Helen Kane

Helen Kane (August 4, 1904 – September 26, 1966) was an American singer prominent during the late 1920s. She was known as the "Boop-Boop-a-Doop Girl," a nickname coming from her signature style of scat singing. She was an inspiration for the cartoon character Betty Boop.

Interview (1959)

 * Interview at Internet Archive (1959)


 * I'm so happy to be a part of this ... era of wonderful nonsense.


 * When I listen to this rock and roll and look at you kids, I don't think it's a whole lot different than the Charleston and the Varsity Drag.


 * I know when I was a kid, I used to look at these pictures and listen to the songs of the Gay Nineties, and I used to say to my mother, 'Oh, I wish I had lived then; it was so gay and so wonderful.' [...] Now [the Jazz Age] seems very mysterious and wonderful to you, kids, and when you have kids, they'll say, 'Gee, Dad, those 50's, they were something.' [...] I really think it goes in cycles. When your kids come in and say 'Gee, Dad, I wish we had done that,' and so on and so forth, it's the same thing. I don't think it's changed a great deal.