Animated Cartoon: Betty Boop

Betty Boop is a remarkable animated cartoon character discovered by Max and Dave Fleischer, pioneers in the development of animated cartoons and at the head of Fleischer Studios. These bright men worked tediously to find a cartoon to compete with the iconic animation, Mickey Mouse. The brothers’ first approach was “Bimbo the Dog,” but was not as renowned and famous as Disney’s mouse. Something was missing and they made it a mission to find out. Maybe Bimbo the Dog was lonely and needed a girlfriend, named Betty Boop.

“One morning [he] came over to my desk and handed me the music to the [popular] song “Boop-Oop-A-Doop,” by Helen Kane, and asked me to design a girl character to go with it. At that point, the only characters the Fleischers
Although Natwick created the original design of Betty Boop, legal ownership of the Betty Boop character remained with the studio, since he was in its employ at the time (Wikia 1). With Natwick’s years of drawing experience, he was able to come up the unique characteristic that few female cartoons had before, lady-like curves. This was the born of the one and only Betty Boop.

All around the world Betty Boop was one of the most successful animated cartoons in the early 1930’s. She became an appealed idol for many independent women growing up in the 1930’s. She was an inspiration to rising actresses and women in general. Her mini dress and garter were replaced with a long black dress with a collar and she was no longer a nightclub singer. She was much more, a teacher, a secretary, a housewife, and a babysitter. Her image was plastered on nail polish, tv screens, dolls, and even cigarette cases. Her cartoons even helped in the rise of many famous musicians. One being Louis Armstrong, whom people probably wouldn’t have even heard about if it wasn’t for his role in producing Jazz music for Fleischer's
She was seen as an inspiration and a stepping stone for women, musicians, and actresses not only in the United States but all around the world. By performing jobs typically done by women in the 1930’s she was seen as something much more than just a cartoon to independent women, and thanks to her creators, a new music genre as well as many singers were introduced to the world. Thanks to Max and Dave Fleischer, an icon was given to the world. Although there were some troubles they had to face during her rising moments such as her lecherous way of dressing needing to be censored, or her being an alleged “rip-off” of the original Betty Boop; Helen Kane, she was still loved around the world by many and left a lasting impression on all those who watched her