|
Not a lot of people know this, but . .
Betty Boop was born in 1930 at the Fleischer Brothers studios in
New York. She was designed by the Fleischer studios' animator Grim Natwick and was inspired by Helen Kane, a popular singer of the time.
"Dizzy Dishes" (1930) was Betty Boop's first cartoon appearance.
Betty Boop's early appearances featured her as a dog with a human body. Her facial features were designed as cross between Helen Kane and a poodle!
Betty was originally designed to be a canine girlfriend to Bimbo the dog (the Fleischer Sudios' intended rival to Mickey Mouse).
In Betty Boop's early cartoons she was featured only as a supporting cast member with Bimbo as the main character. However, Betty soon became so popular that she replaced Bimbo as the central character in Fleischer cartoons.
The voice of Betty Boop was done by several women, including Annabel Little ("Little Ann Little") Margie Heinz, Kate Wright and Bonnie Poe, but Little Ann Little and Mae Questel were the most important. Little Ann Little did the voice first and then went on the road with a Betty Boop act. The act consisted, in part of a drawing demonstration by Pauline Comanor, who drew Ann as Betty Boop and handed out the drawings to lucky audience members.
Mae Questel's first role was in "Betty Co-Ed," 1931 and she did the voice until the series ended in 1939. She was quite adept at mimicry and could imitate almost anyone. She also, like Ann Little, bore a striking resemblance to Betty.
Mae Questel was also was the voice of Fleischer's Olive Oyl; later she was also the voice of Little Audrey, as well as working on the Casper cartoons.
Mae Questel won a Helen Kane look alike contest as a teenager.
Betty's one and only colour cartoon in the 1930's was "Poor Cinderella" - she was a red head!
Betty Boop was first identified as "Betty Boop" in "Silly Scandals" in 1931. Prior to that in 'The Bum Bandit' (1931) she was Nan McGrew. in her second cartoon 'Barnacle Bill' (1930), she was identified as 'Nancy Lee' and in her first cartoon 'Dizzy Dishes' (1930) she was not named.
Betty Boop's first appearance as a human female was in "Kitty from Kansas City" in 1931 which featured Rudy Vallee.
During Betty's performance of "You're Driving Me Crazy" in "Silly Scandals" (1931), Betty's top kept falling off revealing a frilly bra.
"Any Rags," released in 1932, was the first film in which her dog ears became hoop earrings.
Louis Armstrong and his music were featured in the Betty Boop cartoon "I'll Be Glad When You're Dead You Rascal You" in 1932.
In 1932 the release of "Minnie the Moocher" marked the first of the cartoons to feature a big name Jazz star, Cab Calloway, who also appeared in two other Boop cartoons, "The Old Man of the Mountain" and "Snow White".
In the 1933 cartoon "Popeye the Sailor", Betty and Popeye danced the Hula together.
The classic cartoon Betty Boop's "Crazy Inventions" was released in 1933.
Her cartoons were actually designed for adults not children.
In 1933 Betty Boop's garter was banned.
Helen Kane, a paramount contract singer, was known as the Boop-Oop-Doop girl.
Betty Boop has some famous guest stars: Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, The Royal Samoans, and Don Redmans.
Mae Questel, the famous voice of Betty Boop, was the first voice for Olive Oyl in Popeye cartoons.
Betty Boop's last cartoons were made in 1939.
The final cartoon Betty Boop did was "Yip Yip Yippy" in 1939.
From 1930 to 1939 Betty Boop made over 120 cartoons.
The Daily and the Sunday Betty Boop comic strips were drawn by Bud Caunihan.
“Hurray for Betty Boop” a disastrous colour Betty Boop movie that was made in the late 1970's was released in 1980 and quickly went into video.
"The Romance of Betty Boop" was televised in 1985, by CBS. It was an unsuccessful television special.
Mae Questel (the Voice of Betty Boop ) died at the age of 89, on
January 4th 1998.
Later that year, Betty Boop returned to the screen for an appearance in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?".
|
