Name	Helen Kane
Height	5' 2"  (157 cm)
Build	Average
Eye Color	Brown - Dark
Hair Color	Black
Date of Birth	August 4, 1903
Star Sign	Leo
Died	September 26, 1966 (Aged 63)
Cause of Death	breast cancer
Nationality	American
Ethnicity	White
High School	St. Anselm’s Parochial School
Occupation	Actress
Celebrity Index	He
Claim to Fame	boop-boop-a-doop, model for Betty Boop
Rate this Date	Please select   1 - (out of 10)   2 - (out of 10)   3 - (out of 10)   4 - (out of 10)   5 - (out of 10)   6 - (out of 10)   7 - (out of 10)   8 - (out of 10)   9 - (out of 10) 10 - (out of 10)

Biography

Friends and Family

Trivia and Quotes

Quotes

"I just put it in at one of the rehearsals, a sort of interlude. It`s hard to explain -- I haven`t explained it to myself yet. It`s like vo-de-o-do, Crosby with boo-boo-boo, and Durante with cha-cha-cha." -- Helen Kane, explaining the creation of her "boop-boop-a-doop" signature phrase.

Trivia

Her mother's name was Ellen Dixon Schroeder.

(imdb.com)

Her father was German, and her mother was an Irish woman who worked in a laundry facility.

(imdb.com)

Attended Saint Anselm`s Parochial School in the Bronx during her childhood.

In 1939, she married the performer Dan Healy, with whom she had worked in the show Good Boy, back in 1928. Together they opened a restaurant in New York, known as "Healy`s Grill." She remained married to Healy for the rest of her life.

Spent the early 1920s trouping in vaudeville as a singer and kickline dancer with a theater engagement called the "All Jazz Revue.".

Was on-stage professionally by the time she was fifteen years old, touring the Orpheum Circuit with the Marx Brothers.

Earned $5,500 a week in the Oscar Hammerstein show, Good Boy.

She is buried in Veterans Cemetery, Farmingdale, Long Island.

At the peak of her flapper fame, there were Helen Kane dolls and Helen Kane lookalike contests.

She brought to life the Betty Boop character of Max Fleischer cartoons. The character was originally a dog with droopy ears and a similar squeaky voice. In 1932, the dog was transformed into the flapper we all adore.

In 1932 Helen filed suit against Max Fleischer, his studio and Paramount charging unfair competition and wrongful appropriation for the Betty Boop cartoons. The trial dragged on for two years and although the animated star was an obvious caricature of Helen, she lost the case.

Her trademark: the song, "I Wanna Be Loved by You, " with those interspersed "boop-boop-bedoops"!

See also Trivia Index (H) :: Quotes Index (H) :: Connections Index (H)

• Helen Kane and Max Hoffman, Jr.

Super Star Sites

• Do you have a Helen Kane Fansite?

• Exchange links with this page.

• 
  Russell Crowe
• 
  Tommy Lee Jones
• 
  Sienna Miller