Was Betty Boop Really Black? Check out the story of Esther Jones AKA Lil Esther

[@JJW77]

Thanks for bringing Esther Jones to our attention. You are a terrific historian and storyteller!

[@blackhistory767]

Thank you’

[@blackhistory767]

Thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed the lecture!

[@Qualia.]

Thank you for this information. This is my first time hearing of Lil' Esther.

[@reneedennis2011]

Thank you for telling us her story. The 1920s Channel did a video about her, too.

[@johnnytorres398]

Since Max Fleisher later admitted that The Betty Boop character came out fo multiple female personalities including Lil' Esther and later Hellen Kane, it is logical to conclude from an observational point, that Betty Boop was created with the original personality of Lil' Esther and the looks of Hellen Kane........ That fact is obvious by looking at Hellen Kane and listening to Lil' Esther..... Betty Boop was a combination of both!

[@depthsofmysoul7873]

Lies. Fleischer studios website said "There is no evidence to support that Helen Kane copied Baby Esther." They also acknowledged that Helen's acts were too mature and sexual for baby Esther. Furthermore, The creator, Grim Natwick, already said Betty was based on Helen Kane. Also, lil Esther Phillips IS NOT baby Esther Jones😮‍💨 m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/nqSyoqRqgcaAbdU&pp=ygUUV2hvIG1vZGVsIGJldHR5IGJvb3A%3D

[@jewellgillette1243]

They always try to say Betty Boop of a white woman and Lil Esther... but I believe it was solely based on Lil Esther since we know them folk will come downtown and take back uptown what they learned downtown...

[@kiajulian4619]

This isn't true. Fleischer told his artists to create a *composite flapper character... but if they *did need a template...that they should use Helen Kane... a white singer and one of the first and most famous boop a doopers for a model.

[@kiajulian4619]

Fake story tho ...the model for Betty Boop wasn't Black. 😢

[@QuianaMonique]

@@kiajulian4619 Helen Kane filed a lawsuit against Fleischer and Paramount Pictures, claiming that Betty Boop was a deliberate caricature of her "baby vamp" persona. She alleged that Betty Boop copied her voice, looks, mannerisms, and scat-singing style, including the word "boop." However, the court ruled that Kane COULD NOT assert ownership of Betty Boop or her attributes, as they were NOT uniquely hers and DID NOT qualify as her intellectual property. The court also pointed out that BLACK performers like Gertrude Saunders, Florence Mills, and Baby Esther Jones used similar techniques and mannerisms during the 1920s BEFORE Kane used them. Baby Esther did not testify in the trial, but her manager testified that Esther had performed in that style since 1928. He also witnessed Helen Kane at a Manhattan club in the same year while Baby Esther performed, providing evidence that Esther Jones influenced Helen Kane’s performance style.

[@QuianaMonique]

⁠​⁠​⁠​⁠@@kiajulian4619 The real story though….the model for Betty Boop was not White🤭

[@StellaBastienne]

​@kiajulian4619 whatever she was human

[@MarthaOprisko]

On August 9, 1930, Betty Boop made her cartoon debut in the animated short “Dizzy Dishes.” Originally appearing as an anthropomorphic French poodle, Betty Boop transitioned into a human female character a year later, trading in her floppy dog ears for flirty hoop earrings. Unabashedly sexual while simultaneously innocent, Betty Boop was created by cartoonist Max Fleischer to both parody and celebrate the flapper. Throughout the 1930s, Betty Boop had to contend with Hollywood’s decency police as well as a 1932 lawsuit. To this day, Betty Boop is a style icon - look no further than the Hollywood red carpet - and one of the most popular cartoon characters in the world. In many ways, Betty Boop embodies America’s complicated history around race and sexuality. Margie Hines was the first voice for Betty Boop; however, Mae Questel was the voice of Betty Boop for the longest period of time, from 1931 to 1938 However, the backstory to who really inspired Betty Boop is tied to America’s complicated history of cultural appropriation. In 1932, singer Helen Kane initiated a $250,000 infringement lawsuit against cartoonist Max Fleischer. She claimed he stole her singing style as well as her “Boop-Oop-a-doop” catchphrase. Fleischer was ultimately able to prove in court that Betty Boop was a composite of multiple women. Furthermore, it was revealed at the trial that a black female singer from Harlem named Esther Jones, known as Baby Esther, was the “original” Betty Boop. In 1928, Kane had watched Baby Esther perform songs at the Cotton Club, where she used phrases like “boop-boop-a-doo.” It turned out that Kane took the black female jazz singer’s schtick and presented it as her own creation. The above information was taken from www.mylifetime.com/she-did-that/august-9-1930-betty-boop-made-her-cartoon-debut-in-dizzy-dishes

[@Christystcyrallen]

Lot of happened behind the scenes with those kids. So sad…

[@blackhistory767]

Do you think Lil Esther was more like Betty Boop or Shirley Temple?

[@RayPointerChannel]

Neither. Betty Boop was nothing like Esther Jones. And Shirley Temple had not come along yet. It was Helen Kane who saw Esther and picked up on a type of Scatting that she was taught to do. As it was she was doing impersonations of Gertrude Saunders and Florence Mills. It was Gertrude Saunders going back to 1920 who is cited as having started the Scat fad that many people picked up on, both female and male performers. Betty Boop was originally a caricature of Helen Kane, who had stolen her look from Clara Bow. So that was part of the argument over what the source of the Betty Boop face was. The Betty Boop character was an extension of the Jazz Baby concept since neither Helen Kane, nor Esther Jones had the short plastered spit curl hair style. Neither Helen Kane, nor Esther Jones wore a bathing suit/negligee style "dress" and exposed a garter on the left leg. Nor did either of them wear high heels or wear bracelets and hoop earrings. What needs to be realized is that the Betty Boop character was more of an "idea" about this type of persona associated with Jazz music. Having been associated with this story for decades, I never heard any accounts from Grim Natwick claiming to have witnessed Esther Jones and following any of her mannerisms in Betty Boop. The cartoon character evolved through a natural process and actually became more endearing on screen than Helen Kane. Helen Kane's lawsuit was file under a naive' assumption and misdirected since Paramount had severed her contact after one year at the time that it encouraged Fleischer Studios to continue the development of the character that was loosely based on Helen Kane. You can find a number of Helen Kane's movies on KZbin, and you will find her movies corny and her personality irritating where Betty Boop was not. She made the mistake of claiming to have originated the singing style, which was proven through many witnesses not to have been true. And there were two films made of Esther Jones. A recent discovery of an announcement in Film Daily makes reference to a film made by Movietone in Ocotober 1928. This would have been after Helen Kane had debuted in THE GOOD BOY, which brought her to fame. It was the Press in the excitement and naivete that labeled Helen Kane as "The Boop-Oop-A-Doop Girl," and she had a recording contract with Victor Records where she used other forms of "baby talk" scatting than "boop-oop-a-doop." Betty Boop used it exclusively. According to the court testimony, Lou Boltin stated that Esther was brought from Chicago to New York in April 1928. Short after this, a sound-on-disc film was made with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer at a New York studio. It was this sound-on-disc film made BEFORE the discovery of Helen Kane that was crucial in understanding this history. The Movietone film made five or six months later was a sound-on-film process, as Movietone was the Fox sound newsreel division begun in 1927. The film that was used in court was the one from April 1928 and because the film and sound were on separate media, they had to be re-synchronized because the film had been spliced in several sections due to breakage. In the process, the loss of frames due to the splicing cause the film to be ahead of the sound at the crucial point. Max Fleischer's brother, Lou, who was in charge of the synchronization at Fleischer Studios worked through the night with their Film Cutter, and the added black slugs where the frames were missing in order to put the film back into alignment with the record. A new print was made with the soundtrack transferred from the record and presented in court. The release date in April 1928 proved the case in favor of the defendants Paramount-Publix, Fleischer Studios, and Max Fleischer.

[@uriahheep5665]

Interesting. Thanks for the history. @@RayPointerChannel

[@nalanimulcahy8451]

I think Betty Boop. Sounds like she was a great performer, it's a shame there's no videos of her. Thanks for the history 🙂

[@depthsofmysoul7873]

​​@@RayPointerChannelOh stop it, there is no proof Helen saw baby Esther perform. Grim Natwick himself admitted he used Helen for inspiration. m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/nqSyoqRqgcaAbdU&pp=ygUUV2hvIG1vZGVsIGJldHR5IGJvb3A%3D Her personality was so "boring" yet they continued to copy her acts and songs, "Dangerous Nan McGrew", "Ain'tcha", "I gotta have you" etc

[@Nivadon-l6t]

Betty Boop

[@LegendaryWoke]

Interesting story. Evil world that exploits children. Shirley Temple's story was also exploitation. Judgment is inevitable

[@kenyarborough812]

Helen Kane lost her $250,000 Infringement Lawsuit against the creators of Betty Boop in court because she couldn't prove that her singing style, mannerisms and look was unique. That's because the style and mannerism of Betty Boop were common to "flappers" of the time, including Esther Jones

[@depthsofmysoul7873]

You have 3 different people incorrectly representing baby Esther Jones.🤦🏽 The child is baby Esther(b.1919-?), yes. The other young lady is lil Esther Phillips(b.1935-1984) and the last lady is Esther Bigeou(b.1895-1936). Baby Esther did not create "Boop Boop a Doop". Infact, her own manager, Lou Bolton, testified in court that baby Esther made sounds like : "Wha wha" "Doo Doo" "Da". But don't just believe me, actually do your own research ...this time. This information can be found for free in Newspaper.com What can't be found is any proof that Helen Kane saw baby Esther perform anywhere. It was said that Fleischer paid Bolton to lie and say Helen saw baby Esther and then copied her. In a strange twist of events, lol Fleischer studios is now saying that there is no proof that Helen saw baby Esther perform and that basically there is no way that a very mature and very sexualized Betty was based on a child performer. Not only that Grim Natwick,, the actual illustrator of Betty Boop, has already admitted that Helen Kane was the inspiration for Betty Boop below m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/nqSyoqRqgcaAbdU&pp=ygUUV2hvIG1vZGVsIGJldHR5IGJvb3A%3D

[@Clemburke1111]

No Betty Boop was not black I researched this its 100% untrue

[@asher6657]

so we should ignore the obvious similarities and believe your ignorant white ass .... because you said so. but provided no proof or findings? ok Are you really this stupid?.

[@kiajulian4619]

You are correct.

[@Sharkyismineeee]

Nope Helen copied her flow betty boop used to be black then they turned her white bc of helen

[@Sharkyismineeee]

@@kiajulian4619she or he ain’t correct u troglodyte