Betty Boop

The world's first solo virtual / cartoon star.

Betty Boop, thanks to her copyright expiring and entering the public domain seems to be everywhere these days.

But did you know the little lady who was modeled on It Girl Clara Bow was probably the worlds first virtual solo star.

Though she was modeled on Clara Bow, Betty Boop’s first incarnation was a French Poodle. Her floppy ears were changed to loopy earrings and the Betty we know today was born. Clara Bow

Thanks to Max Fleischer’s Talkatoons and Screensongs Betty became famous singing popular songs of the day helping to promote the sales of sheet music

Betty Boop became the star of the Talkartoons by 1932, and was given her own series that same year, beginning with Stopping the Show. From that point on, she was crowned "The Queen of the Animated Screen." The series was popular throughout the 1930s, lasting until 1939

Cab Calloway’s Minnie the Moocher (which he performed in The Blues Brothers Movie nearly 60 years later) would be her biggest hit.

Minnie the Moocher particularly defined Betty's character as a teenager of a modern era, at odds with the old world ways of her parents. In the cartoon, after a disagreement with her parents, Betty runs away from home, accompanied by her boyfriend Bimbo, only to get lost in a haunted cave. A ghostly walrus (rotoscoped from live-action footage of Calloway), sings Calloway's famous song "Minnie the Moocher", accompanied by several other ghosts and skeletons. This haunting performance sends the frightened Betty and Bimbo back to the safety of home. "Minnie the Moocher" served as a promotion for Calloway's subsequent stage appearances, and it also established Betty Boop as a cartoon star.

So as you can see, the world has been fascinated with cartoon bands for quite some time now and may it continue to do so.