# Explain to me the attraction of Betty Boop **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 7, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-the-attraction-of-betty-boop/367716 "2006-08-07T17:19:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-the-attraction-of-betty-boop/367716/21 "2006-08-08T21:23:44Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > This question crystalizes my ‘problem’ with Betty Boop, she may have a hot body but she has the head of the Elephant man, large misshapen and ugly. Compared to her head, her voice is just a minor annoyance. That’s my opinion, too. Then I saw [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDwug16u7t8) 'toon, where Betty is drawn more “naturally”, and she just looks completely wrong. Plus, the cartoon itself is no improvement at all on the ones done just 5-10 years earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-the-attraction-of-betty-boop/367716/22 "2006-08-08T21:45:34Z")
> [@teela brown](#): > > That’s my opinion, too. Then I saw [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDwug16u7t8) 'toon, where Betty is drawn more “naturally”, and she just looks completely wrong. Plus, the cartoon itself is no improvement at all on the ones done just 5-10 years earlier. I find that one an improvement, still her head looks like a fat old womans ass with eyes. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2006, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-the-attraction-of-betty-boop/367716/23 "2006-08-08T22:52:55Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Betty Boop’s head, I agree, doesn’t agree with me. She’s a 1930’s caricature of “little-girl-like” cute (which explains her voice, too). She’s got those chubby little-girl cheeks that are, I guess, supposed to be irresistably pinchable andcute. Doesn’t work for me – I keep anting to pinch the wrong cheeks. Because they put that baby’s head on a babe’s body. She looks and sounds like that becuse she was caricature of Broadway and recording star [Helen Kane](http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1126839/a/Original+%22Boop-Boop-A-Doop%22+Girl.htm). ---
**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 8, 2006, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-the-attraction-of-betty-boop/367716/24 "2006-08-08T23:05:11Z")
> [@](#): > > She looks and sounds like that becuse she was caricature of Broadway and recording star Helen Kane. Yeah, but I’m sure they emphasized the “little girl” aspect more than necessary. Have a look at Stephen Jay Gould’s essay on Mickey Mouse and Neoteny. I felt, personally, that Elmer Fudd was the poster child for a cartoon character evolving to look more like a human baby – He went from the annoying bulb-nosed and cross-eyed Egghead to the hairless, baby-speech-impedimented (“Swewy Wabbit!”), infantile-head-to-body-ratioed Elmer. Betty just wasn’t as far along in the process. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-the-attraction-of-betty-boop/367716/25 "2006-08-09T00:58:47Z")
I’ve always thought Betty was cute. She doesn’t look like a real person, but I don’t hold that against her – she _is_ a cartoon, after all. Lately, I’ve been even fonder of the old girl, because my daughter (recently turned 19), having found her personal style, is starting to resemble her – or as much as it’s possible for a person to resemble a cartoon. You can get an idea from this [photo](http://img227.imageshack.us/my.php?image=doe2cv5.jpg). The resemblance is more marked in person – Doe has started dying her hair black, and she wears red lipstick and lots of black eyeliner. She’s also really short (4’9"), and built along Betty’s proportions (although she doesn’t dress like Betty, usually) and has a little, piping voice as befits her small size. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-me-the-attraction-of-betty-boop/367716.md?page=1)