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Betty Boop
Birthplace: Talkartoons,
Paramount Studios
New York, New York, U.S.A. |
Betty, designed by Paramount Studios, was born August 8th, 1930. Her first role on the road to stardom was that of a french poodle. However she quickly evolved into a coy, sweetly suggestive flapper girl. A conflicting mixture of sexy and innocent, saucy and sweet, naive and worldly, she boop-boop-a-dooped her way straight into the hearts of America. Betty starred in over 100 cartoons from 1931 to 1939.
In an era where women barely showed their legs, Betty was flaunting her sexuality and society was loving it. She wore short skirts, garters, tight fitting clothes, and low cut dresses. Her open sexuality was years beyond her time and in the end was her demise. The Production Code censorship laws enforced in 1934 forced her to cover up. Her skirts were longer, her neckline was higher and her roles were devoid of sexual content. The animators struggled to keep her interesting and popular but finally, in 1939, Betty's career came to an end.
 Betty was not defeated though.
She has survived the turbulence of world wars, gangsters, the 1960's riots, the assassination of President Kennedy and the horror of 911. She has seen 13 President's take office and joined in the celebrations of America's 200th birthday.
She witnessed the invention of scotch tape, plastic, the ball point pen, jet engines, birth control pills, cake mixes and computers. She played with a hula hoop in 1958 and bought a permanent press dress in 1964. She started using a post it note in 1974, a cell phone in 1979 and an answering machine in 1991. Betty held her breath and celebrated the millennium with the rest of the world.
All this. . . . . . .without losing her gorgeous figure, not getting a single wrinkle and never leaving the hearts of society. She is still as sexy as ever and still dazzles the world.
Betty is a survivor. She will be forever young.
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