“Boop Oop A Doop!” is the famous saying we all have heard! Betty Boop is a popular cartoon character introduced to the world by cartoonist Max Fleischer in 1930. Betty Boop is best known for her curvaceous figure, signature vocals, and unashamed sexuality. Betty Boop has gone on to be one of the most known iconic animated figures in the world. While there has been controversy around this lovable character throughout the years, one thing that is unfortunately not that well known about the big-eyed sex symbol and strong feminist was inspired by a real-life African American jazz singer and entertainer from Harlem named Esther Lee Jones. Her stage name was "Baby Esther", unfortunately, when her character became the first and most famous sex symbol in animation. Some say she was whitewashed, some say something equally as bad took place: being based off a white woman who earned her career by being inspired by black artists and pretending she created it, with being met in the middle by most having no idea where the original inspiration came from.
In the 1930s when Fleischer first created the character she went through quite the changes. First being depicted as a dog with floppy ears a small snout of a nose, and big cheeks her look continued to evolve through time keeping her big child-like head, big eyes, and small frame, still drawing an adult-like audience. Initially, Betty Boop was shown in cartoons as an African American woman. She appeared in at least one animated scene in the popular Popeye The Sailor Man series. But soon after, she was transformed into a white woman and remained so until her character was finally retired. She soon became known for her beloved catchphrases like “Boop-oop-a-doo!” She continued to grow her popularity as she starred in over 100+ cartoons that stood out in comparison to her contemporaries such as Minnie Mouse. Getting the credit she deserves at the height of her career, people could not get enough of her unique portrayal of women while the creator Max Fleischer was cashing in big.
Boop Vs. Boop. The one person who didn’t love this unforgettable character is Helen Kane. During this time she was going through financial hardships while she turned envoys of Fleischer's success with Betty Boop. It was common knowledge back then that the Betty Boop character was in some ways a parody of Kane's identity, such as her look to the way she sounded. Back then Betty Boop's famous catchphrase was inspired by Kane's boops. After a while envy grew more and Helen Kane sued Fleischer Studios in 1932. She claimed they allegedly stole her singing style and iconic catchphrase that Helen claimed she invented herself. This case was high profile and nobody thought it could go any further than people arguing about an animated character. Then it came to light that Helen Kane essentially stole a black singer's identity, Ester Jones. She was the originator of the image, sound, and boop-bops that Kane claimed was hers. Kane ultimately lost her $250,000 Infringement Lawsuit against the creators of Betty Boop in court because she couldn't prove that her singing style, mannerisms, and look were unique. Most flappers of the 1920s and 1930s, most notably Clara Bow, looked similar to Kane, she also was unable to prove that she originated the "Boop-Boop-a-Doop" scat singing, including the baby talk-singing style. In court, it came out that a galaxy of singers had used "scat rhythm" before she did, that the "baby talk" singing style was a common method of singing, and that the "baby talk" method of singing had been used since the early 1900s. In court it was proven that Helen Kane was not original and that she had adapted her "scat singing" from other performers (such as Esther Jones as well as other black artists at the time) and or other performers had preceded her in that style. After losing the lawsuit, Kane appealed her case and continued to pursue the Betty Boop character, and was later told by another Judge, that back then a voice, especially a voice that was not her own could not be copyrighted.
Esther Jones sang in the 1920s, her beautiful, unusual voice being a signature of the infamous Cotton Club in Harlem, New York. “Boop-oop-a-doo!”, she would say as she performed in her popular cabaret act in her flirtatious tone and her dark bob of hair fluttering. Her voice and scat phrases sound strikingly like Kane’s and, in turn, Betty Boop’s. That very same style was heavily imitated by the Betty Boop animated character. That was no coincidence. Kane had seen Jones perform in the Cotton Club in the late 1920s; Jones’s manager Lou Walton revealed that he had coached Jones on how to scat, the type of singing popularized by black musicians and singers like Louis Armstrong, and Jones herself, Walton said, repurposed scat techniques into boop-oop-a-doo. In the lawsuit, Fleischer, along with all of Betty Boop’s voice actresses, testified that the flapper was, ultimately, not based on Helen Kane but was rather a composite of many figures. The defense even brought out archival footage of Baby Esther singing, which had come from the earliest days of sound recording. It was the nail in Kane’s legal coffin. Baby Esther, it turned out as you guessed it, had invented Helen Kane, and, by extension, Betty Boop. Indeed, as jazz scholar Robert G. O’Meally wrote in the anthology Uptown Conversation: The New Jazz Studies, Betty Boop “had, as it were, a black grandmother in her background.” She, O’Meally added, “also had a black grandfather” in Armstrong.
It's estimated that the Betty Boop franchise generated millions of dollars in revenue from television networks and sales of merchandise. Meanwhile, the very woman who inspired the character, Baby Esther, was never compensated in any way never getting her respected dues. She never even really achieved mainstream success. During her entire career, she was mostly only known locally in the New York City area, and she reportedly died at a very young age. She is, however, mentioned in many documentaries and books about the Harlem Renaissance, and her legendary way of singing does live on in the iconic Betty Boop character.
Although Flesher Studios denies any allegations and credits several women to be the inspiration behind Betty Boop… I feel like it goes without saying Baby Ester is the grandmother to Betty Boop, the og if you would lmao. Everything that we grew to love about her such as her hair, the voice, the boopisms n scat like phrases were inspired by black women and flappers, black culture, and most importantly a talented black woman who was well respected by the elite black entertainers as well as other black entertainers. She was sharing her art before her image was unfortunately stolen. The same image that makes the Betty Boop empire millions to this day. Acknowledging that Jones isn’t the sole inspiration for Betty Boop shouldn’t diminish the spotlight we need to shine on black performers of the time, or the significance Betty Boop has for racism and the arts. Her scat singing wouldn’t exist without black performers, nor the music she sang to. In recent years, black women tattooing the image of Betty Boop, or getting the tattoo, makes a firm statement. Far from nodding to Esther Jones alone, the re-coloring of the character scrutinizes a history of erasure from the arts. It gives an image to black flappers of the time, who populated the Jazz Age, and enriched the Harlem Renaissance, yet never had their own cartoon flapper image charmingly misbehaving on screen and immortalized in animation, despite driving the culture that gave rise to Betty Boop in the first place. Meanwhile, Esther Jones should always be acknowledged as a star in her own right, Her story continues to be amplified by other poc+ and her audience. Giving credit where credit is due!
For Ester Jones.
XXX,
With Love VVV.
Some Betty Boop Facts I Adore.
if you know me you know red is my color! red is also my hair color and has been for the past 3 years! So finding out this fact was especially special to me knowing how much i adore her. Her alternative hair color is red, but hasn't been used since the 1930s, most notably Poor Cinderella. According to cartoon historian Leslie Cabarga, after his extensive research during the 1970s, he learned that Betty was originally a redhead. Way back in 1930 to 1931, Grim Natwick had already established a dog-like Betty with vivid red hair. This was the Fleischer Studios' first color film and Betty's only appearance in color during the Fleischer era.
Betty Boop was the very first fully human, and very fully-female, animated film character. In the beginning of Betty Boop, Myron Grim Natwick developed incredible skills to realistically draw and later animating the female form, a skill very few animators knew at the time. This later defined his career.
Betty Boop's suggestive and risqué behavior led to controversies, particularly with the introduction of the Hays Code, which imposed strict moral guidelines on films. As a result, her character was censored and her behavior became more subdued to comply with these regulations.
Boop Oop A Doop! Boop Contents That Helped Along!
The Real Betty Boop Was a Black Woman... Before She Was Whitewashed!
The Dark and SHADY History of Betty Boop
Evolution of BETTY BOOP - 90 Years Explained CARTOON EVOLUTION
No comments:
Post a Comment