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Betty Boop

Betty Boop from the opening title sequence of the earliest entries in the Betty Boop Cartoons.

Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character appearing in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop series of films produced by Max Fleischer and released by Paramount Pictures. With her overt sexuality, Betty was a hit with theater-goers, and despite having been toned down in the 1930s, she remains popular today for this portrayal of sexuality.

Betty Boop first appearance, opposite Bimbo, in Dizzy Dishes (1930).



History

Early years

Betty Boop made her first appearance on August 9, 1930 in the cartoon Dizzy Dishes, the sixth installment in Fleischer's Talkartoon series. She was little like her soon-to-be-famous self, however. Grim Natwick, a veteran animator of both Walt Disney's and Ub Iwerks' studios, was largely responsible for creating the character, which he modeled on Helen Kane, a famous singer, who also performed as an actress at Paramount Pictures, the studio that distributed Fleischer's cartoons. In keeping with common practice, Natwick made his new character an animal, in this case, a French poodle. Beginning with this cartoon, the character's voice was performed by several different voice actresses until Mae Questel got the role, in 1931, and kept it for the rest of the series.

Natwick himself later conceded that Betty's original look was quite ugly. The animator redesigned her in 1932 to be recognizably human in the cartoon Any Rags. Her floppy poodle ears became hoop earrings, and her poodle fur became a bob haircut. She appeared in ten cartoons as a supporting character, a flapper girl with more heart than brains. In individual cartoons she was called "Nancy Lee" and "Nan McGrew". She usually served as studio star Bimbo's girlfriend. Although the Screen Songs cartoon Betty Coed referred to the character as Betty in 1931, she was not officially christened "Betty Boop" until the 1932 short Stopping the Show that same year. This was also the first cartoon to be officially part of the Betty Boop series and not a Talkartoon.

Betty Boop and Bimbo in Minnie the Moocher (1932).

Betty as sex symbol

Betty's development was still incomplete, however. Max Fleischer's brother, Dave, further altered the character, making her sexier and more feminine. Betty's famous personality finally came into play in the 1932 short, Minnie the Moocher, to which Cab Calloway and his orchestra lent their talents. In the film, Betty runs away from home only to get lost with costar Bimbo in a cave haunted by a walrus (rotoscoped from Calloway). The ghost's scary musical number impels Betty to flee back to the safety of home.

Betty Boop is noteworthy for being the first cartoon character to fully represent a sexual woman. Other female characters of the same period showed their panties regularly, like Minnie Mouse, but didn't have a full caricature of a woman's form. Betty Boop, however, reveled in her sexuality. She wore short dresses and a garter belt. Her breasts were prominent, and she showed her cleavage. In her cartoons, other characters try to sneak peeks at her while she's changing. In Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle, she does the hula wearing only a lei and a grass skirt, a bit she repeated in her cameo appearance in the first Popeye cartoon.

Nevertheless, the animators made sure to keep the character "pure" and girl-like (officially, she was only 16 years old). As Betty tells Koko the Clown in the film Boop-Oop-A-Doop after being threatened by a salacious ringmaster, "He couldn't take my boop-oop-a-doop away!"

Her cartoons also stood out from the competition due to their upbeat jazz soundtracks. In addition to three cartoons with soundtracks by Cab Calloway, guest bands for Betty Boop cartoons included the bands of Louis Armstrong, Rudy Vallee, and Don Redman. Ethel Merman appeared in a few shorts as a guest performer.

The adult sensibilities of Betty's cartoons made her a hit, and a wave of merchandising soon swept the world. Meanwhile, Helen Kane, who had inspired the character in 1930, sued the Fleischer studio in 1934 for allegedly stealing her trademark look, dancing and singing style, and catchphrase. Kane lost the suit (and her boop-oop-a-doop) when the Fleischers proved that the phrase had been used by other performers before Kane.

The Hayes Code-safe Betty appears with comic strip character Henry in Betty Boop with Henry, the Funiest Living American (1935).

Betty tamed

In the end, Betty's heightened sexuality would spell her doom. The Production Code censorship laws enforced beginning in 1934 forced her to wear a longer skirt and less revealing neckline. Betty was no longer a flapper; she was a husbandless housewife with a little dog named Pudgy. The animators struggled to keep Betty's cartoons interesting by pairing her with popular comic strip characters, but none of these films were very successful (though one such pairing did propel Popeye into stardom of his own). Betty's cartoon career came to an end, at least temporarily, in 1939.

Betty today

Betty Boop's films would reach audiences once again when they were placed into syndication on television in the 1950s by U.M.&M. T.V. Corp. and later National Telefilm Associates (NTA). U.M.&M. and NTA altered the Paramount openings, removing the Paramount logo from the opening and closing. However, the mountain part of the logo remains on television prints, usually with a U.M.&M. copyright, but some prints contain Paramount-Publix bylines.

She also gained exposure in the 1960s counterculture movement. NTA capitalized on this and bought the rights to her shorts to colorize and re-air them on TV as The Betty Boop Show. There was controversy surrounding NTA's colorization since, as Turner Entertainment later did with Fleischer's Popeye the Sailor, the cartoons were not colorized by computer, but traced by artists in Korea who skipped drawings and simplified movements, using limited animation in place of Fleischer's full animation.

Ivy Films put together a movie of some of Betty's better shorts called The Betty Boop Scandals of 1974 which saw some limited success. NTA later released another compilation movie, Hurray for Betty Boop in 1980. Marketers rediscovered Betty Boop in the 1980s as well, and merchandise featuring the character (in her earlier, sexier form) is now widely available.

In 1988, Betty appeared for the first time in years, with a cameo in the Academy Award-winning film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. It was widely reported that the animators had slipped in one frame of Betty nude, invisible to the audience, of course. If such a frame existed, it was replaced by a conventional frame once the movie came out on home video.

The Betty Boop series continues to be a favorite of many critics, and the 1933 film Snow White was selected for preservation by the U.S. Library of Congress in the National Film Registry in 1994. Betty Boop's popularity persists as well, and references to the character appear in such wide-ranging places as the comic strip Doonesbury, where the character B.D.'s busty girlfriend/wife is named "Boopsie", and the animated reality TV Spoof Drawn Together, where Betty is the inspiration for Toot Braunstein. A Betty Boop musical is due to be produced on Broadway, with music by Andrew Lippa. There are currently 22 Betty Boop cartoons in the Public Domain available at the Internet Archive.

References

  • Solomon, Charles (1994): The History of Animation: Enchanted Drawings. Outlet Books Company.

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There are currently 22 Betty Boop cartoons in the Public Domain available at the Internet Archive. (The same happened later to many Slav people, whence the word slave.). A Betty Boop musical is due to be produced on Broadway, with music by Andrew Lippa. In the dispersal, many Boii may have become slaves or servants, and their name became a word for "servant". Betty Boop's popularity persists as well, and references to the character appear in such wide-ranging places as the comic strip Doonesbury, where the character B.D.'s busty girlfriend/wife is named "Boopsie", and the animated reality TV Spoof Drawn Together, where Betty is the inspiration for Toot Braunstein. If so, the word may have originated from the Celtic tribe called the Boii, who formerly lived in Bohemia but were driven out by the Marcomanni German tribe taking the area over in Roman times. Library of Congress in the National Film Registry in 1994. But there is a theory that English "boy" derives from an Anglo-Saxon word *boia = "boy or servant", thus explaining the English placenames Boyton and Boycott.

The Betty Boop series continues to be a favorite of many critics, and the 1933 film Snow White was selected for preservation by the U.S. These apparently all have their origin in baby talk (like the word baby itself) (Buck 1949: 89). If such a frame existed, it was replaced by a conventional frame once the movie came out on home video. The origin of the English word boy is unclear; it is probably related to East Frisian boi, Old Norse bófi, Dutch boef "knave, rogue", and German Bube. It was widely reported that the animators had slipped in one frame of Betty nude, invisible to the audience, of course. The best idea is to use extreme caution and be thoroughly aware of the semantics behind either option, one may be offended accidentally by another who holds a different view of these words. In 1988, Betty appeared for the first time in years, with a cameo in the Academy Award-winning film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The words, "man/boy" and "woman/girl" seem to cause much confusion in society.

Marketers rediscovered Betty Boop in the 1980s as well, and merchandise featuring the character (in her earlier, sexier form) is now widely available. and South Africa, "boy" was used as a disparaging, racist insult towards a black male slave. NTA later released another compilation movie, Hurray for Betty Boop in 1980. Historically, in countries such as the U.S. Ivy Films put together a movie of some of Betty's better shorts called The Betty Boop Scandals of 1974 which saw some limited success. In the UK, football managers quite often refer to footballers as "The boy so-and-so" and this usage is by no means restricted to the youngest players, though it is rarely applied to the most senior. There was controversy surrounding NTA's colorization since, as Turner Entertainment later did with Fleischer's Popeye the Sailor, the cartoons were not colorized by computer, but traced by artists in Korea who skipped drawings and simplified movements, using limited animation in place of Fleischer's full animation. Conversely, it may feel uncomfortable to a male to be called a "boy" if he believes he has assumed the traditional roles of a "man.".

NTA capitalized on this and bought the rights to her shorts to colorize and re-air them on TV as The Betty Boop Show. It may feel uncomfortable to a young male upon being referred to as a "man" before he believes he has assumed these roles, such as having a career, a family, a wife, and fathering children. She also gained exposure in the 1960s counterculture movement. A young man who has not assumed (or has been denied) the traditional roles of a man might also be called a boy. copyright, but some prints contain Paramount-Publix bylines. A man's group of male friends are often "the boys". However, the mountain part of the logo remains on television prints, usually with a U.M.&M. A man or woman will refer to a boyfriend in one or two words regardless of age.

and NTA altered the Paramount openings, removing the Paramount logo from the opening and closing. Many occasions occur when an adult male could be referred to as a boy. U.M.&M. . and later National Telefilm Associates (NTA). In the Royal Navy there is a rank "ship's boy". Corp. No gender specific term exists for an intermediate stage between a boy and a man, except "young man".

T.V. In English, a youth or a teenager may be either male or female. Betty Boop's films would reach audiences once again when they were placed into syndication on television in the 1950s by U.M.&M. The boundary is not clear cut. Betty's cartoon career came to an end, at least temporarily, in 1939. An adult male human is a man. The animators struggled to keep Betty's cartoons interesting by pairing her with popular comic strip characters, but none of these films were very successful (though one such pairing did propel Popeye into stardom of his own). The term "boy" is used to indicate biological sex distinctions, cultural gender role distinctions, or both.

Betty was no longer a flapper; she was a husbandless housewife with a little dog named Pudgy. A boy is a male human child or adolescent, as contrasted to a female child, which is a girl. The Production Code censorship laws enforced beginning in 1934 forced her to wear a longer skirt and less revealing neckline. In the end, Betty's heightened sexuality would spell her doom. Kane lost the suit (and her boop-oop-a-doop) when the Fleischers proved that the phrase had been used by other performers before Kane.

Meanwhile, Helen Kane, who had inspired the character in 1930, sued the Fleischer studio in 1934 for allegedly stealing her trademark look, dancing and singing style, and catchphrase. The adult sensibilities of Betty's cartoons made her a hit, and a wave of merchandising soon swept the world. Ethel Merman appeared in a few shorts as a guest performer. In addition to three cartoons with soundtracks by Cab Calloway, guest bands for Betty Boop cartoons included the bands of Louis Armstrong, Rudy Vallee, and Don Redman.

Her cartoons also stood out from the competition due to their upbeat jazz soundtracks. As Betty tells Koko the Clown in the film Boop-Oop-A-Doop after being threatened by a salacious ringmaster, "He couldn't take my boop-oop-a-doop away!". Nevertheless, the animators made sure to keep the character "pure" and girl-like (officially, she was only 16 years old). In Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle, she does the hula wearing only a lei and a grass skirt, a bit she repeated in her cameo appearance in the first Popeye cartoon.

In her cartoons, other characters try to sneak peeks at her while she's changing. Her breasts were prominent, and she showed her cleavage. She wore short dresses and a garter belt. Betty Boop, however, reveled in her sexuality.

Other female characters of the same period showed their panties regularly, like Minnie Mouse, but didn't have a full caricature of a woman's form. Betty Boop is noteworthy for being the first cartoon character to fully represent a sexual woman. The ghost's scary musical number impels Betty to flee back to the safety of home. In the film, Betty runs away from home only to get lost with costar Bimbo in a cave haunted by a walrus (rotoscoped from Calloway).

Betty's famous personality finally came into play in the 1932 short, Minnie the Moocher, to which Cab Calloway and his orchestra lent their talents. Max Fleischer's brother, Dave, further altered the character, making her sexier and more feminine. Betty's development was still incomplete, however. This was also the first cartoon to be officially part of the Betty Boop series and not a Talkartoon.

Although the Screen Songs cartoon Betty Coed referred to the character as Betty in 1931, she was not officially christened "Betty Boop" until the 1932 short Stopping the Show that same year. She usually served as studio star Bimbo's girlfriend. In individual cartoons she was called "Nancy Lee" and "Nan McGrew". She appeared in ten cartoons as a supporting character, a flapper girl with more heart than brains.

Her floppy poodle ears became hoop earrings, and her poodle fur became a bob haircut. The animator redesigned her in 1932 to be recognizably human in the cartoon Any Rags. Natwick himself later conceded that Betty's original look was quite ugly. Beginning with this cartoon, the character's voice was performed by several different voice actresses until Mae Questel got the role, in 1931, and kept it for the rest of the series.

In keeping with common practice, Natwick made his new character an animal, in this case, a French poodle. Grim Natwick, a veteran animator of both Walt Disney's and Ub Iwerks' studios, was largely responsible for creating the character, which he modeled on Helen Kane, a famous singer, who also performed as an actress at Paramount Pictures, the studio that distributed Fleischer's cartoons. She was little like her soon-to-be-famous self, however. Betty Boop made her first appearance on August 9, 1930 in the cartoon Dizzy Dishes, the sixth installment in Fleischer's Talkartoon series.

.
.
. With her overt sexuality, Betty was a hit with theater-goers, and despite having been toned down in the 1930s, she remains popular today for this portrayal of sexuality.

Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character appearing in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop series of films produced by Max Fleischer and released by Paramount Pictures. Outlet Books Company. Solomon, Charles (1994): The History of Animation: Enchanted Drawings.