Some of the information is Boop-Oop-a-Dooping full of SPOILERS. Boop-Oop-a-Doop!
Boop-Boop-a-Doopers
| Helen Kane & Other Boop-Boop-a-Doopers |
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Helen Kane & Other Boop-Boop-a-Doopers |
Helen Kane And Other Boop-Boop-a-Doopers is a 1985 "Boop-Boop-a-Doop" album released by Take-Two Records and is Show Music on Record by Jack Raymond. The album features singers Helen Kane, Mae Questel, Annette Hanshaw and Catherine Wright the Mystery Girl.
"When they think of me they think of the twenties," Helen Kane once remarked. This was no idle boast. Kane introduced a novelty style that even today symbolizes the widely held image of the roaring 1920s singer. And while there is evidence to suggest that Kane did not actually originate the "Boop-Boop-a-Doop" phrase, there is no dispute that she made it an indelible part of the twenties parlance. Despite the similarity Helen Kane had no connection to the Betty Boop series. Actually several persons gave voice to Betty Boop, including Margie Hines, Harriet Lee, Kate Wright, Bonnie Poe, June Albrezzi and Little Ann Little.
The most prominent by far was Mae Questel, who became known as "The Betty Boop Girl" and she assumed the voice in the early thirties to replace Margie Hines, the original voice of Betty, who's contract had expired with Paramount in 1931. Hines officially retired from the role in 1932.
Questel remained with the series until 1938 and was later replaced by Margie Hines who finished the series as Betty in 1939. Mae Questel commented that she really lived this part and that it took her a lot of time to lower her voice and disassociate herself from the Betty Boop character.
As of 1985, Questel was still occasionally seen on TV. In 1934, Helen Kane filed a "$250,000 Infringement Lawsuit" against the Fleischer Studios for exploiting her image and damaging her career. The Fleischers claimed that Betty was only an artistic creation and was not intended to be a caricature. They also turned up evidence that the "Boop-Boop-a-Doop" phrase had been originated by a young artist named Baby Esther Jones, and not Helen Kane.
Kane lost the case. Edward J. McGoldrick ruled that no harm had been done to Helen Kane's career by the Fleischer Studios series. Another artist who sometimes mimicked Helen Kane was Annette Hanshaw, the Personality Girl. Hanshaw was a friend of Kane, and her imitations were of an affectionate tongue-in-cheek variety. To distinguish those records on which she imitated Helen Kane from her own vocals. Hanshaw used the pseudonyms Patsy Young and Dot Dare.
Annette was to accomplished, a professional to abandon her own style. For example in Hanshaw's version of "I Want to Be Bad" she gives vent to her own phrasing and even throws in some of her own "scat-singing" harmonies during the instrumental chorus. One of the more crafty attempts to cash in on Helen Kane's popularity was by a rival record company Columbia Records. This label issued four sides by an anonymous artist called The Mystery Girl.
Columbia Records hoped that buyers would confuse the singer with Helen Kane. So few sides were released, suggests that this attempt to exploit Helen Kane's fame was not successful.
Discographers were informed that the Mystery Girl was Kathyrn Wright, the same Kate Wright who was associated with the voices of Betty Boop. Wright was actually a "Boop-Boop-a-Doop" radio singer, and never actually voiced Betty in the cartoons. It is sad, so few sides were released by this artist as her performances are very listenable.
The Mystery Girl's version of "I'd Do Anything For You" is included in this album and may be contrasted to Kane's version.
So here you have it - Helen Kane, the Boop-Boop-a-Doop Girl, Annette Hanshaw, the Personality Girl, Mae Questel, the Betty Boop Girl and The Mystery Girl as fine a collection of Boop-Boop-a-Doopers as you are ever likely to find.
Side One
Helen Kane the Boop-Boop-a-Doop Girl[1]:
- "That's Why I'm Happy" (3/15/29) (Magidson, Cleary)
- "Me And The Man In The Moon" (12/20/28) (Leslie, Monaco)
- "Is There Anything Wrong In That?" (9/20/28) (Magidson, Cleary)
- "I'd Go Barefoot All Winter Long" (3/18/30) (Mell, Keden)
- "I've Got It" (7/1/30) (Fain, Kahal, Norman)
Annette Hanshaw the Personality Girl[2]:
- "I Think You'll Like It" (10/21/29) (Whiting Marien Jr.) Film: Sweetie
- "I Want To Be Bad" (8/14/29) (DeSylva, Brown, Henderson) Film Follow Thru
Side Two
Kate Wright the Mystery Girl[3]:
- "Do I Know What I'm Doing?" (7/9/29) (Kalmar, Ruby)
- "I'd Do Anything For You" (5/14/29) (Friend, Pollock)
- "I've Got A Feeling I'm Falling" (5/14/29) (Link, Waller, Rose)
Mae Questel the Betty Boop Girl[4]:
- "At The Codfish Ball" (4/3/36) (Pollock, Mitchell) Film: Captain January
- "When I Grow Up" (8/13/35) (Henderson, Hayman) Film: Curly Top
- "On The Good Ship Lollipop" (1/16/35) (Claire, Whiting) Film: Bright Eyes
- "The Right Somebody To Love" (4/3/36) (Pollock, Yellen)
Trivia
- The songs are reissues of 78s.
- Misinformation on the back of the record has been fixed.
- Take-Two Records credit Baby Esther as originator of the "Boop" phrase.
- When record executives at Victor Records heard Annette Hanshaw's recordings, they thought Helen Kane was singing for another record label and sued Helen Kane for breach of contract. They believed at the time that Annette sounded like Helen Kane, so they sued Helen. Although listening carefully to the vocals, Annette had a more deeper sounding "Boop-Boop-a-Doop" singing voice and she also adapted a scat-singing technique of alternative "Boops" in her songs. After being sued Helen Kane jokingly responded by saying that, "Annette sounds more like me than I do."