Remembering Mae Questel, the Voice of Betty Boop

In this, the second installment of our Max and Me series, Ginny Mahoney - Max Fleischer's grand-daughter - shares one of her favorite memories of voice artist Mae Questel, perhaps best remembered as the voice of Betty Boop.

Max and Me... by Ginny Mahoney

As Max Fleischer’s granddaughter I’ve had to the opportunity to meet some amazing people, including Mae Questel. The voice artist most often identified with Betty Boop, Mae was in fact an enormously talented and versatile voice artist whose character work ranged from voices for Olive Oyl to Casper the Friendly Ghost, and even - when Jack Mercer (the voice of Popeye) was drafted in WWII - Popeye! Later, Mae went on to play Aunt Bluebell in a well-known series of commercials for Scott Towels and, among other impressive credits, appeared in the films of Woody Allen.  

One of my favorite memories of Mae is actually a phone call she made to me while visiting my mother, Ruth, in New York sometime around 1970. I was a young mother at the time, living in Washington, D.C. and at home with three young kids, including my eldest, Jeni, who was six at the time and absolutely loved Casper the Ghost.

“Put Jeni on the phone,” Mae said when she heard Jeni was a fan.  

“Hi Jeni…this is Casper,” Mae intoned in Casper’s iconic friendly voice.  Mae, as Casper, then proceeded to have an entire conversation with Jeni. “Wait,” Casper finally said, “let me get Betty Boop!” After talking to Betty, Jeni when on to have  conversations with Popeye, Olive Oyl and about a half dozen other characters.

Mae’s lovely and very generous gesture made for a very special day in the Mahoney household, and wonderfully exemplifies the spirit of this vibrant and talented artist.  

For more, check out Finding Her Voice in our virtual museum, featuring Mae Questel and the five other women who voiced Betty in the 1930s. 

• You can read the first installment of Max and Me here.
  
• You can check out more of Ginny Mahoney's remembrances on her blog about her father, animator Seymour Kneitel here.
  

BETTY BOOP © 2014 King Features Syndicate, Inc./Fleischer Studios, Inc.
TM Hearst Holdings, Inc./Fleischer Studios, Inc.