Betty Boop is an iconic figure that will endure through the decades. Recognized from classic cartoons, she can be found lending her appeal to almost everything from automotive and motorcycle merchandise to household items and clothing. Just about anything you can think of, her sexy little figure can be seen on it. But few people know the voice that helped make her into the icon she is.
Mae Questel was an American actress and vocal artist who put the "boop" in the "boop boop da doop." It was because of Mae Questel that Betty Boop has a characteristic voice heard and remembered by millions.
An Associate Fellow with the Royal Historical Society, James D. Taylor Jr. is an independent scholar who has published a series of books with Algora pulling together all the available documentary evidence relating to key figures from English history. Painstakingly piecing together a wealth of details that were hidden away in archival records, old correspondence and other documents, he brings back in vivid color outstanding individuals whose flamboyance, character and stalwart dedication to their causes enabled them to shape the events of their times.
Taylor is particularly fascinated by figures from the treacherous era of the Tudors and Stuarts, times that tried men's souls but their characters as well — and it's their characters that shine clearly in the documentary evidence he unearths. The subjects of his books are paragons of courage, loyalty and integrity in the face of temptation and intimidation. Clear headed and well spoken under the direst of circumstances, these men and women lived life intensely, always keeping conscience ahead of comfort, whether they won their cause or lost everything.
James Taylor has also published two books profiling actresses involved in creating beloved characters like Betty Boop who have been entertaining America since the 1930s.
