Betty Boop

The roaring ’20s were epitomized by jazz, hedonism, and flappers. And among the most popular flappers was baby-voiced Helen Kane, she of the dark ringlet curls. The popular singer was performing at New York’s Paramount Theater when she ad-libbed “boop-boop-a-doop” into a song as a bawdy eyewink. Soon the entire country was boop-boop-a-dooping, and animator Max Fleischer took notice. In 1932, his company created Betty Boop, a baby-voiced flapper with dark ringlet curls. Kane sued Fleischer for $250,000, claiming he’d appropriated her likeness and her signature phrase. The judge, however, threw out the case after Fleischer pointed to Baby Esther, an African American flapper who had performed the same routine well before Kane. In fact, insisted Fleischer, Kane had stolen the act from her!