![]() In fact, neither woman would win this fight. This revelation effectively ended any hope Helen had of winning the case. Lou not only explained how he and Esther had created and developed her “Boop Boop” style, BUT he also testified that Helen Kane had come to see Baby Esther perform, just before Helen debuted her “unique sound.” They bought in Baby Esther’s manager, Lou Walton. Helen was suing Boop’s creators for $250,000 (roughly $3.5 million in today’s money), and with kind of money at stake, the defence came at Helen hard… ![]() Not looking quite so innocent now, Helen…īut the secret of Betty Boop’s true origins didn’t stay secret for long. Months later, Helen was performing those signature scats to adoring audiences. She listened to other Cotton Club artists, including greats like Louis Armstrong, to hone her signature scatting style.Īnd then in 1928, Helen Kane came to see Baby Esther perform. From a black singer named…Įnter Esther Jones, better known by her stage name, Baby EstherĮsther Jones had gotten the nickname “Baby Esther” thanks to the high-pitched, cutesey voice she sang in. A favorite of Harlem clubs like The Cotton Club, Esther was a rising star in the jazz world-both because of her voice, which managed to be adorable and sexy, AND her unique style of scatting: “Boop oop a doo.”Įsther worked at her scatting by learning from the greats. You see, that act that made her so unique, the one she was fighting for…it wasn’t her act. So Helen took Betty Boop’s creators, Max Fleischer and Paramount, to court.įleischer claimed that Betty Boop was inspired by the likes of Clara Bow, as well as Helen Kane, but Helen argued that EVERYTHING about Betty was Helen: the look, the mannerisms, the voice! Helen’s case looked iron tight!īUT Helen had a secret. And she was angrier still that she wasn’t getting a dime from her! Helen was understandably furious at her cartoon clone. Overnight, Helen and her boop-a-doops became the talk of the town. Months later, Helen sung what would become her (and Betty Boop’s) most well known hit, “I Wanna Be Loved By You” (signature boop-oop-a-doops included!).įilms soon followed Helen’s stage success, and by 1930, she was one of America’s most-loved rising stars. Her quirky flapper sex appeal and unique singing style ensured that there was nobody quite like Helen Kane. Helen took to the stage and sang the then-popular song “That’s My Weakness Now” with a kind of coquettish knowing and humor that captivated the audience. Then, mid-song, Helen busted out something truly unexpected-scatting, “Boop boop a doop.” She snagged a gig singing at The Paramount Theatre, right slap bang in the middle of New York’s Times Square. You name it, she’d done it.īut then in 1928, Helen landed her big break. Vaudeville, singing troupes, and chorus lines. Much later, animators from Fleischer Studios admitted that Betty Boop was indeed a copy of Helen Kane from the start.Helen Kane had been treading the boards for years before she got a break. He accepted the point that scat-singing in a faux-child voice was not owned by Kane, and the point that the studio never used Helen Kane’s name or claimed a connection with Betty Boop in any way. ![]() But this time period had many scat singers and many coquettish singers, and Kane’s approach may well have emerged naturally without any specific reference to Baby Esther. Had Kane really taken her image and style from someone else? Baby Esther was black, and American culture has a long looooong history of white performers co-opting black artists’ work. This is where the history gets a bit murky. Betty Boop couldn’t have stolen Kane’s act, they argued, because Kane had stolen it herself. But the studio had a secret weapon: Baby Esther.īaby Esther, born Esther Lee Jones, was a famous singer and dancer who also performed with a baby voice and scat-singing “boops.” The studio response even cited a 1928 performance by Baby Esther that Kane supposedly attended. Kane sued the creators of Betty Boop, Fleischer Studios, claiming that they had co-opted her image without permission, credit, or compensation. And Kane and Betty’s voices were a dead match. Like Kane, she wore short flapper dresses. Kane interspersed that song with her trademark scat-singing, “boop-oop-a-doop.” Four years later, Betty Boop was starring in such animated shorts as… uh… “Boop-Oop-a-Doop.” Like Kane, she had short curly brunette hair.
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