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Helen Kane (born Helen Clare Schroeder, August 4, 1904 – September 26, 1966) was an American singer and actress. Her signature song was "I Wanna Be Loved by You" (1928), featured in the 1928 stage musical Good Boy. The song was written for Good Boy by the songwriting team Kalmar and Ruby. Kane's voice and appearance were thought to be a source for Fleischer Studios when creating Betty Boop. Kane sued the studio for stealing her signature "boop-oop-a-doop" style, but the judge decided that the proof of this was insufficient, and dismissed the case. Fleischer Studios later admitted that Kane had been the inspiration for Betty Boop.
Kane's mother reluctantly paid $3 (approximately a day's pay) for her daughter's costume as a queen in Kane's first theatrical role at school. By the time she was 15 years old, Kane was onstage professionally, touring the Orpheum Circuit with the Marx Brothers in On the Balcony.
She spent the early 1920s trouping in vaudeville as a singer and kickline dancer with a theater engagement called the "All Jazz Revue". She played the New York Palace for the first time in 1921. Her Broadway days started there, as well with the Stars of the Future (1922–24, and a brief revival in early 1927). She also sang onstage with an early singing trio, the Hamilton Sisters and Fordyce, later known as The Three X Sisters.
Kane's roommate in the early 1920s was Jessie Fordyce. The singing trio act might have become the Hamilton Sisters and Schroeder, but Pearl Hamilton chose Fordyce to tour as a trio act "just to see what happens" at the end of the theatrical season.
Kane's first performance at the Paramount Theater in Times Square proved to be her career's launching point. She was singing "That's My Weakness Now", when she interpolated the Scat singing lyrics "boop-oop-a-doop". This resonated with the flapper culture, and four days later, Helen Kane's name went up in lights.
In Oscar Hammerstein's 1928 show Good Boy, she first introduced the hit "I Wanna Be Loved by You". Then it was back to the Palace, as a headliner for $5,000 a week. She rejoined her friends from vaudeville, The Three X Sisters (formerly The Hamilton Sisters and Fordyce) for one night. In a 1935 live stage performance, she harmonized with their unique banter to a novelty tune, "The Preacher and the Bear".
Kane blended several fashionable styles of the late 1920s. These included scat singing, a kind of vocal improvisation, and also blending singing and speech. Sprechgesang ("speech-song") was fashionable at this time in Germany's Weimar Republic in both nightclubs and in serious music.
Kane recorded 22 songs between 1928 and 1930. After 1930 and up to 1951, she recorded four sides for Columbia Records in addition to the Three Little Words soundtrack single recording of "I Wanna Be Loved by You". She also recorded four songs that comprise a 1954 MGM 45Ep entitled "The Boop Boop a Doop Girl".
Her films were:
Although Kane was not the "star" of most of her pictures (with Dangerous Nan McGrew being the one exception), she was so popular that in the case of Sweetie, her name appeared over the title on the marquee when the movie premiered at the New York Paramount (although Nancy Carroll was the true star). Kane provided all the fun, and Jack Oakie and she danced to "The Prep Step", a big hit along with "He's So Unusual". They even performed this dance at the first Hollywood Bowl fundraiser on August 7, 1929.LA Times, Jul 30, 1929, page A1 Another hit from this picture was Nancy Carroll's "My Sweeter Than Sweet".
In the opening credits of Pointed Heels, Kane and William Powell are billed on the same line just below the title, with Fay Wray and the rest in smaller letters underneath. She had equal billing with Buddy Rogers in Heads Up!, and their faces appeared in all the ads. In Dangerous Nan McGrew, Kane received top billing in the film's credits.
In May 1932, Kane filed a lawsuit against Max Fleischer and Paramount for damages of $250,000 (equal to $ today), alleging infringement, unfair competition and exploitation of her personality and image. Before his death, cartoonist Grim Natwick admitted he had designed a young girl based upon a photo of Kane. Margie Hines, Mae Questel, Bonnie Poe, Little Ann Little, and Kate Wright provided the voice for Betty Boop. They had all taken part in a 1929 Paramount contest, which was a search for Helen Kane impersonators.
The trial took place in April and early May 1934, and lasted approximately two weeks. It was claimed in court that Kane based her style in part on Baby Esther, a child African American dancer and entertainer of the late 1920s, known for impersonating Florence Mills. Variety stated Esther was seven years old,. Esther had arrived for the first time in New York City in mid-1928, playing in a pocket-sized nightclub called The Everglades. Variety, July 11, 1928, pg 33 Theatrical manager Lou Bolton offered testimony during the Kane v. Fleischer trial to convey the impression that Helen Kane adopted Baby Esther's boops to further her own popularity as a singer. Esther's act at The Everglades included an impersonation of the late Florence Mills. Under cross-examination Bolton said that he had met with Kane at the club after Esther's performance, but could not say when she had walked in.' 'Helen Kane and Betty Boop. On Stage and On Trial. James D. Taylor Jr. Algora Publishing, New York. 2017'' pp. 187–188 Bolton also stated that Fleischer's lawyers had paid him $200 to come to New York. The Fleischers used as defense a film of Baby Esther, made in 1928, featuring her singing three songs that had earlier been popularized by Helen Kane – "Don't Be Like That", "Is There Anything Wrong with That?"" and "Wa-da-da" – which writer Mark Langer says "was hardly proof that Helen Kane derived her singing style from Baby Esther". However Jazz Studies scholar Robert O'Meally stated this evidence might very well have been fabricated by the Fleischers to discredit Kane, whom they later admitted to have been their model for Betty Boop. O'Meally also questioned if there was some sort of deal between Fleischer Studios and Bolton, and questioned if Esther was ever paid for her presumed loss of revenue.
Other attempts to discredit Kane at the trial came in the form of phonograph recordings of Annette Hanshaw and the Duncan Sisters, and a piece of 1915 sheet music titled "Bou Dou BaDa Bou" (which was actually French, and was not "scat" because it was someone's name). The five women who did the Betty Boop voice in the cartoons also testified, claiming they always 'booped' that way, even around the house. Based on the totality of the information presented before him and without a jury, Judge McGoldrick found "insufficient evidence to support the plaintiff's claim" and found in favor of the defendants on May 5, 1934.Taylor Jr., James D. (2017). Helen Kane and Betty Boop: On Stage and On Trial. Algora. p. 208.
target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[3] sang weekly on the radio, and made appearances at various nightclubs and theatres during the 1930s.
In 1950, she dubbed Debbie Reynolds, who performed "I Wanna Be Loved by You" in the MGM musical biopic of songwriters Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, Three Little Words. She did not appear in the film's credits, but was credited on the soundtrack album and 78RPM records.
She appeared on several TV shows in the 1950s and 1960s, principally Toast of the Town, later known as The Ed Sullivan Show. Kane's final public appearance was on the Sullivan Show on St. Patrick's Day 1965.
In addition, Kane was given a tribute in 1958 on This Is Your Life with Ralph Edwards. It brought a tearful reunion with her old friend, actress Fifi D'Orsay, and a lifelong fan who once sent her money when she was down on her luck. Renewed interest in Kane brought her a one-record contract with MGM Records and appearances on I've Got a Secret and You Asked for It. She sang on all of these TV shows.
| 1 | "Get Out and Get Under the Moon" | 7 | July 16, 1928 | |
| 2 | "That's My Weakness Now" | 5 | July 16, 1928 | |
| 3 | "I Wanna Be Loved by You" | 2 | September 20, 1928 | from the musical Good Boy |
| 4 | "Is There Anything Wrong in That?" | September 20, 1928 | ||
| 5 | "Don't Be Like That" | 16 | December 20, 1928 | |
| 6 | "Me and the Man in the Moon" | 8 | December 20, 1928 | |
| 7 | "Button Up Your Overcoat" | 3 | January 30, 1929 | from the musical Follow Thru |
| 8 | "I Want to Be Bad" | 18 | January 30, 1929 | from the musical Follow Thru |
| 9 | "Do Something" | 12 | March 15, 1929 | from the movie Nothing But the Truth |
| 10 | "That's Why I'm Happy" | March 15, 1929 | ||
| 11 | "I'd Do Anything for You" | June 14, 1929 | ||
| 12 | "He's So Unusual" | June 14, 1929 | from the movie Sweetie"He's So Unusual" was later Cover version by Cyndi Lauper on her album She's So Unusual | |
| 13 | "Ain'tcha?" | October 29, 1929 | from the movie Pointed Heels | |
| 14 | "I Have to Have You" | October 29, 1929 | from the movie Pointed Heels | |
| 15 | "I'd Go Barefoot All Winter Long" | March 18, 1930 | ||
| 16 | "Dangerous Nan McGrew" | April 12, 1930 | from the movie Dangerous Nan McGrew | |
| 17 | "Thank Your Father" | April 12, 1930 | from the musical Flying High | |
| 18 | "I Owe You" | April 12, 1930 | from the movie Dangerous Nan McGrew | |
| 19 | "Readin' Ritin' Rhythm" | July 1, 1930 | from the movie Heads Up! | |
| 20 | "I've Got It (But It Don't Do Me No Good)" | July 1, 1930 | from the movie Young Man of Manhattan | |
| 21 | "My Man Is on the Make" | July 2, 1930 | from the movie Heads Up! | |
| 22 | "If I Knew You Better" | July 2, 1930 | from the movie Heads Up! | |
| 23 | "I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat" | between 1950–51 | with Jimmy Carroll & His Orchestra | |
| 24 | "Beanbag Song" | between 1931–51 | with Jimmy Carroll & His Orchestra | |
| 25 | "Hug Me! Kiss Me! Love Me!" | between 1931–51 | with George Siravo & His Orchestra | |
| 26 | "Aba Daba Honeymoon" | between 1931–51 | with George Siravo & His Orchestra | |
| 27 | "When I Get You Alone Tonight" | 1954 | with Leroy Holmes and his Orchestra | |
| 28 | "When My Sugar Walks Down The Street" | 1954 | with Leroy Holmes and his Orchestra | |
The release dates of recordings 1 to 22 are derived from the cover notes of the CD Helen Kane - Great Original Performances - 1928 to 1930 (RPCD 323).
In 1954, MGM records issued the last Helen Kane recordings as a 45-rpm Ep X1164 called "The Boop-Boop-A-Doop Girl!", orchestra directed by Leroy Holmes, and the songs are "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street", "When I Get You Alone Tonight, Do Something" (from Nothing But the Truth) and "That's My Weakness Now".
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