The Voice of Betty Boop, Mae Questel. James D. Taylor Jr.

Описание: Millions of people all over the globe know the sexy iconic figure just seen. Betty Boop is an iconic figure that has endured for almost a century. In addition to cartoons and short movies, she is seen on almost everything from automotive and motorcycle merchandise to household items and clothing. Just about anything you can think of, her sexy little figure can be seen on it. But, do you know who gave Betty Boop her voice?

That voice is Mae Questel. Mae was an American actress and vocal artist who put the “boop” in the “boop boop a doop.” Though Mae is not credited for the phrase, it was because of Mae Questel that Betty Boop has a characteristic voice heard and remembered by millions. In my biography about her, for the first time ever, I share the life of this wonderful woman and the contributions she made to American pop culture through her voice characterizations and television. These include Little Audrey and Little Lulu cartoons and Olive Oyl in Popeye the Sailor cartoons and her numerous television commercials such as Scott Paper towels. I have dedicated several appendixes to her contributions. And I attempted to address many credits that Mae was given that she did not participate in. She was dedicated to her work and remained active until the last ten years of her long life.

I interviewed popular actors such as Woody Allen, Lou Hirsch, Doris Roberts, Bob Newhart and Chevy Chase who happily shared their accounts of working with Mae Questel with me. Mae is perhaps recently remembered as Aunt Bethany in the National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation when she recited the Pledge of Allegiance instead of the prayer at dinner.

I listened to hundreds of hours of old audio recordings, vinyl records utilizing voice recognition analysis and viewed many hours of film to accumulate material for her biography from many sources such as the Library of Congress. With every hour, my respect and appreciation grew for this admirable and talented woman who entertained millions of people.