Happy 1st of November everyone! I can't believe how fast this year is flying by! I was looking through some pics of adorable costumes last night and found one I loved...Betty Boop! It made me wonder about where Betty came from so I decided to find out and do a post about her!
"Betty is best remembered for her red-hot jazz baby persona. With a head like a giant peanut, vast mascara'd eyes, too-kissable lips, baby-doll voice (courtesy of singer Mae Questel), flattened marcelled hair, and mere threads of a dress exposing miles of hot flesh, she was the perfect celluloid sex toy." Betty was popular in a much different time. We have so many regulations about what can be put out there (even cartoons) that it is a wonder she survived in a conservative society. But, we do need to keep in mind that she was popular when gangsters, prohibition, and other illegal activities were prevalent.
"It wasn't just her flesh, though there was plenty of that; Betty practiced what her body preached. We see her frequently undressing and stealing kisses from clowns and cats and other indeterminate creatures, as well as a more humanish Prince Charming. Not that Betty didn't have her standards. When the fat circus master in Boop-Boop-a-Doop (1931) runs his hand up and down her exposed thighs, Betty recoils in disgust and sings a mock-lament to the sympathetic circus audience: "Please don't take my boop-boop-a-doop away." Now, what could she have meant by that? In Poor Cinderella (1934), dressed in her familiar teensy black bra and shredded skirt, she again bemoans the lack of sex — I mean, romance — in her life as she sings, "Always in the way... I can never play."
Betty was created by Max and Dave Fleischer, "arch-enemies of the Disney aesthetic and creators of the big-screen Popeye and Betty Boop." She was and still continues to be a "bad" girl. She is the cartoon version of a sexy pin up girl. No wonder she continues to be so popular! Here are some photos of Miss Boop...enjoy!
Date: Wed, 28
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