The original betty boop
In a general sense, some African Americans don’t trust traditional history as it was taught. This was probably the driving force that eventually led to creating Black History month. History as it was taught when I was in grade school significantly and selectively excluded African-Americans. It was so radically slurred that I stop reading it. I once attempted to read a black-owned newspaper. Unfortunately, these types of stories pop up all the time, and they seem to serve racially biased self-interest of those who create them. In this case, neither of them received credit for Boop’s image, or the “boop-oop-a-doop” lyric. Neither Fleischer or Kane created the image, but in fact stole it from Jones. With such a mix of images and ideas that make up Betty Boop, she seems to have suffered from no-personality disorder.Īs early as 1950, Esther Jones was recognized as the originator of the lyric. She was the first actress to “flaunt her sex appeal during that era,” indeed an early pioneer of the sexual freedom women enjoy today.
The original betty boop movie#
The most significant contribution made by Bow was her introduction of sex to the movie screen. Kane lost her lawsuit in 1932 against Fleischer Studios when it was proven that she had watched Esther Jones’s act.īetty Boop’s sexuality may be have been influenced by Clara Bow. Helen Kane’s signature song, “ I Wanna Be Loved by You,” is yet another component that created Betty Boop. The lyric was made popular by singer Helen Kane who allegedly stole it from Esther’s singing style in her hit song, “ I Wanna Be Loved by You.” Esther’s image, as it appears in the Facebook post is clearly Betty Boop. It was Gertrude Saunders aka “Esther Baby Jones” who first used the lyric during the origins of scat singing which she performed at the Cotton Club. She is a caricature of the 1920s era of singing styles, image, and sexuality gleaned from several icons of the genre.įleischer is not the originator of “boop-oop-a-doop” either. Oddly enough, that phrase may have been used several years before McCoy’s birth.Īs it turns out, Betty Boop is not “the real McCoy” of creator Max Fleisher of Fleisher Studios. McCoy, who invented lubricator pads for trains.
Is the cartoon icon “the real McCoy?” That phrase itself is fiction that bases its origins on Elijah J. Such is the case of a recent Facebook post of Gertrude Saunders as the original Betty Boop. Seen from another vantage point, it simply makes her more American than we ever realized.As wonderful as instant media technology is today, the most significant downfall is the ability to spread myths instantaneously to large audiences of people who are inclined to believe them. Looking at it one way, this is a problematic aspect of Betty’s history. Esther Jones still never got her due, and the owners of the Betty Boop trademark are still profiting from her.
The court dismissed the case, and Max Fleischer (Betty Boop’s creator) made this video as a very special little “fuck you” when all was said and done. It was revealed that Kane and her manager had been present during Jones’ performance before the “boop” stuff became a mainstay of Kane’s act. The performer herself also took notice of the similarities, and ended up suing the Betty Boop studio, Paramount, for $250,000 in 1934 on the grounds that the production house had unduly profited from her image.ĭuring the trial, however, some shocking testimony emerged: an African-American singer named Esther Jones had used words like “boo-boo-boo” and “doo-doo-doo” in songs during her act at a New York cabaret in 1928. She eventually became known as “The Boop-Boop-A-Doop Girl.”Īfter Betty Boop began to make a splash as a cultural icon, many saw her as a cartoon version of Kane.
The original betty boop full#
Kane was a popular singer in the 1920s with a signature song entitled “I Wanna Be Loved By You,” a song full of scat-singing (and the word “boop”). So why didn’t she get the credit for inspiring the character? Because by the time of the cartoon’s debut, Kane had already taken it for herself. Baby Esther, who came up with the famous line “boop boop-a-doop” and many other notable characteristics of Betty’s. Though jazz-era chanteuse Helen Kane is typically credited as the model for Betty Boop, it was actually a Harlem nightclub singer named Esther Jones, a.k.a.
This is a cartoon character with a lot to hide, after all. But as it turns out, that’s not even the most interesting secret fact of Betty Boop’s origin story. If you read the first post in our latest Medium collection dedicated to the new Woolly play COLLECTIVE RAGE: A PLAY IN FIVE BOOPS, you might’ve figured out that Betty Boop was originally a dog.