The world still has a love affair with Betty Boop.
The animators at Fleischer Studios gave her the common touch. Often set in Depression-era New York City, Betty's cartoons transported adult movie-goers to surreal places where the characters were chased by nightmarish but where everything turned out all right in the end. Decades later, she still endures.
Test your knowledge with this list of little known information about Betty Boop. We bet there are some facts that you just may not have known!!!
100 Facts About Betty Boop
1. Betty Boop's first cartoon appearance was in the 1930 short, 'Dizzy Dishes as a caricature of Helen Kane.
2. In her first cartoon appearance, Betty Boop, was a dog character with long floppy ears and great legs.
3. Betty Boop was first seen in human form in the cartoon short 'Any Rags'.
4. Betty Boop has starred in more than 100 cartoons.
5. While known for cartoons, Betty Boop also appeared in two comic strips, a radio show, and two network animated musical specials.
6. In the 1930s, Betty Boop was criticized for being too sexy.
7. In 1933, the famous garter disappeared, but the public's demand brought it back.
8. "Betty Boop's Hollywood Mystery," a second animated musical special, was televised by CBS in 1989.
9. Today there are 250 companies manufacturing Betty Boop licensed products in the United States and nearly as many abroad.
10. Great musical stars including Maurice Chevalier, Rudy Vale, Ethel Merman, Louis Armstrong, and Cab Calloway, were showcased in Betty Boop's cartoons.
11. In the 1988 production of 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit,' Betty Boop was the only character not shown in color.
12. "Betty Boop Confidential,' a critically acclaimed feature-length cartoon retrospective, featured a collection of 11 Fleischer cartoons restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
13. Betty Boop's voice was occasionally performed by Annabel Little aka Little Ann Little, Margie Heinz (Margie Hines), Kate Wright and Bonnie Poe.
14. Betty Boop's signature voice - Mae Questel - was also the talent for Olive Oyl and Little Audrey.
15. A wave of puritanical attacks and a costly strike in 1938 led to the end of Betty Boop Cartoons in 1939 with 'Yip. Yip. Yippy!
16. 'Riding the Rails' (1938) was nominated for an Oscar.
17. Betty Boop appeared in her underwear In 'Silly Scandals' (1931) and 'Poor Cinderella' (1934), more than three decades before Madonna was even born.
18. Betty Boop coyly pulled her skirt down and it popped back up again in 'Barnacle Bill'.
19. In Betty Boop cartoons, each second of film is comprised of 24 frames.
20. Long before Marilyn Monroe's dress was blowing in the wind. Betty Boop's dress made this statement in 'Betty Boop's Ups and Downs (1932).
21. Bimbo's appearance changed in almost every one of the Talkartoons: he was a while dog in certain cartoons and black in others.
22. Betty Boop had no name, or different names, until she appeared in 'Betty Coed'.
23. Berry Boop always wore her garter on her left leg.
24. Betty Boop 'ran for President" in 1980, sponsored by a group of bemused businessmen headed by Alan Abel. BWs platform was a good-natured poke at the election year pomposity. Her slogan? 'Don't be a poop. Vote for Boop!".
25. The secret sign of the Betty Boop & Bimbo Club was to put both hands over the eyes and then over the mouth, meaning 'Keep your eyes open and your mouth closed.'
26. Betty Boop was born in New York City - the home of Fleischer Studios at 1600 Broadway.
27. In the 1970s. NTA Films colorized one hundred Betty Boop films to color to satisfy a television cartoon audience.
28. By 1934, the talking animals that had been Betty Boop's playmates were eliminated from the series. From then on, her only animal pals were silent pets.
29. Betty Boop was America's first multi-talented female cartoon star, performing in drama, music, comedy, and fairy tales.
30. "Betty Boop" is one of four All American Rose Selections winners that will make their appearance in flower gardens in 1999.An enchanting floribunda rose, "Betty Boop" sports ivory-yellow flowers with a red edge and deep green leaves.
31. The Betty Boopers, a new recording and performing act based on the classic character and featuring four Betty Boop look-alikes, is being produced by Beso Entertainment Studios of New York City and Los Angeles.
32. The book, ‘Betty Boop's Sunday Page: The Complete Color Comics, 1934-1936' chronicles her short time on the funny pages.
33. To commemorate Betty Boop's 65th anniversary in 1995, the 'Betty Boop Confidential' retrospective toured 20 cities in the United States, culminating in a special screening at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Hollywood.
34. There is an annual Betty Boop festival. featuring look-alike and tattoo contests.
36. Betty Boop is the only female cartoon to be considered a true movie star.
36. Berry Boop was created by famed animator Max Fleischer.
37. Most of the naughty little frames the animators snuck into Betty Boop's films were eliminated when the cartoons were televised.
38. Betty Boop's popularity is worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and South America.
39. Betty Boop was one of a handful of legendary glamorous female stars saluted in a line of clothing by designer Bob Mackie.
40. A fragrance called “Betty Boop" was created by Parfums Paris Hollywood.
41. Betty Boop has been in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on several occasions.
42. 'Snow White,' a Betty Boop Short, was produced years before the Disney feature of the same name and has been chosen for preservation by the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.
43. Before the censors tamed her down, Betty Boop's sexy silhouette was often revealed in films when she passed In front of a light source.
45. Betty Boop was a redhead in “Poor Cinderella” (1934), although her original hair color is black.
46. “In may ways, Betty Boop was the first truly feminine animated character”' says Charles Solomon in 'Enchanted Drawing: The History of Animation'.
47. Betty Boop's Definitive Library totals more than 13 hours of Boop viewing.
48. More than a million frames of the animator's art exist for Betty Boop.
49. Betty Boop was made into toys and dolls in the 1930s.
50. 'B" Boop and Friends,' a newspaper strip, was distributed in the 1980s.
51. Today, Betty Boop is the spokes-toon for the 'Adopt-A-Cartoon' Animation Preservation Project devoted to the preservation of pre-1950 cartoons.
52. The average length of a Betty Boop cartoon is six to eight minutes.
53. Betty Boop's theme song was first used in 1932.
54. Warner Bros, Intl. Television Production has inked a deal with Fleischer Studios to create 26 half-hour, of 'Betty Boop’s Misguided Tours,' an animated series for television.
65. Betty Boop's world tour includes a guest spot on NBC’s 'Today' with Willard Scott and appearances in the London Now YWS Parade and the Christmas Parade in Hong Kong.
56. Betty Boop is the only female cartoon star who is not a foil for a male. She’s an independent woman who once said "I can do anything a man can do.”
57. Betty Boop built her reputation and popularity in theatres, mostly for adult audiences.
58. Betty Boop was one of the first cartoons with a sound track.
59. At live Betty Boop performances, artist Pauline Comanor drew Betty Boop and gave the drawings to audience members.
60. The Hays Office of the Motion Picture Producer’s and Distributor’s Code, the forerunner of today's ratings system, finally succeeded in raising Betty’s daring necklines and lowering her hemlines to near-primness after 1935.
61, Betty Boop's only color cartoon was 'Poor Cinderella' (1934).
62. The exposure Betty Boop shorts afforded African American jazz performers such as Louie Armstrong and Cab Calloway helped popularize the nascent American art form during the 1930s.
63. In 'Stopping the Show,' Betty Boop impersonated Helen Kane,Maurice Chevalier, Fanny Brice, and Jimmy Durante.
64. Betty Boop's boyfriend, Fearless Fred, was introduced in 1935.
65. Max Fleischer, Betty Boop's creator, was born In Vienna in 1889 and died in
California in 1972.
66. ‘The Romance of Betty Boop' an animated musical special, was televised by CBS in 1985.
68. Popeye danced the hula with Betty Boop in his first appearance in a Betty Boop short entitled 'Popeye the Sailor'.
69. Betty Boop cartoons ran from 1930 to 1939.
70. Because Disney had exclusive use of the Technicolor three-color process, Betty Boop creators were forced to use Cinecolor, a two-color process.
71, A 1984 song by Van Halen refers to Berry Boop as a sexual ideal.
72. By 1934, the Betty Boop image was licensed for use on merchandise.
73, Betty Boop’s image appeared in a montage of desirable feminine icons in a
Rolling Stones tour.
74. Betty Boop plays a starring role at the MGM Grand Hotel, Casino, and Theme Park, and at Universal Studios.
75. In the Betty Boop comic strip, Betty appeared to be stiff and hardly changed positions. This was in fact because the artist used Photostats of Betty to paste up instead of drawing her.
76. Used cars were sold at Betty Boop's Cam a dealer just outside Los Angeles.
77 Betty Boop cartoons were among the first theatrical shorts repackaged for TV syndication.
78. Betty Boop continues to turn up on popular television shows, including "Murphy Brown' and 'Beverly Hills 90210.'
79. Betty Boop memorabilia is known as Boopabilia.
80. Betty Boop was featured in the first cartoon to achieve realistic, life-like quality, using the rotoscope, invented by the Fleischers.
81. There are several official Betty Boop Fan Clubs.
82. A multitude of fans have visited the Betty Boop Web site and there are more than 100,000 entries relating to Betty Boop on America Online.
83. In 'The Bum Bandit' (1931), Betty Boop's nose changes from black to white in
the same cartoon.
84. Betty Boop was the first cartoon star ever to be profiled on A & E's acclaimed
'Biography' series.
85. According to the Guinness Book of World Records. Betty Boop herself led the world's largest choreographed tap dance routing.
86. The daily Betty Boop comic strip ran for one year (1934-35), The Sunday strip
continued until 1937.
87. Bimbo's appearance changed in almost every one of the early Talkatoons in which he starred.
88. Bimbo's voice varied from cartoon to cartoon. For the most part, his voice was deeper, more human, than the squeaky Mickey Mouse.
89. Cab Calloway and his Orchestra appeared in 'Minnie The Moocher’ (1932). Mr.Calloway himself appeared later in the cartoon as a dancing, singing ghost walrus.
90. Betty Boop fans are called Boopaholics.
91. The 'Betty Boop: The Definitive Collection' home video collection unites - for the first time – all the Betty Boop cartoons.
92. Betty Boop's eyelashes appear with six lashes above and five below on close-ups. and with five above and four below on long shots.
93. Before Betty Boop was officially named Betty Boop, she was known as Nancy Lee (in 'Barnacle Bill').
94. Betty Boop did not become a regular in the Talkatoons until Bimbo’s Initiation' (1931).
95. Betty Boop played the parts of an Indian Princess,and a queen of a masquerade
ball, and a singer.
96. The 'Betty Boop' name became connected with her character in 'Betty Coed' (1931).
97. Fleischer Studios copyrighted the 'Betty' name before completing the name with ‘Boop'.
98. '" Coed" was one of the 'Screen Songs Cartoons' - the successor to the old 'Ko-Ko
Song Cartunes' - which revived the bouncing ball for sound audiences.
99. Two of Betty Boop inventions were the tape recorder and a spot remover. The tape recorder was a box with a mouse in it. The spot remover removed spots plus the materials on which they appeared.
100. The first person the draw Betty Boop was artist Grim Natwick, he is sometimes credited as creating Betty Boop.