Background

Helen Kane was born Helen Schroeder on August 4, 1904 in New York City, New York, United States, the daughter of Louis Schroeder and Ellen Dixon.

Education

Kane attended St. Anselm's School in the Bronx, appearing in school productions.

Career

At thirteen Kane secured her working papers and began a series of jobs to help support her family while she tried to establish a career in show business. Her first important venture came when she was fifteen; spotted by Chico Marx, she was asked to join the Four Marx Brothers as their ingenue-foil in a review opening at the Fordham Theater in the Bronx (Orpheum circuit). The minor success led to further engagements, including several in music halls in London, England. After she returned to New York, the petite, brown-eyed brunette appeared as a singer in Harry Richmond's club and won a small part in the unfavorably reviewed A Night in Spain (1927).

An Atlantic City singing engagement won her a part in bandleader Paul Ashe's new review at the Paramount in 1928. At a rehearsal she inserted "boop-boop-a-doop" into her song "That's My Weakness Now, " and the phrase was added for the show. "I don't know why I did it, " she later remarked. "It just came out that way. " She was an instant Broadway success, soon seeing her name in lights for Good Boy (1928), in which she introduced "I Want to Be Loved by You. " Vanity Fair said this musical had "pretty nearly everything, including the originator of the baby-talk school of bel canto which threatens to send all the ingenues back to their swaddling days. " Personal and radio appearances, as well as a recording contract with Victor, followed. In nightclubs she was famous, as Edward Stumpf said, as "a singer of semi-salacious folk songs voted as the favorite actress of young men in eastern colleges. "

Kane began her movie career in Nothing But the Truth (1929), with Richard Dix and Madeline Gray. Her other films include Sweetie (1929), with Jack Oakie and Nancy Carroll; Pointed Heels (1929), with William Powell and Fay Wray; and Paramount on Parade (1930), a showcase of Paramount performers, including Maurice Chevalier, William Powell, Clara Bow, and Leon Errol. Dangerous Nan McGrew (1930) starred Kane in the title role, "rendering songs in her own original manner" but, in the nonmusical intervals, "acting in a tediously cute manner, " according to the New York Times. In Heads Up (1930) she appeared with Victor Moore and Charles ("Buddy") Rogers. She also appeared in a few shorts, including The Dentist and The Spot on the Rug (1932), The Pharmacist (1933), and Counsel on the Fence (1934), and her voice was used on the sound tracks of movie cartoons. In vaudeville she appeared with Clayton, Jackson and Durante; Bill Robinson; Ruth Etting; and Ken Murray. At the height of her fame, her salary was $8, 000 a week. She earned $5, 000 for special appearances at private parties, where she sang a few choruses of one of her trademark songs. Helen Kane dolls, toys, games, and look-alike contests became the national rage.

In the early 1930's, her career suddenly waned, despite her successful appearance in Shady Lady (1933) on Broadway. Kane reported that she was "tired of it all, . I was on a merry-go-round. Money was falling off trees. I was killing myself, but I loved it. . For a kid brought up in a poor family in the Bronx, I should have known better. " In 1935 she retired. She had a few bookings in the United States, Mexico, and Europe, including a command performance before the king and queen of England in 1935.

Kane's relatively quiet life was disrupted by two lawsuits. Kane sued Max Fleischer and Paramount Pictures for $250, 000 in damages and asked for an injunction against the use of her characterization and voice in the popular Betty Boop cartoons. Kane insisted that Betty was a caricature of her own voice and mannerisms, including the notorious "boop-boop-a-doop, " which she asked to have declared her exclusive property. The suit dragged on for months, introducing as evidence several Kane look-alikes. In May 1936 the judge declared in favor of Paramount, ruling that Kane had failed to prove the defendants had appropriated her baby way of singing.

Kane was also involved in the bankrupt Bond Dress Company suit when its owner, Murray Posner, paid her $50, 000 in return for an earlier investment; creditors demanded she return the money plus interest and won the case. Bad investments and fewer bookings caused Kane to live in virtual poverty during the last quarter of her life. She and her third husband, Daniel Healy (nicknamed "the Night Mayor of New York"), tried unsuccessfully to operate a nightclub. She was able to get a few nostalgia-type engagements on the Orpheum circuit in the Midwest and at the RKO Palace in New York billed as "The Boopa-doop Girl, " and she promoted a film biography of the songwriters Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby, Three Little Words, in which she was portrayed by Debbie Reynolds, for whom Kane dubbed the lyrics of her trademark songs. The movie sparked some interest in Kane, and she was signed to make records for Columbia, but it was not until her plight was exposed in Jim Bishop's newspaper column in 1958 that the world remembered Helen Kane. Inspired by the column, Ralph Edwards featured Kane on the television show "This Is Your Life. " That led to some nightclub engagements and a few other television offers.

Achievements

• Kane's baby voice was one of the best-known sounds of the early 30's and she was remembered as the "Boop-boop-a-doop Girl". She established herself as a star of stage and screen and was thought to have influenced the sound of the popular cartoon character Betty Boop. One of her most famous hits was "I Wanna Be Loved by You".

Works

More photos

• book

  • Sweetie (1929)

    (In this college-campus musical, a Broadway star finds her...)

  • I Want To Be Bad

    (20 great tracks by Helen Kane aka Betty Boop. http://kip...)

  • Button Up Your Overcoat
  • 1928-1930 (Great Original Performances)
  • Boop-Boop-A-Doop
  • Betty Boop's Musical Cabaret
  • Lesson in Love VHS
  • Dangerous Nan Mcgrew
  • That's Why I'm Happy
  • I Want to Be Loved By You

Views

Quotations: "I started Booping about 1928 on the radio and screen. Later 20, 000, 000 persons knew me as the Boop girl. Then came Betty Boop a cartoon and I almost lost my identity. "

Connections

Kane was married three times. Her first marriage (date unknown) to a businessman, Joseph Kane, ended in divorce in 1932. Her second husband was Max Hoffman (date of marriage unknown), the son of the choreographer and dancer Gertrude Hoffman; they divorced in September 1935. She married Daniel Healy around 1939.

Father:

Louis Schroeder

Mother:

Ellen Dixon

Spouse:

Joseph Kane

Spouse:

Daniel Healy

Spouse:

Max Hoffman

References

• The complete entertainment discography, from the mid-1890s to 1942
• Encyclopedia Of The Musical Theatre (A Da Capo paperback)
• The Complete Encyclopedia of Popular Music and Jazz, 1900-1950 (Volumes 1-4)
• Helen Kane and Betty Boop: On Stage and On Trial