# Artist's rendering of Betty Boop's skull **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 28, 2006, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-rendering-of-betty-boops-skull/370510 "2006-08-28T12:32:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-rendering-of-betty-boops-skull/370510/1 "2006-08-28T12:32:48Z")
Those of you who are interested in the physiological details of cute little cartoon characters might want a look at [Betty Boop’s skull.](http://michaelpaulus.com/gallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=character-Skeletons&id=betty_boop_headshot_001) The skeletons of other famous cartoon characters can be found [here.](http://michaelpaulus.com/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=character-Skeletons) I must confess I’m disappointed not to see Popeye, Bugs Bunny or Yosemite Sam, but I’ll take what I can get. And I thought I was weird … ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-rendering-of-betty-boops-skull/370510/2 "2006-08-28T12:48:41Z")
The PowerPuff Girl skeleton is really freaky. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-rendering-of-betty-boops-skull/370510/3 "2006-08-28T13:00:23Z")
Remionds me of Graig Swanson’s cartoons, especially “Anatomy of a Clown” (Available as a T-shirt). See this site: [www.perspicuity.com](http://www.perspicuity.com) ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-rendering-of-betty-boops-skull/370510/4 "2006-08-28T15:02:56Z")
The Peanuts ones don’t look all that freakish to me. I wonder why he felt the need to do so many; one or two examples from any one cartoon “family” (per species, that is) would serve just as well. All three Powerpuff Girls also don’t look much different from one another. ---
**Author:** ![Reloy3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@Reloy3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reloy3)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-rendering-of-betty-boops-skull/370510/5 "2006-08-28T15:51:36Z")
Interesting site, but I would not have given the shmoo any bones at all. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-rendering-of-betty-boops-skull/370510/6 "2006-08-28T15:56:42Z")
That is rather a skeleton of a website. He really needs to flesh it out more. Interesting, however. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-rendering-of-betty-boops-skull/370510/7 "2006-08-28T16:21:57Z")
I thought it was canon that the Shmoo has no bones (and has a different flavor depending on how it is prepared.). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-rendering-of-betty-boops-skull/370510/8 "2006-08-28T16:26:59Z")
> [@Reloy3](#): > > Interesting site, but I would not have given the shmoo any bones at all. Yes, shmoos are boneless. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-rendering-of-betty-boops-skull/370510/9 "2006-08-28T20:15:43Z")
It disturbs me that Dexter has no elbows. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-rendering-of-betty-boops-skull/370510/10 "2006-08-28T20:25:36Z")
I wanna see Popeye and Krazy Kat and Little Nemo and Brenda Starr and Andy Capp and _certainly_ The Family Circus . . . ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-rendering-of-betty-boops-skull/370510/11 "2006-08-28T20:34:43Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > I wanna see Popeye and Krazy Kat and Little Nemo and Brenda Starr and Andy Capp and _certainly_ The Family Circus . . . Repectively- a skeletal analysis reveals that he is not Homo Sapiens Sapiens, but a goon/human hybrid. Extensive cranial damage due to Ignatz’s many love tokens. Hydrocephalic- the pressure on the brain causing very realistic dreams Idunno Systemic damage caused by poor diet and heavy drinking. Evidence of many injuries due to soccer hooliganism. The Family Circus have no bones, are not human, and are not native to this dimension. They are unspeakable, eldritch entities who have taken on human form for their incomprehensible and terrifying ends. The dogs too. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-rendering-of-betty-boops-skull/370510/12 "2006-08-28T20:52:18Z")
It’s worth pointing out that the drawing of [Marvin the Martian’s skeleton](http://michaelpaulus.com/gallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=character-Skeletons&id=Marvin_the_Martian_001) is purely speculative; to my knowledge we never saw him take off his helmet? The others, of course, possess ironclad scientific rigor. By the way, Bill Watterson once drew a skeletal drawing of Calvin in a strip (I think he had developed X-ray vision or something); I’ll see if I still have the book and can put up a scan. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-rendering-of-betty-boops-skull/370510/13 "2006-08-28T20:58:13Z")
> [@](#): > > I wanna see Popeye and Krazy Kat and Little Nemo and Brenda Starr and Andy Capp and certainly The Family Circus . . . There was a piece in **National Lampoon** back in the 1970s that did, not x-rays, but photorealistic drawings of comic characters. The one of Popeye was eerie, and the caption explained his weird head bulges and oversized forearms (and calves) as due to an accident in a decompression chamber. Actually, even eerierr is the photo of the guy Popeye was in all probability based on that’s reproduced in Bud Sagendorf’s book **Popeye: The First Fifty Years**. [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0894800655/sr=1-2/qid=1156798429/ref=sr\_1\_2/002-1477604-6592819?ie=UTF8&s=books](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0894800655/sr=1-2/qid=1156798429/ref=sr_1_2/002-1477604-6592819?ie=UTF8&s=books) He was an old ex-sailor who swept up in a greasy spoon who E. C. Segar knew. The guy really did have a reputation for being tough, and beating up guys younger than himself. And he does look like Segar’s first drawings of Popeye (which didn’t have as pronounced a chin.) ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-rendering-of-betty-boops-skull/370510/14 "2006-08-28T21:57:10Z")
Let’s see him do Plastic Man… ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-rendering-of-betty-boops-skull/370510/15 "2006-08-28T21:59:28Z")
> [@Mach Tuck](#): > > Let’s see him do Plastic Man… exoskeleton, not unlike a crab. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-rendering-of-betty-boops-skull/370510/16 "2006-08-28T22:16:43Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > exoskeleton, not unlike a crab. :smack: For some reason, I read Pac man. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-rendering-of-betty-boops-skull/370510/17 "2006-08-28T22:20:58Z")
Betty Boop has no lower jaw. THAT’s disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-rendering-of-betty-boops-skull/370510/18 "2006-08-28T22:28:05Z")
> [@jackelope](#): > > The others, of course, possess ironclad scientific rigor. Except the bird characters do not have bird skeletons, they appear to have human skeletons. I don’t think their anthropomorphism should stretch that far. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-rendering-of-betty-boops-skull/370510/19 "2006-08-28T23:32:21Z")
Compare this excerpt from [“A MAD Guide to The Anatomy of The Human Body Based on the Comics,”](http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-10/426023/SKULL.jpg) MAD #236 (Feb 1983). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2006, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/artists-rendering-of-betty-boops-skull/370510/20 "2006-08-28T23:42:06Z")
Here are the cartoons from Perspicuity: [http://content.perspicuity.com/?q=node/205](http://content.perspicuity.com/?q=node/205) [http://content.perspicuity.com/?q=node/239](http://content.perspicuity.com/?q=node/239) Picture (not very good) of Frank “Rocky” Fiegel, the model for Popeye: [http://www.popeyethesailor.com/club/opf1.htm](http://www.popeyethesailor.com/club/opf1.htm)