Tag: Clara Rothbart

$250,000 Infringement Lawsuit: Bonnie Poe

~ Berry Melon 🍉

Bonnie Poe (Clara Rothbart)

Bonnie Poe (236 West 70th Street), called as a witness in behalf of the defendant Paramount Publix Corporation.
Miss Poe, pardon me if I ask you how old you are? 
Bonnie Poe: “19.”
What is your business or occupation?
Bonnie Poe: “Stage.”
How long have you been on the stage?
Bonnie Poe: “Four or five years.”
Do you recall your first appearance on the stage?
Bonnie Poe: “At the Fordham Theatre in an opportunity contest.”
Do you remember about when that was?
Bonnie Poe: “About four or five years ago.”
When you refer to an opportunity contest, you mean by that a Helen Kane contest?
Bonnie Poe: “No.”
Were you also in the Helen Kane contest, were you not?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes.”
And preceding that you say that you were in an opportunity contest?
Bonnie Poe: “That is right.”
Can you fix the time of that opportunity contest?
Bonnie Poe: “I don’t remember, but I think it was the latter part of 1929, or the early part of 1930. I am not sure.”
It was at the Fordham Theatre, where?
Bonnie Poe: “Fordham Theatre in the Bronx.”
Will you describe what this opportunity contest was?
Bonnie Poe: “Well, it is a sort of an amateur contest, where the neighborhood is invited in to perform or whatever they do on the stage, and they try for the first, second or third prize.”
You were in that contest that you have described?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes.”
Was that opportunity contest given in conjunction with the regular performance at the theatre.
Bonnie Poe: “After the show was over, after the vaudeville was over they had an opportunity contest.”
Do you know whether Miss Helen Kane was on the bill at the theatre preceding the opportunity contest?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes, she was.”
Did you have occasion to see Miss Kane after the opportunity.
Bonnie Poe: “Yes, I did.”
Will you tell his Honor the circumstances under which you met Miss Kane?
Did you see and speak to Miss Kane?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes, I did.”
When?
Bonnie Poe: “After the opportunity contest was over, back stage.”
Of the Fordham Theatre?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes.”
Will you state what the conversation was?
Bonnie Poe: “Miss Kane told me about the Helen Kane contest that was going to be held at the Riverside the following week and told me that she thought that it would be a very good idea if I joined the contest.”
In the opportunity contest what did you do on the stage?
Bonnie Poe: “I sang.”
What did you sing?
Bonnie Poe: “I sang a song called ‘Do Something’.”
You sang a song called “Do Something”? Prior to the time that you sang this song “Do Something” in this opportunity contest, did you see Helen Kane perform publicly?
Bonnie Poe: “No.”
Did you ever see her perform prior to that time?
Bonnie Poe: “No.”
Where did you get the song “Do Something”? Did you after that opportunity contest appear in the Helen Kane contest? 
Bonnie Poe: “Yes, I did.”
When and at what theatre?
Bonnie Poe: “I think it was the following week, or maybe two weeks later, at the Riverside Theatre.”
Were you the winner at that contest?
Bonnie Poe: “There was a tie between Mae Questel and myself.
What did you receive as prize?
Bonnie Poe: “$100.”
Did you receive any other prize, any other Helen Kane contest prize prior to that time?
Bonnie Poe: “There was a contest at the Riverside but that was not the final contest, and I received a prize of $25, preliminary contest.”
That $25 prize was in a Helen Kane contest that preceded the final one?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes.”
That was an elimination contest, was it?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes.”
And you were chosen to go into the final competition.
Bonnie Poe: “That is right.”
Or the final contest?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes.”
Will you describe to his Honor how you sang “Do Something” at the Fordham Theatre at this opportunity contest?
Bonnie Poe: “I sang in my natural voice, the way I always sang.”
Will you describe that voice so that we will know how that sounded?
Mr. Weltz: Objected to. (Sustained. Exception.)
How old were you at that time?
Mr. Weltz: “Objected to. The young lady has given us her age.”
After you were awarded the prize in the Helen Kane contest, did you appear publicly at any theatre or night club?
Bonnie Poe: “I appeared at the Everglades Night Club.”
When?
Bonnie Poe: “Well, it was some time that year, maybe a month or two after the contest, I don’t remember the exact date.”
For how long did you appear there?
Bonnie Poe: “A couple of weeks.”
Where did you go from there?
Bonnie Poe: “After that I went to the Paramount unity.”
At what theatre?
Bonnie Poe: “I opened at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago.”
What did you sing at the Paramount unity?
Bonnie Poe: “I sang a song called ‘He’s So Unusual’ and ‘Aintcha’.”
How long did you work in this Paramount unity?
Bonnie Poe: “Oh, about 12 or 14 weeks.”
Did you have any professional engagements after you left the Paramount unity?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes.”
Where was that?”
Bonnie Poe: “I went to work in a vaudeville team and we worked on the R.K.O. Circuit. 
Do you remember what theatres you worked at? 
Bonnie Poe: “We worked all theatres around New York and all theatres through the Middle West and down South.”
Covering what period of time did you work for the R.K.O.?
Bonnie Poe: “In 1932.”
Will you tell me what your act consisted of on the R.K.O. Circuit?
Bonnie Poe: “I went as a comedienne and I played straight form, that is, the young man told the jokes and I answered them.”
Did you sing any songs?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes, and sang.”
What?
Bonnie Poe: “First I gave my impersonation of Helen Kane.”
Then what did you do?
Bonnie Poe: “Then I sang a straight song.”
You have been employed by the Fleischer Studios, haven’t you, in recording the voice for some of these Betty Boop cartoons?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes, I have.”
Do you remember the pictures in which your voice was so recorded?”
Bonnie Poe: “I cannot remember all of them.”
When did you first go to work for Fleischer Studios, Inc.?
Bonnie Poe: “In February, 1933.”
Who was it that engaged you for Fleischer Studios, Inc.?
Bonnie Poe: “Mr. Diamond.”
Where did you see him?
Bonnie Poe: “At the Paramount Building, in his office.
Would you relate the conversation that you had with Mr. Diamond at the time?
Mr. Weltz: Objected to. (Sustained. Exception.)
Was the name Helen Kane mentioned in any way in your talk with Mr. Diamond at the time he employed you?
Miss Poe, when you gave these impersonations of Helen Kane, who introduced that fact, you or your partner?
Bonnie Poe: “He did.”
Your partner’s name was Ed Stanley?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes.”
When you sang your impersonations of Helen Kane, this was in the vaudeville acts?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes.”
When did you start the vaudeville act wherein you were announced by your partner as an impersonation of Helen Kane in songs?
Bonnie Poe: “We were working together through the year 1932, and maybe the latter part of 1931, but I don’t remember, but around that time.”
This was all before you were hired by the Fleischer Studios, or Mr. Diamond, is that correct?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes, sir.”
Which song did you sing in impersonation of Helen Kane?
Bonnie Poe: “‘He’s So Unusual’.”
You know that that was Helen Kane’s famous song?
The question is asked several times and is objected to by Mr. Phillips.
You knew that Helen Kane had sung that song in the moving picture “Sweetie”; isn’t that so?
Bonnie Poe: “I did not see the picture, but I heard the song.”
In order to impersonate Helen Kane you had to hear her sing, isn’t that so?
Bonnie Poe: “I did hear her sing.”
You heard her sing that song “He’s So Unusual“?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes, at the theatre.”
When you went into this opportunity contest in 1929, where was the first one that you entered? 
Bonnie Poe: “At the Fordham Theatre.”
You sang what song, please?
Bonnie Poe: “‘Do Something’.”
You knew the moving picture “Nothing but the Truth” in which Richard Dix appeared?
Bonnie Poe: “I never saw the picture.”
Did you know that “Do Something” was sung by Helen Kane in “Nothing but the Truth”?
Bonnie Poe: “I heard it over the radio and heard a lot of people sing it.”
You heard Helen Kane sing it, too?
Bonnie Poe: “Surely.”
That was before you entered this contest in 1929; isn’t that so?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes.”
You were only a young girl at that time and that was the first time that you appeared publicly at the Fordham?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes.”
Then you spoke to Miss Kane?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes.”
Then Miss Kane invited you to one of her contests, is that correct? 
Bonnie Poe: “That is right.”
You had heard of Miss Kane by that time, hadn’t you, as quite a well known actress.
Bonnie Poe: “Yes.”
And you had heard her sing and you knew of her particular style of singing?
Bonnie Poe: “I had never seen her work, but I heard her sing from records and things.”
Which records did you hear, Miss Poe? You say that you heard, we will say, a dozen of the records?
Bonnie Poe: “Probably.”
When you appeared at the Riverside on the first occasion, which song did you sing?
Bonnie Poe: “‘Do Something’.”
You sang that in as good an imitation of Helen Kane as you could, is that right?
Bonnie Poe: “At the opportunity contest at the Fordham I just sang a song, and I went into the Helen Kane imitation contest.”
Then you tried to imitate her? 
Bonnie Poe: “Yes.”
You sang “Do Something” in imitation of Helen Kane?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes.”
And you had heard her sing that before, so that you could imitate her, isn’t that so?
Bonnie Poe: “No, that is not true.”
In order for you to imitate her you had to know the way she sang?
Bonnie Poe: “I picked the song ‘Do Something’ not for that purpose…”
Where did you get the song “Do Something”?
Bonnie Poe: “I got it in a music store.”
Have you that copy with you yet?
Bonnie Poe: “No.”
You have saved the picture of Miss Kane that she gave you, were you the young lady who saved the picture?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes. I gave the picture of Miss Kane, but I would not keep the song.”
You were anxious to win that contest weren’t you?
Bonnie Poe: “Surely.”
And you knew that whoever imitated Helen Kane best would win the contest?
Bonnie Poe: “Sure.”
So that you did your best to imitate Miss Kane, is that right?
Bonnie Poe: “That is right.”
After singing “Do Something” in the first Helen Kane contest, did you sing in the second Helen Kane contest?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes, ‘ Do Something’.”
Again you tried your best to imitate Miss Kane?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes.”
Who was the young lady who won the first prize? 
Bonnie Poe: “There wasn’t any first prize, the first prize was divided between Mae Questel and myself.”
What did Mae Questel sing?
Bonnie Poe: “I don’t remember.”
Did you see her perform?
Bonnie Poe: “I probably did, but I was interested in myself.”
I am not criticizing you for that, but do you remember what Miss Questel sang?
Bonnie Poe: “No, I don’t.”
You haven’t any idea?
Bonnie Poe: “No.”
What was your first appearance after these contests?
Bonnie Poe: “At the Everglades.”
Did you sing there in impersonation of Miss Kane, too?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes, I did my own songs and then I gave an impersonation of Miss Kane.”
Then you sang a song in your own style?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes.”
And then you sang in impersonation of Miss Kane?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes.”
And when you impersonated her, you said that you were going to impersonate Miss Kane?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes.”
Miss Poe, you testified before that you sang in your natural voice. Was that a baby voice?
Mr. Weltz: “Objected to.”
The Court: “Sustained.”
Where you present at the projection room of Paramount Public in connection with this trial when cartoons were exhibited?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes.”
Do you recall whether there were projected any cartoons for which you recorded?
Bonnie Poe: “Yes, sir.”

Bonnie Poe

~ Berry Melon 🍉

Name:

Clara Rothbart
Bonnie Poe
Bonny Poe
The Betty Boop Girl

Bonnie Poe, born Clara Rothbart (March 6, 1915 – October 16, 1993) was a New Yorker who voiced the animated character Betty Boop in the animated cartoons starting in 1933 at the age of 17, a few months before her 18th birthday. Poe took over the role of Betty while Mae Questel was preparing for a baby.

Other Fleischer Studios characters that Poe was most notable for voicing were Olive Oyl and Buzzy Boop. Poe had blue eyes and she was a brunette, she later dyed her hair blonde.

When Poe was 14 she was a member of Borrah Minevitch’s Harmonica Rascals. Minevitch was probably best known for his role as “Jimmie” in the 1928 musical Good Boy.

Poe was a professional torch singer and she sang torch songs, Poe later sang to live audiences at 14 Broadway nightclubs, in 1932 she briefly performed at a nightclub called the Everglades Club. Poe had originally started out doing Betty’s voice on the Betty Boop Frolics radio show on the NBC network in 1933.

Poe’s first role as Betty in the cartoon series as stated in lawsuit documents was in Mother Goose Land. Her Betty Boop voice was a impersonation of 1920s singer and actress Helen Kane, before she got the role of Betty Boop she was asked directly by Helen Kane to enter a “Helen Kane Impersonation Contest” as Poe often impersonated Helen Kane on the stage.

Helen Kane saw Poe’s impersonation and thought she was talented, and she told Poe that if she entered the contest it would help Poe get some recognition. Bonnie also is said to have looked identical to Kane, and was often mistaken for her mostly particularly in Hollywood on Parade No. A-8, in which Poe is mistaken in person for Kane or Questel.

Poe’s first role in the Fleischer cartoons can be heard in the 1933 Screen Song, Boilesk as several characters, including a flapper that sounded like Betty Boop, alongside Billy Costello. In 1933, Poe appeared with Harriet Lee at the Fox Theater.[6]Poe created and provided the initial voice for Olive Oyl using a deep oafish-sounding Brooklynese accent, but was later replaced by Mae Questel. Poe continued to do the voice for Betty Boop from 1934 to 1935.

By 1935, she was 20 and had finished voicing Betty Boop for the Betty Boop animated screen series and had moved back to radio. In the same year, Bonnie’s younger sister Evelyn Poe who looked similar in comparison her older sister became a RKO discovery. Bonnie would later provide Betty’s voice in two 1938 shorts when Questel was unavailable, and was subsequently replaced by Margie Hines. Bonnie Poe can also be heard in a majority of the Fleischer Studios cartoons from 1933 to 1938, including the Color Classics releases.

Apart from being a radio voice-over, Poe was also a nightclub singer and hostess with her age being given as 10. In 1934, Poe filed a $25,000 heart balm action against George Raft. 

The suit striction was brought on her behalf by her mother, Mary Rothbart. An individual may file a heartbalm action, a type of civil lawsuit, to obtain financial compensation for the dissolution or disruption of a love or marital relationship. The lawsuit was settled out of court.

Poe later retired from show business, she briefly returned to radio in 1942 as a cast member for Gertrude Berg’s radio show The Goldbergs. As of 2022, her archived vocals were remixed into the “Boop” soundtrack commercial for Guess Originals x Betty Boop.

Quotes:

  • Bonnie Poe: “There’s a new feud raging in Hollywood.” (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 1933)

  • Bonnie Poe: “Mickey Mouse insists that the Three Little Pigs are hogging the spotlight.” (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 1933)

  • Bonnie Poe: “Men like Jones Beach because it is the she shore.” (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 1933)

  • Bonnie Poe: “The trouble with modern marriage is that too many couples think a pair beats a full house.” (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 1933)

  • Bonnie Poe: “Miss Kane told me about the Helen Kane contest that was going to be held at the Riverside the following week and told me that she thought that it would be a very good idea if I joined the contest.” ($250,000 Infringement Lawsuit)

  • Bonnie Poe: “On stage I sang a song called ‘Do Something,’ I sang it in my natural voice, the way I always sound.” ($250,000 Infringement Lawsuit)

  • Bonnie Poe: “I heard ‘Do Something’ over the radio and heard lots of people sing it.” ($250,000 Infringement Lawsuit)

  • Bonnie Poe: “On the R.K.O. Circuit I went as a comedienne and I played straight form. The young man told jokes and I answered them. First I gave my impersonation of Helen Kane, then I sang a straight song.” ($250,000 Infringement Lawsuit)

  • Bonnie Poe: “I started working for the Fleischer Studios in February, 1933.” ($250,000 Infringement Lawsuit)

  • Bonnie Poe: “At the Everglades Nite Club I did my own songs, then I did an impersonation of Helen Kane.” ($250,000 Infringement Lawsuit)

Filmography:

1933:

  • Betty Boop Fables
  • Hollywood on Parade No. A-8
  • Snow White
  • Mother Goose Land
  • Popeye the Sailor
  • The Old Man of the Mountain
  • Morning, Noon and Night
  • Betty Boop’s Hallowe’en Party
  • Parade of the Wooden Soldiers
  • Boilesk
  • I Yam What I Yam
  • Blow Me Down!
  • Seasin’s Greetinks!
  • Wild Elephinks

1934:

  • She Wronged Him Right
  • Red Hot Mamma
  • Betty in Blunderland
  • Betty Boop’s Rise to Fame
  • Betty Boop’s Life Guard
  • Rambling ‘Round Radio Row #9
  • Strong to the Finich
  • Let’s You and Him Fight
  • Can You Take It

1935:

  • Dizzy Divers

1936:

  • The Twisker Pitcher
  • Never Kick a Woman
  • Somewhere in Dreamland

1937:

  • Educated Fish

1938:

  • Out of the Inkwell
  • The Swing School
  • I Yam Love Sick
  • Buzzy Boop

2007:

  • Betty Boop’s Double Shift 

Death:

  • Bonnie Poe died from complications connected to pneumonia in 1993.

Trivia:

  • Before she became the voice of Betty Boop she would impersonate Helen Kane and played the same bill with Kane in Chicago for three weeks somewhere between 1931-1932.

  • In 1933 she performed “Don’t Take My Boop-Oop-A-Doop Away” in front of a audience of 2,200 people.

  • She was also a radio singer.

  • Her mother was Mary Rothbart and she had a sister called Evelyn Poe, who would make her Hollywood debut in 1935. Poe also had a brother Edward “Sonny” Rothbart.

  • Poe was also able to portray numerous characters, and also was able to speak and sing using a deeper tone.

  • Margie Hines’ Van Beuren credits were erroneously attributed to Bonnie Poe.

  • Bonnie Poe can be heard in a majority of Betty Boop cartoons from 1933-1934 and lastly in 1938. 

  • Sometimes Poe would utter “Poop-Poop-Pe-Doop” instead of the “Boop-Oop-a-Doop” routine and would sometimes use “Poops” in her Betty Boop songs. “Poop-Poop-a-Doop” is more or less channeling Helen Kane, as Kane’s “Boop” was actually a “Poop” originally.

  • In 1934, Bonnie Poe filed a $25,000 heart balm action against George Raft.

  • According to a 1933 news article, Poe took over the full-time role of Betty in the cartoons and on various radio events for a short time, while Mae Questel was busy preparing for a baby.

  • Poe lived at 236 West 70th Street in New York.