Betty Bup - the character of the cartoons drawn: history and interesting facts

The image of this retro-girl, coquettishly and simultaneously bashfully demonstrating her charms, can often be seen on various T-shirts, handbags and other accessories. Her image is used in advertising much more often than Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn. It's about the star of black and white cartoon films of the 30's - the inimitable Betty Boop (Betty Boop).

Who is Betty?

Huge sad eyes, tiny lips, surprised raised eyebrows and luxurious long legs, which she constantly stressed, wearing short skirts - that's exactly what one of the most popular cartoon characters looked like at the dawn of the development of this industry. The success of Betty Bup was incredible: the audience loved her no less than the live actors.

Today, many believe that Betty liked the audience only because of their magnificent forms and frank outfits. However, the contemporaries of this heroine adored her not only for this. An unusual manner of singing and an unusual childish voice helped her conquer the hearts of all. Subsequently, this image and many branded "chips" were copied by Marilyn Monroe and other kinodivami.

Prehistory of character appearance

Many will be surprised by the fact that initially cartoons were created for the adult audience. Only with the light hand of Walt Disney, they turned into a children's entertainment. Betty Boop is a cartoon character, owed his appearance to Max Fleischer. At first he specialized in drawing comics. However, later, together with his brothers, he opened his own animation studio, which produces animated films for adults.

It is the Fleischers that mankind owes to the appearance of many popular cartoon techniques, as well as the invention of karaoke. The leadership of the company "Paramount" quickly appreciated the cartoons Talkartoons, issued by the brothers, and signed a contract with them. Soon the Fleischer paintings began to appear constantly in theaters, where they enjoyed the love of the audience. Initially, their main character was the dog Bimbo, but soon everything changed.

Anonymous singer from cartoons Talkartoons

In 1930, in one of the series, Bimbo was a waiter and tried to take care of a charming singer who works in the same restaurant. The beloved of the protagonist really liked everyone and soon began to appear in all the cartoons, gradually pushing Bimbo.

By the way! At first, the long-legged sweetheart was ... a dog, only humanized, but in time she was portrayed as a girl. Appearance of the heroine reflected fashion in the female beauty of the 30's, but the style of singing was borrowed from the singer Helen Kane, popular in bohemian circles. One of the songs (That's My Weakness Now) in her performance contained the phrase: "Boop, boop, a doop", which became the crown for Betty, and also served her as a surname.

In 1931, the heroine finally turned into a man, and her dog ears transformed into earrings, which became an integral attribute of the character. In the Silly Scandals series, Bimbo's girlfriend finally got a name - Betty Bup. And from next year she became the heroine of a separate cycle of animated films Betty Boop. In general, there were 90 issues of this cartoon.

Betty Boop: sex symbol of the 30's

At first, Betty spoke and sang the voice of Annabelle Little. Later, she was voiced by several actresses, until Mae Cuestal appeared.

Thanks to her, the heroine found a pleasant timbre and a bewitching manner of singing, which won the hearts of Americans. In addition, Betty Boop's cartoons were different from other great music by the best jazz musicians of the time. Thanks to this, the heroine gradually turned into a "hot" jazz player, who was imitated by millions of spectators all over the country and abroad.

Beginning in 1932, the Fleechers intentionally focused on the charms of the main character. Despite the image of the sex symbol of the era, the owners of the studio watched to avoid crossing the line, and therefore, being an incredibly seductive beauty, remained a worthy girl Betty Bup.

The cartoon has gained such popularity that on its basis began to produce a comic. In addition, the image of Betty was actively used in advertising: dolls, clothes, perfumes and all kinds of accessories associated with her were produced.

Even the beginning of the Great Depression did not cast off the popularity of the heroine: despite the hard life, viewers continued to go to the cinema to look at their favorite.

In the same period, the popularity of the singer Helen Kane - one of the prototypes of Betty Bup - has declined. Therefore, she sued the brothers Fleischer, demanding to pay her a huge compensation for those times - a quarter of a million dollars. In her statement, Helen blamed Betty's creators for copying her image, as well as singing style while creating her character, which caused Kane himself huge losses. During the process, the Fleechers not only smashed all the arguments of the singer, but also made public the information that Kane herself had previously "borrowed" her crown song and manner of performance from the dark-haired singer of the 1920s Esther Jones.

Sunset popularity

In 1935, the notorious Hayes Code began to operate in Hollywood, which acted as a rigid censorship. Because of it, the creators of Betty Bup had to change the appearance of the heroine. Her bandage on her leg disappeared, the dresses became longer, and the cutouts were less open. Also the character of the girl was transformed. From a jazz singer and actress, looking for love and adventure, Betty turned into a housewife. In addition, the style of the cartoon has changed: instead of clockwork jazz rhythms, the luscious melodies of "a-la Disney" sounded in it, and surrealism, inspired by the works of Salvador Dali, disappeared.

As a result of all these transformations, the popularity of Betty Boop began to fall. The project and new characters were not saved - in 1939 it was closed.

Betty in the years to come

Despite the closure of Betty Boop, her image continued to influence the culture of the United States. In the 40's and 50's. Became famous for the style of pin-up, in many respects copying the most famous poses of Betty. Also in subsequent years in advertising often used the image of Betty Bup.

In the late 80's, this character again interested the audience, already as a retro. The pictures with the heroine began to decorate literally everything. On the wave of this, several color cartoons about Miss Bup were filmed, but they were inferior to the black and white original.

In 2004, a rather frank serial "Multraliti" appeared on the screens. One of his main characters, named Tootsie, was copied from Betty Bup.

Interesting Facts

• Betty's age is always 16 years old.
• At first, it was believed that by birth this heroine was Jewish. However, with the spread of fascist ideas, the biography of Bup has been corrected. Since 1936, Betty became a native American, whose ancestors conquered the Wild West.
• Of all the cartoons Betty Boop 30-ies. There was only one color, and in it the heroine was red.
• One of Marilyn Monroe's key songs - I Wanna Be Loved by You - was first performed by Helen Kane. In the 1985 cartoon, Betty sings it while performing at a restaurant.

"Betty Boop": a cartoon in Russian

At the peak of the popularity of Betty Boop in the USSR did not know anything about it. Only in the 80's and 90's domestic viewers were given the opportunity to get acquainted with this heroine. First of all, thanks to candy wrappers in Japanese and American chewing gum. Later, visitors to the video salons could see the cartoon "Betty Bup" in Russian. Reviews about this spectacle were the most enthusiastic, despite the disgusting translation, because the tapes were pirated. This was mainly due to the fact that the early domestic viewer was not familiar with such a spectacle.

At the moment, there is a professional translation of individual cartoon series into Russian, but it is rather superficial. Therefore, most Russian-speaking viewers look Betty Boop in the original, the good of the text there is not so much.

Today, Betty Bup symbolizes nostalgia for the distant past. Unfortunately, many cartoons with her participation have not yet been digitized, and the "Paramund" studio does not plan to do this. It remains to be hoped that they will change their policies and will make every effort to preserve these works of art for descendants, before it is too late.