A short item promoting PBS’ Black History Month programming suggested the Betty Boop cartoon character was based on a Black performer of the Jazz Age. That’s not entirely true. Quicker action to ...

Betty Boop is largely recognized as an iconic cartoon character and the first animated American sex symbol. However, her signature style and voice was appropriated by an African American jazz singer ...

Created by animator Grim Natwick, and voiced (mostly) by Mae Questel, Betty was the queen of the New York cartoon studio run by Max and Dave Fleischer — Walt Disney's only serious rival in the 1930s.

After nearly 100 years of small screen success, it seems impossible that this timeless fixture of pop culture is only just making her way to the stage. And though we are intimately familiar with Betty ...

It’s not widely known, but Esther Jones — a black Harlem singer who performed regularly at the Cotton Club as Baby Esther — was an inspiration for the beloved cartoon sex symbol Betty Boop. This ...

You’ve won 16 Grammy Awards and now want to write your first Broadway musical. What source material do you pick? There are so many great novels, movies, straight plays and TV shows out there to choose ...