About Me
This is of course NOT an official profile. It is just here to let people know about the girl who totally inspired the famous Betty Boop.
Biography below from Wikipedia
Helen Kane (August 4, 1903 - September 26, 1966) was an American popular singer, best known for her "boop-boop-a-doop" trademark and her signature song, "I Wanna Be Loved By You". Fleischer Studios animator Grim Natwick used Kane as the model for his studio's most famous creation, Betty Boop.
Early life
During her childhood, a young Helen Schroeder attended St. Anselms in the Bronx. Her German father's employment was questionable at times and her Irish mother was into laundry. By the time she was 15, Helen was onstage professionally, touring the Orpheum Circuit with the Marx Brothers. Helen spent the early 1920's trouping in vaudeville as a singer, playing the New York Palace for the first time in 1921. In the mid-1920s Helen married department store buyer Joseph Kane and took his last name professionally. By 1928 the marriage had ended in divorce.Music
Helen Kane's first performance at the Paramount Theater in Times Square proved to be her defining moment and career's launching point. Kane was singing the popular song Thats My Weakness Now, when she interpolated the scat lyrics boop-boop-be-doop. The rather odd gamble paid off, and four days later, Helen Kanes name went up in lights. Overnight, the world changed for Helen. Kanes agent Harry Besney got her $5,500 a week in Oscar Hammersteins show Good Boy (where she introduced her hit, I Want to Be Loved By You). From there it was back to the Palace, but this time as a headliner for $5000 a week.Cult Following & Betty Boop
As she took on the status of a singing sensation, there were Helen Kane dolls and Helen Kane look-alike contests, appearances on radio and in nightclubs. In late 1928 and early 1929 this cult following had reached its peak. Helen Kane's height (about 5 feet tall) and slightly plump figure attracted attention and fans. Her round face with its huge brown eyes was topped by black, curly hair; her voice was a baby squeak with a distinct Bronx accent. Audiences found Helen adorable.In 1930, Fleischer Studios decided to cash in on Helens popularity. They assigned staff animator Grim Natwick to come up with a girlfriend for Bimbo the Dog; the result was a caricature of Helen Kane, with droopy dog ears and a squeaky singing voice. Betty Boop, as the character was dubbed, became an instant smash hit and the star of her own cartoons. By 1932, she became human, her long ears turning into loop earrings.The Betty Boop cartoons of the early 1930s (before censorship set in) were brilliant, exhibiting a sexuality and dark surrealism missing from Disneys films. Kane took notice, viewing Betty Boop as competition.Acting
In mid-1929, Paramount Pictures signed Helen to make a series of musicals. Her first of three 1929 films was "Nothing But the Truth", a comedy starring Richard Dix. From there Kane went into a college musical, "Sweetie", which starred Nancy Carroll and Stanley Smith. "Paramount on Parade", "Dangerous Nan McGrew", and "Heads Up!" were her last films.Fleischer v. Kane
In 1932, she filed an unsuccessful $250,000 suit against Paramount and Max Fleischer, charging unfair competition and wrongful appropriation in the Betty Boop cartoons. The trial opened in April 1934 with Helen Kane and Betty Boop films being screened by Judge McGoldrick (no jury was called). Betty Boop voice-over talent Mae Questel, Margy Hines and Bonnie Poe were brought in to testify. McGoldrick ruled against Helen in 1934, claiming that Kane's testimony could not prove that her singing style was unique or not an imitation itself.In 1950, she dubbed Debbie Reynolds who performed "I Wanna Be Loved By You" in the MGM musical biopic of songwriting duo Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby: Three Little Words.She appeared in several TV shows in the 1950s and 1960s.Kane battled breast cancer for more than ten years. She died in Jackson Heights, Queens, of the disease on September 26, 1966. Helen Kane is buried in Long Island National Cemetery.
