Betty's Baby Brother?

[Netta]

I was watching some Popeye shows on television and during the show they would give out some unknown trivia about Popeye. They said that Popeye first debut on Betty Boop's show before having his own show. Then they said that Betty made guest appearances on the Popeye show whenever Popeye would babysitt her baby brother, his name was Billy. Does anyone else know anything about Betty's baby brother? Are there any pictures of him? :confused:

[Labetta]

Hi, Netta,

I actually have a book that contains all of Betty's Sunday comic strips from 1934-1936. It's actually called "Betty Boop's Sunday Best." Well, I just glanced through it because I remembered her having a baby brother and according to the actual comic strips, here is the scoop:
Betty seemed to have two brothers in the comics or it was one that they changed a bit. The first brother that appeared was named "Billy" and he appeared only once or twice in the comics that I have. He was a little walking and talking baby that wore a blue bonnet on his head that covered all his hair. He wore a red baby suit.
Then Betty had a brother named "Bubby" that started appearing that seemed to be the same age, except he didn't wear a bonnet and he had black hair and a serious part down the middle with no hair on the sides of his head. He also wore the red baby suit.
Then his look changed again and he wore a blue baby dress type outfit with a big red bowtie. In a few comics the colors changed back and forth between blue and red for the baby dress, but the outfit in general was the same.

He was a little tough guy and he appeared in a lot of the comics. Betty's main focus was to make Bubby a movie star and get him his big break.
Also in the comics I noticed that Betty had a beau named "Mr. Van Twinkle." Oh, Betty....
Hope that kind of helps...

:cool:

[Netta]

Thanks very much for the information. I was confused on rather if she had a brother or not. Not many people talk about him. :D

[Valerie]

right, ididn't know bb had a family neither mostly saw her withe animals around her than babies !

[JennyBoop]

Very interesting, thank you for the information. I was wondering where can I get A book on Betty Boop? I usually buy book's and stuff off amazon.com but they were pretty much sold out. Thank's fellow Booper's.

[BBooper]

I found some bb cartoon strips on the web and her baby brother in it is called billy! Hope i helped :D ;) :) :P

[Valerie]

you do really help because it is quite rare to hear about BB brother

[Swt-Baby-Boop]

Billy and Bubby Boop...LOL!!!

Those are cute and funny names!!! Does anyone have the link to see any of these comics on the web??? If not, where can you buy that book with the BB comic strips???

.oOCourtneyOo.

aka ~*~Sweet Baby Boop~*~

:) Boop-oop-a-doo! Boop!!! :)

[gangsta boop]

SOME OF YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW BUT ONE OF THOSE BABIES COULD BE BETTY BOOPS SON UNLESS THESE ARE ONLY COMICS OR BLACK AND WHITE EPISODES.HE IS A TODDLER WITH BLACK HAIR A BLUE ENGINEER HAT AND A BLUE AND ORANGE OUTFIT IF THATS WHO U R TALKING ABOUT ITS BETTYS SON!!!

[bettyboop68]

I never heard bboop had any sons.

[bettyboop464]

I didn't know she had a son either

[gangsta boop]

yes she does and every episode he is in he gets into trouble and betty boop is only in some of it . there mostly about him and the trouble he gets into.the only time you see betty is when she tells him not to do somthing and then at the end she catches him and punishes him.

[The Moocher]

I didn't know that.

I don't recall her having a husband, not even Mr Van Twinkle!

And this was after 1934 too :eek:

Mooch

[Bikerbettyboop]

hmmm.. some interesting information here!! Thanks everyone for sharing!

[LilMizNaughty25]

So does BB have a lil' bro

[Bikerbettyboop]

According to BBooper.. she found some cartoons and found Betty's brother in it!

[ilovebb]

undefinedundefined :P Where can I find bboop books on the web? :D

[Mouse]

Wow! betty boop brother i never heard of that one. i definitly would like an update on this information and where to find. Mouse

[The Moocher]

I've been looking into this.

As far as I can find out, Betty had at least one and possibly two brothers in her comic script, but none in the cartoons.

However, in Baby Be Good (1935) she was looking after a baby who appears to be her son. It could be a baby brother but it doesn't seem likely.

In Betty Boop and Little Jimmy (1936), Jimmy appears to be her son, although he could be a little brother.

In The Foxy Hunter (1937) Junior again appears to be her son (he's younger than Little Jimmy was). Junior could be a small brother or even a child that Betty is minding, but the cartoon makes more sense if he is Betty's son.

Betty doesn't have a husband in any of her shorts, except in the early Talkartoon B*m Bandit (1931), where Bimbo is her runaway husband and they have 17 children! However she isn't Betty in the short, she's Dangerous Nan McGrew. She gets married at the very end of Hide and Seek (1932) to a cop who's a Fearless Freddy prototype, and she proposes marriage to Bimbo at the end of Mask-A-Raid (1931).

She may have been married to the Black King in Chess Nuts (1932). This isn't made clear.

She never married Mr Van Twinkle.

Mooch

[Bikerbettyboop]

Excellent research info here Mooch... thanks for taking the time to find it and sharing it with us!!

I don't think Betty Boop was ever married.

[The Moocher]

I don't think Betty Boop was ever married.
:D :D :D :D :D :D

Except to:
Bimbo (B*m Bandit)
Bimbo again (Mask-A-Raid)
A cop (Hide and Seek)
The Black King (Chess Nuts)
Prince Charming (Poor Cinderella) - I'd forgotten that one!

D*rn it, the girl was almost as bad as Elizabeth Taylor!

:D :D :D :D :D :D

I'm joking of course. Betty played parts like any actress, and if marriage was in the plot then she followed the script.

Basically, however, she was an independent, sassy woman that got along fine without needing a husband or steady boyfriend to look after her. That's what made the "moral majority" so set against her. So BBB is right. Betty was never married.

Mooch

[bettyboopfan]

Betty was never married.


Wasn't she too young to be married?

[LilMizNaughty25]

So does BB have a lil' bro

I said it before and i willsay it again did BB really have a Lil' Bro

[bettyboopfan]

According to BBooper.. she found some cartoons and found Betty's brother in it!


Here is your answer Lil!

[The Moocher]

I said it before and i willsay it again did BB really have a Lil' Bro

Betty Boop had a little brother. He was called Billy Boop. He appeared in the comic strip, and also in some cartoons, although not in a major role. I've still got to discover which cartoons. He may have been in some of the "lost" cartoons that were made in 1938 but were mislaid when Fleischer Studios moved from New York to Florida.

Mooch

[The Moocher]

Wasn't she too young to be married?

Technically yes. Max Fleisher is on record as stating that Betty Boop was, and always would be, sixteen.

Yet she was the mother of seventeen children in B*m Bandit (although she was Dangerous Nan McGrew rather than Betty Boop in that particular short). She raced cars in Betty Boop’s Ker-Choo, flew her own private plane to Japan in A Language All My Own, and was the boss of a troupe of entertainers in Betty Boop Limited.

Betty was a mother in Baby Be Good, and the mother of a five or six year old in Betty Boop and Little Jimmy. She got married in Hide and Seek and Poor Cinderella.

Betty Boop may be sweet sixteen, but “never been kissed” does not apply! She is extremely fond of a spot of “boop-oop-a-doop.” Whether this means kissing and cuddling or something more serious is open to debate, although her song in A Language All My Own (the Japanese words) implies the latter. However, Betty always retains her air of slightly surprised innocence.

Innocence is not ignorance. Betty is attractive and she knows it – and dresses accordingly. She is not above using her looks to get her own way (Betty Boop MD, Mask-A-Raid, Betty Boop’s Big Boss), but as she made clear in Crazy Town, the Boop heart is not for sale!

So what did Max mean? Possibly he was merely causing mischief, as he was inclined to do. However, it is more likely he meant that Betty would always be “a girl in a woman’s body.” She meets the world with a sunny, wide-eyed optimism, and always believes the best about people until they prove her wrong. She is a flirt and a show-off, and perfectly willing to kiss any attractive man in range, although she always seems surprised when males react to her blatant provocation – uninvited.

Betty Boop is a cartoon character. She is whatever she is shown as in the short we are watching, and there is no point in debating her age, religion or ethnicity. Betty is no “one trick pony.” She played an adolescent Jewish girl in Minnie the Moocher, a spoilt, selfish socialite in Swim Or Sink, a kind-heated gold-digger with questionable morals in A-Hunting We Will Go, an office girl using her charms to land a job in Betty Boop’s Big Boss and an international cabaret star in A Language All My Own. She was a dark-skinned South Sea Islander in Betty Boop’s Bamboo Isle.

There is a danger in thinking that Betty Boop is real, and somehow has an existence as a person outside the roles she plays. She isn’t, and she doesn’t.

Mooch

[LilMizNaughty25]

Betty Boop had a little brother. He was called Billy Boop. He appeared in the comic strip, and also in some cartoons, although not in a major role. I've still got to discover which cartoons. He may have been in some of the "lost" cartoons that were made in 1938 but were mislaid when Fleischer Studios moved from New York to Florida.

Mooch
I bet he was really cute and i guess no-one has a picture of him!!!!!!!!!
But will every try to find one for me please!!!!!!!

[The Moocher]

I bet he was really cute and i guess no-one has a picture of him!!!!!!!!!
But will every try to find one for me please!!!!!!!

Sorry, I haven't been able to. I think he must have been mainly a comic strip character, and there aren't many pictures from the comic script around.

In the comic strip, Betty's baby brother was called Billy or (when he lost the baby bonnet and grew a little hair) Bubby or Bobby. Mr Van Twinkle, Betty's boyfriend, also had a baby brother named Percy who was the same age as Billy.

I can't find Billy (or Bubby or Bobby) in any Betty Boop cartoons! He may have been in the "lost" cartoons that also featured Betty's young cousin Buzzy Boop. These are "Buzzy Boop" and "Buzzy Boop at the Concert," both 1938. I don't have any pictures of Buzzy Boop either.

Can anyone help?

Mooch

[bettyboopfan]

Buzzy Boop, Betty's michievous niece, appeared in two cartoons which are considered lost.
Neither was ever in the U.M.&M. TV package (and thus not contained in the Republic "Definitive Betty Boop" VHS and Laser collections), but luckily a dupe 16mm print of the first one BUZZY BOOP survives in some private collections. The dupe has poor sound, but has the original Paramount titles (what else would it have?). Here are some frames so you can see this "lost" cartoon character.
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a3/bettyboopfan/buzz3.jpg

[bettyboopfan]

According to Fred Grandinetti's "Popeye: An Illustrated History", the baby in this cartoon is not Swee'pea! He's actually Betty Boop's little brother, Billy.

A caricatured Harpo Marx plays the harp in a brief appearance.

The original black and white cartoon has been colorized.

Retitled "The Nursemaid" for home exhibition.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a3/bettyboopfan/sock_bye.jpg

[The Moocher]

Thanks bettyboopfan!

I didn't think there was any possibility of getting a Buzzy Boop picture. I'll use this in the "History of Betty Boop" thread.

I always assumed the baby in "Sock-a-bye-baby" was Swee'pea. As far as I am aware, Betty never appeared in a Popeye cartoon, although Popeye made his debut in the Betty Boop Cartoon "Popeye the Sailor" (1933), so I don't see why Popeye should be babysitting Billy Boop.

I'll research Grandinetti's book and see what I can find.

Mooch

[The Moocher]

According to Fred Grandinetti's "Popeye: An Illustrated History", the baby in this cartoon is not Swee'pea! He's actually Betty Boop's little brother, Billy.


I attach a picture of Swee'pea with the rest of the gang (picture 1). The baby in "Sock-a-bye Baby" (picture 2) looks a lot tougher than Swee'pea and the nose is different.

I don't know why Grandinetti thinks it's Billy Boop, but Fred knows a lot more about Popeye than I do, so he's probably right. Personally, I think the baby looks a lot more like Bimbo's dreadful little brother Aloysius who apeared in Minding the Baby and Boop-Oop-A-Doop.

Mooch

[bboop480]

Amazing....

[Mouse]

Labetta, Can you scan some of those comics so we can see what they look like? also it looks like some confusion on lil bro or son or both. Can you clarify those also?
Thanks Mouse Booper

[bettyboopfan]

That is a good idea to scan the comics and share!