Helen Kane
Helen Kane is one of an elite group of performers, the essence of whose entire careers can be captured with a simple, silly, and catchy expression. "Boop-boop-be-doop!" does it for Kane, just like "I can't get no satisfaction" sums up Mick Jagger. It is a pity that these two careers have little else in common; how nice it would be, for example, if a cartoon character based on some aspect of Jagger's personality had become much more famous than Jagger himself. That's just what happened with Betty Boop and Kane, but it was not the singer who actually worked the voice of the flapper-cartoon heroine. The Boop-scoop, so to speak, was provided by a performer named Mae Questal, first-place winner in a contest to imitate the sound of Kane's voice.
Like many performers burdened with one overwhelming association, Kane's career was actually much more diverse. She was involved with show business for much of her life, not only as a singer but also as an actress in the early-'30s Hollywood films, and a costume designer as well. Kane was a Bronx gal whose real name was Helen Schroeder. Some mildly amusing siblings known as the Marx Brothers were the ones who got her started in show business; she was 17 at the time. She began appearing in Broadway musicals in 1927, and a 1928 show entitled Good Boy was the source of the "boop-boop-be-doop," a musical request entitled "I Wanna Be Loved by You," specifically. An aspect of her approach to the song, delivering it in a toddler's voice, in turn became a stylistic trademark of some of the so-called "flapper" tuneage created by singers such as Kane and Annette Hanshaw.
The character of Betty Boop evolved out of all this while Kane was a contract player at the Paramount studio, also the home of animation genius Max Fleischer. It wasn't he who first drew the character, however. The original animator, the pleasant-sounding Grim Natwick, supposedly created Betty Boop by combining attributes of Kane and a French poodle! In a 1950 film biography of "I Want to Be Loved by You" songwriters Kalmar & Ruby, the part of Kane was played by none other than Debbie Reynolds, but it is actually Kane's voice providing the "boop-boop-be-doop."
© Eugene Chadbourne /TiVo
Discography
21 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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The Voice of Betty Boop (Remastered)
Pop - Released by Master Tape Records on 14 aug. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Betty Boop Sings (Remastered) (Helen Kane)
Internationaal variété - Released by The Lost Noises Office on 1 jan. 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Boop-Boop-A-Doop
Pop - Released by Universal Digital Enterprises on 3 dec. 1928
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Flapper Follies- Helen Kane's 1928-1930 Songbook
Jazz - Released by Groovy Train on 8 sep. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Betty Boop Sings! (Remastered)
Originele soundtracks - Released by RevOla on 18 jul. 2019
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Helen Kane - The Essential
Pop - Released by Vintage Jukebox on 15 apr. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I Want To Be Bad
Pop - Released by Sweeter Records on 18 dec. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Betty Boop Best Of
Vocale jazz - Released by Master Classics Records on 1 jun. 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hug Me! Kiss Me! Love Me!
Pop - Released by Orange Leisure on 27 feb. 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Voice of Betty Boop!
Vocale jazz - Released by Music Manager on 7 feb. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Vintage Collection - Helen Kane
Alternative en Indie - Released by Imperial Presents on 1 aug. 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I Wanna Be loved By You
Pop - Released by Rainbow Media OMP on 11 mei 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Birth Of The Blues
Harry Richman, Helen Kane, Eddie Cantor
Blues - Released by Roots on 1 jan. 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Helen Kane (Vintage Charm)
Pop - Released by Don't stop the music on 22 apr. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Button Up Your Overcoat
Pop - Released by Sweeter Records on 20 jun. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Me & The Man In The Moon
Pop/Rock - Released by Vantage Music on 28 sep. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Me & The Man In The Moon
Pop - Released by Heaven And Earth Music on 28 sep. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
My Man Is On The Make
Pop - Released by Black Barn Music on 7 sep. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I Wanna Be Loved by You
Pop - Released by JB Production on 11 aug. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo