Quintessentially Mae Questel

[The Boop oop a Doop Girl]

In short, it was a marvelous career and, seemingly, a marvelous life. Certainly it was a quintessentially New York career stage, cartoons, commercials, radio. Feature films weren't really a factor until they began to move east in more recent times.

Furthermore, Mae retained her authenticity as a character by remaining in the east. Her later on-camera roles felt very real. Mae's most natural voices were always maternal and Jewish. Her Olive Oyl, originally styled after Zasu Pitts, ultimately became very "Aunt Bluebell." Betty Boop was also very much a "Jewish mother." It was, I think, the genuineness of her exuberant portrayals that made Mae Questel a success.

But if her humanity was her secret, it did not render her flawless. The story has oft been told about how Helen Kane sued Max Fleischer over the theft of her persona for his Betty Boop series. Many witnesses, including Mae, were trotted out by Fleischer to claim that Betty was not based on Kane.

However, Mae had to have known that Betty was based on Helen. Her entire career was built on her original impersonation of Helen Kane. On the night of that fateful contest, Kane had autographed a photo to Mae that said, "To Another Helen Kane." Mae took great pains later on to explain that Betty was drawn to look like her, but Mae wasn't even the first actress to voice Betty. Others, including Little Ann Little, had earlier played the role.

No one that I know of, in telling this tale, has ever called into question Mae's having taken part in this lawsuit, which Kane actually lost! In the final analysis, it's just one more incident in a life full of incidents both professional and personal. It demonstrates though that no story is fairy tale pure. Everyone is just a person. We often choose our heroes based not on what they've done, but because we like them. We liked Mae Questel. I have no doubt she deserved it.