Betty Boop

Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character appearing in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop series of films produced by Max Fleischer and released by Paramount Pictures. With her overt sexuality, Betty was a hit with theater-goers, and despite having been toned down in the 1930s, she remains popular today for this sexiness. She was also the first truly feminine cartoon character.

Betty today

Betty Boop's films would reach audiences once again when they were placed into syndication on television in the 1950s. She also gained exposure in the 1960s counterculture movement. The National Television Associates (NTA) capitalized on this and bought the rights to her shorts to colorize and re-air them on TV as The Betty Boop Show. There was controversy surrounding NTA's colorization since, as Turner Entertainment later did with Fleischer's Popeye the Sailor, the cartoons were not colorized by computer, but traced by artists in Korea who skipped drawings and simplified movements, using limited animation in place of Fleischer's full animation.

Related Topics:
Syndication - Television - 1950s - 1960s - Counterculture - National Television Associates - Colorize - Turner Entertainment - Popeye the Sailor - Computer - Korea - Limited animation

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Ivy Films put together a movie of some of Betty's better shorts called The Betty Boop Scandals of 1974 which saw some limited success. NTA later released another compilation movie, Hurray for Betty Boop in 1980. Marketers rediscovered Betty Boop in the 1980s as well, and merchandise featuring the character (in her earlier, sexier form) is now widely available.

Related Topics:
Ivy Films - 1980 - 1980s

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In 1988, Betty appeared for the first time in years, with a cameo in the Academy Award-winning film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. It was widely reported that the animators had slipped in one frame of Betty nude, invisible to the audience, of course. If such a frame existed, it was replaced by a conventional frame once the movie came out on home video.

Related Topics:
1988 - Academy Award - Who Framed Roger Rabbit

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Her 1933 film Snow White was selected for preservation by the U.S. Library of Congress in the National Film Registry in 1994.

Related Topics:
1933 - Snow White - Library of Congress - National Film Registry - 1994

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In the comic strip Doonesbury, the character B.D.'s busty girlfriend/wife is named "Boopsie".

Related Topics:
Comic strip - Doonesbury

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In the animated reality TV Spoof Drawn Together, Betty is the inspiration for Toot Braunstein.

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A Betty Boop musical is due to be produced on Broadway, with music by Andrew Lippa.

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