions of Betty Boop, Bimbo, Mickey, Minnie, you name it.
At least she stayed true to the original character concept unlike the Fleischer Studios.
Over the years, Dobbs had faced criticism for delaying the release of his book. When he was writing his book in the 1970s and 1980s, no publishers showed interest in it. But now that internet libraries are available, he may learn, conduct research, and self-publish more readily.
In this book, he explores the background to the breakthrough cartoons produced by the Fleischer Studios. After seeing the Fleischer Studios cartoons event revived in 1975, he had the idea. Although he started working on the project in 1976, it wasn’t finished until 2022.
Myron Waldman informed him that although Dave Fleischer was listed as the “director,” this confused all the studio employees. According to Dobbs, Dave was more of a line producer.
You can find out everything about this author on his blog in his own words. But from what I read and saw he is the real deal. His posts go way back to 2005.
You should purchase this book if you’re looking for a reliable historical resource. Just by looking you can tell he’s honest as he has retired from covering the Fleischers after completing his lifelong goal.
He has now moved to write other books. So he’s not using it as a ploy to con people and he really wanted to write biographies and he is a fan of the old cartoons and wanted to share his knowledge.
Though some of the Fleischer toons are extremely offensive he’s a fan because he grew up watching “Popeye” and “Betty Boop” on TV. But it wasn’t until he went to a Fleischer cartoon event that he found out how inspirational Dave and Max were.
The best thing about Dobbs is that he filled in the blanks about the Fleischers allegedly stealing Grim Natwick’s creation Betty Boop. Natwick also agreed with this prior to his death.
The Price Of Fandom:
I have done over 50000+ edits as of 2024 and there are only 2000+ fan pages. But with fan pages and fandoms there are problems with layout, errors in grammar, and information that usually needs fixing.
True animation historians are Mike Dobbs, Jerry Beck and of course Leslie Cabarga. There’s no one else on their level of expertise when it comes to old cartoons. It kind of depends on what others are researching and if they are being honest. There are some people who work for the Cartoon Brew who are really talented too. I can’t really name everyone. Some people just steal from others. I can’t really name names.
Other people? They more or less copy and paste. Like fandoms do only they spread misinformation to confuse people. In my own fandom I like to be honest so I only post things that I think are accurate.
Of course when people quote things they often get angry when I repost what they quoted. This is because they have been exposed or backtracked. But it is their own words. It is not my fault a majority of individuals have tried to take back what they say or do. It is not done deliberately.
But if someone does or says something racist, sexist or hateful, what do you expect?
“Boop-Boop-Be-Doop” blog also thrives at creativity and is very inspiration to many haters. This blog will pioneer something and inspire others to copy or emulate. Well known fact.
Other than that I like to gossip, consult, write, blog and be creative. Running my own beauty business and cute aesthetic store that are separate from my blogs was the best thing I ever did.
Anyone I don’t know I have no association with.
But if I see talent or creativity I will gladly promote it. I do not interact with or promote haters. Haters will never be acknowledged by name unless they are well-known Z-listers. Also most people who are creepy will be ignored.
That’s about it.
Thanks For The Support:
Anyone who is pure at heart you are going to receive your flowers. But haters will get the opposite, you will be the flowers that get stomped on and ignored.
Miss Boop was born April 1, 1915. Betty calls it her Boopday, however Miss Boop is immortal and is eternally 16. She was given many gifts on April 1st 1933.
According to Betty Boop’s diary she was given one pound hops by Kasper Kangaroo, a garter belt by Bimbo, an egg by Dora Duck, a peppermint lollypop by her baby brother Billy Boop, a sun-kissed herring by Oscar Octopus, a dark beer by President Roosevelt, a perfumed bottle of ink by Max Fleischer, and a note for future service by Stella Stork.
The gifts she was given in the cartoon were different. People who are unaware of her birthday usually celebrate her birthday on August the 8th which was Betty’s debut in the cartoon “Dizzy Dishes” in 1930. So that is more or less her anniversary.
Individuals don’t actually celebrate Betty’s birthday on her actual birthday in April. But because the “Boop-Boop-Be-Doop” blog knows Betty in great detail this blog will celebrate her birthday and anniversary on both the 1st and 8th. But her debut is not that important so this blog won’t always post on it.
Remember those horrendous singing Betty Boop plush toys?
Well did you know that during the singing parts, Betty makes a mistake by saying “A-Boop-Oop-a-Doop” rather than just using a simple “Boop-Oop-a-Doop” routine?
The helium-sounding, squeaky singer doesn’t do a “Boop-Boop-Be-Doop” until the very end… Which is something that would have sounded better than using an “A” in the recording.
The singer is also trying to hard to channel Betty Boop but it just doesn’t work. A lot of people who don’t know Betty fall for it. There’s a lot of inconsistencies in the dolls’ recordings in which Betty sounds a little off.
The other dolls sing “Santa Baby,” “Button Up Your Overcoat” and some other weird or creepy songs.
Cindy Robinson’s vocals would have been fantastic if Chantilly Lane had hired her instead.
Robinson performed on Broadway and is known as “The Official Voice of Betty Boop”. Having said that, she acknowledged that nobody can imitate Mae Questel and that she dislikes performing Betty’s voice because she would like not to be her second. She said that Questel cannot be duplicated.
Which is true but how else is Betty going to appear today? Mae Questel is deceased and she’s not coming back any time soon. She “Booped” her “Doop” and is now resting in peace. Life is very short-lived and we need someone new to do the voice. Someone who can bring Betty to life.
The error in question was indirectly my fault. Funny story everything I say or share other people will copy it. I am literally an originator. I’ll post or do something, and someone will imitate me or take my information run with maybe re-write it? Or steal. But I am the original source. See how that works?
Also I don’t particularly follow anyone so I don’t care what they do in their own spaces.
I transcribed the song first as nobody else had back then. I literally pulled the song off as Betty’s official theme. The song is, and at the same time it isn’t. Betty more or less stole it? Betty’s actual theme song is “Don’t Take My Boop-Boop-Be-Doop Away”.
It seems that they followed my transcribed fan lyrics. And instead of using the original soundtrack instrumental which is a little slower it seems they used Marilyn Monroe’s version from “Some Like It Hot” from 1959.
So basically Betty Boop the cartoon character had never sang “I Wanna Be Loved By You”.
Betty only sang it in the animated 1980s cartoon “The Romance of Betty Boop” by Desirée Goyette released in 1985. Of course over the years Betty has quoted it. But she had never sang it since the 1980s or released it. Of course everyone who auditions for the voice role or portrays Betty in person will find themselves being forced to sing it. Sadly the song is Betty’s official theme song.
It was originally Broadway singer Helen Kane’s theme song but she was UNORIGINAL and wasn’t the only person to record it. Kane associated herself with the song for years.
That being said “Don’t Take My Boop-Boop-a-Doop Away” was originally written for Kane but she rejected it. So it went to cartoon character Betty Boop the “Boop-Oop-a-Doop” girl.
There were numerous baby-talk singers and “Boop-Boop-a-Doop” scat-singing girls during the 1920s and 1930s. As usual someone like Kane attempted to gatekeep the baby doll persona. Something she did not originate.
But “I Wanna Be Loved By You” was really a Arthur Hammerstein and Oscar Hammerstein II thing. It was written for the fictional character Pansy McManus. When garbage hit the fan, and Kane quit the Broadway show, they replaced her with a Clara Bow-ish like baby voiced singer called Blanche Bow.
Kane was that much of a liar that she pretended to have been ill but in reality had signed a deal with Paramount to make movies. So she went into hiding. When people like that can openly lie you have to be wary of them. So when she sued Paramount and the Fleischer Studios and lost she got her karma because she did Hammerstein dirty. See how karma works?
For those that do not know Helen Kane was originally Clara Bow’s protégé and was a Clara Bow copy-cat. After Kane had been partially used to create Betty Boop’s introduction the Fleischers and Paramount later also secretly used Bow to promote Betty Boop. So Boop had Bow’s allure.
The Fleischers will never admit to any of this but it is quite obvious. Regardless Paramount admitted to it. I’ve seen many comparisons that Paramount Pictures have pushed that compare Boop and Bow. Maybe they did it to ensure that Kane lost her lawsuit? Either way they used Bow’s fame to promote Boop.
If people can’t see why Betty was a redhead it was obviously because of La Bow. Also in 1931 the Fleischers had used Bow’s iconic black frilly dress to create Betty’s well-known frilly black dress. Remember in “Silly Scandals” when Betty debuted with that frilly dress? All Clara Bow.
For those that do not know Bow was the original jazz baby and wore bows in her hair and frilly dresses. But with Bow she was that unique and original that she would frequently change her style. Bow was like the Madonna of the 1920s and early 1930s, she would often reinvent herself.
But Betty sporadically being based on many women including Clara Bow had Betty emulating everyone. Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Mae West and a few others also served as inspiration for Betty. Many decades later Betty could be seen imitating Marilyn Monroe and still often imitates Monroe to this day.
When Betty sang “I Wanna Be Loved By You” in “The Romance of Betty Boop” they were thinking of Monroe. But at the same time they also knew that the song had 1920s vintage “Boop” roots.
There’s no one today who has Monroe’s level of stardom especially with the class. So Betty doesn’t really take on the persona of any of the current stars of this era.
Regardless of Betty Boop’s vulgar past she is still an inspiration to many women worldwide. It doesn’t matter who voices Betty today or who takes on the in-person role. They are not really Betty, they are merely actresses channeling the role of Betty Boop.
The “definite” Betty will always be Mae Questel whether people like it or not.
Long ago, I wrote down the lyrics of the song.
For Betty Boop, that was the only official rendition of “I Wanna Be Loved By You” that we had. However, as that was Goyette’s version, common logic would dictate that you remove the “A” before the “Boop-Oop-a-Doop.” Thus, we now have two renditions of Betty’s theme song, one of which has a significant error.
Reusing “The Romance of Betty Boop” from “Boops” in the song is not particularly creative. Every time I see these plush dolls I have a little cackle because of me sharing those lyrics I accidentally indirectly blundered the main plush dolls.
Personally I would never buy one. They put a lot of time and effort into making them. But they lack cuteness and are scary the way they move. They could have done Betty a little more justice.
You’ll have nightmares if you buy one of those plush toys. Can you imagine that horrid voice magically turning itself on at night? And Betty rocking back and forth like some maniac?
Here’s Betty Boop fictionally introducing her “Betty Boop Cameo Doll” line. The funny story about Miss Boop is that she was created by men to be this sort of risqué pin-up.
And yes they removed Betty’s garter belt from the actual doll. Why!? Because it is inappropriate and obviously it represents prostitution. Especially if you’re not a Cancan dancer or not getting married. Who else would think of wearing a garter? You’d have to be a THOT.
However, Betty is more girly and her target audience is therefore mostly women and girls.
Men, boys or males in general who like Betty Boop merchandise or “girly” Betty Boop things are likely homosexuals. Betty Boop is not very male-oriented on merchandise as she is in the cartoons.
Men who are attracted to Betty because of her risqué cartoon appearances are probably the same as the sexual predators depicted in her old cartoons. Never forget that in most of those old-fashioned cartoons, Betty Boop is a minor. What does it signify, then, if men are lusting?
Betty is more than just a sex-icon she’s a jazz singer and dancer. She should not just purely be reduced to being sexualized. But sadly that part of Betty’s history can never be hidden.
Is Betty America’s sweetheart? She’s not just that but was America’s animated sex-symbol. However, if people were truly intent on judging Betty alone. All they would need to do is research Minnie Mouse’s beginnings as a Walt Disney character. Minnie was sexualized in her early cartoons, just like Betty.
You may want to consider who currently purchases Minnie Mouse products. Moms and dads for their infants and young children. Therefore, many individuals are unaware of these characters’ dubious pasts.
Everyone with sense knows how dangerous of a company Disney can be or has been. Having saying that, a majority of businesses have a set agenda. The taboo is so evident in most entertainment and merchandise.
I wouldn’t say that Betty is a good role model for kids. But vintage toys, clothing and dolls prove that she was very successful and at one point was just as popular as Mickey Mouse by Walt Disney.
Here is a doll-sized Betty Boop introducing herself to a young girl. Girls, not boys, were the intended audience for dolls. So therefore Betty wouldn’t be introducing herself to someone male.
Betty Boop says, “Hello my little friend I am so happy to meet you. I’ve always wanted to come to your house. A little birdie told me about the fine play room you have.”
“I’m so glad to share your happiness. Maybe you would like to know more about me. Would you? Listen carefully… I was born in an artist’s studio. Max Fleischer, the nice man who draws the funny pictures of Bimbo and his animal friends found me.”
This story is pretty honest. So Betty says that Max Fleischer found her. The real originator of Betty Boop, as everyone knows, was Grim Natwick, who created the character in 1930. The Fleischer Studios and Paramount developed Betty Boop and made billions of dollars.
Frequently, Paramount created a false impression that Betty Boop was the animated version of Clara Bow in order to capitalize on her notoriety. The Fleischers and Paramount were notorious for plagiarizing.
For instance, ZaSu Pitts was not pleased to learn that the Fleischer Studios was copying her gestures for the Olive Oyl character. She disregarded it since she didn’t want to get upset by saying she hated to be aped.
“He taught me to sing, to dance, to swim and to play tennis. How to play the piano and to cook too.”
This is amazingly accurate. The originally Betty Boop used to do so much and she used to play the piano. If you’ve seen the early Betty Boop cartoons and some of the later ones she can be seen playing the piano.
“And I liked them too! Especially you and your little friends. Not so long ago I met the man who owns Doll Land. He called me in his office the other day.”
Here Betty is talking about Joseph Kallus of The Cameo Doll Company. Of course this eventually led to a three-way lawsuit with Ralph A. Freundlich, Inc., the Fleischer Studios.
Freundlich was obviously innocent as “Mary Pickford” was the true inspiration behind his doll’s creation. However, Freudlich provided no evidence to support his assertions during the litigation, instead using Helen Kane as an excuse.
However, it was established in a court of law that Kane was NOT ORIGINAL. By doing that, he disproved the notion that Pickford and the 1931 “Kiki” movie served as the real inspiration and by using Kane as source the Fleischers could demonstrate that Betty Boop was the original source.
And again the Fleischers were victorious.
“‘Betty,’ he said ‘the children like you so well. I’m sending you to visit them.’ So I started out and within a very short time reached your town. And here we are together! I hope, dear friend, you like me very, very much. I like you and want to be with you all the time. I know we’ll be so happy.”
“Everything a good little girl should do. Then he put me in the movies ad leading lady with Bimbo. Everybody liked me as soon as they saw me. That’s why I’m a movie star.”
Max Fleischer presents Betty Boop a brand new kind of movie star. Betty Boop the hit of every show. Loved wherever she goes. And goes the world over. Betty Boop a Paramount star.
She is a fictional Jewish female cartoon character best known for her “Boop-Oop-a-Doop” and the more famous “Boop-Boop-Be-Doop” catchphrases. The “Doop” is usually followed by a “Bop”, something she frequently incorporates into her routine, which is a high-pitched squeak.
Betty was elevated to stardom as the result of public demand.
Betty is notable for her spit curls, baby-talk and scat singing. Betty is also known as Baby Boop or Bitsy Boop and on the day of the celebration of Halloween, Betty goes by the name Betty Boo and Betty “Boo” Boop. In online fandom, fan art and fiction there is also alternatively a Black Betty Boop. Black Betty Boop became official as of 2023.
Betty Boop is a light-hearted flapper reminding the audience of the carefree times of the Jazz Age. She was the first character on the animation screen to represent a sexual woman. All other cartoon girls of that time did not differ much from animated male characters, with only eyelashes, voice and outfit alterations to show their femininity.
In Betty’s earlier cartoons, male characters liked to put moves on Betty, and generally she provoked that. Besides, there was a certain girlishness in her personality, which was emphasized by her style of singing, sentimentality, and overall flapper-like behavior.
The flappers of the 1920s, most notably Clara Bow, were the inspiration for Betty Boop’s appearance. Clara and Betty were frequently contrasted, most notably in Hollywood on Parade No. A-8.
After the series rolled on, Betty Boop’s mannerisms and traits were later based on Mae Questel, who often did the voice on a regular basis, starting from 1931. One of Betty Boop’s traits taken from Questel was impersonation which was Questel’s speciality.
Betty’s original persona was created by Questel, she later became the most famous, and official of the character. She finalized jazz baby Betty’s cadence, conscientiousness and peppy personality.
Questel also served as model for Betty Boop. Animators rotoscoped her as they drew Betty Boop’s animated sequences for the animated cartoons. Another known model for Betty Boop was Little Ann Little. Like Questel, Little also posed as Betty Boop while animators drew Betty. Other women who voiced Betty also modeled as Betty Boop, and served as inspiration behind the character’s persona using their vampy baby doll image.
Betty Boop first appeared in the 1930 Talkartoon titled Dizzy Dishes, which was released in 1930. Betty made her debut as a plump anthropomorphic French poodle, with Betty’s voice having been created by Margie Hines. Hines created the voice using her “baby doll” vocalization. The character was retired in 1939, but was later rediscovered during the 1970s.
The cult of Betty Boop fans started building in North America and Europe during the 70s. In 1975, Avon published a collection of Betty Boop comics. Betty didn’t quite make an impact until the 1980s. Betty’s revival gained momentum in 1985, in which she became an iconic figure of the 1930s.
Since the 1980s, King Features Syndicate has marketed Betty Boop using Marilyn Monroe’s image, although they do not credit Monroe as the creator or inspiration behind the character. This is due to Betty being the first sex symbol, predating Monroe in that category, and having Clara Bow’s allure. Betty Boop is still very popular today, and has millions of fans all around the world.
Because of her big eyes, and kewpie-doll appearance, she’s very popular in Japan.
According to Max Fleischer, Betty Boop is made of pen and ink, and she lives inside the inkwell. When Betty is drawn, like her predecessor Koko the Clown, she is instantly brought to life. Most of the cartoons Betty Boop appears in are in the public domain.
You can keep updated with the fictional character Betty Boop on the official website.
When Betty reached stardom in motion pictures, it later came to the attention of Max Fleischer that other producers of animated cartoons were attempting to imitate his character. He herby served notice that the character was fully protected by copyright registration, and he intended to protect his interests to the fullest extent of the law against anyone attempting to use or imitate his character.
The Fleischer Studios successfully sued doll manufacturer Ralph Freundlich in 1932 over his “Kiki” dolls having a likeness to Betty Boop. However the truth is that Freundlich’s dolls were launched in 1931, and were based on Mary Pickford.
The “Betty Boop” dolls were also launched as early as of 1931, it would seem that the Fleischers did not like the competition as the “Kiki” dolls were quite popular. Betty had not long turned from a canine to a human girl, so her likeness could not fully be established, as she had not long just made her debut in human form.
The Kiki doll-line was released August 1931, and the “Betty Boop Cameo Doll” line did not arrive on the scene until November 1931. The Betty Boop cameo dolls were then sold at all major outlets in 1932, indicating that Ralph Freundlich’s company was innocent.
He tried to argue that “Helen Kane” was the original “Betty Boop” but she had also lost her lawsuit, when she could not prove this to be true. In court the Judge didn’t think that Freudlich was telling the truth so he ruled against him.
The Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the New York State Supreme Court’s ruling that copyright for Betty Boop owned by the Fleischer Studios, Fleischer Art Service, and Joseph I. Kallus had been violated.
Freundlich was ordered to pay damages of $5,440 and costs of $15,000 in the suit. Ralph Freundlich was later found guilty of perjury in 1937. When it was later discovered that he had manufactured 1,108 dolls, he claimed that he had only made 676. He received a three-month prison term and a $4,000 fine in 1938.
On the 19th of October, 2017 Betty Boop was given a brand new design, in which also changed the shape of her head. The design first appeared in Elle magazine in early April, 2017. Since the new design made its debut, several manufacturers began rolling out products based on it.
The new Betty Boop merchandise is titled Betty Boop Now, and had been in development for the past 18 months by King Features and the Fleischer Studios and the leading design partners. King Features creative team spent the past year and a half researching, refreshing and reimagining Betty. According to Carla Silva, King Features VP and GM, Global Head of Licensing; “As we continue to showcase Betty Boop Now, out licensees tell us they are excited to see that the new look resonates with today’s young woman.
With realistic proportions and apparel choice that show her sassy attitude and style, Betty Boop Now is more expressive. She has a wide range of facial expressions and a more animated mouth through which she can voice her opinion and make her thoughts heard. Young women can really respond to that portrayal of individuality.”
The franchise was first branded by a Boston-based company called Bare Tree Media who launched its Betty Boop Now iMessage sticker packs in July as a part of its promotional celebration for World Emoji Day. Tilibra created a set of collection of notebooks featuring Betty. This fall Zazzle began debuting the Betty Boop Now Collection of their website. And Acco/Mead have plans to use Betty Boop Now artwork for their 2019 calendar.
Betty debuted as a anthropomorphic dog woman in Dizzy Dishes and again as the fair maiden in Barnacle Bill. In The Bum Bandit she is shown raising a family of 17 children with Bimbo and in Mysterious Mose is shown living alone in a haunted house. But in Minding The Baby, Betty is depicted as being younger. She is a French poodle in a majority of her earlier appearances.
The age range of Betty Boop varies. In several cartoons, she seems younger, while in others, older. Max Fleischer could not determine her age. Betty is officially 16, as opposed to this, she is 13 going on 14 in Betty Boop’s Big Boss.
The Betty Boop Zombie Love franchise that debuted in 2013 makes fun of Betty’s age, only with that franchise Betty is undead. Films featuring zombies have been a part of cinema since the 1930s, with White Zombie directed by Victor Halperin in 1932, being one of the earliest examples.
According to an early Fleischer Studios promo featuring Betty, she is 16 and will always stay 16. Betty Boop actually “officially” died in 1938, and since Betty Boop was born in the early 1910s, like most people born in 1915 she would actually be deceased today.
Betty Boop’s official birthday set by Max Fleischer in 1933 was the 1st of April. No year was given, but it is presumed that Betty would have been born somewhere during the 1910s.
A quick age calculation by the “Boop-Boop-Be-Doop” blog calculates Betty’s date of birth as April 1, 1915. The date calculates that she would have officially turned “16-years-old” on the 1st of April in 1932.
1932 is the same year that Betty made her debut in the “Betty Boop” series timeline in which Betty made her first appearance in Stopping the Show. The episode Stopping the Show did not debut until the 12th of August, indicating that Betty had already turned 16.
Max Fleischer also stated in a 1932 interview that Betty was officially 16 and alternatively younger or older in other episodes and adaptions. Betty is said to be Max’s daughter at times and sometimes is referred to as his niece.
Betty’s birthday today is usually celebrated on August 9, 1930. August is actually her debut in Dizzy Dishes. Betty usually refers to her birthday, as her Boopday.
Here is a 1930-1931 depiction of an early “Betty Boop” artwork by Grim Natwick. Betty has vivid red hair, blue eyes and wears a pink dress. She’s known merely as Bimbo’s girlfriend.
This artwork that was drawn and painted by Grim was made prior to Betty’s development. In this artwork Betty still has her hairstyle from Barnacle Bill but without the spit curls and she is more slender in size to how she appeared in the cartoon, as Betty was more plump in the actual Fleischer Studios animated cartoons Barnacle Bill and Dizzy Dishes.
Though Natwick created the initial base for Betty Boop; Max Fleischer, Dave Fleischer, Shamus Culhane, Seymour Kneitel, Myron Waldman, Doc Crandall, Ted Sears, Willard Bowsky, and Al Eugster all contributed to the character development.
Paramount Pictures urged the Fleischer Studios to work on the evolution of the character, as they had a feeling that the character was going to be a hit with the general public.
Betty has an affinity for the colors black and red, she wears a short dress, and a garter belt on her left leg.
Her breasts are highlighted with a low, contoured neckline that shows off her cleavage. In color Betty wears a red dress and red high heels with gold hoop earrings and gold bangles on each arm.
Betty’s underwear is not visible unless there is a gag sequence. Like Minnie Mouse, Betty wears bloomers.
The original Betty Boop, her high heels were accessorized with bows. The bows on her high heels vanished because the animators would have found it hard to continuously animate them.
Though the bows were removed from the later cartoons, they are still supposed to be there. They can be seen in the earliest cartoons Mask-A-Raid and Kitty from Kansas City and Paramount Pictures posters from 1932 featuring Koko the Clown, Billy Boop and Bimbo.
These type of shoes would later become an iconic part of Walt Disney’s design for Snow White, a character also animated by Natwick.
Betty’s fluttery outfit, which first debuted in the 1931 cartoon Silly Scandals, was reportedly inspired by or modeled in the 1929 ensembles of Louise Brooks and Clara Bow.
Bow, the top star of Paramount Pictures, served as a major source of inspiration for the Fleischers when developing Betty Boop, since they had drawn inspiration from a number of women.
Betty received red hair as a tribute to Bow. The original “It-Girl” Clara Bow was the 1920s and early 1930s equivalent of Marilyn Monroe. Monroe even gave Bow a tribute since Bow was so iconic. Clara Bow was dubbed “La Bow” by Paramount, Betty was given a similar title to Bow, “La Boop” a few years later.
Long before Tex Avery’s Red Hot Riding Hood and Disney’s Jessica Rabbit, Betty was the original redhead. Both Red and Jessica were based on Boop’s success. To date, sales of Betty Boop merchandise have exceeded $1,000,000,000.
Betty’s dress is red, her high heels are colored black and her bangles and earrings are colored gold. Her eyes are colored a dark blue. Blue is Betty’s original eye color palette in the original series.
Betty has an infatuation with men and males, she’s mostly attracted masculine men. In her comic series, she’s dated a handful of men, and she often likes to flirt with them. In Betty Boop’s Birthday Party, while powdering her nose she can be seen and heard quoting: “Oh my dear, I hope it’s a man,” when her doorbell rings. Betty also explains her love life in more detail in the 1933 article The Love Life of Betty Boop.
Betty Boop was one of the first and most well-known sex symbols on the animated screen. Betty Boop is now regarded as a feminist icon, a re-write of her backstory today is kind of complicated. However, the original Betty Boop of the 1930s was not a feminist and did not advocate for radical feminism, as is now alleged.
As of 2020, rewrites of Betty Boop’s feminism origins in media is historical revisionism. Though Betty Boop’s image helped shape feminism, she was essentially America’s first sex icon. As her initial creator Grim Natwick stated on numerous occasions, Betty was created by men for the benefit of men. He also stated that, though Betty was never vulgar or obscene, Betty was a suggestion you could spell in three letters: S-E-X. Betty is used by feminists today as an example of how sexism objectifies women.
Today there are contemporary photographs showing Betty saying, “we can do it” and or “you can do it” used to promote Betty today as a feminist. These new images depict Betty in comparison to a 1940s American World War II poster that was often used during the 1980s and 1990s and today by feminists to promote feminism. Betty however was long retired in 1939, and lost most of her appeal by the 1940s and was later forgotten in history up until the 1970s.
In her cartoons, the original Betty Boop was sexualized. Betty did, however, speak up for her rights in certain cartoons, such as the 1932 cartoon Boop-Oop-a-Doop and the 1933 cartoon Betty Boop’s Big Boss. However, by the end of Betty Boop’s Big Boss, Betty had succumbed to her boss’s sexual advances. The majority of the Betty cartoons included a mix of sexulization and objectification at Betty’s expense. Betty did not stop the male characters who would frequently do unpleasant things to her in most of the early cartoons.
Ted Hannah, the King Features Syndicate director who oversaw the public relations effort that reintroduced Betty Boop to the globe, declared in 1985 that Betty Boop was not a feminist. “Although Betty Boop is not a feminist, she could be useful to the movement because she is non-threatening and demonstrates good qualities.”
Betty’s look in the initial cartoons was eventually cleaned up and modified to be more modest in comparison to her former iteration by the late 1930s. In the majority of the early cartoons, Betty was an independent girl who was often harassed by fictional male characters. However many decades later in Hurray For Betty Boop, which debuted in 1980, some of the original cartoons were rewritten with Betty embracing feminism. In the original 1932 cartoon, Betty’s father Mr. Boop forces Betty to eat her meal, this however makes Betty sad and she starts to cry and compliment suicide in song by stating that she will eat some worms and die, Betty runs away from home only to later return scared by the ghost of Minnie the Moocher. Whereas in this 1980 re-write, Betty still gets upset, but this time she calls her father a “chauvinist pig” and leaves home for good.
Betty’s feminist status was mostly emphasised for the documentary Betty Boop Forever, which contends that Betty is a feminist. Betty did not struggle for women’s rights in the original cartoons. Dr. Martens x Betty Boop also promoted Betty’s new image.
Betty Boop was reimagined by King Features and Fleischer Studios because it was discovered that she was “too out of touch” with modern audiences.
The question was how a nostalgic character like Betty might appeal to a broad audience today without prejudice. Producers remarked that they are torn between updating Betty Boop and embracing her feminism or by keeping her archaic qualities. A few of Betty’s old outdated characteristics featured in earlier Fleischer Studios cartoons include discrimination against homosexuals, racism against people of color, sexism against women and also the sexualization of women. Each of which are not acceptable in society today.
Betty Boop is a singer, but does not consider herself to be very good. In her official theme song, she says that people can say her voice is awful, but is more concerned about someone taking her “Boop-Boop-Be-Doop” away. At times, she is also able to dance, and even once opened up “Betty Boop’s Dancing School” in The Dancing Fool.
The original Betty Boop in the cartoons was a skilled impersonator, who could impersonate anyone. Celebrities she often impersonated included Fanny Brice and Maurice Chevalier. She also had the ability to morph into caricatures of Herbert Hoover and Al Smith.
In Stopping the Show, a caricature of Helen Kane originally appeared, and she asked Betty to sing “That’s My Weakness Now” and imitate her. Making Kane one of the many original impersonations in Betty’s act. However due to a lawsuit, the Fleischer Studios deleted the scene from all prints, so instead Betty comes on as herself singing the song.
Aside from her talent for imitation, which she inherited from Mae Questel, Betty Boop is a talented pianist who also plays the organ. Betty Boop frequently plays the piano in the original Betty Boop cartoons.
Modern day Betty Boop, dubbed new-age Betty, has lost these unique traits. However as the series rolled on, in the original series Betty stopped doing impersonations of other celebrities. However in Pudgy Takes a Bow-Wow, Betty does two stereotypical impersonations, one of a Chinese man who works at a laundry shop and the other an Italian man who works as a grinder.
The original Betty Boop in the original Fleischer Studios cartoons had a bigger oval button shaped nose. Betty’s original nose matches more with her Jewish origin. However when Betty Boop was given a new design by King Features Syndicate, they changed a lot of her features including her nose. Betty as it were in the “Toon World” as she is fictional has had rhinoplasty, which is cosmetic plastic surgery for the nose.
Betty is known to have blue eyes but can sometimes be seen with green eyes in official artworks. Whereas classic Betty Boop has black eyes with no color. Art featuring Betty Boop is printed in black and white the dotted lines indicating her eye irises do not appear. Betty’s eyes are made up of only a black pupil and white eyeball.
When printed in color Betty’s irises print PMS 351 leaving the triangular highlights in the white pupils. The black dotted lines indicating Betty’s irises never print. In special instances, the iris may be defined by a solid black line but only with permission of the Licensing Art Director. Betty Boop’s eyes were altered in the Lancome Paris Star Eyes commercial, and she can also be seen sporting eye shadow.
The official Betty Boop FAQ once claimed before deleting the entry, that Betty’s current official eye color is a light green. Thanks to an archive, the FAQ in question has been restored.
Earlier Fleischer Studios cartoons indicate that Betty’s original official eye color was blue. The official Betty Boop today is completely different to her 1930s counterpart. King Features have full control over Betty Boop, and they have changed a lot of Betty’s image, backstory and origins to market the character to the new generation. So most information put out on the official Betty Boop or Fleischer Studios websites, may not be 100% accurate, and may not reflect Betty Boop’s original backstory.
Classic Betty Boop has a black eye color when in black and white. She has blue eyes when she’s in color. She has the option of bright or dark blue eyes. Betty’s eyes are a dark green tint as well. Modern Betty by King Features Syndicate has light green eyes. Betty also has bright blue eyes, as shown in her Lancôme Paris Star Eyes commercial.
A majority of fans claim that Betty’s black hair complements her look. But when colorized during the 1930s, Betty’s original hair color was red. Individuals who lack access to the original Fleischer or Paramount transcripts, or are not fans of the original Betty, lack knowledge of the character’s origin. And those individuals who know very little of Betty Boop are usually unaware of Betty’s red hair origin.
This is not false information and it is ignorant to ignore this so it has been brought to light. People who are not real fans of the series are unaware of this.
It has been confirmed by cartoon historian and artist Leslie Cabarga who was told this by ex-Fleischer animators and staff. Grim Natwick and Little Ann Little also confirmed this to be true. However Little claimed in her story that Betty had red hair because she herself had red hair.
The Fleischer Studios family lineage have not confirmed this as they may have used falsified material to debunk Natwick’s statements. So they more or less focus more on the process of how Poor Cinderella was colorized, rather than the true origin of Betty “already” having being created with vivid red hair by Natwick.
Also the family may be unaware that Betty even had red hair to begin with as they do not acknowledge Betty as a redhead, and neither do King Features. Since her reappearance in the 1930s, Betty’s only known hair color has been jet-black, akin to that of Helen Kane.
Black hair and hazel green eyes were two of Kane’s best-known features. Betty’s new hue, with her pale green eyes and black hair, makes her look even more like Kane. Betty would have been considerably different from Kane if she hadn’t been a redhead with blue eyes.
Redhead Clara Bow, whom Paramount acknowledged in Hollywood on Parade that Betty resembled, served as the model for Betty’s red hair. As stated, most of Bow’s persona was molded into Betty Boop’s character.
The Fleischers later stopped making Betty have red hair and it was lastly used in Poor Cindrella in 1934 and Fleischer’s Animated News. Red later became her second alternative hair color.
Since Betty lives in the inkwell, in a majority of her cartoons, most of the time her hair is black like ink. There have been a lot of antique items from the 1930s, such as promos, clocks, masks, coloring books, porcelain, toys, dolls, all featuring Betty with red hair. In 2023, Betty was given a new modernized orange-red hairstyle for some official brand-new Betty Boop goods.
Betty has 16 spit curls in total. Her curls are angled to one side. Her head is covered with four curls on the left side and four on the right. There are four additional curls on the left side of the head and four more on the right.
Throughout the series, Betty Boop’s hairstyle has evolved.
In 1930, Betty made her debut with a curly “kiss-curl” styled hairstyle, which was based on flapper girls of the 1920s. For some of the cartoons in 1930, the Fleischers completely removed all of Betty’s curls, giving off more of a “Louise Brooks” or “Josephine Baker” style. In Accordion Joe, Betty has no curls, and long hair tied in ponytails.
In some cartoons Betty has long hair. For example as a mermaid, and in a parody of Alice in Wonderland her hair grows to match Alice’s. By 1936, the “part” in the middle of Betty’s forehead was completely removed, this was either to change Betty’s hairstyle a little to make her look different, or to make it easier to draw and or animate Betty.
The Fleischers were actually at one point advised to “modernize” Betty’s hairstyle with the times as the iconic flapper hairstyle that Betty had, was out of touch with the times by the late 1930s. However the Fleischers only ended up changing Betty’s hairstyle once in the 1938 cartoon Honest Love and True, and then reverted it back to the flapper hairstyle.
Betty was re-designed in 1938 to look taller and her head size and body portions were made smaller, this came about when the Fleischers saw the success of Disney’s film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. With this new change, Betty’s hair was drawn a little longer than usual. By 1938, women began to embrace new trends and styles. High hair, stylish short-snipped hair, pin-curls and longer hair were becoming more fashionable and trendy.
Betty Boop is Caucasian and is Jewish but unlike her parents Mr. Boop and Mrs. Boop, Betty does not follow strict Jewish sects. Betty’s mother in the original cartoon is unable to speak English and only speaks Yiddish. Betty’s parents are Jewish Polish immigrants.
Betty’s family are Jewish-Polish, Betty and her brothers are Polish-Americans. Grampy her grandfather, Mr. Boop her father, Mrs. Boop her mother, Bubby Boop her other brother. Aunt Tillie her aunt, Uncle Mischa her uncle, her cousins Irving and Buzzy Boop.
Junior her nephew, Quintet Kiddies her adopted children, 17 Kids which were Bimbo and Betty’s kids in The Bum Bandit. Wicked Queen who is Betty’s wicked-stepmother in Snow White. Grandma who is Betty’s grandmother in Dizzy Red Riding Hood.
Some of Betty’s family members can fall into the category of non-canon. In the 1930s Betty Boop comic series, in one strip Betty’s whole family gather at her home. But in the comic it doesn’t mention their relation to Betty. Tillie, Bubby and Billy later stopped appearing in the series. The series then followed Betty alone on her career.
It is assumed that the boy who makes a cameo appearance in the “family mob scene” is either Bubby or Billy, most likely being Bubby due to the hairstyle. Betty’s other family members include Aunt Minnie, Little Bucky and Uncle Biff.
Betty’s family were excluded out of the Broadway reboot. This is probably due to their inconsistency, and how badly Betty’s parents treat her. However in some cartoons and spin-off comic strips, Betty says that she has a great relationship with both her strict Jewish parents.
In the 1930 cartoon Accordion Joe, Betty is Native-American. Native-American Indian progenitors were Indigenous people who were the “First Americans” to settle in America.
In Betty Boop’s Bamboo Isle, Popeye the Sailor and Betty Boop’s Rise to Fame, Betty has dark skin and is Samoan. The Samoan people are a Polynesian ethnic group of the Samoan Islands.
Misconception and misinformation spread is that Betty Boop is often mistaken for African-American. Betty has dark skin in that cartoon, but is Samoan not African-American. Betty is not in Blackface in the cartoon excluding Betty Boop’s Rise to Fame, she is depicted to be a native Pacific Islander.
Betty for these sequences was actually rotoscoped directly from The Royal Samoans. The Samoan hula dancer known as “Mari,” “Meri,” and mainly Lotamuru, was the reference and or model for Betty Boop in this cartoon.
The character was originally created as an plump anthropomorphic French poodle, which was originally a take on Helen Kane, a popular “Poo-Poo-Pah-Doop” Paramount Pictures screen star and recording artist, who’s career had ended with Paramount in 1931.
Grim Natwick who created Betty’s initial concept stated that he used a photograph of Helen Kane, in his words, “a highly talented, very popular nightclub singer of that time,” and used her photograph from a song sheet by merging her head with a poodle.
Natwick also stated that the “spit curls” were popular to the teenage girls of that era, and that is also what inspired him to create Betty Boop. In Betty’s debut she is a nameless character. Grim initially referred to Betty as the “Pretty Girl” and she was only given the name “Nancy Lee” in the second animated feature Barnacle Bill.
The nameless character in Dizzy Dishes who later became “Betty Boop” was only meant to have made a one-shot appearance, but the public loved the character so Paramount & the Fleischer Studios continued to develop the character.
After the release of the 1930 short Barnacle Bill, Betty had became slimmer and her design was tweaked. Betty’s skin tone was also shaded darker in two 1930 shorts that followed Barnacle Bill, the cartoons were Mysterious Mose and The Bum Bandit. According to Grim Natwick, Betty is just shaded for artistic appeal. Shading art helps make the shadows more three dimensional as opposed to being flat.
In the Betty Boop cartoon series Betty is seen living in a different home in each and every episode. In Bimbo’s Express Betty is shown moving home, which indicates that she might do that on a regular basis, Where as in Minnie the Moocher Betty is shown to live with her parents. Following the later series Betty lives alone and sometimes with Pudgy.
Margie Hines won three baby-talk contests and then went on to create the cute voice for Betty Boop. The first 1930 cartoons to feature the Betty Boop prototype character, Dizzy Dishes, Accordion Joe, Mysterious Mose and Barnacle Bill feature only the vocals of Hines.
The other original voices of Betty Boop were, Margie Hines, Little Ann Little, Mae Questel, Bonnie Poe, Brooklyn girl June Albrezzi (June White) and radio voice by Kate Wright, another “Betty Boop” radio voice that was featured on The Sun Shine Hour radio show was Shirley Reid.
Reid also did her “Betty Boop” impersonation in-person at a restaurant in Los Angeles in 1934. Reid’s “Betty Boop impersonation” kickstarted her a career in the voice-over world, she went on to work for Walter Lantz and Walt Disney. Cookie Bowers was the voice of Betty Boop on his European tour.
Victoria D’Orazi voiced Betty Boop in the 1980 film short Hurray for Betty Boop, however the 1980s official voices of Betty Boop were Desirée Goyette and Mary Healey.
Before voicing Betty Boop in The Romance of Betty Boop, Goyette appeared as Betty Boop in person at the 1984 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade courtesy of King Features. Goyette choreographed a dance sequence and sang “I Wanna Be Loved By You” to a live audience.
Mae Questel, the original voice of Betty Boop told June Foray that Goyette was “not so bad” as the voice of Betty and gave Goyette her blessing as the new voice of Betty Boop, but after the 1980s Goyette no longer officially voiced Betty, but instead a one-shot parody Googi Goop in The Girl with the Googily Goop.
Melissa Fahn as of 1989 were the voices of Betty Boop, with Fahn being the official voice, but during the late 2000s Fahn retired from the role. Laurette Willis did Betty’s voice on The Betty Boop Show and radio, she also appeared on TV with Mae Questel. After Fahn retired Betty Boop’s voice was officially provided by Cindy Robinson.
In 2014, Heather Halley and Camilla Bard provided the voice for Betty in the official Betty Boop video game release Betty Boop Dance Card. Broadway star Lauren “Coco” Cohn, who playfully looks like Betty Boop, is also one of the many voices of Betty.
Robinson claimed that her voice for Betty is sultry and sexy, and claimed that other modern day voices of Betty Boop are just “cute” in comparison.
Robinson talked about her portrayal of Betty Boop in a 2017 interview. In response to a question about whether or not she had voiced Olive Oyl, Robinson stated that no, even though Olive has a similar voice to Betty.
She went on to say that she naturally sounds like Mae Questel, but that she is not Questel’s voice-match, and that it is natural. Robinson added that, despite her ability to mimic Betty Boop’s voice, she dislikes voice-matching and that Mae Questel had portrayed Betty “beautifully” in the original cartoons. She stated that Betty has already been cast and her voice has been originated.
Additionally, she believes that she cannot make a name out of the role in voice-matching. She went on to say, the people who currently voice Betty and the general public who are fans of Betty Boop, they don’t know what Betty sounds like originally. Robinson made the implication that the individuals in question are unaware of Betty’s voice and have not watched the original cartoon series.
Some new voices of Betty have refuted this claim, claiming to have given Betty’s voice a fresh or unique interpretation. However Robinson is correct. Questel’s version of Betty Boop was one of a kind.
Robinson’s imitation of the “Betty Boop voice” sounds a little deeper in comparison to the previous voices, and sounds more in comparison to DC Comics character Harley Quinn. Robinson provided the voice of Betty in a majority of the video games and commercials.
One of the main company she voiced Betty for was Bally Gaming, however during the early 2000s, originally Lani Minella was the voice of Betty Boop for Bally. Robinson was noted as making a statement that King Features always hires “more than one voice-over” artist to voice Betty Boop, just in case the other talented voice-over talents are unavailable.
In person Betty is often portrayed by a Betty Boop impersonators. A portion of the latter have voiced Betty Boop in animated ads over the years.
The original Betty Boop character impersonators for Universal Studios Hollywood were Suzy LaRusch and Dena Drotar in 1991. However both actresses were better known for their roles as Marilyn Monroe and Lucille Ball’s character Lucy Ricardo.
Sandy Fox also took on the role in 1991 and portrayed Betty Boop in person for many years as a character impersonator. She decided to enter the world of voice-over. She later was asked to voice Betty for the “Betty Boop Store” at the Universal Studios theme park in Orlando as she had worked for the company for years.
Eventually Fox won a contract to voice Betty Boop in 2012 to voice Betty for Lancôme. Though Fox claims to be the only official voice of Betty Boop this is untrue. Several or more actresses are always hired to take on the role.
Prior to Lancôme it would seem that Fox had never been used for any project. The only people used prior to 2012 were Cindy Robinson and Melissa Fahn.
Debbi Fuhrman, originally was the official branded Betty Boop impersonator for King Features, Fuhrman was also part of The Betty Boopers girl group. Betty Boop impersonators for theme parks throughout the years have been frequently advertised, theme parks are always actively seeking a new Betty Boop.
A list of the worst and best Betty Boop character impersonators.
Little Ann Little was the original “Betty Boop” impersonator, though Ann was “not” the original voice of the character, she was known as the “original model” of Betty because her contract officially stated that she was the “Original Betty Boop” for the Fleischer Studios. She also later went on to voice Betty in 1933.
Little portrayed Betty from the mid-1930s up until the early-1940s. In history, Little was known to over-exaggerate her role. Mae Questel, Bonnie Poe, Margie Hines had also appeared as Betty Boop on stage and in person for Max Fleischer, Paramount and Fleischer Studios publicity events during the 1930s.
Betty Boop has appeared in person in two official live-action shorts by Paramount Pictures.
Betty is portrayed by Mae Questel in Musical Justice. Mae Questel performs “Don’t Take My Boop-Boop-Be-Doop Away” in a live-action sequence. Betty is portrayed by Bonnie Poe in Hollywood on Parade No. A-8, alongside Bela Lugosi.
Poe sings “My Silent Love” in a live-action sequence. Poe is often mistaken for Mae Questel and Helen Kane during her role as Betty Boop in Hollywood on Parade No. A-8. Helen Kane made a small cameo appearance a year before Betty’s live-action appearance in Hollywood on Parade No. A-2, and two years prior Kane was featured in Paramount on Parade in her own skit performing a “Poo-Poo-Pah-Doop” number.
A year after this was made, Poe made a cameo in Rambling ‘Round Radio Row as a Betty Boop singer, there she sang “Puddin’ Head Jones” to a mailman.
In May 1932, Helen Kane filed a $250,000 infringement lawsuit against Max Fleischer and Paramount Publix Corporation for the “deliberate caricature” that produced “unfair competition”, exploiting her personality and image. While Kane had risen to fame in the late 1920s as “The Poo-Poo-Pah-Doop Girl,” a star of stage, recordings, and films for Paramount, her career was nearing its end by 1931.
Paramount promoted the development of Betty Boop following Kane’s decline. The case was brought in New York in 1934. Although Kane’s claims seemed to be valid on the surface, it was proven that her appearance was not unique. Both Kane and the Betty Boop character bore resemblance to Paramount top-star Clara Bow.
The most significant evidence against Kane’s case was her claim as to the uniqueness of her scat singing style in which she had adapted from an African-American child performer from Chicago who went by the name of Baby Esther, but was better known as Little Esther.
Testimony revealed that Kane had witnessed the seven-year-old “Florence Mills” impersonator Little Esther Lee Jones, using a similar scat singing style in her act at the Everglades Nite Club. An early test sound film was also discovered which featured Esther Jones performing in this style disproving Kane’s claims that she was the first to “Boop-Boop-a-Doop” in song.
Helen Kane never provided the voice the animated character Betty Boop, but is often mistaken for the voice of Betty Boop. Helen later went on to use Betty Boop for her posters, two years later in 1935 for her Fox Brooklyn shows.
The show even featured a Betty Boop cartoon. Max Fleischer was told by one of the newspapers at the time to sue Kane, but he didn’t and let her use Betty Boop without permission, even though Kane initially had wanted Betty Boop stopped by an injunction.
In 1934 Betty Boop’s comic strip was launched. The strip was re-released in 2015 by Titan Comics and it also featured The Original Boop-Boop-a-Doop Girl by Helen Kane. In 2015, Dynamite Comics announced a new deal with Fleischer Studios and King Features to publish a new Betty Boop comic.
Betty made appearances on the front cover of the Fleischer’s Animated News, where she appeared in some of her own skits with Grampy, her nephew Junior, Popeye and Olive Oyl.
It was announced in 1938 that after introducing a new Fleischer character “Sally Swing” that Betty would have passed away. Twelve “Sally Swing Cartoons” were lined up, and she was going to take over Betty’s place as a more “modern” and “stream-lined” character.
Paramount Pictures and the Fleischer Studios announced that Betty Boop had since died. Lou Diamond told the press that Betty Boop is dead and that Sally Swing is the new successor.
“With a sense of deep regret, that they record the passing of Miss Betty Boop, the amiable, pulchritudinous, neckless young lady who had served Paramount so loyally for many years. Betty had passed on suddenly, but not before she was able to name her successor.”
After introducing Sally in the episode Sally Swing, Betty was supposed to have passed away.
The Fleischers held a “Sally Swing Contest” to find Sally Swing. They found Rose Marie, a former child “Boop-Boop-a-Doop” girl. Marie was known by her stage name “Baby Rose Marie” and she took on the role of Sally Swing at the age of 15.
Much like Betty, Sally is 16 years of age, and at the time of her creation was thought to be the epitome of modern youth, and was full of life, pep, and that magic something that sustained the young people of the late 1930s.
Betty had the appearance of an out-of-date flapper girl, Sally at the time was more of a modern bobby-soxer. Sally is devoted to swing, is lithe and lissom, and, in parlance of Hollywood’s scriptures, the ideal jitterbug.
The “Sally Swing” episode debut did badly at the box-office, so Paramount and the Fleischers decided to cancel the entire series. Because Sally made no impact, instead Betty Boop retired rather than died.
The bad PR stunt by Paramount and the Fleischers announcing Betty’s death to make way for Sally was somewhat a blunder. Betty Boop was later revived during the 1980s, Sally Swing was not seen again until the mid-2010s. Since then Betty’s short-lived death has been a secret.
Loved by her neighbors, Betty Boop is a diligent worker. She works throughout the day as a shoe salesperson at a store and performs at Club Bubbles at night. Desirée Goyette was picked to voice Betty out of 55 actresses.
Goyette stated, “Betty Boop was modeled after Clara Bow, so if you want to know more about who Betty Boop was, you need to know a lot more about who Clara Bow was. And so as the voice of Betty Boop I did my best Clara Bow imitation.”
Throughout the movie, Betty Boop dons different outfits many times and keeps a parrot named Polly as a pet instead of her usual dog, Pudgy. Even though the Hays Code laws had long since been abandoned and Betty’s garter is one of her primary characteristics, she doesn’t wear it for the whole of the movie.
Betty does, however, reappear in the sequel. Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a film that was produced three years after The Romance of Betty Boop, features Betty. The way that Grim Natwick drew Betty in the 1970s and 1980s is similar to how Betty is drawn in the movie.
This is the first time Betty has ever performed the hit song “I Wanna Be Loved By You” a song originally by Helen Kane. As per the provided details, the individuals working on the movie had Marilyn Monroe and her role in “Some Like It Hot” in mind when they incorporated the musical interlude into the movie.
In a diner, Betty Boop serves customers as a waitress with her pals Bimbo and Koko the Clown. The voice of Betty Boop is provided by Melissa Fahn, who later took over the role after Mae Questel, Mary Healey and Desirée Goyette.
Along with her buddies Koko and Bimbo, Betty Boop works as a waitress in Los Angeles. This is Bimbo’s first appearance since 1933, when he initially appears in blue instead of black.
The short was produced a year following Betty’s appearance in the Disney animated picture Who Framed Roger Rabbit from 1988. Betty’s garter has returned, and her customary red gown has been replaced with a purple one, and her jewelry has switched from gold to silver.
The Betty Boop Movie Mystery, in contrast to The Romance of Betty Boop, aims to maintain Max Fleischer’s original surrealistic flair from the original Betty Boop cartoons.
In 1993, Richard Fleischer who was the son of Max Fleischer of the Fleischer Studios wanted to make a feature out of his father’s star character “Betty Boop” but those plans were later scrapped.
Jazz was a major part of most of the old Betty Boop cartoon shorts. In the storyboard in the link above Betty Boop performs a song called “Where Are You?” with her estranged father Benny Boop. Sue Raney substitutes for Betty and Jimmy Rowles stands in for Betty’s father Benny Boop.
According to Mary Kay Bergman she had auditioned for the role and had been given the part, until it was abandoned. Bergman stated that she perfected Betty’s voice. Character impersonator Sandy Fox who was touring as a Betty Boop “character impersonator” also auditioned for this role, and lost out to Bergman. The music was written by Benny Wallace and lyrics by Cheryl Ernst Wells.
Bergman was a famous multi-voice and at one point was “The Official Voice of Snow White,” she is best known in history for her voices on the hit TV show “South Park”. Bergman later used her Betty Boop vocal imitation for ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic’s Jewish parody “Pretty Fly for a Rabbi“. Originally Yankovic wanted her to do most of the track, but her agent forbid her from using her “South Park” Sheila Broflovski character voice due to a possible lawsuit.
Yankovic was not satisfied with Bergman’s squeaky Betty Boop imitation so he got Tress MacNeille to do her Fran Drescher vocal imitation, and Bergman’s alternative recordings were removed from the track. Bergman can still be vaguely heard saying the line, “For a Rabbi.” Which makes sense, because Betty Boop is Jewish.
In 1996 Richard Fleischer was shopping around for a Betty Boop TV series where Betty would be a intergalactic flight attendant, but plans for this were later scrapped.
In the 1996 Warner Bros. series Animaniacs episode The Girl with the Googily Goop, a parody of Betty Boop called Googi Goop makes an appearance. In the original concept Googi is a human girl and looks more like Betty.
To avoid a possible copyright infringement lawsuit by King Features Syndicate and or the Fleischer Studios, Warner changed Googi’s design to resemble that of the Warner brothers Yakko, Wakko and sister Dot characters. Googi was voiced by Desirée Goyette, the 1980s voice of Betty Boop.
Betty Boop appeared in animated sequences by DMA Animation for Bally Gaming: Betty Boop by Bally Gaming. Bally asked King Features Syndicate for permission to use Betty Boop’s image for this game, King Features accepted, but expected high standards. The game featured voice actress Lani Minella in the starring role as Betty Boop, Minella would also voice Olive Oyl for Bally.
Betty Boop made a small cameo appearance in “Garnier Lumia Hair Color” commercial, she was voiced by Michelle Goguen an actress and professional voice over artist from New York City. In Betty’s promotion, she is stuck in black and white but as soon as she uses the hair dye she is colorized.
Following the announcement of Betty being animated for a Bally game, Betty’s Mainframe was announced. The concept for the CGI series started between 2000 and 2001.
The new Betty Boop TV series was going to be created in CGI by the Fleischer Studios and King Features with help from Mainframe Entertainment Inc., but plans for the feature were later scrapped. The concept would have had Betty as a leader of her own band, traveling from gig to gig.
Variety told Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson and Madonna Ciccone who were popular singers at their peak in the 2000s to watch out.
In 2003 Betty Boop appeared in an early 3D rendered slot machine game by SEGA Sammy Holdings. Betty was voiced and promoted by 1980s Japanese pop idol Akina Nakamori. In 2002, a year before this release, the company released a 2D game titled Betty Boop S. Both casino games have animated scenes, but Betty is compared to Marilyn Monroe in them.
In 2003 a pilot for the upcoming Drawn Together series in Adobe Flash was pitched to several networks, including Adult Swim. The series was set as a parody of Big Brother and or The Real World, game shows in which contestants, referred to as housemates who live in isolation from the outside world.
Jordon Young who previously worked on The Simpsons as a layout artist, Matt Silverstein and Dave Jeser created a pilot episode and pitched it to Comedy Central.
The series debuted in 2004 and featured a parody of Betty Boop called Toot Braunstein.
Braunstein being a typical Jewish name indicates that Toot is Jewish but she does not follow the Jewish religion and eats pork. Toot is the opposite of Betty Boop, she is deemed a repulsive outdated sex symbol, who is only seen as “sexy” in her 1920s cartoons.
Toot’s background in her 1920s cartoons is never quite explained in the series, though they say she is partially based on Amy Crews from Big Brother 3. Drawn Together also in the 2000s made fun of Betty’s Boop’s “Hooters” mascot campaign by making Toot the “Tooters” girl.
For the series final Toot reveals that she is nothing like Betty Boop, and admits that Betty Boop wouldn’t do the stuff that she does which is taboo. Toot was voiced by Tara Strong.
Instead of a “Boop-Oop-a-Doop” routine, Toot does more of a “Tooty–Toot-Tooty-Toot” with a “Toot” or often uses strong language. Toot is the only Betty Boop parody to obtain a huge fanbase of her own. Toot made her last appearance in a 2010 DVD movie special, after the series was axed in 2007 for vulgar and offensive content.
Patricia Heaton also made a complaint against the series for being offensive when she and her daughter went out and came across a Drawn Together billboard promoting a same-sex kiss between a Disney Princess, known as Princess Clara who also was voiced by Strong.
In the pilot episode Toot wore a black dress with straps in comparison to Betty’s strapless dress. Toot’s official outfit is based on Betty’s dress from Sally Swing, only sleeveless.
Betty appeared in a 1987 “25th Anniversary Special” on TV. She made cameo appearances in television commercials and the 1988 feature film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which was followed up by a cameo voiced by Mary Healey in One of the All-Time Greats in 1989.
While television revivals were conceived, nothing has materialized from the plans. In 1993 there were plans for an animated feature film of Betty Boop but those plans were later canceled. The musical storyboard scene of the proposed film can be seen online.
From 2007-2008, Betty appeared in the Nintendo DS Game Betty Boop’s Double Shift. In 2009 she appeared in a mobile game by Namco called Betty Boop Movie Mix Up. A Betty Boop Musical was in development for Broadway with music by David Foster.
The first ever playable Betty Boop game was released in early 2007-2008 by DSI Games titled Betty Boop’s Double Shift. In a review Nintendodojo gave the game very poor ratings, it was also criticized for the unresponsive touch controls.
Betty Boop has appeared in several slot machine games with Bally Technologies starting with Betty Boop’s Love Meter which was then followed by Betty Boop’s Fortune Teller, Betty Boop’s Firehouse and Betty Boop’s 5th Avenue.
Two of which were ported to the ipad and iphone for itunes. The game features Cindy Robinson who is the official voice of Betty for the Bally game releases. Robinson has provided the voice-over for Bally for five years running. The slot machines are often feature CGI openings and Betty speaks directly to the player.
Bally has a vast history with the cartoon character Betty Boop, during the 90s Bally hired a Betty Boop impersonator known simply as Angelia Mitchell, who worked as a MGM Betty Boop impersonator. She started out as Betty in 1993 and later went on to portray Betty in person for Bally where she was a integral part of promoting the slot machines for casino managers and none other than the Fleischer family, including Max Fleischer’s son Richard Fleischer.
Character impersonator Mitchell worked with Bally starting in the 1990s, she later retired from portraying Betty in 2003. For the opening of Betty Boop’s Love Meter, Betty can be heard saying, “Bally and Betty back together again.” The Bally slot machines featured at casinos are known to be quite popular with guests.
In 2014 Betty Boop was featured in Betty Boop Dance Card by game designer Mickey Blumental of Fowl Moon Studios, in an IOS rhythm action card game on the iPhone and the iPad. The game was quickly followed by Betty Boop Bop and Betty Boop Beat. Initially it was set for a PlayStation Vita release, which somehow never came to fruition. The game opening sequence features Heather Halley as Betty Boop and David Babich as Bimbo. In the game Betty’s voice and singing vocals are provided by Camilla Bard.
In 2014, it was announced by Simon Cowell that he would be producing the Betty Boop the Movie partnering with Animal Logic. Leaked emails suggest that the role of Betty was originally to have been played by Lady Gaga and suggested that the film will be a live action hybrid along the lines of Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
It had been suggested that the Syco Entertainment and Animal Logic “Betty Boop” film feature had been canned. Instead Betty was set to make a brand new TV appearance in 2018, which also did not happen.
Syco & Animal Logic did not comment. Initially the “immediate release” for the film was featured on the Animal Logic website. It was indicated that the project was secretly in the works but according to Sony who were originally working on the film, they stated it was “weirdly sexualized” yet childlike, and they felt that they shouldn’t go through with it. Sony went on to say that it was just weird and they didn’t want to chase it.
It is a known fact that Betty Boop is a fictional sex symbol from the 1930s, and without her risqué nature, she has no appeal. Betty’s sex appeal is what made the original cartoons a hit.
In the original series when “The Hays Code” kicked in and Betty was toned down, Betty’s original series started to flop leading to Betty being retired in 1939. Sony claimed they didn’t know who to market the film towards and they also wondered what audience the film would appeal to.
Betty Boop was originally set to return in a new series by Normaal Animation in 2018 by Normaal Studios. Betty Boop would have taken center stage in a new animated series being developed by Normaal Animation, marking the first time the iconic character would star in her own show in three decades.
In 2014 David Foster posted an update on the Broadway show and said that they were in their first reading for the musical. According to information the Broadway musical was originally set for fall 2018, however this version was later scrapped and all the original cast were fired.
Betty Boop’s Cabaret is a 2022 interactive pull-tab game. Boop was portrayed beautifully in this adaption and also has a brand new voice actress.
The “Betty Boop” Pre-Broadway musical Boop! will run in Chicago in late Fall of 2023. In 2022, Jessica Vosk stated at her Carnegie Hall concert that she was going to portray Betty Boop for the musical. For the 2023 Betty’s Day Off workshop session Kim Exum appeared as Betty Boop.
According to Exum she was randomly fired from the role.
Eventually Jasmine Amy Rogers won the role of Betty Boop, as producers felt that she had a lot of moxie and she was just what they were seeking for the “new” Betty Boop. This new version of Betty has been reinvented and reimagined, and is a woman of the 21st century.
Make-up artists created Rogers’ look by drawing inspiration from female stars from the 1910s to 2000s. Inspirations for Rogers’ image as Betty Boop includes Theda Bara, Dorothy Dandridge, Janet Jackson, Devon Aoki, Josephine Baker, and cartoon flapper girls.
On the 30th of September Rogers went to the official Meet & Greet to meet all the cast and crew, and she was also praised by the Fleischer Studios and given great publicity in the news. The finalized Broadway musical Boop! will run in New York in Spring of 2025.
Through a collaboration with the Fleischer Studios, an official “Black Betty Boop” boutique known as the “Black Betty Boop Shop” opened and sold Betty Boop merchandise.
The “Black Betty Boop” character already existed prior, but has been brought to life.
The Fleischers stated that they were reaching out to identify communities in an effort to make Betty’s universal principles as diverse and inclusive as possible. As of 2024, the “Black Betty Boop” collaboration is now defunct due to conflict and contract disputes.
The Life and Times of Betty Boop a book that chronicles the wildly dynamic love and familial life of Miss Boop was released on January 15, 2024. Betty Boop is a rare NTF in the 2024 “Betty Boop Dance” series.
In 1933, she appeared in the Tokio Shunkodo manga. Several Betty Boop projects have been in the works some for many years now, but have either been canceled or pushed back for a later release date.
Betty still continues to appear on merchandise, and in the last few years or so, the Betty Boop franchise has collaborated with a number of famous collaborators. As of August 26, 2022, Betty Boop appears officially as a non-fungible token.
A balloon featuring Betty Boop made an appearance at the 91st Hollywood Christmas Parade on November 26, 2023. Family Film Awards funded the balloon. The Hollywood Stunt Kids Association wrangled it.
It appears that unusual Spanish Betty Boop rag dolls were introduced in Spain in the 1930s. The dolls in question are extremely unique and bear a striking resemblance to Betty Boop.
They wear fluffy shoes, have two garter belts, doggie noses, and no dog ears, just hoops for earrings. They have a beauty mark on their cheeks, as opposed to the prototype artwork.
Betty in this form resembles Betty in “Dizzy Dishes,” “Mysterious Mose” or “Barnacle Bill” in terms of appearance. Is it comparable to a combined version, though? Is she a dog then? The doll does, however, also have Betty’s official 1932 design. Bimbo the Dog would love this French poodle version of Betty.
Betty Boop is popular in Spain because Spanish people think that she looks like them. Though Betty Boop is a Polish-American character who is Jewish. Betty resembles a lot of people worldwide.
Many often comment that someone they know resembles Betty Boop. This is due to the fact that any girl or woman can look akin to Betty Boop. Curly hair? Born female? Jet-black hair or redheaded? You can be a Betty Boop.
If you have that Clara Bow look you are definitely going to emulate La Bow and La Boop. Because Betty Boop was somewhat based on the “It” girl Bow.
Sometime between 1932 and 1933, these dolls were released. The “Boop-Boop-Be-Doop” blog would guess probably 1932? In 1933, at a beauty contest, one of the rag dolls is shown.
To say that they were released in 1930 would be absurd because Betty Boop was unknown at the time. Betty Boop was unknown prior to 1931. A 1932 release date would likely be more appropriate given the hoop earrings. Apart than that, I’ll simply state the 1930s.
The older cartoons of the dog woman Betty Boop in unison were aired in Spain, which is why Betty has the appearance she does. Therefore, in Spain Betty was essentially a French poodle with anthropomorphic features when these rag dolls were made.
It is very interesting to see how many different variations were released.
A toy collector and maker by the name of Mel Birnkrant owns some of these dolls. He had a story once that he shared of the Fleischer Studios and King Features stealing his “Baby Boop” creation. Very interesting story. So to see the rag dolls in more detail visit his official website. Though the rag dolls look unique this blog here would never buy one.
Boop-Boop-Be-Doop ♥ 