BETTY BOOP
They might have drawn Betty Boop in white, but her history is black. The character was actually stolen from Cotton Club singer Esther Jones — known by her stage name “Baby Esther” and the baby talk she used when she sang songs like “I Wanna Be Loved By You (Boop- Boop-BeDoo). Her act later “inspired” cartoonist Max Fleischer to create the character Betty Boop and Esther tried to win the rights back to her character until the day she died.
Esther Jones, a black Cotton Club singer, was the real Betty Boop
Esther Lee Jones (Baby Esther), born in 1919, was a child entertainer who lived in Chicago, Illinois. She was managed by her mother and father, Gertrude and William Jones. Esther was a trained scat singer, dancer, and acrobat who used to perform regularly at nightclubs in Harlem and all over the United States in the early 1920s. In her act Baby Esther would dance, make funny faces, roll her eyes and interpolated words such as “Boo-Boo-Boo”, “Wha-Da-Da”, “Doo-Doo-Doo” & “Do-Do-De-Do-Ho-De-Wa-Da-De-Da,” “Boo-Did-Do-Doo,” “Lo-Di-De-Do,” and would finish off her routine with a “De-Do”.
Lou Bolton, a Russian-American theatre manager, saw her perform and booked her for performances in New York, Chicago, Toronto, and other cities before taking her to Europe. Esther Jones’ first appearance was at the Moulin Rouge. In Paris, Esther was known as the “Miniature Josephine Baker”. Audiences raved over her and the Parisian newspapers gave much space to her. Vu, leading illustrated weekly, devoted the entire front cover to her picture and a full page in the interior.
Esther continued to tour Europe and became the highest-paid child artist in the world. While touring Europe she delighted audiences including royalty. In Spain, she played for King Alphonso and Queen Victoria. In Sweden, King Gustave and the Queen came to the theater especially to see her. When Esther returned to the United States she continued touring and danced for Cab Calloway and his Orchestra as one of his Sepia Dancers at his club in New York. From 1933 to 1934, Esther appeared in Helena Justa’s Harlem Maniacs revue.
The iconic cartoon character Betty Boop was inspired by a Black jazz singer in Harlem. Introduced by cartoonist Max Fleischer in 1930, the caricature of the jazz age flapper was the first and most famous sex symbol in animation. Betty Boop is best known for her revealing dress, curvaceous figure, and signature vocals “Boop Oop A Doop!” While there has been controversy over the years, the inspiration has been traced back to Esther Jones who was known as “Baby Esther” and performed regularly in the Cotton Club during the 1920s.
Baby Esther’s trademark vocal style of using “boops” and other childlike scat sounds attracted the attention of actress Helen Kane during a performance in the late 1920s. After seeing Baby Esther, Helen Kane adopted her style and began using “boops” in her songs as well. Finding fame early on, Helen Kane often included this “baby style” into her music. When Betty Boop was introduced, Kane promptly sued Fleischer and Paramount Publix Corporation stating they were using her image and style. However video evidence came to light of Baby Esther performing in a nightclub and the courts ruled against Helen Kane stating she did not have exclusive rights to the “booping” style or image, and that the style, in fact, pre-dated her.
Baby Esther’s “baby style” did little to bring her mainstream fame and she died in relative obscurity but a piece of her lives on in the iconic character Betty Boop.
She died in 1984 in New York City from liver and kidney complications.
Source PBS
June 23, 2016