Black History, Listings🌹🌹🌹Listings

Black History, Listings🌹🌹🌹Listings Esther Lee "Baby Esther" Jones, a Black Chicago woman and well-known singer of the 1920s, is the initial inspiration for the cartoon character, Betty Boop, who first appeared in the 1930s. Jones' musical compositions fell under the growing Jazz community. Yet, her child-sounding voice and popular "Boop-oop-a-doo" performance at Harlem's Cotton Club landed her a recognizable role in the musical community. Jones used scat, a singing technique used in jazz composed of dynamic and nonsensical syllables instead of words, which can, at times, sound similar by comparison to create the "Boop-oop-a-doo" performance. This signature "Boop-oop-a-doo" expression landed Betty Boop in a court trial in the 1930s-- the plaintiff being Helen Kane. Kane was an American singer and actress in the 1920s, famously known for her song "I Wanna Be Loved By You," which features a similar rendition of Jones' "Boop-oop-a-doo." Kane filed a New York Supreme Court lawsuit in May of 1932 against Max Fleischer, the Fleischer Studios, Inc., and the Paramount Publix Corporation. As the lawsuit's popularity grew and Helen Kane's fame drew attention, Esther Jones was cast aside alongside her influential work. Lou Walton, Jones' manager, testified in the case claiming that Kane had seen Jones' performance and developed her rendition of "Boop-oop-a-doo."