Bumper stickers, magnets, dolls, and figurines serve as testaments to her revolutionary influence. Today Betty Boop is still looked upon as a hero and legend of animation history. The vocal artist, who in reality looked similar to Boop, famously lent her voice to another Fleischer production, Popeye the Sailor, in which she played Olive Oyl. Actress Mae Questel, who played the role from 1931 until her death in 1998, was the talent behind the coquettish squeak that was synonymous with BoopвЂ™s character.

Throughout all of BoopвЂ™s reinventions, one quality remained the same-her voice. This new incarnation eventually led to her downfall, as her popularity had been deeply rooted in her role as a sexualized, liberated character, titillating for men and inspiring to women. Her hemline extended and ample bosom covered up, Boop took on a more innocent persona. The singer, disgruntled at having an animated doppelgГ¤nger steal her spotlight, would later file a $250,000 lawsuit against Fleischer Studios.Д«oopвЂ™s second transformation came in 1935 with the enactment of the Hays Code, which established strict censorship rules for film and television. Her new appearance-short, dark, tightly curled hair, wide eyes, and a voluptuous figure-resembled a popular star of the time, Helen Kane. Jazz orchestras, led by Louis Armstrong and Cab Calloway, gave added value to the deceptively simple black-and-white cartoons.ДЄs Boop gained popularity among moviegoers, her physical appearance was progressively transformed: first her puppy ears were replaced by gold hoops, which fully humanized the character. In 1932, Fleischer began incorporating famous musicians into the films, to increase the magnetism already drawing audiences to the theater in droves. Whether traveling the world, running away from home, or simply teasing her male admirers, Betty Boop never failed to entertain in her less-than-10-minute features.

Her emergence as a sexy, curvaceous flapper in a cabaret club was fresh and exhilarating for the screen, which previously had been populated mostly by androgynous female characters with the sex appeal of a wet mop. At the time, Betty was an anthropomorphic dog with an eye-popping figure in the FleischerвЂ™s Talkartoon series. The production company, whose only real competition was Walt Disney Studios, had wide appeal in the 1920s. Grim Natwick, an illustrator at Fleischer Studios, introduced the sizzling cartoon character in a six-minute short in the fall of 1930. That was the moment the world was introduced to the one and only Boop. вЂњBoop-oop-a-doop,вЂќ squeaks the singer, wearing thigh highs and a little black dress. He rushes out to deliver a plate to one particularly hungry patron, only to be stopped dead in his tracks by the sight of the scantily clad stunner crooning from the stage. In Dizzy Dishes, a cartoon chef busily prepares meals in the kitchen of a cabaret club. Eagerly seeking out a distraction from the harsh realities of the real world, audiences clamored for animator Max FleischerвЂ™s carefree, alluring new cartoon character-Betty Boop.ДЇor her first on-air appearance, she was not the star of the show, but merely an extra.

The Great Depression had settled upon America. When the stock market crashed in 1929, there was no such thing as a golden parachute the economy was all but dead, the housing market had collapsed, and the spirits of the people were desperately low.

Betty boop drawing