Profile: Mae Questel

[tv star collector]

It is ironic that the voice actor for animation's first screen siren, Betty Boop, narrowly avoided the retiring life of a prim and proper teacher. The great pioneer voice actor who helped shape the profession of modern animation voice-acting, Mae Questel, was born in 1909, during the last vestiges
of the Victorian era, when respectable young ladies would have never been allowed into a career as "vulgar" as show business. Although Questel displayed a talent for performing early, her parents and grandparents reportedly discouraged her aspirations to become a professional.

Consequently, Questel decided to go into teaching, until she unwittingly began a new career courtesy of popular vaudeville star Helen Kane. Questel's friends in her sorority entered her in a talent contest for the best impersonation of Kane at the RKO Fordham Theater. Questel, who was
reportedly the only contestant shrewd enough to observe Kane onstage beforehand, delivered a dead-on impersonation that won the 17-year-old a contract with the William Morris Agency for the RKO vaudeville circuit. It was Questel's Helen Kane impersonation that made her an obvious choice for Max Fleischer's Helen Kane sendup, Betty Boop.

Betty made her first appearance as the secondary character of a nightclub singer in a 1930s Bimbo cartoon entitled "Dizzy Dishes." Her much commented upon strange look came from the fact that she was designed to be part human and part French Poodle--presumably drawn to be attractive to the main character, Bimbo, who was himself an anthropomorphized dog.

Although Questel was not the first voice for Betty, hers remains the best-known characterization. Betty Boop was initially voice by Margie Heinz, Kate Wright, Bonnie Poe, and Annabell Little--but it was Questel who, on the strength of her Helen Kane impersonation, won and held the part the longest amount of time--from 1931's "Betty Co-ed" until the series ended in 1939.

Being part of the first wave of cartoon voice actors, Questel was instrumental in setting many precedents for the craft. Most notably, she first displayed the type of versatility in the ability to perform a number of roles now almost expected of contemporary animation actors. This not only included the female roles of Little Lulu, Little Audrey and Olive Oyl (whom she modeled after actress Zasu Pitts), but also male roles on "five or six" cartoons as it became necessary to fill in as Popeye when Jack Mercer was stationed overseas during World War II!

In the 1960s, when King Features produced a new batch of Popeye cartoons for television, Questel voiced Olive, Swee'Pea and the Sea Hag. She reprised her role as Betty in the 1989 landmark feature-length movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit."

Although she enjoyed meeting and speaking with her fans whenever it was possible, sadly Questel was a long-time sufferer of Alzheimer's before passing away on Jan. 4, 1998, at her home in Manhattan.

[THE MAGIC BEHIND THE VOICES, by Tim Lawson & Alisa Persons (2004)]

[Mikado]

A little known chapter in the Betty Boop saga came about when Helen Kane (Who's voice, Boopadoop song (I want to be loved by you) and face were the obvious model for Betty) sued the Fleischers for stealing her voice and look, the Fleischers amazingly won the court case by bringing several women into court with the same look and voice thus supposedly "proving" that Ms Kane was only one of many! (Among the women brought into that courtroom was Mae who won the role of Betty permanently, not long afterwards!) People in their 40s might remember Mae Questel as the face of Scott paper Towels in the 1970s, Aunt Bluebell , and her greeting: "Aunt Bluebell's here!" She made her final non-animated film appearance as the funny Aunt Bethany in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.(1989)

key to pics.... top left: Mae, Bimbo, Betty and Max Fleischer/ top middle: Mae doing a live appearance as Betty/ top right: Mae as Aunt Bluebell / Bottom: Singer Helen Kane, the ORIGINAL Boopadoop girl

[tv star collector]

Yes, Lawson also mentioned Kane's lawsuit. She had never consented to them
using her likeness or singing style for Betty and claimed, in 1934, that her
earning power had been diminished by the cartoon. The trial ultimately turned
on who had coined Betty's catchphrase of "Boop-boop-ba-doop." Helen Kane
had made the phrase famous in her song "I Want to Be Loved by You";
however, according to Charles Solomon, in his book THE HISTORY OF ANIMATION, the Fleischers won the case by proving that a black entertainer
named "Baby Esther" had previously used the phrase before either Kane or
Questel.

By the way, thanks for posting the great pix. The one of the left is also in
Lawson's book.

P.S. I remember seeing those paper towel commercials, too! (Unless I'm
mistaken, Mae also appeared on Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis' first radio show.
I have a recording of it, and it sure sounds like her.)

[Mikado]

Im a big fan of the Fleischer film studio....Strangely, Betty, the first animated "human girl" cartoon star, was originally a DOG...litterally, she began as a GF for Bimbo the Dog!!! (She looked like a canine version of Helen Kane, with big ears*, a black nose and a tail!)*Her dog ears morphed into large hoop earings!

pics
Left: The original "dog" Betty
Right: The transitional version, still canine but with a human mouth and nose
Bottom: Betty as she's best known

[tv star collector]

Yes, I had seen a drawing of her (in the magazine ANIMANIA, back in the
early 1980s) as she appeared in "Dizzy Dishes" (a hybrid of a dog and a
sexy girl). Grim Natwick was the original artist. It's always interesting to
see how cartoon characters evolve.

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...when they relocated to Miami in 1938; she preferred to stay in New York. So Margie Heinz became Betty's {and Olive Oyl's} voice when the staff moved there. When they returned to New York in 1944 {as "Famous Studios"}, Questel rejoined the studio, once again delivering Olive's voice {and "Little Audrey's"} until the "Popeye" series came to an end in 1957.