The Great Depression was one of the most traumatic periods in world history, especially for the United States. The Roaring Twenties were over, and long gone was the age where everything was possible. Flappers had fallen out of fashion. But if you were Betty Boop, this was your time. And the story of her origin actually goes back to an African-American Jazz singer called Baby Esther. Here’s how it went down.
Since her first appearance in 1930, Betty Boop was extremely well-known. We have all seen her round baby face, those big (somewhat droopy) eyes, her small nose, and her iconic black hair done coiffure style. We have seen her in black-and-white cartoons and modern color depictions that portray her big beautiful eyes and her dress either black or red, with a garter at mid-thigh. And we have heard her sing in her jazzy, high-pitched voice.
But Betty Boop is significant for many things. To begin with, she’s a female cartoon character in her own right and not the female version of a male character. Nowadays, she may seem like an innocent cartoon of a woman (or a young girl) wearing earrings and a dress. But back in the 1930s, when she was created, Betty Boop was something of a sex symbol. And she got her name from the “boop-oop-a-doop” that we so fondly associate with jazz. In fact, she first appeared on Max Fleischer’s “Talkartoon” as a jazz singer.
All of this, however, was too much of a coincidence for singer Helen Kane, who was not only certain that Max Fleischer had completely ripped her look off, but she actually sued him and his production company for exploiting her image. And you can totally see she had a point: Betty Boop had Kane’s hairdo, dress, and big green eyes. Also, their voices sounded too similar to be a coincidence. One of her arguments was precisely the “boop-oop-a-doop” lines she claimed to have coined, as well as the singing style.
Helen Kane. Photo:@waaaayyy_back
The joke was on her, though, because Fleischer’s defense totally exposed Kane by bringing in none other than Esther Jones, aka Baby Esther, an African-American jazz singer from the 1920s flapper culture who used to perform at The Cotton Club, perhaps the most famous jazz club of all time.
Esther Jones. Photo: @djksinEsther was nicknamed “Baby” for her singing style, which was high-pitched and melodious. The defense was then set on proving that Kane had appropriated or at least based much of her persona on Baby Esther’s act, and therefore had no claim over any part of Betty Boop’s style.
They provided evidence that Kane had repeatedly attended The Cotton Club when Jones performed during the 1920s and that Jones’s singing “boo boo boo” (which she had gotten from her manager) came weeks before Kane’s “boop-oop-a-doop.”
Jones’s style is what ultimately inspired Betty Boop’s trademark look and singing style, even if it was via Helen Kane. This is what a garnered Esther Jones her nickname: Betty Boop’s black grandmother.
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