Mae Questel Movies
American actress/singer Mae Questel was freshly graduated from high school when she won a contest imitating singer Helen Kane, who'd popularized the phrase "Boop boop a doop." It wasn't the only impression Qiestel could do, but her Helen Kane takeoff earned the young performer steady work in vaudeville and, in 1931, a job providing the voice of Betty Boop at Max Fleischer's cartoon studios. She was one of several actresses doing this voice, but before long Questel was the one and only Betty - and was so good at her job that her role-model, Helen Kane, ended up suing Fleischer! The Betty Boop cartoons were released through Paramount, which also hired her to appear in live musical and comedy shorts. In one unforgettable installment of Paramount's Hollywood on Parade one-reel series, Questel, dressed as Betty Boop, was "attacked" by Bela Lugosi, who leaned menacingly toward her neck and declared "You have booped... your last... boooooop." When Fleischer began its Popeye the Sailor cartoon series in 1933, the studio tried out a number of actresses for the voice of Olive Oyl, but Questel eventually won out, and ended up playing Olive for the next four decades. Busy with radio and cartoon work in the '40s, she was called upon to exert her versatility when Popeye's voice, Jack Mercer, went to war; in a handful of Popeye cartoons of the era, Questel actually dubbed in Popeye herself. TV opened a whole new professional world for her as a commercial voiceover: From 1950 through 1960 she could be heard as the Hasbro Kid, Nabisco's Buffalo Bee, the talking Fizzies Tablet, and of course the "interactive" cartoon-and-merchandising star Winky Dink. Questel was seen as well as heard in both the play and movie versions of A Majority of One, and as a middle-aged blushing bride in Jerry Lewis' It's Only Money (1961). She also kept her hand in commercial work as Aunt Bluebell on the Scott paper towel ads. Woody Allen fans most cherish Mae Questel's role as the "Jewish Mama from Hell" Mrs. Millstein in New York Stories (1988), in which erstwhile magician Allen accidentally transforms his mother into a giant ethereal image in the sky, from whence she tells all of Manhattan about her son's many shortcomings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide- 1934
While picnicking on a deserted beach, Popeye, Olive and Wimpy decide to "investigake" the wreckage of an old sailing vessel. This decision proves disastrous when the derelict ship turns out to be haunted, filled right up to the crow's nest with gruesome ghosts, dancing skeletons and even "phantom" hamburgers. The climax finds the three picknickers totally at the mercy of the sadistic wraiths, forcing Popeye to take drastic measures--namely, the ingesting of a certain strength-inducing vegetable. The imaginative musical score includes Sam Koslow and W. Frank Harling's lively "Sing You Sinners", originally written for the 1930 movie musical Honey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1934
The "kinder, gentler" Popeye of the mid-1930s begins to emerge in this cartoon, which takes place at a children's health farm run by Olive Oyl. When her charges turn down a lunch consisting of a huge bowl of spinach, Popeye takes it upon himself to prove to the kids that the leafy vegetable is good for them. After several demonstrations of the "stren'th and vitaliky" brought about by spinach, the kids feed a can of the stuff to a pair of docile cows--who immediately morph into a brace of enraged bulls, necessitating a last-minute rescue courtesy of the one-eyed sailor man. Background-music selections in this one includes "The Old Gray Mare", "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree" and "You Gotta Be a Football Hero". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1934
After firing the incompetent Wimpy, Olive Oyl, the owner of "Ye Blacksmith Shoppe", advertises for a new assistant: "Must be strong! Handsome! Willing!" When both Popeye and Bluto apply for the job, Olive asks them to "show me what you can do" before she makes her final decision. The two rivals demonstrate their prowess at blacksmithing, a "friendly" contest that quickly degenerates into a traditional Popeye-Bluto donnybrook--with forge, anvil and horseshoe all brought into play as the soundtrack offers an ironic rendition of "Love Thy Neighbor." This cartoon was later excerpted in the 1936 "cheater" I'm in the Army Now. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1933
Popeye makes his first-ever screen appearance in Fleischer Studio's 1933 animated short Popeye the Sailor. Originally screened as a Betty Boop cartoon, it features the voices of William Costello as Popeye and Mae Questel as Betty Boop. ~ Sarah Block, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Costello, Mae Questel, (more)
- 1933
Popeye escorts Olive Oyl to a rodeo, where most of the spectators are anthropomorphic animals (a holdover from Fleischer's "Betty Boop" series). Jealous of Olive's fascination with rodeo star Bluto, Popeye enters the arena himself, excelling in trick riding and bull-throwing. An angry Bluto tries to punch out Popeye, but he's soon laid low when our hero pulls out his trusty can of spinach. But there's still an enraged bull (with steam coming out of his horns) to deal with--and without giving away the ending, we can note that Popeye winds up running a butcher shop (with at least one side of kosher beef). Incidental music includes the familiar "Paramount on Parade March". This cartoon was later excerpted in the 1935 "cheater" Adventures of Popeye. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- William Costello, Mae Questel, (more)
- 1933
Betty Boop's 43rd cartoon opens in the palace of the vain and wicked Queen, who of course is engaged in her favorite pastime -- asking her mirror who is the fairest in the land. Betty arrives at the Palace, guarded by Koko and Bimbo, and asks to see her stepmother, the Queen. Displeased that someone fairer than she has arrived, she tells Koko and Bimbo to dispose of her. The two tie her to a tree while they sharpen their instruments, but Betty escapes. Unfortunately, she slides down a snowy hill into a frozen pond and emerges encased in ice. Her icy "coffin" is found by seven dwarfs, who carry it into a mysterious cave. The Queen discovers Betty is still alive, transforms herself into a hag, and then transforms Koko into a strange, morphing figure that sings (to Cab Calloway's voice) "St. James Infirmary Blues." Spooky figures punctuate the lyrics as he sings and he moves into the mysterious cave; at the end of the song, the haggish Queen freezes all present, and resumes her normal form. But when she asks the mirror her question, the mirror somehow turns her into a dragon, while at the same time unfreezing the other characters. Bimbo eventually saves them from the dragon by turning it inside out, and all are safe and happy. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- 1933
Assisted by ticket-taker Bimbo the Dog and product-demonstrator Koko the Clown, Betty Boop stages a "Big Invention Show." Highlights of the program include a pig-powerd pipe organ, a Rube Goldberg-style spot remover, a cigarette snuffer, a soup silencer, a sweet-corn regulator, and an egg-frying device, replete with optional hen and rooster. Betty herself demontrates a most unusual voice recorder with a performance of "Keep a Little Song Handy." The show's Number One attraction, a VERY powerful self-threading sewing machine, knits up the proceedings quite nicely. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1933
Bimbo and Koko are among the contestants in a big auto race, where all the funny animals in Fleischer-land are in attendance (the "humanized" cars await in stalls like horses, and the judge's panel consists of three elderly blind men). The favorite in the race is Betty Boop, but she's late again, and her Yiddish-accented car has no idea where she is. When Betty finally shows up, she explains in song that her tardiness is due to a "cold in my 'doze'". Once the race begins, it's a real thriller-spiller, with even the spectators getting into the act--and catching Betty's cold in the process ("Ah, ah, CHOO!)" ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
