Shirley Reid

Shirley Mae Reid

Shirley Reed

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Shirley Reid
Name	The Original Voice of Cookie The Voice of Minnie Mouse Shirley M. Reid Shirley Reed Shirley Krebs
Audio:	Shirley Reid's Betty Boop Imitation:

Name	(Betty Boop knock-off Cookie.)

Shirley Reid (born 1911) studied music in her home town Minnesota and later went to Hollywood. She voiced Cookie, Minnie Mouse, Miss Bonbon the Cookie Queen, Ham and Ex, Petunia Pig, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Sniffles and Little Cheeser.

Reid was also the one-time voice of Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit in the 1935 Merrie Melodies short "Country Boy". The voice Reid used for Peter Rabbit was the same boyish voice she used for Sniffles.

She started out as a Betty Boop sound-a-like on radio, imitating cartoon character Betty Boop. She joined the talent staff of KGUL-TV Galveston and appeared in Hollywood films with her own all-girl orchestra. On her own radio program The Sun Shine Hour she sang Betty Boop songs, as she thought it would appeal to children.

Reid was not only a singer but a professional piano and organ player.

Miss Reid suddenly was amazed to notice that in her fan mail, she was confused for the voice of Betty Boop. In April of 1934, Reid was added to the Arcade Tavern restaurant in Los Angeles as a Betty Boop impersonator. In her own words, Reid later learned a song in the "Boop" manner, and won an audition at a studio where animated cartoons were being made.

She used her "Betty Boop" voice to audition for a role in animated cartoons. The studio liked her so much, that they put her to work at once. The first cartoon she voiced characters in was the 1934 animated short Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Walter Lantz, in that cartoon she voiced the main character Goldilocks and Baby Bear. Since Reid could play the piano she was also asked to do some of the musical score for Goldilocks too.

Reid was the original voice of Cookie but was later replaced by Dorothy Varden and Berneice Hansell. Both Reid and Hansell worked together on several voice-over projects. The most notable project they worked together was as "Ham and Ex" on the "Beans" Looney Tunes series.

She did not voice "Ham and Ex" in the debut episode, she did the later episodes in unison with Hansell.

In the 1935 cartoon "Country Boy," Reid voiced Peter Rabbit, while Hansell provided the voices for the three siblings of Peter Rabbit as they sang "Naughty Boy". Reid was also the original boyish voice of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and Hansell worked with Reid on the cartoons, Hansell voiced Oswald's little sister Bunny Lou and Oswald's nephew.

The "Boop-Oop-a-Doop" theme song from "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" series likely alluded to Shirley Reid's status as a "Boop-Boop-a-Doop" girl.

She noted that while working with Walt Disney, he insisted on doing the voice of Mickey Mouse and that she rarely worked with him. However most of the voices were done on a separate basis. According to Reid, she was regularly heard as Minnie Mouse in a number of Disney cartoons, her voice was also featured in two 1935 Academy Award winners, Three Orphan Kittens and The Tortoise.

A majority of Reid's credits for "Minnie Mouse" have been falsely credited to Marcellite Garner. Garner was the original voice of Minnie and like Reid she also voiced characters for Walter Lantz.

Reid temporarily voiced Minnie as of 1934 she can be heard as Minnie on radio and particularly in Two-Gun Mickey and Shanghaied. In Mickey's Steam Roller, Reid provided the voice for not only Minnie but Mickey's nephews as well. Reid's other roles as Minnie have not been identified.

She also voiced Sugar Cookie girl (Miss Bonbon the Cookie Queen) in Walt Disney's The Cookie Carnival in 1935. Reid has been misidentified as "Little Red Riding Hood" in The Big Bad Wolf, a 1934 Disney cartoon, the voice belonged to Carol Tevis.

Minnie Mouse's voice was also substituted with Carol Tevis, an actress renowned for her high-pitched baby-talk voice. Tevis confirmed that she herself was also the voice of the Three Little Wolves' in the Disney cartoons as well.

Leone LeDou and Thelma Boardman also gave the voice of Minnie Mouse.

Years later, with her wooden doll Bedelia, she later became a ventriloquist. Reid signed a radio contract with CBS. Her pilot episode Bedelia featuring Loney Lewis for CBS aired December 12, 1945. Bedelia was scheduled as a series, but bad reviews caused CBS to cancel it after one episode, claiming a lame script and bad direction were at fault. Shirley's lips moved when she did Bedelia's voice, the director focused the camera on Shirley's face, rather than the dummy when Bedelia spoke.

In the 1950s, she continued her act with her puppet Bedelia on KTRK-TV. Reid also appeared on television with Hoagy Carmichael, Leo Carillo, and Tex Williams, The Ed Sullivan Show on the 22nd of December in 1957 by CBS and in commercials.

Reid married Conrad H. Krebs. With his first wife Mary Bordenfelter whom he wed in 1891 they were the parents of four children: Louise Krebs (d. 1990), Florence Augusta Krebs (d. 1989), Hazel Krebs (d. 1979), and Clara Krebs (d. 1986).

Living in Los Angeles, California, Reid's spouse Conrad H. Krebs rose to the position of president of Color Prints Company. He tragically died in 1955. Bordenfelter's family lineage created a family tree, however they did not make any mention of "Shirley Reid". After Conrad Krebs' death, Reid continued to appear on TV and radio up until she retired from show business.

In 1966 she worked with the Penny-Owsley Music company.

Quotes

• Shirley Reid: "If they think I sound like Betty Boop, maybe I could capitalize on the idea." (1939)

• Shirley Reid: "Why, I love Minnie Mouse so much myself." (1942)

• Shirley Reid: "I worked for Warner Brothers, Walter Lantz Productions and Walt Disney Productions." (1962)

• Shirley Reid: "I was approached by Walter Lantz and he asked me if I could talk like one of the three bears, I didn't know but I'll try." (1962)

• Shirley Reid: "I thought he should sound like a little boy, so that's the way I did it." (1962)

Character Role(s)

Cookie (1933)

Cookie Queen (1935)

Filmography

1931:

• Wonderland as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1931)
• Hot Feet as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1931)
• Radio Rhythm as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1931)
• The Hunter as Ortensia (1931)

1933:

• Buddy's Day Out as Cookie (1933)
• Buddy's Beer Garden as Cookie (1933)
• Buddy's Show Boat as Cookie (1933)
• Buddy's Garage as Cookie (1933)
• Young and Healthy as Queen (1933)
• The Organ Grinder - Poo-Poo-Pah-Doop sequence (1933)

1934:

• Toyland Premiere as Shirley Temple (1934)
• Walter Lantz Goldilocks and the Three Bears as Baby Bear & Goldilocks (1934)
• Honeymoon Hotel as Female Fly (1934)
• Dizzy Dwarf as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1934)
• William Tell as Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (1934)
• Shanghaied as Minnie Mouse (1934)
• Mickey's Steamroller as Minnie Mouse and Mickey Mouse's Nephews (1934)
• Two-Gun Mickey as Minnie Mouse (1934)

1935:

• The Cookie Carnival as the Cookie Queen (1935)
• Three Orphan Kittens as Little Girl, Mammy, Dolls & Kittens (1935)
• The Tortoise and the Hare as Rabbit Girls (1935)
• Country Boy as Peter Rabbit (1935)

1936:

• Little Cheeser as Little Cheeser (1936)
• Westward Whoa as Ham and Ex (1936)
• The Phantom Ship as Ham and Ex (1936)

1937:

• Porky's Romance as Petunia Pig (1937)
• The Case of the Stuttering Pig as Petunia Pig (1937)
• Porky's Double Trouble as Petunia Pig (1937)
• Pigs Is Pigs as Piggie and Mama Pig (1937)
• Sweet Sioux as Martha Raye Voice (1937)

1938:

• Yokel Boy Makes Food as Martha Raye Voice (1938)
• Nellie the Sewing Machine Girl as Nellie (1938)
• Honest Hearts & Willing Hands as Nellie (1938)
• Nellie the Indian Chief's Daughter as Nellie (1938)
• Hollywood Bowl as Martha Raye (1938)

1939:

• Naughty Neighbors as Petunia Pig Martin (1939)
• Naughty But Mice as Sniffles (1939)
• Little Brother Rat as Sniffles (1939)
• Sniffles and the Bookworm as Sniffles (1939)

1940:

• Sniffles Takes a Trip as Sniffles (1940)
• The Egg Collector as Sniffles (1940)
• Bedtime For Sniffles as Sniffles (1940)

1941:

• Sniffles Bells the Cat as Sniffles (1941)
• Toy Trouble as Sniffles (1941)
• The Brave Little Bat as Sniffles (1941)

Death

• Shirley R. Krebs is deceased.

Trivia

• Her name is also alternatively spelled Shirley Reed, however her real second name is spelled "Reid".

• Reid was born somewhere between 1910 and 1911, she has two dates of birth listed.

• Shirley Reid's role as "Sniffles" the mouse is falsely credited to Margaret Hill-Talbot.

• She has also claimed to have provided the voice for Tweety Bird. Mel Blanc was the voice of Tweety, it is possible that Reid provided the whistling.

• Reid later became a ventriloquist and entertained the children in her neighborhood and sick children at hospitals.

• Shirley Reid developed her coloratura soprano and used it as a stepping stone for higher things, she said she was another girl with a trick throat.

• Reid was one of the many voices of Cookie a Betty Boop copy-cat character.

• In the 1933 Merrie Melodies animated short, she utters "Poo-Poo-Pah-Doop" in the The Organ Grinder.

• Reid also voiced animated characters for the Merrie Melodies series.

• At one point she used to be the voice of the The Katzenjammer Kids, but the series was discontinued.

• She married Conrad Krebs, a RKO studio executive, he was born in 1896.

• Reid once entertained President Juscelino Kubitschek, the President of Brazil on the Maiden Voyage of the S.S. Brazil to South America.

• In 1962, she stated that she had been involved more than 15 years in motion picture and cartoon work.

• A majority of Shirley Reid's voice-over credits are falsely credited to Berneice Hansell (Bernice Hansen), better known as Berneice Edna Hansell. This is because both voice-actresses worked for the same studios, and used a similar baby-doll voice, and shared similar character roles. Hansell was incorrectly identified as providing the voice of Sniffles, the voice actually belonged to Shirley Reid.

• Reid was very good at doing a Martha Raye impersonation. At the time Raye was that popular that the Fleischer Studios asked permission to use Raye's mannerisms for their character Sally Swing.

• Sara Berner debuted in the "Sniffles" episode The Brave Little Bat as Batty. Berner took over Reid's role as Sniffles in the three final cartoons The Unbearable Bear in 1943, Lost and Foundling in 1944 and Hush My Mouse in 1946.

• Reid is the voice of Shirley Temple in the 1934 cartoon Toyland Premiere.

• A list of Reid's quotes can be found here.

See Also

• Cookie

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