Day 2 - The birth of Betty Boop!

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A black jazz singer out of Harlem was the inspiration for the beloved cartoon character, Betty Boop. "Baby Esther," Esther Jones performed regularly at the Cotton Club in the 1920s.

When she performed she would used "boops" and other child-like sounds and scat noises. Helen Kane adopted this style after seeing Baby Esther perform. When Betty Boop, a caricature of a jazz age flapper, was introduced by cartoonist Max Fleischer, Kane tried to sue.

Fleischer fought back by arguing that Kane stole her style from Jones proving she had no exclusive rights to the "boop-boop-a-doop" style. Eventually, a sound film was found to prove that Baby Esther had done it first.

Esther Jones was believed to have died by this time, but is still known today as the originator of the style that gave birth to the iconic Betty Boop!

And THAT is Junior's Black History Month Fact Of The Day!

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