subject: The Timeless And Seductive Appeal Of Betty Boop [print this page] The charming and inimitable cartoon character Betty Boop was the first animated sex symbol with her short flapper-style dresses, thigh-high stockings and garters, high heels and short, wavy hair. The character of Betty Boop, introduced in the early 1930s, was quite a departure from the other popular cartoon females of the era such as Minnie Mouse, differentiated from her leading man Mickey only by longer eyelashes and a skirt, and the shapeless and drab Olive Oyl of Popeye fame.
There was never any mistaking Betty's sexuality with displays of cleavage and frequent wind gusts revealingly lifting her short skirts long before Marilyn Monroe's famous scene in the Seven Year Itch in 1955. Betty even appeared topless in Betty Boop's Bamboo Isle as she performs the hula wearing only a grass skirt and lei, later reprised in Popyeye's first carton Popeye the Sailor in 1933. She was adored by her primarily adult audiences in her early Talkartoons series, being crowned "Queen of the Animated Screen" in 1932. She symbolized the more carefree Jazz Age offering a welcome respite during the Depression era.
Her little girl voice with its distinctive Brooklyn accent helped to balance the image of the sexualized woman to retain a girlishness that added to Betty Boop's appeal. Her character is drawn with a larger than normal head for an adult but in a size that is average for a baby with large, wide-open caricatured eyes. There were continued threats to the Betty's virtue with numerous psycho/sexual elements contained in her early cartoons including Minnie the Moocher that featured Cab Calloway and his orchestra, leading to the hit song of the same name. Betty's off screen exploits were suggested in memorabilia such as the 1931 Christmas card showing a winking Betty in bed with Santa Claus.
Complaints from the moralists of the day resulted in the toning down of Betty's sexuality where she began taking on the character of the career girl or housewife sans husband. The cartons were tamed to the point of becoming more appealing to a juvenile audience rather than the adult audience that brought her to fame. This brought the character to her downfall in popularity with her last cartoon in 1939, Yip Yip Yippy, not including her at all.
The sexy Betty Boop's seductive charm still lives today, however, with collectors of Betty Boop memorabilia and fan clubs existing throughout the world. She remains one of the sexiest cartoon characters of all time with an appeal that is timeless and as beloved today as it was 80 years ago.
