Betty Boop

Who doesn’t know Betty Boop? She is a darling little cartoon icon that originates from the 1930s and is still going strong alongside Goofy and all those characters.

However, there are always vibes going around her. That led me to believe that she was in fact a hooker? How strange that she would be a cartoon then. Especially since cartoons are perceived as entertainment for children. That is how they are categorized in the Netherlands for instance. I don’t agree with that categorization, but that is personal and a whole other story that I will write some other time.

When searching for the history of how she came to be I read that she was first introduced in 1930 by Grim Natwick who worked for Fleisher studios. A girlfriend for a cartoon pup called Bimbo. Betty Boop was a hybrid dog-girl that morphed into an actual girl within the first year of the series. Eat your heart out Pinocchio!. She appeared in stories where she constantly had to fight off men. There is talk of tying her up and dragging her to the bed with the words: I will have you!?! Horrific storyline if you ask me. But she managed to keep them off by getting rescued time and time again. This sounds like the kind of thing women are facing all the dang time. And because we are all raised in a world where the victims are to blame, I think it is remarkable that she survived all these attacks. She is in fact a feminist if you look at it like that.

I personally feel that it would be more helpful if cartoons would teach us all that it is not normal that men act upon their lust. But again, that is another story for me to write one day.

It also turns out that her appearance has been made less feminine and seductive after a sudden urge for higher morals. But she remained feminine nonetheless. Good for her! That is what im talking about with her being a feminist. Unapologetic female in her form. And yes, you can see a lot of other things in the cartoons that show us things that nowadays would be inappropriate like a cartoon where this strong woman is getting Native Americans to join a band. I haven’t actually seen the cartoon but it sounds like colonizing to me... I could be wrong...I hope I am. Keep hope alive right?!

I can also paste together why I would get the vibe that she was actually a hooker, what with a best friend named Bimbo and her shooting attackers off in a canon. That is what actually doing the research is good for in cases where you just go on vibes. But that is not where all the vibes were silenced.

It recently came to my attention that the real inspiration for Betty was a real-life Black Jazz singer named Ester Jones. The singer performed as Baby Ester in the well-known Cotton Club in Harlem in New York. She gained fame with her unique scatting style that also is known as Boop-boop-a-doop. See? This feels like puzzle piecing together, right?!? Now the hairstyle makes sense to me too. Although many other singers are named as possible inspirations. I can say that for me it is clear that Esther Jones was the true inspiration and the original very much and even literally whitewashed. It is said that Ester died at a young age and only really was famous in the city itself. But she was so inspiring that the main features and strength of her personality lives on in the world-famous character. However, why would the Betty Boop franchise never acknowledge Miss Jones as such and certainly never share the millions of dollars made with her essence?