![]() Esther Jones was never paid one red cent from Helen Kane, nor for Fleischer Studios’ infamous ‘Betty Boop’ character that still earns money to this day and as far as we know, neither were any of her family, nor descendants. There was none! At the time of the 1932 trial, it was assumed that Esther Jones had passed away by then, although there was no proof of that. #tginblackhistorymonth #tgin #tginatural #thankgodimnatural #blackhistorymonth #fortheculture #blackhistoryiseveryday #estherjones #babyesther #bettyboop #cottonclub #Harlem #history #knowyourhistory #skĪ post shared by Thank God Its Natural on at 7:53am PSTĬompensation for the originator? Good question. WHAT THE ORIGINAL BLACK BETTY BOOP GOT PAID THO…ĭid you know that Esther Jones, a performer at Harlem's Cotton Club in the 1920s was the inspiration for the cartoon character Betty Boop? Sadly, she was never acknowledged or compensated for her influence and died in the '30s. Their testimonies further proved that Helen Kane was not the only ‘Betty Boop’ performer, nor did she have any entitlement to the ‘Betty Boop’ brand. Helen Kane and husband, Max Hoffman Jr. (via Getty Images)Īlso, to put that extra stank on it, Fleischer presented several singers who had been also performing as ‘Betty Boop’- to testify (one of whom intentionally spoke in her ‘Betty Boop’ voice throughout her entire testimony, LOL). At first Kane tried to lie, but after Fleischer’s attorney brought out the manager who took her to see Baby Esther’s performance in 1928- to testify against her, her bubble was burst on sight. The owner of Fleischer Studios, Max Fleischer, had his attorney prove that she herself had stolen the likeness and singing style from Baby Esther, so she couldn’t possibly be trying to sue them. ![]() LONG STORY SHORT– Helen Kane showed up in court with her hair styled like Betty Boop to try to make sure the judge could see the resemblance between her and the cartoon. They’d created ‘Betty Boop’ as an animated caricature of Helen Kane without her permission and went on to make big bucks from it. But Laaawd, then came the REAL kicker though… THIEVES OF ESTHER JONES’ LIKENESS FILE LAWSUITSīy 1932 Helen Kane (shown below) had the audacity to sue (and lose to) Fleischer Studios for $250,000 because get this- she said they STOLE her likeness! ![]() That is the studio house responsible for creating the ‘Betty Boop’ animated character that the world knows of today. In 1930, Helen Kane was jacked out of the persona she stole from Baby Esther, by an even bigger player- the then popular animation company, Fleischer Studios. First Thief Gets Jackson By SECOND “Betty Boop” Thief Kane became a far bigger mainstream success than Baby Esther, due to her larger mass appeal with White audiences across the U.S. Afterwards, Kane mocked Esther’s ‘baby style’ voice and persona and in that same year (1928), she recorded the now famous song, “I Wanna Be Loved By You,” which included ESTHER’S original phrase, “Boop-oop-a-doop.” As Helen Kane gained major popularity from that song, she then re-created Baby Esther’s entire likeness- short hair and all- just in a Caucasian image of her own instead…without crediting her original source. Esther “Baby Esther” Jones was jacked by a Caucasian singer, named Helen Kane, who’d heard about Baby Esther through the grapevine and in 1928, visited the Cotton Club in Harlem, to study Esther’s performance. Here’s where the ‘Olivia Pope’ worthy ‘SCANDAL’ comes in. Her popular singing phrase was “Boop-oop-a-doop.” Everyone knew about her in the Black community, because she was like the ‘Tina Turner’ or ‘Beyonce’ of Black entertainment back then. Her stage name eventually became “Baby Esther” because of her unique, “baby” style of singing. An African American entertainer named Esther Jones, was a regular performer at the then Black Harlem hotspot, The Cotton Club, in the 1920’s. ![]() Here’s the real deal behind the original “Betty Boop” inspiration. But what really has many people more angered about this, is the scandal-licious story behind what the individuals who jacked the originator actually had the nerve to do. ILOSM fam’ here’s an interesting Old School fun fact: The original inspiration behind the infamous cartoon character, “Betty Boop,” was a Black female singer who, in a nutshell, was jacked out of everything (except her skin complexion)…such as her likeness, her brand, her persona, her signature high pitched baby style of singing, etc.
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